Mindfulness for Health | Sheffield IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies)

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Due to the current situation relating to COVID-19 this course isn’t currently running, we would encourage you to contact us on 0114 271 6568 to arrange a telephone appointment with one of our workers to look at the options currently available.

What is it?

Mindfulness for Health is a free 9 week course which has been developed to help people living with the effects of physical health conditions.

This course teaches simple mindfulness meditation practices which you can build into daily life, to help you to manage and live with your health condition and reduce problems such as stress, anxiety, low mood and pain. The course is taught in a small group by NHS Professionals who are trained and experienced mindfulness teachers.

Please note that this course is only suitable for people with a physical health condition. If you don’t have a health condition, please find information about our ‘First Steps in Mindfulness’ course HERE.

Self-Help Resources

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Free Mindfulness

Provides an introduction to mindfulness and free exercises which can be downloaded and played on your phone, tablet or PC. There is a video on the site which gives a very good insight into how mindfulness can make a difference in people’s lives.

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Headspace (Iphone and android app)

An easy to use and down to earth introduction to mindfulness which can help you establish a daily mindfulness practice. Provides 10 x 10 minute mindfulness exercises. The app offers a subscription service for further daily practices, but you don’t need to subscribe to keep using the first 10 exercises for free.

Who is it suitable for?

The course is suitable for people with a physical health condition, including those with pain, fatigue or reduced mobility. To benefit fully, it is important that you are able to attend the 9 sessions and complete the home practice tasks.

What can I expect from these sessions?

The 9 weekly sessions will give you a practical introduction to mindfulness meditation so that you can explore its benefits for your own physical and mental well-being. You will receive a course handbook and access to audio recordings of mindfulness exercises to support your learning and home practice.

Venues are chosen to be as accessible as possible for people with reduced mobility, including accessible toilet facilities. We will always do our best to adapt the course to meet the needs of everyone who is taking part (for example, we can arrange more frequent breaks or modify movement exercises).

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What does each session involve?

The course teaches mindfulness through simple meditation practices. Each session will introduce one or two new practices. Time will be given for the group to discuss their experience of the exercises and to explore ways of building mindfulness into everyday life. Participants can chose to listen rather than take part in the discussion if they prefer. Each weekly session lasts for 2.5 hours, with regular breaks.

Home practice is an important part of the course and you will be invited to repeat exercises at home on most days throughout the eight weeks. You will need to commit 20-40 minutes per day for home practice to benefit fully from the course.

The following mindfulness exercises will be explored:

Paying attention to the sensations we notice in all the different parts of the body in turn. This is usually done lying down, but can also be done sitting or standing.

We introduce a variety of gentle movements and stretches which can be done in lying, sitting or standing positions. The emphasis is on noticing how our body feels as it moves, although the gentle movement can also help to reduce stiffness and muscle tension.

Paying attention to a particular focus such as the breath or sounds. We try to notice whenever our mind wanders away and gently bring our attention back as often as we need to.

We bring attention to what we are doing right now in an everyday activity (such as walking, making a drink or eating) bringing our attention back whenever we notice that it has wandered.

helping hands hand heart sheffield iapt working together to improve your wellbeing How will this help me?

Through mindfulness exercises, we can learn to tune in to how our body really feels, which can help us to know more clearly what it needs. We can also learn how to relate to uncomfortable sensations, such as pain or other health symptoms, in a new way so that they cause us less distress.

Mindfulness also helps us to notice our thinking and how this affects our emotions, our behaviour and our health symptoms. With practice, we can learn how to let go of unhelpful thinking and develop new ways of looking after ourselves.

For more Information about this course, download the Mindfulness for Health Information Pack.

Clinical trials show that regular Mindfulness meditation is linked with:

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Reduced anxiety, stress, depression, fatigue and irritability

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Reduced experience of pain

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Improved immune system function and reduced inflammation

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Improved heart and circulatory health through reducing blood pressure and the risk of hypertension

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Improved control of blood sugar in type II diabetes

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Improved skin clearing rates in psoriasis

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