Hi was just wondering if anyone has tried or practices mindfullness? The more I have read about it the more it appeals. I’m not sure it can reduce relapses like I have read but think it could help with stress and anxieties. Anybody got any experience? Thanks
I’ve been wondering about this so would be interested also in your responses. X x x
Also didn’t mean to tick the anon box, force of habit-see a box tick it!
Hi Laura,
I’ve done it and my experience has been really good. I got referrred by my councellor onto an eight week course. It really, really relaxes you and helps you to cope with stress. It takes sometime to get into it but once you do it is really good.
Try this; https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mindfulness-meditations-mark/id429733506. Try the second one, it is all about breathing. To begin with, count to four on breathing in and out. This will stop your mind from wandering.
Hope that this helps,
Adrian x
Thanks Adrian, that’s really helpfull. I am due to see a counsellor soon not because i am particuarly stressed or depressed, but it was offered to me and i know from previous experience how helpful it can be. I will mention it to them and see if there is a course near me. Thanks for the tip on avoiding my mind from wandering - seems it’s all it does these days!
Laura x
my cbt therapist is getting me to try it at the moment, trying to find time to do it is another matter but im trying, i hope it works tho
Hi Laura,because the Pain Clinic at Walton Neuro in Liverpool have nothing to help me other than the drugs I’ve been playing pick’n’mix with for 4-5 years they’rereferring me to the Psychologists for CBT to help me with atrocious neuropathetic pain.I’m not discounting anything,but I’ll be mentioning ‘Sheer Bloody Mindfullness’ to see what they’ve got to say.
Cognitive Behavourial Therapy doesn’t appear to be used much for pain relief,but I’ll try anything and who knows the Psycho might be a she,single,cute 50ish and not fussy.That would be a distraction.If I find out anything relevant I’ll cobble something together and stick it on here,
Wb x
Hi
I took part in a small 8-week long study that was funded by the MS Society last year into the effects of minfulness. I loved it and have regularly kept it up since. I find it really helpful for pain management as well as things like stress and emotional well-being.
The study focussed on the importance of noticing things just as they are, and letting go of the desire to try & change them. The idea of it doesn’t sound like it would help, and if anything could make things worse. At first this definitely felt like the case. Sometimes I would be doing a meditation when my leg was in pain & spasming, and normally I would do something to try & relieve it or distract myself. Simply noticing how leg was feeling was pretty tortuous at first. However, I soon got into it, and for some reason my experience of the spasms got better.
It can be easy for to say I am in pain. But actually, that’s not true. My leg is in pain, and not even my whole leg - it’s just a small bit of my leg. And the feeling of the pain isn’t even constant - it comes & goes (and always eventually goes). The rest of my body is feeling all kinds of other things. The analogy I found for it was like looking at a map,& I’ll try explain it as best as I can. The pain in my leg is like a street on the map. But by noticing all the other areas of my body, it’s like zooming out of the map, and the street becomes much smaller relative to everythng else. Alternatively though, you can explore the feeling of the pain, and that’s like zooming into the map - I notice all this extra detail.
With thoughts & emotions, I could find it easy to get lost in them, and feel overwhelmed by them. However, by observing what I was thinking, feeling or worrying about, and the effect that was subsequently having on my body, it somehow allowed me to take a step back & remove myself from the situation, and to choose to not get so caught up in stuff. The analogy I used to describe that when I was on the study was like being on a ship during a storm - I’d be getting tossed about by the waves, and feel seasick as a result. However by being mindful of what I was feeling or stories I was telling myself, it was like removing my consciousness from the ship & I could observe what was going on. The ship would still be tossing about, but because my consciousness was somehow removed from the situation, I’d stop feeling seasick.
I hope those analogies make sense & don’t sound daft! The study I was on has since been rolled out, and you can volunteer to take part here if you have progressive MS - http://www.mssociety.org.uk/ms-research/get-involved-research/be-in-a-study#MBCT
Another website where you can try it is this one here - http://www.getsomeheadspace.com/. There’s a ‘Take10’ programme on it you can try for free, which is ten 10 minute long meditations.
The breathing tip Adrian gave can be helpful for if your mind is wandering. However, sometimes though I’d say it’s impossible to stop your mind from wandering. It’s like you can never completely stop your mind from having thoughts. The trick though is to simply notice when & where your mind has wandered,then bring the attention back to the breathing or whatever it is you’re being mindful of.
I’m intrigued that you’ve read claims that it could help stop relapses. If stress was causing relapses then it should help, but other than that I don’t see how. Still, I think it’s case & highly recommend it.
Let us know how you get on with it (and apologies for such a long rambling reply!)
Dan
If this is any help, the book that covered a large part of the course I did was, “The Mindful Way through Depression” “Freeing yourself from chronic Unhappiness” by Mark Williams, John Teasdale, Zindle segal and Jon Kabat-Zin. It Comes in the form of a paperback with a CD to guide you through the basics of Mindful meditation, it is available from Amazon. I found it to be a great reference book throughout the course. I have continued to explore Mindfulness, I practice it everyday with great benefit it is a wonderful tool to have when in pain or feeling low. Chris
Hi Owen, hope it starts to work for you, know how hard it can be finding time for things. Gets to the evenings and all I want to do is sleep! Good luck x Hi Dan thanks for that, it did make sense to me even at 10am on a Saturday! I have rrms so not eligible for the study. I am sure there is something near me I can do just wanted to see how others had found it! I read some mad anecdoteal ramblings on tinternet that claimed since they started practising they have had no relapses and are not using any meds. If it’s true good luck to them, I personally have my doubts! X Wobbly boy hope that it helps in some way, let me know how you get on. I will keep my fingers crossed for that attractive,single nurse for you! Couldn’t get a better distraction than that I’m sure! X
Hi
Yes I practice mindfullness. It does help for stress and also help a person to cope. A neuropsycologist arranged for me to go on to the hospital website and practice mindfullness.
I have not seen any classes to attend yet, but I am still looking
Dee
Dan, when you make a recommendation on this kind of thing, I pay attention - you always have clear-eyed and thoughtful words to offer. This website looks really interesting - thanks.
Alison
x
i went on a mindfulness course at trafford ms therapy centre.
it was great and although i havent kept it up i have all the cds ready to start again
it is also available at the manchester buddhist centre but was expensive. the ms therapy centre offered a subsidised course.
carole x
Yes, I went on a Mindfulness Course at the John Radcliffe in Oxford, and I have the book by Jon Kabat Zinn ‘Full Catastrophe Living’. What I hadn’t realised befoehand is that you need to develop your own ‘practice’ ie, make time and space in your day to meditate, and this has been difficult as I work and am v busy. However I have learnt the technique and could do it, which I’d like to return to. I agree with all the other positive comments above, and recommend enrolling on a course if you get the opportunity.
B x
I’ve been on a taster session through work but sadly the course was expensive and clashed with our weekly leadership meeting. I have bought Mindfulness by Mark Williams and Danny Penman. It’s hard to find the time every day when you work full time, often have to bring work home and have 2 kids under 10. Excuses, excuses. Note to self - stop procrastinating. I hope the positive comments on here will spur me on. Thanks.
one more thing, perhaps the most important, is that it teaches us to live in the moment.
focus on the here and now, don’t weep for the past
a good lesson to learn
carole x