Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program By Sandy Williams

Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment with acceptance and with compassion. This 8-week program is designed to help you cope more effectively with family, work and financial stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, pain and illness. The program is for anyone who would like to relate more consciously and compassionately to the challenges of their lives. The group meets Wednesday evenings for 2 ½ hours and also for one full day session. In a supportive group environment, you are introduced to and practice mindful meditation.

Like many, I was drawn to mindfulness meditation to support me to cope with work related stress and depression. At that time, I felt quite isolated and victimized by my circumstances and I experienced highly charged negative thoughts. As I practiced mindfulness I came to slowly recognize that the thoughts did not fully represent what was happening nor did they define who I was. Over time I noticed a lightness and friendliness towards myself gradually emerging. Although, the progress was gradual it was enough to hook me into a commitment to integrate mindfulness into my life.

Throughout the years of practice, mindfulness has supported me to regain my center and balance of the mind time and time again. As I intentionally slow down and practice present moment awareness with acceptance, I experience moments of clarity which allow me to let go of both the black and white distorted thinking and the story line of blame that habitually arises as a way of dealing with fear and insecurity. It has supported and continues to support a positive perceptional shift in my relationship to life's challenges and successes.

One of my teachers, Kathlyn Hendricks, uses the image of a garden hose flowing with water to represent what she refers to as ease and flow. Everything flows through the same hose including our hopes, our dreams, our dark and light thoughts, our emotions and sensations. If we kink the hose, as a way of avoiding what is unpleasant we run the risk of missing the pleasant moments. This tendency to kink the hose, by repressing, denying or trying to fix and change internal states that are undesirable, is understandable within the context of our lives. We simply want relief and need compassion for ourselves around this habit energy. As we create the supportive conditions for honest reflection we tap into our wisdom, a deep understanding of the futility and the suffering that is created for ourselves and those around us when we kink the hose.

At the heart of the practice is compassionate awareness of the present moment as it unfolds. My experience has been that as practitioners of mindfulness we set a wise intention for mindful living and then we drift (I drift). We kink the hose by getting swept away by thoughts of the past and of the future, by trying to get our own way, by judgment, by worry, by dissatisfaction, by the story line of blame and victimization.... That simply is what happens for whatever reasons. Mindfulness practice is noticing the drift and recommitting to being with life, not how we would like it but as it actually is, without giving ourselves a hard time for drifting.

As a member of a community of wonderful facilitators, both past and present, of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs in Ottawa we are not trying to create any special states other than practicing being with what is in any given moment. Although, paradoxically, it has been our experience that when we let go of trying to get somewhere we experience deep states of relaxation and deep feelings of appreciation, a natural byproduct of the practice.

The opportunity to facilitate a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program is very dear to me as it gives participants the opportunity and the tools to do something for themselves that no one else can do for them. How freeing is that? You don't have to have all your life in order although you to do need a willingness to honestly reflect on what is. I invite you to begin where you are right now by taking a moment to practice this simple check in meditation. You can practice this for 3 to 5 minutes or longer if you wish. Below are the instructions.

Start by closing your eyes or softening your gaze. You can take two or three smooth calm deep breaths. Stay connected to and present to the physical sensations created by the in breath and the out breath.... Allow the breath to return to normal, whatever that is for you.... And now give your full care and attention to what is happening in the mind and body. Notice with acceptance what it is you are experiencing in the body, at the level of bare physical sensations....... Temperature, tingling, vibration, tension...... Notice now what you are thinking.... Notice the flavour of the mind without judging it as good or bad. Dull, awake, agitated, calm... Being with your experience, with acceptance and with compassion.........

To bring the brief check in meditation to a graceful closure you can again take one or two deep breaths..... Take a moment to feel the grounding points in your body... For example, your feet making contact with the floor or your bottom on the chair if you are sitting...... And very gradually in your own sweet time open your eyes. As best as you can take this same level of care and attention and attitude into the rest of your day.

This brief check in meditation can be done anywhere or anytime; when you notice you have drifted and have been operating on automatic pilot, to support a shift into the present moment. If you do this brief practice with curiosity, openness, acceptance, honesty and love you will be doing it in the spirit it is intended. And it is my wish for you that you relate to yourself in a kinder and gentler way. May you be loved, happy, safe and protected.

Sandy Williams, MSW is a registered social worker in independent counselling practice working with adolescents and adults and has been leading Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction programs since 1999. She has participated in the professional training program under the direction of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn. Her next program commences Wednesday October 14 to December 2nd from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. with the full day portion on Saturday November 21st from 9:30 to 3:00. The program will be held at the Fourth Avenue Baptist Church If you would like further instruction in the check in meditation she offers a free telephone consultation. She can be reached at (613) 371-0795 or by emailing sandra.williams@sympatico.ca to schedule your free session and/or to talk further about the program.