Life is for living! Meet Jenny

Jenny McNeill-Fletcher finds mindfulness practice helps her stay in the present moment and reduce stress

 Hi, I’m Jenny and I live in Ruislip, London, with my Husband and daughter. I’m a cake maker, running my own small business. In my spare time I enjoy doing yoga and reading, and I’ve had relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) for two years.

During the time of being diagnosed I started to look at ways I could remain fit and healthy to help me live well with my MS. I found the Over Coming MS programme, which incorporates meditation and mindfulness as part of its approach. Although I’d read up about meditation and had listened to many guided meditations online, I didn’t feel completely connected, additionally I was beginning to see and feel the negative effects stress had with my MS symptoms.

Last year while scrolling through Facebook I found by chance a post from MS-UK for the 8-week Introduction to Mindfulness Course, feeling this could perhaps help with my stress levels and give me a better understanding and connection with meditation I signed up for the introduction session. This was really helpful, and I instantly felt I would sign up for the course. I was still quite new to diagnosis and hadn’t really met many people with MS, so I had a level of anxiety with what to expect when joining the zoom sessions.

I started the Introduction to Mindfulness course in April last year and was instantly put at ease by the course leader, Phil Startin. The content was easy to follow and delivered in an open environment to allow us to be able to talk and ask any questions, the other group members were friendly and supportive of one another. We got on so well, and I would say we became friends. We started a WhatsApp group which is still going strong.

The title of this piece is Life is for Living, what I’ve taken from the mindfulness course is that practising mindfulness and being present in the moment has helped me to find ways to reduce my stress and see life a little more peacefully. I have made friends and through their shared experiences I have seen life with MS is OK and that you can live well after diagnosis.

Sign up to MS-UK’s portal to find out more about our mindfulness and meditation activities.