Introduction
Mindfulness
Please note, our community courses are currently postponed. Please see our workshop information page to learn about our online offer.
Mindfulness is a practice that is thousands of years old. It has been introduced into healthcare over the past thirty years. Mindfulness is a way of being that can be developed.
Have you ever been driving and arrived at your destination with no recollection of your journey at all. Have you picked up a cup of tea to have a drink and realized its all gone and you haven’t tasted any of it? We’ve all done things like this, been on Autopilot. Mindfulness is the opposite to this.
Mindfulness training enables us to develop our natural capacity for awareness and to notice without judging more of the thoughts, feelings and sensations that make up our lives day by day. This can help us relate differently to our experience and improve anxiety, depression and many other emotional and physical health concerns.
It can increase our wellbeing through deepening our appreciation of our lives.
Mindfulness information
What’s different about Valleys Steps Mindfulness For Everyday course?
Our course is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ( ACT).
ACT is made up of 6 components of which 3 are aspects of Mindfulness. The course teaches these mindfulness skills which can be used in everyday life. It can be helpful for managing stress, for combating low mood and dealing with anxieties. It can also help boost general well-being.
We focus on using mindfulness in daily life and start with short meditation practices building up over the 6 weeks to practising for longer periods
The course was developed from a smaller scale course used by Cwm Taf University Health Board since 2004. It has been accessed by hundreds of people and consistently gets excellent feedback.
Mindfulness Benefits
What happens in the sessions?
The class is split into 2 parts. During the first hour there is usually a short meditation, then the presenter will talk about that week’s lesson, we’ll practise another meditation and will then tell a story.
We will learn about the stress reaction. We discuss the different components of mindfulness and how we can develop these. We also practise ways of developing this formally via short meditations and also informally through bringing mindfulness to everyday tasks. Each week we discuss and practise a different meditation. During the last part, there will be a longer meditation exercise. Participants remain seated throughout. Nobody is judged as to how well they are doing. Everyone learns at their own pace.
Each session builds on the last so it is most effective when all 6 sessions are attended. Frequent attendance is also advisable for developing a full understanding of what Mindfulness is and how it can be helpful.
The management of difficult emotions and thoughts is considered in the last two sessions.
Our courses run throughout the year across the region. All courses are free and run for 6 weekly sessions. Browse for course locations and start dates below.
Mindfulness Courses
Online Workshops
Our Community courses are currently postponed until further notice, but Valleys Steps has taken our workshops online so you can attend from the comfort of your home. Visit our online session page below and browse our range of free online workshops