Mindfulness for Wellbeing & Reducing Stress, Anxiety & Depression – Brighton

Mindfulness Brighton & Lewes. Mindfulness is now recognised by doctors and psychologists as a powerful tool for enhancing ‘wellbeing’ and reducing anxiety, depression and everyday life stress.  A recent poll showed that almost 75% of doctors think all patients would benefit from learning mindfulness skills*.  Mindfulness also can help us – appreciate life more, improve our  relationships, and be more effective with tasks and activities. It is now increasingly used in business settings, and there is evidence that it can improve performance in sport.

What is Mindfulness and how can it help?

Mindfulness involves a particular way of giving our attention to our ‘present moment’ experience, which anyone can practice.  Mindfulness can help reduce worrying and fretting, or ‘churning over’ problems in a way that makes us mentally go round in circles, or get upset time and again by the same ‘triggers’ . It can also greatly increase our enjoyment of life and our appreciation of the things that really matter most to us.

Mindfulness can help bring . . .

Mindfulness- MBCT and MBSR

Two clinically ‘tried and tested’ 8-week (non-religious) mindfulness courses are- ‘Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy’ (MBCT), and ‘Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction’ (MBSR).  MBSR was originally developed by John Kabat-Zinn to help people manage the stress of extreme health conditions, but it’s now used very widely to help people reduce ‘everyday life’ stress and anxiety.  MBCT  is largely based on MBSR but includes elements of Cognitive Therapy too, and it has been shown to reduce the chance of relapse depression and also to reduce anxiety.  Both courses, as I teach them, are relevant for anyone who wants to enhance their experience of general wellbeing. For general information about MBCT and MBSR click here.

*Source an ICM poll commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation- http://www.bemindful.co.uk/mbsr/evidence.