Mindfulness
Mindfulness Services Available:
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (8-week course)
One to One Mindfulness Sessions
Mindfulness in Parenting
Mindfulness in the Work Place
Mindfulness for Teenagers
Mindfulness for Children
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we are doing. It gives us the ability to not become overly reactive or overwhelmed by what is going on around us.
Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it is not something we have to create or fabricate. All we need to do is relearn how to access this human quality, something which many of us lose or forget we possess as we move into adulthood.
Benefits of Mindfulness
Studies suggest that focusing on the present can have a positive impact on health and well-being. Mindfulness-based treatments have been shown to reduce anxiety and depression.
There’s also evidence that mindfulness can lower blood pressure and improve sleep. It may even help people cope with pain. “For many chronic illnesses, mindfulness meditation seems to improve quality of life and reduce mental health symptoms,” says Dr. Zev Schuman-Olivier of Harvard University. One of the first mindfulness-based therapies was used for depression. Many studies have shown that it can be effective for some people.
What is a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) 8 Week Course?
As early as 1979, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center’s Stress Reduction Clinic. Today, MBSR is offered in many hundreds of hospitals, clinics, health centers, educational, management and other settings around the world.
The 8-week stress reduction program is based on intensive training in mindfulness. It was initially targeted to assist people with chronic health problems, helping them to cope with the effects of pain, illness and the impact of these conditions on their lives. Today MBSR is taught to people throughout the world who are experiencing challenges in all areas of life.
The motivation for many to enroll in a course begins with a sense of wanting to live in a way that incorporates key aspects of mindfulness, presence, awareness and a sense of being in touch with oneself and the world around us.
What is involved in completing a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
(MBSR) 8 Week Course?
Eight weeks of in-person one night-per-week sessions and one-day retreat. All sessions and
the day-long retreat are held at Stephens Wood Osteopathic and Wellness Clinic and
grounds.
The course shall usually run on Thursday nights from 7 to 9:30 pm for consecutive 8 weeks.
The retreat day is held normally between week 6 and 7 of the course, and is held on a weekend day from 10 am to 4pm here also here in Stephens Wood.
A personal commitment of 30 to 40 minutes of daily meditation practice is recommended in order to cultivate a stable mindfulness practice in your life and to gain the most you can from this course.
Participants will receive a course booklet on enrolment. Recordings of guided meditation practices and other resources will also be shared with participants throughout the course.
Course Facilitator
Judy O’ Grady will facilitate this group, registered member of the Irish Mindfulness Teachers association.
Judy became a practitioner of meditation during my 13 years of service in the military. Her practice developed while on overseas missions. Her practice deepened further during the recent pandemic. In April 2022, she joined the Mindfulness Centre in Dublin, led by Josephine Lynch and Helen Byrne, to train as a teacher of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. She is committed to attending ongoing professional development.