"It has been really helpful to realize I am not alone in being caught up in head/worrying/ruminating – even though rationally I know other people have similar issues - it has been really helpful to hear other people talk about their experiences. This has helped quieten my ‘there’s something wrong with me’ voice a little!”

8 Week Course Participant - October 2021 

Allowing myself to be at peace with difficult thoughts or to experience difficult thoughts; suppressing, ignoring, running away from or distracting yourself repetitively or as strategy for dealing with things both in the long and short term is like bottling hornets in jar you have to open (they just get angrier and angrier, and you have to open the jar [the jar being life]).  Finding a different strategy to deal with these in a constructive way.  (Less head in the sand approach)

Getting better at seeing the positive and good in everyday experience.  The tidy house or hoovered floor as well as the moon rising over a river.  In this way I might not have to chase the clearly beautiful to get my fix of good."

8 Week Course Participant - October 2021 

“I feel I have more tools to help me when I need them and feel in a better place to cope with the day to day stresses.  The 3 step breathing exercise is probably the one which works best for me as it grounds me when I feel things getting out of control at work, it re-focusses my attention so I don’t fall to pieces with the workload that’s put in front of me.”

8 Week Course Participant - October 2021 

It has come at the perfect time - while returning to work after a long period of sickness due to burnout and anxiety. I have used the space and structure to build my return to work on. 

It also gave me a focus and purpose. Since at work, it gave me a structure around which to look after myself, and was a tangible way to show myself and others that I am looking after myself and trying to be more skilful doing so..”

8 Week Course Participant - October 2021 

“When I approached this course I was in that state of really being caught in that vicious cycle of letting things pile up, letting my worries and anxieties build up, perceive my negative thoughts as fact, and as a consequence feeling really down about them. I had completely lost sight of myself and this was causing me to kind of float through life  very sensitive to any external and internal criticism, or bad event that would happen. I felt i just couldn’t cope.  It was all just too much. During the 8 weeks, I slowly started to look at myself again. At first I was beating myself up for not doing the practice perfectly, and that is when it hit me; how I had fallen into the (familiar) pattern of perfectionism. What helped me the most was the message of for example, ‘bring back the mind when it wanders’ but accepting that it will wander, ‘and not trying to reach a certain state”

8 Week Course Participant - October 2021 

“The MBCT course has liberated me - it has given me permission to feel, and to question and to respond. The course has facilitated a journey of self-development and self-discovery, of autonomy and dignity. I am confident of this continuing into the future..”

8 Week Course Participant - October 2021 

“I would absolutely recommend the course and would tell someone wishing to do it to make time for it, and to make sure to attend the silent morning.”

8 Week Course Participant - October 2021 

'I am learning to stop and observe what is going on in  my mind and consider how I would like to respond to situations'

Course participant

'The course followed a very clear structure in terms of the different theme that is looked at each week in class and the different practices of mindfulness. I found the theory very thought provoking and beneficial. Although I found it challenging at times to do the practices at home, the guided mindfulness meditations were good and easy to engage with.'

Course participant

'The course has given me an awareness of how the practice can benefit me in coping with difficulties and frustrations of life. It combines an understanding of how and why we react or behave in certain ways. I find the meditation practice helps to create an awareness of 'being' in the present without the intrusion of thinking about the past or planning for the future.'

Course participant

'I feel I am leaving with a mindfulness toolbox I can use moving forward.  Thank you!'

Course participant 

'I just wanted to say thank you for the course, I really enjoyed it and found you to be a very lovely teacher! I will definitely continue and ride out the difficulties that arise, I'm optimistic that I will reap the benefits in the long term.'

Course participant