Here at St Bride’s we offer various opportunities to practice mindfulness. We run 8 week course in mindfulness, monthly sessions of mindful movement, women’s group ‘Eat Mindfully Live Mindfully’.

The 8 Week Course This course follows the pattern of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme as introduced by Jon Kabat Zinn and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.

The course consists of eight weekly sessions of 2 hours duration and one whole silent day of guided and structured mindfulness meditation practice. The first part of the programme puts emphasis on developing the skills of being present with internal experiences such as body sensations, thoughts, emotions and feelings. The second half of the programme focusses on expanding awareness and applying the learning to daily life, life challenges and interactions with others. Through mindfulness meditation practices and mindful movement such as yoga and qi gong, we can learn to pay attention to our experience of the present moment and cultivate our awareness of the mind and body and living in here and now.

An important part of this course is our commitment to home practice as most learning happens through applying mindfulness to our day to day life and by trying to follow the formal practices on a daily basis. To get most out of the course, it is important to attend all the sessions or miss no more than one or two. It is also important to be able to commit to regular formal practice of at least 30 minutes at home 6 out of 7 days in the week.

Our next 8 Week Course will start on Wednesday 7th May at 7.30 pm. For more information about our 8 week course or any other mindfulness sessions, please contact Petra (07557045703, petra.elsmore@yahoo.co.uk)