New Medicine Group

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Meditation and Mindfulness training (MBSR)

Mindfulness based meditation techniques have been proved highly effective in enabling people to become happier, to improve quality of life and reduce symptoms such as chronic pain. There has now been more than 25 years of modern research into Mindfulness. The studies report:

Dramatic reductions in pain levels and an enhanced ability to cope with pain that may not go away
Dramatic decreases of anxiety, depression, hostility and the tendency to somatize
More effective skills in managing stress
An increased ability to relax
Greater energy and enthusiasm for life
Improved self-esteem
An ability to cope more effectively with both short and long-term stressful situations

Refer to this website for extensive research references:
http://www.mindfullivingprograms.com/relatedresearch.php

Stefan Chmelik on Meditation and Mindfulness training (MBSR)

Stress is a much used and abused word these days. A certain amount of "stress" is needed for all of us, to provide motivation and creativity. However, the level and nature of stress that so many people are under today is quite unnatural, and leads directly to a number of common symptoms and problems, as well as us being much less effective in our lives generally.

Learning to stress-manage is not so much a luxury as a necessity now, and there are a number of ways in which this can be achieved, some of which are done to you, and others, which you are taught how to do to yourself.

Stefan Chmelik uses Mindfulness and MBSR to teach stress management. This comes from his own meditation practice of 25 years, through extended silent Vipassana retreats and several years spent working with a Buddhist Masters, including Ajahn Sumedho, Abbot of Amaravati Buddhist Monastery. He has completed the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme (MBSR) training.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an integrative, mind-body based approach that helps people change the way they think and feel about their experiences, especially stressful or traumatic ones.

The Mental Health Foundation believes that techniques such as mindfulness and meditation, could help prevent depression relapses in sufferers. MBSR is applicable to a range of other health problems, and research is ongoing. Those include: anxiety, chronic fatigue syndrome, eating disorders. MBSR programmes have now been acknowledged by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) as being effective for depression and other anxiety states.

"I need to thank you very much for your suggestion of Mindfulness practice. After that initial tricky start I seem to be doing OK! Stress levels have gone down enormously, which may also be attributable to the change in nature of my symptoms. And I am experiencing a shift in clarity, focus and responsibility that is entirely due to the regularity of practice. Fantastic - I'm so pleased, so thank you very much indeed in leading me by the nose into this! A friend had suggested Mindfulness a while ago - but I wasn't listening"

Jane Morrell, Ashburton, Devon