Tuesday 26 March at 10am
This introduction session is a taster of the eight-week mindfulness course, allowing for those who are interested in finding out more about mindfulness before committing to a course.
As part of our introductory series, we will be hosting an introductory workshop on mindfulness ahead of our new Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course starting in April 2024.
This introductory workshop will give you an overview of what mindfulness is, the benefits it can have (particularly for those with multiple sclerosis (MS)), the evidence behind its use, and how mindfulness can be used to manage stress, anxiety and symptoms of MS.
Our mindfulness practitioner, Phil Startin, will provide information on our specially designed mindfulness course for those living with MS, along with guiding a short practice together. He will signpost you to useful resources guiding you where to go next, including letting you know more about our full MBSR eight-week course and our shorter four-week courses.
This session is free to attend, with an option to provide a donation amount.
The introductory session will last for around 40 minutes and allow for questions at the end.
Weeks 1 – 3 Beginning to practice and developing awareness
Weeks 4 – 6 Awareness of stress and our reactions
Weeks 7 – 8 Preparing for the future
Before starting this course, it is worth considering the following points
For this MS-UK MBSR course, we have made some modifications to the standard MBSR course to make it even more relevant and helpful to those with MS, including an additional session on lifestyle changes.
I’m excited to be leading the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) courses for MS-UK. Living myself with PPMS for over 14 years, I’ve been practicing mindfulness meditation for over a decade now, and have gone from being really quite sceptical of it (“hippy tree-hugging” was my view of meditation before I started), to being an important part of my life and a really positive contribution to my health and well-being, which is why I started teaching mindfulness.
Mindfulness has also helped me deal with some of the symptoms of MS. I think regardless of when you were diagnosed and where you are on your MS journey, typically those of us with MS need to deal with the unpredictability of the course of the condition in terms of disease activity and relapses, as well as progression. But we also have to deal with the wide-ranging uncertainty around future physical and cognitive levels, with the associated impact that these will have on many aspects of our life – dealing with loss of function and the impact this has on our hobbies and careers, and how it affects our relationships – with our partners and family, and our friends.
For this MS-UK MBSR course we have made some modifications to the standard MBSR course to make it even more relevant and helpful to those of us with MS, including a whole new session on lifestyle changes. The feedback from the first courses has been very positive, and I’d be delighted if you could join me for an introductory talk about mindfulness.
To join this session, please login or register in our Portal area. The session is free to join if you have a monthly or year subscription. You do not need a subscription to join, as you can register and provide a donation for the class. The suggested amount for the class is £5. If you unable to make a donation, please contact us to see how you can access the online classes.
A recording will be made available on the portal after the class and can be viewed if you have purchased a ticket either before or after the class has taken place.
If you would like to know more or you are having trouble registering, please contact us at register@ms-uk.org.
Please see the feedback below from the participants of our previous courses
