Category — Blog

Days of Mindful Living

A one day workshop for you to experience the art of mindful living.  You will be introduced to techniques and skills in Mindfulness for self-care to support you in your daily life and enhance your level of well being.  You will experience how giving a little time to BEING in the NOW can offer you an abundance of calm and clarity.  This is a time to recharge, refresh and re-energise, A TIME FOR YOU.

Facilitator:  Fidelma Farley

Dates:
Saturday 16th January, 13th February, 20th March, 10th April and 15th May.

Time: 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

Cost: 70 Euro

Where: Oscailt, 8 Pembroke Road, Dublin 4

Enquiries and Bookings:
Contact Fiona at Oscailt: Tel: (01) 660 3872 or email info@oscailt.com

Mindfulness-Based Pain and Illness Management

8-week Course in Living Well with Pain and Illness – Next course beginning Tuesday, 16th February 2010

This course is for anyone who experiences chronic pain or a long-term health condition.

You will be introduced to Mindfulness, a life-long skill that enhances your quality of life and helps you regain a sense of initiative, confidence and control around your pain or illness.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a special kind of awareness that is attentive and warmly engaged with each moment of life, enabling you to be honest and objective about what is happening. This means you can be creative with your experience rather than stuck in the familiar groove of reactive habits. Anyone can learn and practice mindfulness and participants generally find they feel much happier and more in control through incorporating mindfulness into their lives.

Background

The course is devised by Breathworks, a not-for-profit organisation based in the UK that offers mindfulness courses for the management of pain and illness. It draws on aspects of the MBSR (Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction) courses devised by Jon Kabat-Zinn and from a variety of approaches to pain management.

Over the past 20 years, the use of mindfulness to help people with stress and/or physical pain or illness has been adapted and integrated in a range of medical environments around the world, where it has been widely proven to help in the promotion of mental and physical well-being.

For more information on Breathworks, see www.breathworks-mindfulness.org.uk.

Living well with Pain & Illness

The aim of the course is for participants to learn how to change their relationship to their experience of pain and illness.

This course teaches skills and strategies that help reduce the stress and tension that often arise as a consequence of experiencing chronic pain or illness. By the end of the course, you will have a tool-kit of resources to draw on to help you manage the pain or illness. Mindfulness will, over time, allow you to draw on your own inner resources and find ways of living creatively with pain or illness, thus greatly enhancing your quality of life.

Some of the benefits experienced are:

· an increased ability to relax and experience calm

· greater confidence in ability to undertake activities

· increased ability to cope effectively with flare-ups or set-backs

· an increased ability to cope more effectively with short and long-term stress

· a decreased tendency to catastrophise (i.e. imagine the worst)

What does the Course involve?

The course is carefully structured to support participants’ learning:

· a two-hour & 15 min. class once a week for 8 weeks

· about 40 minutes of home practice on all non-class days during the course

· one experiential all-day workshop during the course

Within this structure, the skill of mindfulness will be taught principally through sitting and lying meditation practices.  There will be presentations on mindful ways of approaching pain and illness, and very gentle physical stretches (mindful movement).  Group discussions are an important part of the course, allowing participants to explore their experience of mindfulness as the course progresses.

For maximum benefit, the course requires of participants a strong commitment to work on themselves through a gentle but rigorous discipline of daily meditation and relaxation.  While this commitment may make the course seem challenging at times, this deep engagement allows participants to get the maximum benefit from the course.

Some testimonials from previous course participants:

‘I cannot believe the change in me…Initially I was totally sceptical, angry and frustrated…but now I feel more at peace with the world…’

(H.H., Multiple Sclerosis)

‘End of being overwhelmed by pain…strategy for dealing with pain when it comes back…hope for the future….’

(L.G., back pain)
‘I’ve learned…the tools to live a more meaningful life.’

(L.K., fibromyalgia)

Who is Running the Course?

Fidelma Farley, MA, PhD

Fidelma worked as a lecturer for fifteen years before undergoing training with Breathworks, a not-for-profit organisation which offers mindfulness-based courses for those experiencing pain, illness or stress. Fidelma has led mindfulness-based courses for MS Ireland, for community groups, for carers and for people experiencing pain, illness or stress.

Fidelma’s own mindfulness practice has both enhanced and transformed her life, and her teaching stems from a desire for others to have the opportunity to experience similar benefits. Her courses place a particular emphasis on kindness to oneself and others, and on creating a warm, friendly and supportive atmosphere.

Breathworks Ireland was established in 2009 by Fidelma and her colleague Aksobhin Tracy to expand the range of Breathworks Mindfulness courses available in Ireland.

See www.breathworks.ie for more information on Breathworks Ireland.

Where:  Oscailt Integrative Health Centre, 8 Pembroke Road, Dublin 4

How Much?

€350 (includes CDs, Course handbook, weekly classes and an experiential day-long workshop)

When?

Tuesdays 6.00pm – 8.15pm for 8 weeks, starting 16th February to 6th April 2010.  There is a day-long workshop on 27th March.

Booking & Information: Contact Fiona at Oscailt on (01) 660 3872 or email info@oscailt.com

Tell us about the connection that can be drawn between meditation and movement.

The  Feldenkrais Method uses movement to awaken our attention. The lessons are designed to improve function but within an envelope of attention to what we are actually doing and not what we think we are doing. Being attentive to the body in this way brings us into presence. It can have a meditative quality to it yet still be active. We are doing but also developing a kind of witness mentality to that doing.

Many people are very confined in their physical movements eg. sitting at a desk all day, sedentary lifestyle. Can this also have an affect on the mind, as well as body?

Just as the mental state expresses itself in how we walk, talk, breathe – perhaps we could say our state of being IS the totality of our breathing, posture, feeling, thinking, and moving – so our posture, breathing etc. is intimately interwoven with our emotional and mental state. Sometimes this is easy to become aware of and change with no outside assistance but often we have unconscious habits of movement, posture, breathing which are so much us that we do not know we are doing them. This is where we can develop or deepen our awareness and make conscious what has been working us from our unconscious. In this way we gain conscious control over what belongs to us most intimately.

Tell us a little more about your background and where your initial interest in Feldenkrais stemmed from.

I studied philosophy and literature in Trinity College  before eventually settling in Germany. I had already an interest in the work of the  Indian philosopher Krishnamurti and his ideas of presence without judgement. During this time I started to get pretty bad headaches and a friend suggested I go to some Feldenkrais classes. I immediately clicked with it and as it happened a training was starting up in Switzerland just as I was going to move there to live with my wife.

Have you got examples have you seen of people who have improved drastically when they incorporated Feldenkrais into their activities?

I think so. I have had people with severe headaches who have quickly benefitted from the method. Others have come with various aches and pains some of which they have had for years and found that a different way of using their body elliminated the pain. I have worked with musicians with repetitive strain and singers who have improved their vocal range. The work can also be a very satisfying way of approaching more subtle psycho-somatic  issues and can be used very succuesfully in conjunction with psychotherapy.

Who should practice Feldenkrais, is it suitable for everyone?

Anyone can do it. For a few the group lessons may be too challenging but one-to-ones(functional integration) are tailored to the individual person.

When people feel mentally unwell or depressed, very often they focus on the mind to get better. Do you feel that a holistic curing of both mind and body is preferable?

I think the separation of body and mind is an illusion and when it comes to working with these kinds of issues the body can be used as a point of access to the mental and emotional. Anthony Damassio put it very well saying “the body is the theatre of the mind”. for me it is becoming clearer and clearer that one can work with the whole person using a combination of awareness training, movement, and language.

What kind of bad physical habits do people adopt and why? Such as, poor posture, rigidity etc.

There is nothing that is really bad in terms of posture. It is the compulsion to act in one way and lack of alternatives that leads to problems, pains, wear and tear  on the body. Getting a bigger repertoire of movement allows us to avoid over-using or under-using the bodies parts.. What we are looking for is that big strong muscles do their share of the work leaving the smaller muscles for fine tuning and direction. What  is also important is that we have a skeleton which can take over so much more of the work than it is allowed to and this can happen due to permanently contRacted muscle groups which feel they need to be switched on all the time. When we get the feeling of the skeleton taking over then there is a great relief, a sense of ease, grace and lightness.

Do people who are confident and happy hold themselves in a different way, in posture, movement etc.?

Yes I think that anyone can see if their friend is feeling well or is a bit down without having to use words. There is an effortlessness of acting, and a flow between thinking, feeling and moving which goes hand in hand with feeling good. When we are down (even the word says sometihing about the physical nateure of the emotion) there is more contraction often shortening the spine and neck and constricting the breath. These are things we can become aware of use in the relationship to our inner world.

Where does the Feldenkrais practice originate from?

Moshe Feldenkrais was an Isreali physicist, Engineer and judo black belt. He had a sporting injury and was told he probably wouldnt walk again. He didnt accept that and started to put his understanding of structure and bodily movement to good use combining it with a study of the developmental stages of babies and an attention to his own body and inner processes. He saw that it was the unconscious movements he was doing (related to fear) which was preventing him from being able to use his legs for walking. As he discovered these habits he gained control over them and could choose alternatives which enabled him to walk again.

How can practising Feldenkrais transform the body and mind?

What I like about the method is that its basic point is you are exactly right as you are. Find out about youself, your body, mind and feelings and you can free yourself from their unconscious workings. You dont need to be different. Feldenkrais said “if you know what you are doing you can do what you want”. For me this puts awareness, attention or mindfulness at the centre of the method and this is what helps to heal.

Frankie Macken

I met with Mari Kennedy recently to discuss her transformation from Projects Co-ordinator for President Mary McAleese to Business, Life and Wellness Coach and Yoga Teacher. In that transition everything changed and she discovered the empowering process of Life Coaching.  Two years ago she received a Diploma in Personal and Business Coaching from the ILI. Mari is an Associate Coach with Xenergie Coaching. She also facilitates corporate coaching seminars on behalf of the VHI and organises yoga and coaching holidays.

You’ve undertaken a major transformation in terms of your career. What was the key factor in initiating this change?

There was no one instigating factor but rather a series of things that happened over a relatively short period of time. While the momentum started from within myself external factors were also at play.  In my decision not to take up a second term as Projects Co-ordinator for President McAleese in 2004 I recognised that I wanted a more balanced life.  It was a big decision but I knew it was right and that I needed to take the leap.  I had planned to take a year off, complete my yoga teacher training and try to start a family, with a longer term plan of becoming a yoga teacher. Unfortunately my marriage ended quite soon after leaving my job and I found myself in a place of personal crisis.  This propelled me into a period of inquiry and the realisation that  this was an opportunity to to make the fundamental changes  I needed to live a happy and fulfilled life. I began teaching yoga, qualified as a Life and Business Coach and  set-up Soulworks , a wellness business.

Was there a phase in your life when it would have been ideal for you to have conferred with a Life Coach?

Absolutely yes! I know in hindsight that had I seen a Life Coach before leaving my job the transition would have been easier and I would have driven the change. When I did eventually attend a Coach,   it gave me the breathing space to look  honestly  at where I was and provided me with the a powerful process which put me back in the driving seat to start creating a life that was much more in alignment with my  values and beliefs.

Personal change requires strength, is it sometimes difficult for your clients to look inward and make changes to their attitudes, their behaviours, etc.?

The majority of people who come to coaching have reached a point in their lives where they feel stuck, out of balance, in the midst of a transition or change and find themselves  in a place of questioning.  There is a recognition that something needs to change.  Even with this awareness it can sometimes be difficult to look inward  but coaching provides  a supportive partnership that  allows the client to have a really honest conversation with themselves and make the changes to their attitudes and behaviours  which  immediately brings changes in their  life’s circumstances.   

Some people have difficulty in making decisions and for this reason, don’t seem to move forward. Can Life Coaching help? In what situations and life occasions should people seek the assistance of a Life Coach?

Coaching can help bring perspective and clarity. Many clients are overwhelmed and over worked by the demands of their lives,  over stretched by responsibilities  and paralysed by fear. We tend to live in reaction mode, on auto pilot letting life just happen while trying to control people and circumstances around us.  People often come for career coaching to proactively move forward in their professional lives.  Others find coaching enormously helpful through transitions and change in their lives, a break-up of a marriage, downsizing, redundancy, diagnosis of an illness.

I often think of coaching as arriving at your own door, entering a safe room where you can throw everything out on the floor and begin to sort it out with the help and guidance of a coach.  Through coaching, the client steps into a transformational space of possibility and support. The partnership with the coach offers a process of inquiry that empowers clients to reconnect with their own inner wisdom.  The objective is to help the client to achieve balance in their lives by increasing awareness of those areas that are out of balance.  In essence, it enables the client to look at where they are today, where they want to be in the future and supports the client to take the steps to get there.

There are huge challenges and rewards in Life Coaching. Can you explain in your own words what makes your career so satisfying?

I find coaching hugely rewarding and it energises me in a way that I have never known in other jobs. To work with each client on the premise that they have innate potential to be the masters of their own life is a privilege. To see a client become aware that they create their reality, to watch them grow in clarity and confidence and witness the small steps becoming bigger steps as they move towards fulfilling their potential is enormously satisfying.  Where else in this world is there a space to work that is non- judgemental?

So many people are lost in today’s society. There are massive pressures and it is difficult to find an inward haven in which to be at peace. Would you feel that more often than not, it is the person themselves that puts themselves in these unhelpful mindsets and not the external factors we would like to pin the blame on?

Its very easy in this externally focused world to feel victimised and therefore disempowered by life’s circumstances.   Often unconsciously we let external circumstances and the peanut gallery of “other people” dictate our decisions which leads to what John O Donoghue called  “unlived lives” .  We are responsible for our lives, based on the choices  that we make.  If we have the courage to make the internal shifts our  outer lives will change.

It is so apparent we have no space in our lives, no space in our minds, no space in our bodies and this leads to constricted lives, inflexible attitudes and contracted tense bodies. Coaching is a step to re-introduce a  space to think, to assess, to go inside, and begin to live from the inside out. Life mastery is  the ability  to welcome everything , meeting  life’s  challenges with an open heart, greeting change with a flexible mind-set and  it starts with self-inquiry.   

Where do you find inspiration for your life’s work? Who do you look up to as the great ‘thinkers’ in the realm of self-improvement, philosophy and personal development?

Primarily I take inspiration from my own experience and my own  learning through transitioning.  As regards great thinkers, although I doubt he would be comfortable with the title of “thinker”,  Eckart Tolle’s continues to inspire me with his simple teachings on the power of staying in the present moment.  

What would you say to someone who might be cynical about attending a Life Coach, who says ‘It won’t work for me…”

Coaching may not work for everyone. Timing and willingness to take responsibility is crucial for a client to achieve results.   There has to be an underlying desire to change or move forward.   To engage with a coach takes courage, honesty and commitment.  However I do believe that any process that believes in the power and potential of every individual to find their own answers and live a fulfilled life is worth a go!

Mari: 087 9150264, marikennedy@eircom.net

Interview given to Frankie Macken.