"It gave me the realisation that it’s ok to spend time dealing with the pain and having some self-care."

This course runs over eight Saturdays, 16 September-4 November, 2.00pm-4.30pm.

The Mindfulness for Health course was developed by Vidyamala Burch, founder of Breathworks, drawing on her personal experience of using mindfulness and meditation to manage her own chronic pain and to enjoy a better quality of life. It was the first Mindfulness-based Pain & Illness Management Programme (MBPM) and is a highly effective combination of mindfulness and compassion practices, meditation, mindful movement, pacing and group work. Since then, the Mindfulness for Health course has reached over 100,000 people from all around the world and Vidyamala was recently awarded an OBE for Services to Wellbeing and Pain Management.

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Who is the course for?

This course is for anyone suffering from chronic pain, illness or fatigue and associated anxiety and stress who would like help with managing pain or a health condition and wishes to find ways to improve the quality of their life.

About the course

The weekly course sessions will include guided meditations and in-depth teaching on mindfulness principles, practices and techniques. There will also be some gentle mindful movements and exploration of pacing in order to carry out activities over time without increasing pain or other symptoms. Although the course can be very helpful in learning new ways to manage pain and illness, people attend the course with a wide range of health conditions and some may not experience any pain.

The approach will be experiential, with opportunities for questions and group discussions within a kind and supportive space. The course is led by an experienced and accredited mindfulness teacher with many years of experience teaching the Breathworks Mindfulness for Health course, both in person and online.

One of the benefits of the Mindfulness for Health course is having a supportive and friendly peer group with a shared experience of living with pain or ill health. During the 8-week course, there are many opportunities to connect with and to learn from each other as well as the course leader as everyone takes part in a mindful journey together. In order to create a supportive learning space, we keep the number of course participants between 10 and 15 with a second teacher if numbers are above 12.

The course includes home practice with the recommendation to do 10 minutes of meditation or mindful movement twice each day and a weekly mindful activity in daily life. (However, there is an emphasis on self-care and pacing throughout the course and participants are encouraged to bring this to their home practice). You will have access to recordings of guided meditations and other resources linked to the course material which you can download. The course leader will also send a weekly email after each session with key learning points and any additional resources which you can access online. At the end of the course you will have free lifetime access to the Breathworks Community of Practice.

Your Teacher

The course will be led by Bodhilila, She has been meditating and practising mindfulness for nearly 30 years. Bodhilila is a fully accredited Breathworks mindfulness trainer as well as a qualified counsellor, teacher and massage therapist. Having worked for many years as a classical musician and more recently as a nursery manager, she is currently Chair of the West London Buddhist Centre, where she has been teaching meditation, mindfulness and Buddhism, as well as helping to run the Centre, since 2012. She regularly leads retreats for the WLBC and at Taraloka women’s retreat centre.

Booking

Booking is essential for this course. Once you have booked on the course, final confirmation will be subject to completion of a short questionnaire and an informal discussion with the course leader about what you might need in order to participate fully in the course and about the course’s suitability for you at this time. This will help you and the course leader explore how best to support your process over the 8 weeks.

Bursaries

If you cannot pay the concessionary rate, a limited number of reduced price bursaries are available. Please fill out this request form and we will contact you.

Refund policy

A refund is available if you cancel up to 7 days before the course begins. 

Contact


If you have any questions about the course or the booking process, please contact the West London Buddhist Centre: mindfulness@westlondonbuddhistcentre.com

Access Information

The whole centre is fully accessible with a lift, disabled shower and toilet. We also have hearing support equipment available on request.