Mindfulness at Clare
A way of coping with stress and anxiety
Life, particularly Cambridge life, is full of stresses: work, finance, relationships, social life, not enough time... Stresses are ever present, and often it’s impossible to change the external circumstances that trigger them, but if you can change the way you respond to them in yourself, they can be managed better and felt less acutely. Mindfulness is a more focused and clearer awareness of life experiences as they pass, and of your emotional and mental processes in response to them. It gives you more choice and control, and at the same time it has the potential to enrich life and make it more vivid and fulfilling. Although it takes time to learn and practice it, it also gives time back: it can make you more efficient and give you more energy.
Mindfulness workshops
The aim of these courses is two-fold:
- to give people a taste of meditation and mindfulness and the principles behind them. They include a range of different meditation techniques, including some which take a couple of minutes, or can be done while getting on with some other activity.
- to think about the ways in which stress develops, and ways to avoid or reduce it and to deal with it when it’s present. We discuss processes and strategies, not the specifics of problems. These are not therapy groups!
I have practised and taught mindfulness meditation for many years, and as a tutor and DOS in Clare I also have a lot of experience of talking to stressed students. I've found that thinking through the problems, and the strategies for dealing with them can make a very helpful difference, and adding in mindfulness techniques makes a bigger difference still. People who did these courses last year (or at least the people who gave me feedback on them) found they were able to use some of what they had learnt to real effect.
The courses consist of four one-hour-long sessions, with an additional 10-minute individual session once during the course to give people an opportunity to discuss any questions they have about their own practice in more detail than is possible in a group. It's best if people can come to all the sessions, but not obligatory. There is also some homework: meditation practice for three minutes a day or more when possible, and some questions to attend to in relation to stress.
Workshops for students
I will be not be running a workshop this term (Easter 2012), but I will be holding a couple of sessions for people who have already done a workshop. Please contact me at mh1001@cam.ac.uk if you are interested.
Workshops for Fellows and staff
A workshop for staff started on 10 January. If you didn't sign up for it but are interested, contact me.
Resources
10 minute breathing meditation
Computer breaks: these are freely downloadable programmes which regularly remind you to take a break from the computer, good for both body and mind
Mac: http://www.dejal.com/timeout/
PC: http://download.cnet.com/Pop-Up-Relaxation-Reminder/3000-2350_4-10977387.html?tag=mncol;6
Meditation bell (for adding into a computer break)
A body scan meditation: good for mindfulness in general, and especially insomnia: http://www.archive.org/details/MCullenBodyScanMeditation
If you have any questions about any of the above contact me: Rachael Harris rmh1001@cam.ac.uk.