Did you know anyone can say they are a mindfulness teacher regardless of their training or background?  This can lead to ineffective or harmful mindfulness teaching resulting in a lack of confidence in the profession.  The UK Mindfulness Network for Mindfulness-Based Teacher Training Organisations, comprising of the leading mindfulness teacher training programmes in the UK including Oxford, Exeter and Bangor Universities, are tackling this by developing a voluntary database of teachers who have met their Good Practice Guidelines for teaching mindfulness-based courses.

I am interested in Mindfulness and Healthy Ageing.  Partly because I am ageing, but mainly because I am seeing more post-retirement people signing up for the 8 Week Mindfulness Course, often based on their doctor’s recommendation.  These life-rich class participants have included the newly retired right up to the age of 89.  It is heartening to see them embracing the concept of caring for their physical and mental wellbeing.

At the end of the 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course I ask each person to reflect on what mindfulness has given them.  Some prefer to keep their comments private but many give permission to share their comments anonymously to help others understand the…

There I was, lying on my back, having a few mindful minutes in the middle of a busy, family filled weekend day.  I was enjoying the warm sun, listening to the wind rustling through the leaves and marvelling at the changing trees…… when this little head pops into view.  Does anyone else experience that instant feeling of irritation and then instant guilt at irritation when small people interrupt the few moments you’ve found for yourself?  And then guilt for feeling you needed a few minutes for yourself in the first place.  You see where I’m going.  It doesn’t feel very mindful.

I’m currently training for a half marathon.  I often let my mind wander when I run as, let’s face it, running is boring and thinking is a good distraction.  However, at some point on the longer runs I will start to suffer and no matter how hard I try not to think about my painful (insert any body part) I will: