In our January workshop, Psychologist, Anastasia Dailiani from the Anxiety Trust taught us about mindfulness and compassion. Mindfulness is based on 'being' in the moment. Focusing solely on what is happening now rather than worrying about the future or past. Everyone innately has this skill but most people need to practice mindfulness because it is incredibly hard to be in the present without being distracted.
Many of us only associate meditation and breathing with mindfulness but there are several ways to incorporate this practice into your life. Anastasia talked about the various techniques she uses with her own clients to encourage being mindful. She spoke about using all of our five senses to ground us in the present. She also touched on visualization, mindful movements, and journaling. All of which are able to be used anywhere at any given time. Attached below are worksheets that explain how to learn these techniques.
The workshop also focused on compassion. Miss Dailiani discussed the power and benefits of compassion, a concept based on evolutionary psychology and a Buddhist view. Learning to be kind to ourselves, others, and receiving kindness from others. This was an incredibly interesting topic as many of us agreed that we struggled with receiving kindness from others or being kind to ourselves. Attached are some very useful worksheets if you would like to read more.
This was a very interesting session and one everyone benefited from. Everything we learned was practical and skills that we can use for life. If you would like further information about the Anxiety Trust click here.
Worksheets and presentation notes:
- Changing Your Critical Self Talk
- Supportive Touch
- Compassion - Self talk
- Microbreaks
- Presentation - Mindfulness and Compassion
