New Beginnings.

Please post your mindfulness stories here and your story might also feature on our blog (with your permission). You can also introduce yourself here. We want to create a library of mindful journeys and experiences.
Emma J
Posts: 2
Practice Mindfulness Since: 25 Jan 2018

Thu Jan 25, 2018 1:33 pm  

H There.
My name is Emma.After many stressful years and suffering from Anxiety and Agoraphobia i am now ready to start living a more peaceful relaxing and more fulfilling life.
I have written a list of things that will help me achieve this and Mindfulness is very high up on it.
Do you have any tips/advice please?
I am very excited to be starting this journey as i feel like i deserve a new start.
I have just moved up to the Scottish Highlands from a busy city some 600 miles away so already feel much calmer.
Hope to hear from you.
Have a great day.
Emma J.

JonW
Team Member
Posts: 2897
Practice Mindfulness Since: 08 Dec 2012
Location: In a field, somewhere

Fri Jan 26, 2018 9:37 am  

Hi Emma,
Welcome to the forum.
Regarding mindfulness, the most important thing is that you get a firm grounding in the practice. Some kind of structured approach is highly recommended.
One option is to follow an 8-week course via a book. The one I usually recommend is Finding Peace In A Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman.
An even better option is to find a teacher. Maybe there are options in your local area. If not, and I imagine options are limited in the Scottish Highlands, please feel free to PM me and I can talk you through some online options, including the online course that I run.
If, at any time, you have any questions, we will endeavour to do our best to answer them here on the forum. It's what we are here for, so please fire away.
All good things,
Jon
Jon leads the Everyday Mindfulness group meditation on Zoom every Monday/Friday, 6pm London-time. FREE.
Follow this link to join the WhatsApp group and receive notifications: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K5j5deTvIHVD7z71H3RIIk

Emma J
Posts: 2
Practice Mindfulness Since: 25 Jan 2018

Fri Jan 26, 2018 6:14 pm  

Hi Jon.
Thank you, looks like a good forum.
Ok i will check out the book, yes i am not sure how easy it will be for me to find a teacher in my area.
And maybe yes an online course might be good for me too, can you please message me with some courses?
Many thanks.
Emma.

MiM
Posts: 122
Practice Mindfulness Since: 0- 5-2015

Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:54 am  

Hi Emma,

I am not coming from a background of anxiety or phobia, so these views are on basic mindfulness, but maybe you can find them useful anyway.

I started out with a teaser 1/2-course and then continued with the free online Palouse mindfulness course <https://palousemindfulness.com/>. I found that course a good starting point, it goes through many of the same things as the book by Williams and Penman mentioned by John above.

From there I continued to follow material on the net (youtube) and read books by teachers like Kabat-Zinn, Eckhardt Tolle, Tara Brach, Pema Chödrön, Ajahn Brahm and so forth, there really is a great wealth of material even for free on the net for those who go out looking. Some of them come at it from a Buddhist tradition, but that's where Mindfulness originates, so I don't see that as a bad thing. I have also found using a meditation timer, like the one in the Insight app (android or i-) quite useful.

So to summarize, as John is pointing out above it is probably important and good to start with a structured (8 week) course, either with a teacher, book or online, but after that there is a wealth to explore. Good luck!
Stands at the sea, wonders at wondering: I a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe.
-Richard Feynman-

User avatar
Gareth
Site Admin
Posts: 1465

Wed Jan 31, 2018 2:33 pm  

Hi Emma. Welcome to the site. :D

Keep posting, and we'll do our best to help you get a mindfulness practice off the ground.

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