Mindfulness

What is Mindfulness?

 

Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present in the moment with awareness without judgement.

While Mindfulness is something we all naturally possess, it is more readily available to us when we practice it on a daily basis.

Whenever we bring awareness to what we are directly experiencing via our senses, or to our state of mind via our thoughts and emotions, we are being Mindful.

There is growing research that shows that when we train our brain to be mindful, we are actually remodelling the physical structure of our brain.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, the creator of the research-backed stress-reduction program (MBSR), explains how mindfulness lights up parts of our brains that are not normally activated when we are mindlessly running on autopilot.

Who should practice Mindfulness?

Anyone can do Mindfulness practice. There are no barriers. It doesn’t matter how old you are, what your physical ability is, if you are religious or not.

It has helped people over the years in managing adversities, overcoming life blocks and building mental strength & calmness.

Practicing Mindfulness also helps in-

• Dealing with Migraines & Headaches

• Coping with Sleep & Skin Disorders

• Coping with Cancer related mind issues

• Healing from Stress, Anxiety & Depression

and many more issues related to Mind & Body.

At Stress Free All, our signature Programme-

P.R.E.- Pause Relax Enjoy

Is based on Mindfulness based Stress Reduction (8 weeks) and can be appropriate for Executives, Women, Children and Individuals in various ages of their life.

We also do various scientifically proven, Mindfulness based Cognitive therapy sessions for Pain Management for Cancer patients and other chronic illnesses.

Mindfulness for Children and Schools 

What Is Mindfulness, and Why Do Kids Need It?

Practicing Mindfulness from early childhood can equip children with life skills such as emotional management, self-awareness, resilience, compassion, kindness.

How does it help? 

Adversity comes at us from the moment we are born. Infants get hungry and tired. Toddlers grapple with language and self-control. And as children develop through adolescence to become teenagers, life grows ever more complicated.

Developing relationships, navigating school and exercising independence — the very stuff of growing up — naturally creates stressful situations for every child. 

At each developmental stage, mindfulness can be a useful tool for building “Life Skills” such as Self regulation, being resilient, inculcating kind & empathetic attitude which promotes contentment & happiness quotient of life. Mindfulness  is a simple technique that emphasizes paying attention to the present moment in an accepting, nonjudgmental manner. It has emerged as a popular mainstream practice in recent decades. It is being taught to executives at workplace, athletes in the locker room, and increasingly, to children both at home and in school. 

Early Habits 

Children are uniquely suited to benefit from mindfulness practice. Habits formed earlier in life will inform behaviors in adulthood, and with mindfulness, we have the opportunity to give our children the habit of being peaceful, kind, resilient and accepting. 

“For children, Mindfulness can offer relief from whatever difficulties they might be encountering in life,”  Annaka Harris, Author

Part of the reason why Mindfulness is so effective for children can be explained by the way the brain develops. While our brains are constantly developing throughout our lives, connections in the prefrontal circuits are created at their fastest rate during childhood. Mindfulness  promotes skills that are controlled by the prefrontal cortex, like focus and cognitive control, can therefore have a particular impact on the development of skills including self-regulation, judgment and patience during childhood. 

Our 8 week programme P.R.E.-Pause, Reflect Enjoy, for schools and children can help them build life skills for now and the times to come.

For any further information on the programme or individual sessions  please call

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Mindfulness for Corporates

MBSR is a group program that was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1970s to treat patients struggling with life’s difficulties and physical and/or mental illness (Kabat-Zinn, 2013). Although it was initially created to aid hospital patients, it has wide applicability and has been used by a broad range of people from all walks of life.
 
In fact, according to the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts, over 24,000 people have taken advantage of the MBSR program they debuted in 1979 (Center for Mindfulness, 2017).
 
MBSR is a flexible and customizable approach to stress reduction. Instead of following a script or acting out meticulously described steps, mindfulness is practiced in the manner that best suits the individual & groups.
While MBSR is often different for every person in practice, it is based on the same set of principles. These descriptions are pulled straight from the Center for Mindfulness website:
  • Making the experience a challenge rather than a chore and thus turning the observing of one’s life mindfully into an adventure in living rather than one more thing one “has” to do for oneself to be healthy.
  • An emphasis on the importance of individual effort and motivation and regular disciplined practice of the meditation in its various forms, whether one “feels” like practicing on a particular day or not.
  • The immediate lifestyle change that is required to undertake formal mindfulness practice, since it requires a time commitment (45 minutes a day, six days a week minimally).
  • The importance of making each moment count by consciously bringing it into awareness during practice, thus stepping out of clock time into the present moment.
  • A therapeutic orientation, which makes people to help in cultivating ongoing motivation, support, and feelings of acceptance and belonging.
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Mindfulness for Individual Stress Reduction 

One of the many benefits of practicing mindfulness is that it can promote relaxation, mind-body Balance, healing, both physically and emotionally/psychologically. By helping to regulate emotions and allowing an individual to work with the physical pain in the body, and various stresses of the mind. Mindfulness has helped bring a sense of peace to many people living with disease.
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Mindfulness for Cancer Patients 

Cancer can certainly make it be difficult to be present and feel engaged in what is happening. And for patients who have been diagnosed with advanced cancer or facing end-of-life issues, their mind can be so full of worry and stress, they struggle to be present and aware of the time they have right now. 
 
Fortunately, there have been many advances in the treatment and management of a cancer diagnosis, and patients are finding alternative ways to cope with both the physical and emotional challenges that come with this disease. 
 
The practice of mindfulness in cancer patients
 
In recent years, more people have recognized mindfulness and mindfulness training as a way to decrease stress and increase psychological functioning with cancer patients. A 2011 study found that most participants expressed a number of perceived positive effects after participating in the mindfulness program including increased calm, enhanced sleep quality, more energy, less physical pain, and increased well-being. These findings show that through mindfulness, you may be able to enhance your capacity to handle the life stresses that affect the body’s ability to heal.
One of the many benefits of practicing mindfulness is that it can promote healing, both physically and emotionally/psychologically. By helping to regulate emotions and allowing a patient to work with the physical pain in the body, mindfulness has helped bring a sense of peace to many people living with cancer. 
“Mindfulness is not a cure for cancer but certainly can contribute to the overall well-being of the body”.
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Mindfulness for Pain Management 

Living with chronic pain and illness can be intolerable. Even after taking the maximum dose of painkillers, the aching soon returns with a vengeance. You want to do something, anything, to stop the pain, but whatever you try seems to fail. Moving hurts. Doing nothing hurts. Ignoring it hurts.
 
But it’s not just the pain that hurts, your mind can start to suffer as you desperately try to find a way of escaping. Pointed and bitter questions can begin nagging at your soul, 
What will happen if I don’t recover?
What if it gets worse? 
You feel that I can’t cope with this and I just want it to stop …
 
It’s only natural to want to fight back against pain and illness in times such as these, but what if this struggle actually made your suffering worse? What if it was more effective to explore the sensations of pain and illness as they rose and fell in your body? This may seem like the worst thing imaginable, but the latest medical advances show that it can be more powerful than the most commonly prescribed painkillers.
 
Such an approach forms the core of this treatment for chronic pain and illness. Mindfulness meditation has been shown in clinical trials to reduce chronic pain by 57 percent. Accomplished meditators can reduce it by over 90 percent.
 
Imaging studies show that mindfulness soothes the brain patterns underlying pain and, over time, these changes take root and alter the structure of the brain itself, so that patients no longer feel pain with the same intensity. Many say that they barely notice it at all.
 
Hospital pain clinics now prescribe mindfulness meditation to help patients cope with the suffering arising from a wide range of diseases such as cancer (and the side effects of chemotherapy), heart disease, diabetes and arthritis. It is also used for back problems, migraine, fibromyalgia, coeliac disease, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome and even multiple sclerosis.
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