Rediscover Mindfulness in Your Life

To help better understand the benefits of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, we sat down with Barnes Class teacher, longtime yoga instructor and mindfulness coach Ali Gilling to learn more about her latest class.

Q. What is the connection between yoga and MBSR?

Having taught yoga and meditation for about 20 years, I wanted to give my students a better understanding of meditation, and arm them with some simple tools to help them learn to relax.

Q. What was your certification process like?

I did an 8-week Mindfulness course in 2000 in Oxford shortly after returning from India, where I completed my yoga teacher training course. I began to introduce some of these mindfulness practices into my yoga teaching through time.

Q. What made you decide recently to add MBSR to your offerings?

Over the last few years, I realised that absolutely everyone can benefit from learning these simple techniques to help manage stress, not just within the yoga classes or for people who regularly practice yoga. That’s why I decided to add on the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme (MBSR).

Q. Tell about some of the benefits of MBSR.

This course can be life-changing and there has been a lot of research about mindfulness in students after undertaking the program. Reports have shown significant changes in brain pattern, behaviour and an overall positive affect on quality of life.

Q. What do you hope students take away from your class, or understand from your taster course?

I hope students learn how to manage stress better, which will ultimately leads to a happier and healthier life. I absolutely love teaching MBSR.

Sign up for Ali’s 8-week MBSR course beginning in October, or join us for a one-time taster class in September to see if MBSR is right for you.

 

Hear what some of Ali’s MBSR Autumn 2016 students had to say about the course:

“I went to Ali’s 6-week Introduction to Mindfulness course and found it so useful! I did not hesitate one moment to join the 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. I think it was one of the best decisions I have made for a long time.”

“The tools that Ali teaches are, for me, life changing. I now have the capability to realise when my thoughts are running away, or when I am becoming anxious or stressed and bring myself back to a relaxed and calm state. It has enabled me to deal with any day-to-day problems head on, in a highly effective and relaxed way. This now happens so automatically, I wonder how I managed to become so stressed in the past.”

“The meditations and breathing exercises that Ali takes us through are so practical and helpful and I use them often during the day, without the need to take precious time out. My sleep is also much improved. In truth, my whole outlook in life is so much more positive and life has definitely improved.”

“I feel blessed to have these tools at my disposal and cannot recommend Ali and the MBSR course highly enough. Ali’s teaching style is wonderful and she herself is a very kind and approachable person. On top of that I feel so blessed to have made some wonderful friends on the course, we are in touch regularly and inspire and cheer each other along.”

 

Discover: Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Many people know and practise the art of mindfulness, which is a mental state achieved by focussing one’s awareness on the present moment, whilst calmly acknowledging and accepting one’s thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. It’s a great way to reconnect and gain new perspective.

However, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is not as well known. This article will seek to shed some light on this subject.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, is a programme which uses a combination of mindfulness meditation, body awareness and yoga to help people become more mindful.

MBSR has been described as “a group program that focuses upon the progressive acquisition of mindful awareness.” The programme is an eight-week workshop that entails weekly group meetings (two-hour classes) and a one-day retreat (five-hour mindfulness practice) between sessions six and seven. It can also include formal home practice (a minimum of 45 minutes daily meditation, six days a week), and coaching instruction in three formal techniques: mindfulness meditation, body scanning and simple yoga postures.

Body scanning is the first prolonged formal mindfulness technique taught during the first four weeks of the workshop and entails quietly lying on one’s back and focusing one’s attention on various regions of the body, starting with the toes and moving up slowly to the top of the head.

MBSR is based on the following tenets: non-judging, non-striving, acceptance, letting go, beginner’s mind, patience, trust, acceptance, and non-centering.

Barnes Class is delighted to host this 8-week programme with local expert Ali Gilling. For more than 20 years, Ali has been practicing and teaching yoga. She has travelled extensively pursing her own spiritual development and perfecting her teaching methods. Her relaxed and encouraging manner gives students the confidence to embark on their own journey of self discovery and personal development both on and off the mat.

If you’re in need of a reset and a practical guide to eliminating stress in your life, we welcome you to join this course. It begins 7th March and will be held in the peaceful and historic St. Mary’s Church in Barnes.

To learn more about the class and book your ticket, please click here.

Explore: What is Mindful Yoga?

Yoga

Yoga

We are all busy. Spouses, children, parents, friends, family – everyone has a set of balls they’re juggling in the air. Sometimes all this juggling means that we do not take time for ourselves, to refresh, to breathe.

Ali Gilling has been practising spiritual yoga for more than 20 years. Travelling extensively around the world, Ali pursued her own spiritual development and began offering holidays, retreats and workshops. She expertly weaves mindfulness into her classes, presenting yoga in a relaxed and encouraging manner.

Under Ali’s careful and expert guidance, students are given an opportunity to explore a mindfulness practise through movement, breath and body. Her sessions explore all the different aspects of mindfulness and meditation through gently stretching the body. Ali will give you exercises to continue your breathing and meditation at home, ensuring that you have the tools you need to relate the practises to your daily life.

 

About Barnes Class

Barnes Class organises fun and interesting classes run by local experts at great local venues.

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