Self Compassion- How to Build Resilience during the Covid Pandemic 2020

October 15, 2020/in Mindfulness and Self Compassion, News/by Emma Dunn

Compassion-An Introduction.

I first began learning about compassion through the work of Paul Gilbert.

Through Gilbert’s work I have learnt that being compassionate is something that we are born with. He says it is important in the regulation of our emotions. He describes our motivational system as 3-fold:

We are motivated to avoid danger and harm;
We are motivated to get rewards, and pleasure
We are motivated to seek out comfort and connection.

Compassion fits into this final category. When we are compassionate to ourselves and to others we feel safe and connected.

Compassion is a difficult thing to fully understand and define. We are tempted to think of it as kindness or empathy. Kristin Neff has been interested in compassion since 1997 and devoted her career to understanding it. On her journey she has observed the benefits for herself and others and she now works with Christopher Germer developing courses such as their Mindful Self Compassion course. It wasn’t until I started the Mindful Self Compassion (MSC) course for myself that I realised how little self compassion I have and what it actually feels like to be cruel all the time to someone (me) who is only trying their best.

Although I still have a critical voice telling me how hopeless I am, I now recognise that I don’t need to believe this voice. When I go running this voice is constant-

‘I’m never getting any faster’, ‘why do I want to stop you’ve only just started’, ‘you ran better last week’, ‘other people are better than you’ and on and on.

Does this sound familiar? I am learning how to reply to this voice, maybe with….

‘you again ,hello’, ‘I am out running, not playing Candy Crush and that’s what counts’, ‘this is exhilarating even though it’s hard’.

It takes practice to offer words of kindness and acceptance.

Self-Compassion-3 Components (from Neff)

Neff has managed to pull apart self compassion into 3 areas. Each offers a different insight, and you might find you relate to one more than the others.

Self Kindness

It may seen odd but self kindness is only part of self compassion. Kindness and compassion are often used interchangeably but there is a difference. Compassion has an element of action attached to it.

Kindness is offering care and comfort for someone who is hurting. Self kindness is offering care to yourself when you are hurting. It is free from criticism and judgement. It is treating yourself as you would treat a friend who is in pain.

I have found learning to offer myself kindness when I am in a critical mode is challenging. Shifting the thoughts from ‘you made a pigs ear of that’ to ones of kindness ‘I know how much you tried. I can tell you are disappointed, I know you did your best. It is important to notice the emotion. Learning to understand the emotions that we feel and our reactions to them is part of mindfulness. Kindness is recognising tough emotions might be present and not dismissing them or pushing them away.

Our body actually changes when we receive kindness, levels of oxytocin increase and we feel calmer. Conversely when we are stressed the brain is less sensitive to these calming influences, so critical self talk actually creates more fear and more agitation.

Common Humanity

This is a reminder to ourselves that we don’t stand apart from other human beings, we are all the same, all prone to making mistakes, non of us is perfect. This is not self pity, which is when we feel sorry for ourselves, self pity separates us from others, which in itself causes loneliness and lack of connection. Self pity is ‘poor me’, ‘no-one has the same difficulties I do’, common humanity helps us feel connected, we all can feel these things. If you remember at the beginning I mention Gilbert’s work, he speaks of us being motivated to connect with others to feel safe, and belonging. Self compassion is an innate biological tool to keep us connected to others.

Common humanity also provides an antidote to one of societies cruel habits, that of continually encouraging us to compare ourselves with others-wealth, beauty, fitness, experiences, material possessions, intelligence. When we compare ourselves we often end up feeling inadequate, or not good enough. This comparison ‘game’ also decreases connection, to be better than someone we have to make that other person worse in our eyes.

In my running club I might often find myself looking for people who I can run faster than to help me feel good about myself. However, it offers more compassion to myself and to others if I am able to see them as also trying there hardest, and maybe unhappy with their speed. Straight away there is a sense of connection rather than disconnection.

Mindful Awareness

This is the third aspect of self compassion. Mindful awareness means bringing attention towards our experience, but without judgment. This helps us notice our pain, and offer ourselves self-compassion. So often we are reactive to our experience, or over identify with it. For example we may forget to do something, a variety of feelings may arise; frustration, guilt, annoyance, self pity. Mindful awareness is about noticing these, and allowing ourselves to recognise we didn’t ‘forget’ on purpose, the feelings may exist, however, we don’t need to feed them, through mindfulness we can recognise them and offer compassion, its ok, you didn’t forget on purpose. Forgetting doesn’t mean you are a failure, or never get things right, this is over identification.

Putting it into action-How to Build Resilience during the Covid Pandemic

Self-compassion may not come easily, and it can be quite overwhelming to receive kindness instead of judgement. If you begin to feel overwhelmed this is quite normal, as it can feel quite odd to accept yourself as worthy of love and kindness.

Things to try

Occasionally just pause from what you are doing and pay attention to the critical voice that might be in your head.
- Is it there? Do feelings arise from this voice?
- They are thoughts, they are not true
- Create an alternative voice that offers kindness
When you feel bad remind yourself that everyone has off days, everyone struggles with things. Perfection does not exist.
Meditation can be a way to recognise emotions and thoughts as they arise. You may want to start a meditation practice to help.
When you feel sadness or negativity be curious as to how a close friend might comfort you. See if you can be that close friend and offer yourself kind words of reassurance and acceptance.

We are struggling through tough times, the pandemic (Covid 19) is not easing. Resilience is waning for most of us. Self-compassion is a tool that can sustain us, it can rebuild resilience and reassure us that we are not alone, we are in this together.

Useful reading

The Mindful Self-Compassion workbook, A proven way to accept yourself, build inner strength and thrive. Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer Publ. Guildford press 2018

The Compassionate Mind. Paul Gilbert . Publ Constable 2013.

Useful Links

Self Compassion

The Compassionate Mind Foundation.

Book Review: Unshame- healing trauma-based shame through psychotherapy by Carolyn Spring

September 19, 2019/in Book Reviews, News/by Emma Dunn

Shame

Everyone has it

No-one wants to talk about it

But the less we talk about it

The more we have of it

Brene Brown

Overview

The author, Carolyn Spring, writes about her 9 years experience of psychotherapy. She focuses on her insights into her shame. Carolyn experienced extreme traumatic abuse during her childhood and has used her recovery and the knowledge she has acquired during and since this to support others. She tours with her training seminars supporting therapists, like myself and has researched, created and designed ‘psycho-educational tools’, books and on-line resources which help survivors of abuse.

In Unshame Carolyn neatly condenses years of therapy into discrete learning experiences, ranging from managing her dissociation to learning to trust present day experience.

Review

Carolyn’s clarity of thought comes through in her writing. As a therapist I have often struggled to fully understand how to help overcome shame. Having read Unshame I see that the functions of shame; to avoid connecting with others, avoid feeling worthy of help and keeping emotionally isolated are all quite disabling for any survivor, making recovery from shame very difficult to even contemplate let alone begin.

In her book Carolyn cleverly incorporates psychotherapeutic concepts, such as attachment, boundaries, pros and cons of physical contact, directive or non-directive work and what behavioural boundaries to apply. For the psychotherapist reader this can help consolidate or challenge their personal choice regarding working with clients suffering Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). This may put some readers off, but I felt it really useful to hear how Carolyn experienced different counsellors and their approach to her dissociating. Carolyn writes of her journey understanding her DID; it being an all consuming experience, of which she would have no recall, to one that she is aware of and can take control. For Carolyn it feels invaluable that she had a counsellor be her witness to explore dissociation with her.

I expect for the reader, if a survivor of trauma, Carolyn’s ability and courage to describe her emotions, confusion, and apparent contrary thinking will help them to recognise this in themselves, perhaps providing hope and faith in their desire and ability to recover. The ability to move from black and white thinking; accepting the greyness and uncertainty of life can be hard for anyone.

Throughout Unshame I can see the importance for Carolyn to have permission to feel, act and think the way she did, at no time was her way of being ‘wrong’. The importance of recognising it as unhelpful ‘now’ but useful ‘then’ was a constant theme. It is also made clear that shame and symptoms of DID are not anything to do with her ‘not being right’ but a necessary and neurological consequence of trauma, fear and lack of attuned attachment.

Carolyn briefly refers to grounding techniques and the different zones of arousal, green (no arousal, able to be logical), amber (the nervous system getting aroused, emotional and less clarity of thought) to red (aroused, likely to dissociate, or freeze). These ideas are described in greater detail in her teaching videos and seminars.( Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors/PODS )

Also in the book Carolyn covers forgiveness, self compassion and vulnerability. It is humbling being allowed to witness her thinking and movement towards these states.

Summary

This book is suitable for professionals and survivors of trauma; those with DID.

As a psychotherapist I benefited most from reading how Carolyn grappled with her thoughts, and the insights that arose. I did a lot of reflecting regarding the therapy I offer my clients, reaffirming that trusting process is both important for therapist and client. It is not a book which adds to knowledge that is already available, such as the work of Babette Rothschild in particular, but it does demonstrate it working in practice.

I cannot write from the clients or survivor’s perspective. I feel all peoples experiences will be different. One message to take home is as a survivor you have not done anything wrong. Nothing, absolutely nothing.

Resources

Unshame- healing trauma-based shame through psychotherapy By Carolyn Spring. Carolyn Spring Publishing (2019)

Positive Outcomes for Dissociative Survivors/PODS

Carolyn Spring

The Body Remembers- The psycho-physiology of trauma and trauma treatment By Babette Rothschild. W.W Norton and Company LTD (2000)

The Body Remembers volume 2 -Revolutionising trauma treatment By Babette Rothschild. W.W Norton and Company LTD (2017)

Meditations

September 8, 2018/in Mindfulness, Mindfulness and Self Compassion, News/by Emma Dunn

MBSR Body Scan

MBSR Body Scan Short Version.

MBSR Awareness of Breath

MBSR Mindful Movement, (Mindful yoga)

The 7 Attitudes of Mindfulness as described in Jon Kabat Zinn's poem.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): An 8 week course in Brighouse

July 5, 2018/in Mindfulness, Mindfulness and Self Compassion, News/by Emma Dunn

Emma Dunn-MBSR Course Tutor

I live and work in Rastrick and am excited to bring this well established, evidenced based mindfulness programme to Brighouse.

I was a participant in an MBSR 8 week course in early 2016, not quite sure what to expect, but hoping this course would satisfy my appetite for meditation. I convinced myself it was about learning enough mindfulness to help my clients; I work as a psychotherapist. However it has proven to be just the beginning of a journey into mindfulness and meditation.

In May 2016 I was then excited to be able to proceed to complete a Mindfulness Instructor Course and late in 2016 started studying with the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice (CMRP) at Bangor University to complete my training to become a teacher of MBSR.

The training of Mindfulness teachers is now under the administration of the Mindfulness network

There is a voluntary code of practice, to which teachers are expected to adhere.

What is MBSR

MBSR is part of a group of evidenced based treatments that use aspects of the Buddhist philosophy, in particular meditation to help us understand how we react to things, and to be more present in our lives, not lost in thought.

In the early 1970’s Buddhist monks were invited to have their brains scanned and the results showed differences in their brain structure compared to people who did not meditate. The differences where a stark contrast to the brains of those who are anxious and over reactive to thoughts and experience. The science of meditation began to grow. An American doctor, who also meditated, Jon Kabat-Zinn began treatment groups for patients who did not seem to be improving with conventional medicine. He began with heart patients, those with skin conditions and chronic pain. His work is well documented in his book Full Catastrophe Living.

Researchers at Oxford University heard of this work and having completed the 8 week MBSR under Jon Kabat-Zinn themselves they then created their MBCT treatment programme which is adopted by NICE as a treatment for the prevention of relapse in depression. Many new programmes are being developed and researched to help with specific emotional issues for example for those with cancer, or addiction.

MBSR Treatment Programme

The programme content and learning is the same wherever you do the course. I will provide my personal experience and group members can share their own stories so each programme will be slightly different. There are lessons and meditations that are always in every MBSR course. There is also mindful movement, similar to yoga.

The programme is 8 weeks long and includes a day of silent meditation. There are meditation practices in each session that may be up to 40 minutes long. Participants are given homework, this is always to do a meditation but may also include work related to a particular lesson. This is often a piece of reflection.

The course progresses through each session so it is important that all classes are attended. The day of silence helps to consolidate a meditation practice and may follow a theme that the participants can chose. There is no extra cost and you will need to provide your own food and drinks.

Participants are encouraged to share and this is often done in pairs. Sharing can have a profound effect, just knowing you are not suffering alone, or even that everyone struggles with ‘meditation’… such as how to do it…and what is meant to happen during meditation. Confidentiality is important this is agreed at the beginning of the course.

Who is MBSR for?

Anyone.

Mindfulness is for anyone. The course content is directed at understanding and relieving stress, stress is in everyone’s life to some extent. Some stresses are helpful and often described as motivating. However if you are under stress or have anxiety and it is impacting on your life and relationships MBSR is especially for you.

If you are starting to meditate, you are curious about mindfulness or someone suggested it to you this 8 week programme help you establish a routine, gain insights into your own habits and interpretations of the world and increase your sense of well being.

What next

If you wish to apply for the next course information will be available through Mindfulness at Insightfulness on Facebook

Or contact me at

Or use the form at the bottom of my Mindfulness page

I can also run the course for organisations, schools or other work places.

Christmas Stress-How to change your mindset using Mindfulness

December 7, 2017/in Anxiety and Stress, Mindfulness, Mindfulness and Self Compassion, News/by Emma Dunn

Christmas Stress – How to change your mindset at Christmas

Anyone hosting Christmas will be aware of all the jobs that need to be done, the presents and party clothes to buy, food to be ordered, the list can go on. For those having Christmas alone, or if this year is the first without a loved one, the festivities provide a complex set of emotions which can be difficult to bare.

It may be that you have a silent dread of Christmas. However, Christmas is going to happen.

What follows are a few ideas about how changing your mindset may help.

Many of the reasons why stress builds up prior to Christmas is to do with thoughts and behaviours, habits and expectations.

For example;

The emphasis placed on family traditions
You may be concerned about how much work needs to be done to make the day successful
Present buying; how much to spend, what to buy
The day being a reminder of those we have lost

You may be able to relate to these. Mindfulness encourages a different approach and awareness to the meanings we give to things such as traditions and expectations.

Mindfulness allows us to treat the current moment as all there is. It helps us see how much meaning we attach to the past at the expense of the present.

The emphasis placed on family traditions

It can be difficult to change habits, certainly if we frame them as ‘family traditions’. I wonder if when your ‘family tradition’ happened for the first time the intention was for it to go on past its sell by date?

Interestingly we are aware in other circumstances, such as holidays, that when we try to repeat the experience it causes greater disappointment. Can this be applied to Christmas?

Traditions may include when to put the decorations up, real tree or artificial, Christmas day menu, the family members invited, the timing of present opening, television and what film to watch.

Before planning gets well under way why not ask yourself and your family, whether these traditions important and why. Do they create a good experience?

You may find you can drop one or two and everyone has a sense of relief.

The concern about how much work needs to be done for the day to be successful

There is as much work as you want. Is it true that the more work you put in, the happier everyone is? Or is this about you, and how others might perceive you?

Thoughts can creep into our head and be believed. At Christmas there might be a little bit more organising and planning but it happens every year and we do it every year. It is often worth noticing the thoughts we have, and reminding ourselves they are thoughts. There might be the thought, ‘I won’t get it done in time’ or ‘what if the turkey is under cooked ?’ Notice what happens to your stress levels when you have these thoughts. Are they appropriate, what is the worst that can happen? Thoughts are not facts, mindfulness enables us to notice a thought and not react to it.

Take a mindful moment. Take a deep in-breath and a slower out breath, counting to five. Repeat once or twice more.

Present buying; how much to spend, what to buy

Why are you buying presents, who for and at what cost?

Present buying is a reflection of who you are and your relationship with the recipient, as well as your personal beliefs about Christmas.

There are many ways in which we get distracted from this, especially adverts and consumerism and ‘family traditions’. The shops become full of ‘gift ideas’. Spend a little time reflecting on why you want to give as a gift. There is some truth in the statement ‘it is the thought that counts’. A mindful approach focuses your mind on the reality of Christmas, encourages you to stick to intentions meaning it is less likely you buy things spontaneously.

You may also reflect on what does receiving a gift mean to you, and is this truth based on reality. A common belief is that a person close to you will instinctively know what you want. Unfortunately, life isn’t this simple, either tell them or be prepared for anything. People are not mind readers.

The day is a reminder of those we have lost

Anniversaries are reminders. Allowing a time in the day to acknowledge absent friends and family can be useful. You and other friends and family also represent a little of that missing person, a shared joke, or shared gene, this too can be honoured. They have not gone completely.

Mindfulness encourages us to stay in the here and now, it is this moment that is important, comparisons often bring dissatisfaction. Each Christmas will be different, enjoying it for what it is can be more rewarding than not liking it for what it isn’t.

Mindfulness at Christmas

Mindfulness involves a regular commitment to paying attention to the present moment. Christmas often draws us into the past, the past has gone, enjoy the ‘now’ as this too will soon be gone.

Mindfulness- making use of our tidy brain

July 22, 2017/in Mindfulness, Mindfulness and Self Compassion, News/by Emma Dunn

The Brain and Automatic Pilot

My experience and understanding of mindfulness has led me to acknowledge the power thoughts have to manifest as reality. A thought is not reality, it is a specific activity of the brain.

Do you realise our thoughts motivate our actions and behaviours even when they are not real!

The human brain has an amazing capacity for storing, collecting, summarising and accessing data. Data as memories, and information. Memories as embodied physical experiences, as well as stories. It has so much information that it is necessary to create short cuts to frequently used experiences and behaviours. It tries to keep things tidy and organised. For example, when you clean your teeth do you actually think about and plan your hand movements, or when you get dressed are you conscious of the order you put on clothes? Our brain has made many things for us very easy, so easy we often do not fully participate in what we do. How often, on our way to work do we wonder how we got there because we had been so caught up with thoughts. In Mindfulness terms this is often called ‘automatic pilot‘.

How did thoughts and thinking become so important?

A subtle switch has happened in our development and culture. Descartes, is reported as saying I think therefore I am. Our thinking has become more important than our experiencing. Rather than being present with reality, be conscious and awake to what is happening in each moment, as would a wild animal, we are lost in the meandering synapses of our brain. It is valued in culture and society to think, ‘think before you speak’ and experiences are minimised, we are encouraged to right lists of pros and cons rather than go with ‘our gut’. We are encouraged to use our huge brain to evaluate and plan. It is thought of as helpful and beneficial. We base our knowledge on measurable, objective data.

Has our tidying system got the priorities wrong?

Whilst society encouraged and nurtured our capacity to think, and develop a logical and scientific approach to the world, we failed to recognise and adapt to the types of thinking which fed our emotional and creative abilities. A thought can create anxiety and another joy. Thoughts were not real, they can help understanding but they also take us from reality.

I may have a thought, and before I know it I have a scenario in my head about something that isn’t real. My attention has been with the evolving thought. The thought often becomes manifest in the body. Happy thoughts; my mouth will begin to smile, sad thoughts my mood drops, fearful thoughts my pulse rises. Our brain reacts to thoughts as it does reality.

Interestingly our thoughts engage with our memories of experiences and emotions. This is how our emotions can become disproportionate and anxiety and stress become disabling. We respond to a current event as if it were a repetition of an event in our memory. In a very simplified way we might respond to our manager offering constructive criticism as if it were our parent, when we were a teenager, offering advice when we don’t want it. What has happened is the brain has developed a quick access, (neural pathway) to emotions of anger or threat when we hear words that are interpreted as critical. These neural pathways become so well used we do not have time or space to evaluate whether are response is useful or even appropriate.

Making use of our Tidied Brain- MINDFULNESS

So we have a wonderfully well organised brain, with systems to access all sorts of things when we need them. What we fail to have done is pay attention to the appropriateness of the brains responses to stimuli. This is not a phenomenon of today, this has been the case for hundreds of years. At one time the responses were appropriate, the protection of the family from wild animals or other foraging beasts by physical attack was balanced and about survival. Now anger and attacking are often exhibited at the smallest of threats, the dishwasher not being emptied, being ignored, loosing car keys, the response is reactive and instantaneous.

Mindfulness training slows down this reaction. We are encouraged to be present in the moment, engage and move towards any emotions that arise, being curious towards our feelings and not reactive. We retrain the brain, the data and memories stay the same. We cultivate an ability to notice what the data is, let it inform us but not let it be absolute.

I believe this enables us to become the true self we intend to be, losing attachment to our past, and desire for an unknown future, and being present in each moment.

Emma Dunn is currently training to teach the MBSR programme

Experience of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

January 12, 2017/in Mindfulness, Mindfulness and Self Compassion, News/by Emma Dunn

This mindfulness novice gets serious

It is a while since my last blog on Mindfulness and a lot has happened. I have really noticed a difference in my mood, and reactivity to situations. I find I notice my mood change and feel equipped to control it before I do something I might regret. My whole family is calmer and we are able to voice our emotions better without feeling vulnerable.

I have used Headspace a lot but also some other resources available on YouTube. You might want to experiment yourself. I like meditating to chanting and more often than not do it in silence.

I have done a lot more training and reading and I want to tell you a little about Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course.

What is MBSR?

The 8-week MBSR course is a standardized course shown to improve symptoms of anxiety by using mindfulness techniques, and daily meditations over an 8 week period. It involves attending group classes for 2 hours each week and some homework. The homework increases awareness of our feelings and responses to everyday situations. We were encouraged to keep a diary, to think of an event that happened that day and reflect on how we felt physically and emotionally. The mindfulness course encourages us to get in touch with our bodies a lot more, to notice where we might feel things in our body and yoga is treated as a mediation practice. Other meditations vary from 20 minute sitting meditations, to a 45 minute body scan meditation usually done lying down. During the course there is a little taught theory but mainly discussion and sharing of experiences. I found the majority of the attendees had a little knowledge of mindfulness and were curious to see if it would benefit them.

The course has no religious or spiritual content so you don’t need to know anything before hand or have any religious beliefs.

There is a lot of research to show it works and is becoming more accessible through work, schools and the NHS. For more information The Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice has a comprehensive web site

Why did I attend this course?

I wanted to know more about Mindfulness, quite simple. I felt it had already impacted on me, increasing my self awareness . Self awareness is important in counselling and it seemed a good idea to learn to combine counselling and mindfulness. I could teach mindfulness to those clients who wanted to give it a try. After doing some googling I discovered the main training institutions that provide training and endorse the Good Practice Guidelines say all trainees should have completed this course.

What did I experience?

The course leader, Sally was lovely. We met in a quiet converted house on the outskirts of Huddersfield, and meditation equipment, mats and cushions were already there. There were always lovely smells of incense or candles to welcome us.

There were 11 in the group, mainly women, who came from all sorts of backgrounds. Some had suffered stress and anxiety for a long time, many years and had taken time off work due to its severity. Others were still managing to ‘live normally’ but their relationships were suffering as a result of short tempers and erratic behaviour. Others, like me wanted to use it in their work to help others.

We did a lot of small group work, talking to one other person but there was no expectation to share within the larger group unless you wanted to. However it became apparent really early on that the more we were prepared to share the more we learnt about how mindfulness was working for each of us.

There were 1 or 2 meditations in each class, and the ones we did in the session were the ones we were encouraged to do during the week at home. Sally would give us a recording of this to use at home.

Over the 8 weeks everyone felt different. More present in their life.

I had a great experience and would recommend it.

I am looking forward to some retreats and more training.

Book Review Mindful Emotional Eating; Mindfulness skills to control cravings, eat in moderation and optimize coping.

June 23, 2016/in Book Reviews, Mindfulness, News/by Emma Dunn

Book Review

Pavel G. Somov- Mindful Emotional Eating; Mindfulness skills to control cravings, eat in moderation and optimize coping. (2015)

Review

Written for both the client and the clinician this book is in 3 parts. In the first part the author describes his model of working to enable ‘Mindful Emotional Eating’ (MEE). The second is how to develop clients so they can manage situations of relapse without them becoming catastrophes, and the final part describes more specific approaches to four more common emotional eating situations.

Part 1

I was disconcerted by Somov’s style and selling technique apparent in part one. He is using this book to teach other clinicians tools to help their clients, and it initially felt like a product promotion. However, with perseverance I continued.

The tools described are based on the neuroscience as well as the philosophy of Mindfulness. Mindfulness per se is not touched on, and the readers are not expected or encouraged to seek mindfulness as a way of being.

Somov describes how each of the 4-5 sessions planned for clients should run. He outlines his rationale, starting with reframing emotional eating, as either something to do mindlessly or mindfully. Identifying that we all have, by our nature as animals, strategies to preserve our own life; and emotional eating is a harm reduction strategy. Abstinence (aka dieting, and avoiding food) takes away emotional eating as a harm reduction strategy, leaving us exposed, and so diets are likely to fail.

Take a breath before an impulsive act

Throughout the book he emphasises that the client’s understanding of the shift in how they approach their eating behaviours is key. Breaking down the feelings of guilt and failure which often arise when giving in to a desire to emotionally eat, and replacing then with acceptance and permission. The training is about doing emotional eating, mindfully and not mindlessly.

He provides tools to enable choice. Initially teaching relaxation, quick, bottom up relaxation, engaging physiologically with the parasympathetic nervous system, so humming or blowing out forcefully as an exhalation.

Second are skills, he describes as choice awareness training, to ‘stay awake’ for example using the wrong cutlery, different plate, wrong hand.

Thirdly, ‘craving control training’ similar to a 3-minute breath meditation although described as a river bank exercise, focusing more on the impermanence of feelings and thoughts, watching them go. During this course clients are encouraged to engage with their ‘fullness’ either physically or emotionally, and given permission to carry on if they are not ready to stop.

Part 2

This second part, in my eyes, parallels the outcomes of mindfulness, creating a space for choice, appreciating the impermanence of thoughts and promoting self-awareness/acceptance.

‘Self-acceptance =motivational innocence + effort acceptance’

Or the greater our awareness of what drives us to eat combined with the belief that we do our best in the moment will increase self-acceptance, and this is likely to decrease the need to emotionally eat mindlessly.

In part 2 ‘motivational innocence’ and ‘effort acceptance’ are described more fully. One interesting idea related to dieting, or being abstinent, is that our brain is using stores of glucose to provide this self-control. The more we try to control ourselves; deny impulses, the more our brain responds by sending messages that we need something sweet, an energy fix. Giving in to a sugar fix is therefore an appropriate physiological response to the work we are doing marinating resistance, we can give ourselves permission to respond in this way without guilt, making a conscious choice to have a piece of chocolate or similar. This is an empowering shift.

He describes binge eating and how it might manifest either a result of the inability to cope emotionally-striving to feel good, or as a desire to feel numb, without emotions.

Somov is realistic about the struggle people have with relapse. He describes working collaboratively, supporting clients as they are able to apply more frequently and consistently the mindfulness techniques described in Part 1 which bring clients into the moment, encourage space between the feeling and the impulse and allow for self-acceptance, if in that moment, their effort was not what they had hoped for.

He finishes part 2 with information about Eastern traditions and philosophies about eating, including the extremes of Jainism, achieving the state of Santhara, fasting to the point of death.

Part 3

Finally, Somov provides some useful interpretations to manage emotional eating for boredom and emptiness, sadness and grief, anger and fear, and stress. Helping clients understand at a fundamental level what these emotions represent and how food is providing a ‘harm reduction’ strategy, and learning to eat mindfully rather than mindlessly.

In summary

This book grew on me as I began to see how mindfulness was being used in a genuine way to help clients move from mindless eating to mindful eating. I would recommend it to health professionals wanting to engage with clients in a real, humanistic way. This book is not about losing weight. If you have an issue with emotional eating this book will help, however, agreeing with the author, I would strongly recommend having the support of a buddy.

Of Interest

Ruby Wax: A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled

Eating Disorders-Do you recognise physiological hunger

Book Review: A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax

February 24, 2016/in Book Reviews, Mindfulness, News/by Emma Dunn

Book Review

Ruby Wax- A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled

Ruby Wax is known to me firstly as a comedian and more recently a Master of Mindfulness based cognitive therapy. It is because of the latter and her potential to reach the masses that I wanted to review her book, to help others decide whether it is a worthwhile read and me whether to stock it in my client library.

She writes with an easy style and you are soon drawn into the ideas of mindfulness. She is keen to teach the physiology of the brain (neuroscience) to help us understand that our behaviours and emotions are natural animal responses to the need to stay alive. The evolution of the brain is described very simply. She switches from humour to personal experience to science and back again. This might be engaging for some and keeps those not interested in the science bits motivated to continue reading. I found the science stilted and her style more forced, she acknowledges help with these passages from the experts which I can see is reflected in the prose. The humour is nice, although I am not sure whether it is a distraction some times.

The second section of the book is about applying mindfulness and how to use mindfulness with your children. There are some simple ideas to encourage an open and non-critical relationship with our family members. She clearly speaks from experience as a mother and a daughter and highlights how things are often easier said than done. This may be interpreted as don’t bother if you think it will fail which possible undermines some of the messages she wants to put across. However the message is simpler, you cannot fail just try, but try regularly-daily.

In the middle of the book is a stand-alone 6-week Mindfulness programme. It introduces the reader to familiar practices of meditations, for example the Body scan and the 3-minute breath. I was introduced to a lovely one focusing on listening. The practices show how to access our body, thoughts, senses and emotions in the present, through simple exercises set out week by week. There are questions after each practice to help you notice what might have changed or been different from your usual experience.

Part way through the book Ruby puts ‘mindfulness’ on hold and shares a moving journey about her own sufferings that happened during the writing of ‘Frazzled’. This makes the book all the more personal, and perhaps shows in that the latter section of the book seems to me a bit less dynamic or humorous than the first.

Finally she describes a retreat she went on. Retreats I guess are a bit like having children, you really cannot know what it’s like until you have done it. Her experience is heart-warming, real, and genuine.

I would recommend this book to the curious, to those who love Ruby, and to those with anxiety looking for help through mindfulness. It is for a secular audience not the expert, although she does list her references and resources for those interested.

It does not touch on the spiritual or loving aspects of mindfulness these are more associated with Buddhism, and neither to does it claim to. To conclude this is an easy read for those looking for an introduction to Mindfulness.

A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled by Ruby Wax

Mindfulness meditation for novices-Part 3 ‘The mindfulness muscle’-it needs to be exercised!

January 13, 2016/in Mindfulness, Mindfulness and Self Compassion, News/by Emma Dunn

I have been committed to mindfulness for a while. I love mindfulness, its simplicity, its obvious common sense and the fact it challenges the divergence of science and spirituality. I have an insight into its works at a physiological level and a belief in its value to all. My bookcase is beginning to fill. My enthusiasm for spreading the word continues to grow. And yet over a 3 week period my formal practice stopped, I no longer found 15 minutes to meditate each day.

Mindfulness is simple yet hard to do.

The Consequences of Not Exercising the Mindfulness Muscle

I have excuses I can share, but the truth is I had prioritised other things over meditating. I still carried out activities that were mindful but not necessarily with mindfulness being the intention.

In hindsight I can see that over those few weeks my emotions gained power at the expense of being in the world. I was not settled to work. I had forgotten things and not focused on the things that make me happy. I had become less able to be content. I returned to a state of frustration: frustrated with politics, poverty, the media and people. But I hadn’t seen it happening. I had slipped into old habits. I had kidded myself that by knowing the usefulness of being present in the moment, and by noticing thoughts, this was enough.

It was a simple statement from a friend which triggered a ‘non-mindful’ response, which made me feel the past was repeating on me, that I was forever in a cycle of failure, that I had no control, I was quickly pulled into the past which nearly became reality. The emotions this evoked brought back their own memories which were painful, and it hit home; I had allowed one simple statement power over the present moment. My ‘mindfulness muscle’ had grown weak through lack of exercise and was no longer able to keep me in the now, the past had hooked me in. My mindfulness muscle had lost its strength, my judgements had led to emotional overload and I was on the way to disaster. I was tearful, irrational and had catastrophized the situation.

The Importance of Regular Exercise

It was in the late 1990’s that I went for my first run. I managed a couple of minutes. I completed my first triathlon in 2002. I was enjoying exercising 5-6 times a week. It was sustainable, and I was fit and healthy. In 2009 I had a very rare leukaemia (acute promyelocytic leukaemia, APML). I tried exercising in hospital but had no will power or energy, and my routine slowly vanished. I ended up not exercising for 6 months. I have not run more than 3 km since despite being totally fit and healthy, I swim and do spinning classes every week. My running muscles have not been exercised and I no longer call myself a runner. I have run about 6 times since 2009, my muscles know what to do but have no stamina for running. Yet I am fit.

The Mindfulness Muscle

My experience with mindfulness has been the same. It improves with exercising, some days go well, some days don’t but the muscles have been worked. They have been used and not allowed to degenerate. Sometimes exercising can feel hard work but 99% of the time the value is experienced immediately. It is important to exercise the appropriate muscles to develop the specific skill. I had half believed reading about mindfulness would make me mindful, it improves knowledge, motivation, understanding but reading does not specifically stimulate the neurological changes that meditation does. Mindfulness is not only about meditating; exercising the brain, other ‘flow activities’ provide peace for the brain; where thoughts are not judged, and attention is given to current experience. The comparison continues with exercise, all exercise will impact on fitness, but you cannot improve an individual muscle without using it.

I have noticed several articles that describe practicing mindfulness as like exercising a muscle. I had no appreciation of how true that was until now. Knowing the theory, understanding the principles and acknowledging its efficacy seem to be no substitute for putting in the practice on a daily basis. Building up the new neurological pathways and dismantling the old ones is a continual process. Many of you interested in building muscle will have heard the saying ‘if you don’t use it you’ll lose it’ thus is true for Mindfulness too.

What Exercises Can Be Done?

Flow activities

Formal meditation seems to be the key, and a near daily habit is important but this can vary from a few minutes to a lot longer. I am getting a sense that trying to have a regular meditation of 20 minutes is optimum. I continue to enjoy the Headspace app., but there are others

The ways to be mindful are endless. The key is doing something with full awareness in the present. These might be referred to as ‘flow activities’. Adult colouring has become a trend, but anything that absorbs your attention works. This can be as mundane as washing up or as productive as writing a blog! My understanding is that flow activities focus your attention in the present, whilst letting go of expectations or rules for how things should be.

The Mindfulness Project have written ‘I am here now’- A creative guide and Journal’ offering exercises and ways to think positively to notice and enjoy the present moment.

The subtleties of the mindfulness muscle continue to amaze me. Since restarting meditation, it took only 4 days to notice a change in my attitude to work and relationships. I hope your mindfulness journey is going well, and you can overcome the blips.