The Mindfulness Mantra

Eight week course on Minfulness Based Stress Reduction at Dragonfly

Mindfulness is a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique. It is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practising mindfulness involvesbreathing methods, guided imagery, and other practices to relax the body and mind and help reduce stress.

While it can be said that mindfulness is innate, there are a few ways in which one can cultivate mindful practices as well. These are some proven methods- seated, walking, standing and moving meditation or the short pauses we insert in our everyday life. The merging of meditation practice with other activities such as yoga or sports also enhances our mindfulness.

The benefits of mindfulness are immense. When an individual is mindful the amount of stress is minimum, this enhances our performance, gain insight and awareness through observing our own mind and increase our attention to others' well-being.

Mindful meditation gives us time in our lives when we can suspend judgement and unleash our natural curiosity about the working of the mind, approaching our experience with warmth and kindness. Also, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is said to benefit individuals dealing with the following health conditions or problems like ADHD, anxiety, depression, chronic pain, stress, fatigue, anger, headaches, high blood pressure and sleep problems.

There are a few facts about mindfulness which everyone should know.

1. It is not a special added thing that we inculcate. We already have the capacity to be present, and it doesn’t require us to change who we are. But we can cultivate these innate qualities with simple practices that are scientifically demonstrated to benefit ourselves, our loved ones, our friends and neighbours, the people we work with, and the institutions and organizations we take part in.

2. It is nothing obscure or exotic. It is familiar to us because it is something wealready practice yet we don’t realise it. It takes many shapes and goes by many names.

3. You don’t need to change. Solutions that ask us to change who we are or become something we’re not have failed us over and over again. Mindfulness recognizes and cultivates the best of who we are as human beings.

4. Mindfulness practice cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs. Everyone can benefit and it’s easy to learn.

5. It sparks innovation. As we deal with our world’s increasing complexity and uncertainty, mindfulness can lead us to effective, resilient, low-cost responses to seemingly intransigent problems.

Mindfulness helps to deal with stress. It can reduce a lot of your mental pressure and make things clearer for you. When we practice mindfulness we become more aware of our thoughts. We can then step back from them and not take them so literally.

That way, our stress response is not initiated in the first place. We don’t immediately react to a situation. It is because of mindful exercises which prevent us from being impulsive and not rush while acting.

There is a “being mode”; inside every individual. Mindfulness switches us to that. It is associated with relaxation. Our "doing mind" is associated with action and the stress response. When one is mindful, the person becomes more aware and sensitive to the needs of their body. One may notice pain earlier and take appropriate action.

It is difficult to find people who are emotionally intelligent. With mindfulness, we become more aware of the emotions of others. As our emotional intelligence rises, we are less likely to get into conflict. This increases our level of care and compassion for ourselves and others too. This compassionate mind soothes us and inhibits our stress response.

Amygdala is the part of the brain that is central to switching on our stress response.

Mindfulness practice reduces activity in that of our brain called the amygdala. It is so effective that our background level of stress is reduced. We are better able to focus.

We complete our work more efficiently, we have a greater sense of well-being, and this reduces the stress response. Rather than just seeing the negative consequences of feeling stressed, mindfulness offers you the space to think differently about the stress itself. Observing how the increased pressure helps energizes and has a positive effect on our body and mind. Thus, it is very healthy for the human mind and body to practice mindfulness.

This October Dragonfly Yoga Studio is coming up with eight week course on, “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction”.

The 8 week course in Mindfulness based stress reduction is a well-researched program developed to alleviate a wide range of health needs, including chronic pain, anxiety and depression as well as enhancing general wellbeing and engagement.

The course will be held on a weekly basis on Tuesday evenings. The course includes daily meditation and activities that can be incorporated into daily life as part of the home practise. A practise day will be held near the end of the course to help students integrate the course’s primary practises.

It’s a rich, dynamic course that has proven to be quite beneficial to a large number of people.

Here is the link for the application form: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fnWwtWI4VfX_0z6M9SM4TbY9NLPjWCb5CzGB0JR2 RlQ/edit .

If you have any doubt or any question regarding the course please feel free to contact us.

We are always happy to help.

Nida Zakaria

MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION

Eight Week Course at Dragonfly Yoga Studio

Being mindful entails just recognising what arises and, as much as possible, letting it be.

Mindfulness training teaches us how to be happier and calmer in the ups and downs of life, as well as how to minimise stress and manage panic attacks. When we get caught up in thoughts about the past or the future, we can miss out on present pleasures or make our problems worse. We can notice things if we are mindful.

Mindfulness Meditation

Meditation is a practise that involves focusing our minds on a certain object, topic, or activity in order to be present with our current experience. Many people want to know what mindfulness is, what meditation is, and what the difference between mindfulness and meditation is. Simply said, we meditate to assist us develop a state of attentive awareness.

Learning different styles of meditation as well as mindfulness skills is part of Mindfulness- Based Stress Reduction training. Meditation is a type of mind training, and there are numerous reasons why it is beneficial to your health.

This October Dragonfly Yoga Studio is coming up with eight week course on, “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction”

The 8 week course in Mindfulness based stress reduction is a well-researched program developed to alleviate a wide range of health needs, including chronic pain, anxiety and depression as well as enhancing general wellbeing and engagement. The course involves training in a variety of mindfulness meditations and techniques, including gentle physical exercises, all designed to bring about awareness of habitual thought patterns that lead to stress, anxiety or depression, as well as how to transform these into positive states.

The course will be held on a weekly basis on Tuesday evenings. The course includes daily meditation and activities that can be incorporated into daily life as part of the home practise. A practise day will be held near the end of the course to help students integrate the course’s primary practises.

It’s a rich, dynamic course that has proven to be quite beneficial to a large number of people.

Meet Your Team for Mindulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR):

1) Erick Rinner: Erick has had a daily mindfulness practice for 11 years and is regularly in silent retreat. He trained at Bangor University and is delivers the MBSR program in English and in French. Erick is also a mindfulness and life coach, training leaders and executives in global companies for corporate mindfulness techniques.

2) Cynthia Bonell:

Cynthia had been meditating for 35-40 years and have studied the Vedic, Buddhist, and Christian traditions, as well as Christianity. She began teaching mindfulness 5 years ago. She completed her 8-week MBSR course and then moved on to Bangor University to complete a week-long intensive level 1 teaching course. She continues to meditate and attend retreats on a regular basis.

3) Ros Boughflower :

Ros has been meditating and practising mindfulness for a long time and attends retreats on a regular basis. She is a certified coach and MBSR teacher who received her training at Bangor University. She employs mindfulness with her coaching clients to help them become more aware of themselves.

She has a pleasant and sympathetic demeanour and draws on her Buddhist background to provide a secular approach that is both accessible and current.

4) James Milford:

James is a mindfulness teacher who received his MSc in Mindfulness Studies from the University of Aberdeen, where he improved his personal practise and theoretical understanding. The training includes mindfulness, compassion, insight, and wisdom. James used his education and research to create a unique method to mindfulness that is deeply rooted in the traditions and teachings of mindfulness.

5) Jane Sill:

Jane is UK Mindfulness Network listed instructor and have been associated with the London Centre of Mindfulness since 2012, assisting in the coordination of its activities, particularly the administration of the 8-week MBSR courses both in and out of house.

6) John Bonell:

Since he was a teenager, John has been interested in meditation. John began his meditation studies in London and has since studied under a variety of instructors and traditions in the Burmese, Indian, Sri Lankan, and Tibetan traditions. His main focus is on mental stability as a way to delve deeper into the nature of the mind.

7) William Walker

William completed his mindfulness training in 2018 and is listed as a Mindfulness Teacher in the United Kingdom. For the London Centre of Mindfulness, he has led and co-directed a number of 8-week Mindfulness for Stress Reduction courses. MBSR Application Form

Please ensure you have read the course content and are aware of the amount of commitment required to participate. Please think about whether you'll be able to devote enough time to the programme and whether now is the ideal moment to start. You’ll need to practise at home to get the most out of it.

So, are you up for it?

Here is the link for the application form:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fnWwtWI4VfX_0z6M9SM4TbY9NLPjWCb5CzGB0JR2 RlQ/edit

If you have any doubt or any question regarding the course please feel free to contact us.

We are always happy to help.

Nida Zakaria

Yoga’s Medical Recognition as a treatment for anxiety

In the fast-paced and uncertain world of modern society, stress and anxiety can often rise to debilitating levels. Chronic and unmanaged stress can impact our quality of life, and is responsible for an increase in health issues and disorders that span the globe. With the rise of COVID-19 that has only exacerbated matters. Negative emotions are not only traumatic but they also affect our immune system. Managing these emotions can be draining but is certainly doable.

Yoga as a treatment for the mind and body:

If anxiety increases it can start to interfere with your everyday activities and general well-being and can bring on anxiety disorders such as –GAD ( generalised anxiety disorder,) which keeps you in a state of exaggerated worry and the inability to relax. However a lot of the symptoms related to anxiety are physical, such as muscle tension, sweating and insomnia which is caused by the “fight” or “fight stress” response which prepares the body as if there is a real threat on the horizon.

Conventional medical treatments don’t always address the underlying causes of anxiety. Given that anxiety also appears in physical symptoms, it stands to reason that if an anxiety treatment is to be successful it should treat both the mind and body. This is where yoga comes in, it can provide you the strengthening tools which are needed for emotional regulation.

Feelings of anxiety can quickly become overwhelming, this leads to automatic reactivity with no interval for a response. By practicing yoga the patterns responsible for this reactivity behaviour can be broken through, the meditation component of yoga works on improving self-regulation and the attention networks in your brain. The physical component of yoga works on tackling the anxiety symptoms in the body, whilst also having an impact on the mind-body connection.

Overall having a degree of control over our emotional state and how we respond to stressful events is key to both our mental and physical well-being. The mind-body practice of yoga make it a powerful tool to have to help you become in a state of piece within you and your environment.

 Scientific Community Evidence:

Yoga’s positive impact on the world of anxiety and anxiety disorders has been supported by a growing body of research. Recently published studies have concluded that yoga can be a safe and effective intervention for those individuals who have an anxiety disorder or elevated levels of anxiety, this is a welcome development especially in the light of the fact that anxiety disorders are on the increase in younger people.

 Start practicing at home:

Whilst the research is continuing to make a case to the medical establishment for yoga to be seen as a treatment strategy, there is nothing stopping you from beginning the practice yourself.  No specialist equipment is required –though a yoga mat is useful- from starting the practice in your living room. The best way to start this practice is to join one of Dragonfly Yoga’s upcoming classes, click here to view the timetable for available classes, and start to awaken your potential today!