MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness
You can book with Gillian to explore different Mindfulness practices to support well-being or as part of a physiotherapy treatment approach.
How can this help pain and recovery from injury?
A growing number of studies indicate that mindfulness practices can reduce the impact of pain in our daily life AND decrease the intensity of pain itself.
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Mindfulness tools can help us to cope with stress or pain and even help reduce reliance on medication or other forms of treatment that have adverse side effects. We can find a sense of well-being and contentment that is beyond just ‘coping’.
If you are interested in some of the research on mindfulness and pain, check out this TEDx talk: 'A different approach to Pain Management: Mindfulness Meditation' by Fadel Zeidan. Zeidan found that 4 sessions of 20 minutes meditation caused a reduction in pain experience in during his research in 2011.
Traditional ‘sitting meditation’ is only one way of many ways mindfulness is practiced. Some of us may not like sitting still which is fine as we don’t have to practice this way.
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Formal practices include (but are not limited to) walking meditation, body scan and mindful movement. These formal practices can help build ‘informal’ practices into our everyday life such being aware of the senses when performing (seemingly) mundane tasks or being aware of our emotions during a conversation. The quality of attention is kind and non-judgmental. There may be an intention to come back to the moment by being aware of touch or sound. Whatever the method - we can bring new perspective and regain a sense of control amidst pain or distress.
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When we experience prolonged pain one of our coping mechanisms can be to distract away from the body and the present moment as it is uncomfortable to be there. This has been shown to prolong pain and even encourage it to spread to other regions of the body. Mindfulness strategies, especially when integrated into daily life, offers clinically supported ways to overcome pain and regain the fullness of our lives.
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The following article talks about a study of over 2000 people, showing how 47% of the time people are dwelling in the past or the future rather than attending to the present moment. It also showed that when we are present we are happier, even if what we are doing is unpleasant!.
A wandering mind is not a happy mind (Killingsworth and Gilbert).
