Often mindfulness is thought of as a way of being able to be ‘in the moment’, setting aside anxieties about the past or the future, and being grounded in the present.
There is now growing evidence of the benefits of ‘Mindfulness-Based Interventions’ (MBI) in alleviating stress and anxiety. MBIs have shown that they can enable people with multiple sclerosis (MS) to live well with symptoms such as pain and fatigue. People practising mindfulness carry less anxiety and stresses about their health condition.
Mindfulness practices can be developed in the community, online, or through self-taught methods. Mindfulness has become popular in recent years and there are practitioners in most communities. There is an array of online resources that may be able to help. The Oxford Mindfulness Foundation is a charitable not-for-profit organisation with a mission to introduce evidence-based mindfulness in all areas of society. They offer podcasts, and guided practise sessions, free online mindfulness sessions courses and more.
Although any mindful practice is better than none, it has been shown in studies that most benefit is gained through condition-specific support facilitated by people with knowledge about the relevant condition.
MS-UK deliver two types of mindfulness courses. Our eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course and our four-week mindfulness course. They run throughout the year.
The four-week course has been designed to provide an introduction to mindfulness for people with MS. The course allows participants to begin developing the skills to practise mindfulness for all the benefits it can have.
The eight-week course is a little more intensive and asks for a few more learning and time commitments including homework (practising meditation outside of class time).
