Course Feedback

Below are is some course feedback from previous participants and we hope that it will give you some understanding of how the course benefits people.

Research has shown that people get a wide variety of benefits from the Stress Reduction Through Mindfulness course – people tend to learn the things that are most of benefit to them, and this will be different for each of them.

Participants become more balanced in their approach to life – thus someone who is lacking self-confidence may become more assertive but someone else who is perhaps too confrontational with others may learn to see other viewpoints more easily.

Below are just a few of the comments made by participants on the 8-week mindfulness course about how it has helped them.

OVERALL COURSE COMMENTS AND LEARNING

“Now I can see and understand better my problems and I can find solutions for some of them”

“I feel excited and reassured and comforted by the thought that I have discovered a resource that will be supportive of me as a whole person.”

“Becoming more aware and mindful day to day has certainly had a very grounding and calming effect for me.”

“In some ways the course hasn’t met some expectations in that originally I was expecting more of a quick fix toolset. However the course has exceeded these expectations by delving deeper than I anticipated and it leaves me with a promise of greater things to come."

“I feel I have very much got what I came for – the opportunity to take ‘baby steps’ off down a new path /new way of being in relationship to myself, others and the environment.”

“I think the course has been an important step for me in the long journey of becoming more present. I found the booklet and the cds as well as the evenings very helpful in making this step … the all-day was excellent. You are both brilliant teachers.”

“Mindfulness [has] been profoundly important and life changing.”

“[Mindfulness] the most important work that I could do in my life – I say this because I know that my state of mind/attitude/relationship with life impacts on so many other people that it’s not just for me but for the good of others too.”

“Through meditation I have become more peaceful and aware. Additional unexpected benefits have been learning to understand and separate the mind from the self. I have also discovered that by being aware of my breathing I can control myself getting into situations / negative cycles that lead to depression.”

“I think there is something fundamentally important about this form of meditation… I feel the course has given me a huge amount to work with in terms of how I approach things, learning to be kinder to myself, focusing on the present moment and just being accepting of what is. … A very good course and one I would have no hesitation in recommending.”

“I have found that it has been quite effective in terms of improving my life – responses to stress and anxiety, acceptance of myself and feelings, knowing that these feelings are not me and will pass. All is good for me.”

“Meant to drop a note earlier to say how much I have got and continue to get out the course. Slowly -very slowly- I am able to introduce breathing spaces during the day and it is very helpful. I have also been on a one day Insight(London) retreat and finally began to understand how walking meditation can help...I have found the course handbook a real treasure trove of things to follow up”

DO THE BENEFITS LAST?

“Wanted, also, to thank you both for everything generally. Your course has had a huge impact - something that is becoming more and more apparent as the months go by.”

“Just wanted to let you know that …. am still meditating and/or doing yoga almost everyday. Feeling the best I have felt in a long time.”
Participant comment 1 year after doing 8 week

ANXIETY

“I find it very helpful to stop my mind going into panic anxiety by just noticing my breathing.”

“This course has been extremely important to me. It has given me a tool for managing my anxiety and insecurities which have been hampering my ability to move forward with my life. With this tool I feel more confident that I will be able to handle whatever life throws at me and therefore I am less afraid of the future.”

“I realise that I have experienced another way of handling life – or being should I say. I’m pleased you emphasized practice, practice, practice because otherwise I would not have made time and actually something has begun to work. It’s been slow and there have been weekly set-backs. Just as I thought I was on my way then old mental patterns have ambushed me but I start again and the sitting meditation is now and indispensable part of my day. I am delighted with the course even though I know I still have a long way to go.”

“I have found it very effective – learning how to take or remembering to take a step back, be in the moment. Helps me to relax and be more patient with people who are difficult.”

“It has given me tactics for coping with life’s ups and downs. I have already felt the benefit and I rarely have a day when I don’t think mindfully, even if my practice isn’t as good as it should be.”

“I feel like this course has been extremely important because it has given me greater insight into the benefits of meditation for me.”

TEACHING STYLE

“your facilitation has felt safe and supportive – enabling me to risk facing and staying with sensations, feelings and thoughts that previously I would have wanted to run away from.”

“I have very much appreciated your care and thoughtfulness in offering the course and yourselves. Warm and skilled teaching and sharing – for which I thank you both.”

“I appreciated the dedication of the two course tutors – and their commitment”

“I thought it was a good having two of you run the class to get even more perspective”

“I’ve appreciated the care and compassion with which the course has been delivered.”

THE GROUP

“It has been useful to hear of other people’s experiences too, especially when I’ve felt that it’s all too hard and I can’t do it!!”

“I have really enjoyed being part of a group that shares the same process of learning and discovering – it’s a connection with other people with a common interest that has felt very supportive. You have both been fantastic facilitators of this process”

“I’ve valued the opportunity to go through this process and feel privileged to have been so intimately connected to a group of people whom I had not met before – it makes me realise how connected all people potentially are with each other.

FROM A HEALTH PROFESSIONAL PLANNING TO USE MINDFULNESS IN THEIR WORK

“It has made an enormous difference to my confidence and ability to lead my own group – not sure I could have done it without you.

DOING THE COURSE A SECOND TIME

“I was surprised how much I got out of doing the course for a second time. I knew that having different teachers would of course be different but I also found that my home practice experiences were different and it has helped me to have new experiences."

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