Mindfulness for stress (eight-week course)

Our Mindfulness for Stress consists of eight two-hour group sessions, where there will be guided mindfulness practice and theoretical teachings. Each week participants are taught a number of different mindfulness meditation practices that can be incorporated into daily life to relieve pain, reduce stress and aid general wellbeing.

In between sessions you will be able to practise at home by using the CD's which will be given at week one. We estimate that the home practise will take approximately 20 minutes per day. The home practise forms an important part of the programme and there will be an opportunity in each session to talk about your experiences of these practices.

Benefits of mindfulness

Thousands of peer-reviewed scientific papers prove that mindfulness reduces pain, enhances mental and physical wellbeing and helps people deal with the stresses and strains of daily life. Here are a few of the main findings:

• Mindfulness can dramatically reduce pain and the emotional reaction to it.
• Clinical trials show that mindfulness improves mood and quality of life in chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia and lower-back pain, in chronic functional disorders such as IBS, and in challenging medical illnesses, including multiple sclerosis and cancer.
• Mindfulness improves working memory, creativity, attention span and reaction speeds. It also enhances mental and physical stamina and resilience.
• Meditation improves emotional intelligence. 
• Mindfulness is a potent antidote to anxiety, stress, depression exhaustion and irritability. In short, regular meditators are happier and more contented, while being far less likely to suffer from psychological distress.
• Mindfulness is at least as good as drugs or counselling for the treatment of clinical-level depression.
• Meditation enhances brain function. It increases grey matter in areas associated with self-awareness, empathy, self-control and attention. It soothes the parts of the brain that produce stress hormones and builds those areas that lift mood and promote learning. It even reduces some of the thinning of certain areas of the brain that naturally occurs with ageing.

References for the scientific papers detailing the above studies can be found in the 'references' section of the book 'Mindfulness for Health' by Vidyamala Burch and Danny Penman. All participants will be given this book at session one, which includes an audio CD of mindfulness meditations.

Meet your trainer

*Teresa Lewis* is the founder and Director of Lewis Psychology and a Senior Accredited psychotherapist with the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (MBACP Snr. Accred). She holds a Masters degree in counselling and psychotherapy and is a qualified EMDR Practitioner having completed training accredited with EMDR Europe. Teresa is also a trained adult educator and has lectured extensively in the field of counselling and psychotherapy.

Teresa first learned to meditate 24 years ago when at University and has found that a daily meditation practice has given her the emotional resilience and support to deal with the demands of running a successful business and managing a busy life. For several years Teresa has offered mindfulness informed psychotherapy under the supervision of Jody Mardula (Former Director of Bangor University’s Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice). Teresa has completed her Mindfulness teacher training with Breathworks and will complete her advanced teacher training in January 2015; her training to date has been lead by Breathworks founder Gary Hennessey (also know as Ratnaguna), author of The Art of Reflection. Breathworks are participating members of the UK Network for Mindfulness Teacher Training Organisations.

Course Fee

The cost of attending the eight week programme is currently £150 and this includes a workbook and audio CD's.

How to book

To book your place on our eight week Mindfulness for Stress course please telephone our Wolverhampton practice on 01902 827808 to request a booking from.

Further information

Please visit our mindfulness webpage:

http://www.lewispsy.org.uk/services/mindfulness_for_stress_wolverhampton/