Mindfulness

Mindfulness is regularly recommended as a useful tool in dealing with AF and so this free online course starting on the 8th of February might be of interest to anybody wishing to learn the technique :

futurelearn.com/courses/min...

[Devine75]

Registered thank you x

[Gracey23]

Signed up! Thank you😃

[Chris147]

Thanks so much for sharing just signed up regards chris

[OzLynda]

Thanks for the link. It looks interesting and I'll probably register. However I was interested in your comment "Mindfulness is regularly recommended as a useful tool in dealing with AF "

I've been reading a fair bit about AF on this and other forums over the last four years, but this is the first reference I recall seeing about 'mindfulness'.

Who regularly recommends it, and where,, if you don't mind me asking?

[Hidden in reply to OzLynda]

Ah, good question Lynda. Without going back through an awful lot of posts I can't refer you directly but there have been quite a few.

Check out posts by SRMGrandma, she is an advocate of mindfulness.

[Kodaska in reply to OzLynda]

I recommend mindfulness practice. Twenty years ago it enabled me to weather what my attorney called "the ugliest divorce" he'd ever seen. Currently it helps me cope with a drug-induced autoimmune disorder that has completely upended my (formerly active) life. In between it has helped me grow from an angry victim to a compassionate and open-hearted friend (that is, when I"m not caught up in my own little world).

Others have reported both more and less dramatic changes. But mindfulness practice is not for the purpose of making change. It's a tool to keep us alive in the present moment rather than the past and future, where we usually are. When we pay attention to what's happening right here, right now, we're able to discern what the situation calls for and thus deal with things more effectively than in our usual unfocused, reactive state.

I also recommend two books by Jon Kabat-Zinn: "Full Catastrophe Living" and "Wherever You Go, There You Are." He developed the program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which is given at sites around the world. Here's a bit of information about online courses:

mindfullivingprograms.com/a...

palousemindfulness.com/self...

And a few places offering it in England:

mbsr.co.uk/

oxfordmindfulness.org/about...

Blessings to all,

Koda

[mswillow]

Have been regularly practicing mindfulness now for a year and is a wonderful tool to have for all aspects of life but it needs regular practice to be able to access it. In regards to its use with af, I guess for me it's about staying in the hear and now and grounded, letting thoughts come and go and clearing the mind for a short period of time.... It can help with spiralling thoughts. ... To many thoughts... Just to sit and observe and describe and to be able to notice if your mind is wondering with un helpful thoughts then it's about bringing your self back to one thing in the moment... So for instance I'm having a bad af attack... A) I'm spriling with panic, doom, fear my mind is catastrophising with in turn is increasing my stress levels, heart rate and generally my body is going into fight or flight.... B) I notice I have a box of frogs going off in my chest, I'm aware, but I'm not going to focus my every though on it, I'm going just sit breathe in calm and blow away worry thoughts, I will look around me and describe in my mind or alound what I can see hear smell or touch which ever one you find able to do, calming the mind will help calm your body, it won't stop an attack of af but it will help you think more clearly, as emotional mind at the time will be saying oh my god I'm going to die, rational mind will be saying get to a & e now, but getting into wise mind which is a combination of the two in the middle will help think I'm not going to die but if this carries on I'm going to take x, y and z steps with a calmer mind and less panic and not adding to increasing an already rapid heart rate.. It's not for everyone! Some people can do this easily but if you have become very anxious panicky it can be a great tool..... This is only my application of it with regards to af but I also use it everyday with when making tea, walking, looking at nature, cooking, just really using your sences and also thoughts like today I'm grateful, for..... ect.... this is only a very small part of mindfulness there are many aspects to the practice.

[Kodaska in reply to mswillow]

What a wonderful description!

[constabule]

I got the ladybird book on mindfulness - puts things in a different perspective

[Rellim296 in reply to constabule]

Is this one of the new ladybirds that deals with all sorts of modern topics but has old illustrations?

[constabule in reply to Rellim296]

They follow the traditional Ladyvbird book format but they have a tongue in cheek slant on the topic

You do need an off beat sense of humour to appreciate them.

and my humour is often called odd.

[Rellim296 in reply to constabule]

I looked at one which might have been about hobbies. Some quirky suggestions!

[Upbeat2000]

Thank you. I have taken courses at FutureLearn but this one got by me.

[Wightbaby]

I have done the 10 minute Headspace app on my mobile......so will def give this a go! Thanks!

[dedeottie]

I did the headspace for 10 days but is it my imagination or is each session the same? In the end i stopped and went back to my hypnosis cd that i was given before my ablation. X

[dedeottie]

I have just signed up for the futurelearn mindfullness course as it looks good. Thanks for that. I certainly need to live in the moment. X

[Mrspat]

I was interested in finding out more before registering BUT it won't let me register apart from via Facebook AND there is no information about delivery methods e.g. Is this a series of webinars with fixed attendance times or true self-paced eLearning. Although I am a FB user, I would prefer not to use social media for this type of learning. Fixed tuition times could be a problem.

[Mrspat]

Thanks. I know a lot about online learning as I work in the industry. It would suit me better than something F2F - I just wanted some info about how it is delivered and whether or not it requires attendance at a particular time or is self-paced. I didn't want to go through the registration process just to find that out.

[dedeottie in reply to Mrspat]

Hi mrs pat. I have done a different course with future learn. It was very good. It was delivered via a series of on line lecture/ videos /documents/ online q and answer sessions, with relevant experts. These were sent to your email address each week. There is no attendance required. No requirement to submit essays either. Any communication is voluntary. If this course is the same as my other one, it should be useful. Of course, if you are already experienced it may just be going over old ground. Hope that info is helpful. X

[Mrspat in reply to dedeottie]

Thank you deodottie. Very helpful. That's what I was hoping for. The 3 hours a week over 6 weeks gives the impression of a more regimented approach.

[purple]

I have done this course on Future Learn & it gets better as you go along. Now its being repeated, I really recommend it.

[Hidden in reply to purple]

Excellent! Thanks for the recommendation.