About the Course

Many of us have habits that we’d like to change. But often, despite our best intentions and efforts to make healthier choices, we can find ourselves going back to old ways.

For some this might mean having a cigarette, binging on food or alcohol when we feel stressed, gambling or engaging in unhealthy sexual or emotional behaviours when the urge arises. It might also mean spending too much time on social media or scrolling through the news, perhaps without realising what we're doing.

More than just being “bad habits”, with time and repetition these behaviour patterns actually become strong neural pathways in our brains. Breaking out of them is not easy, and simple willpower (or self-discipline) is unlikely to be enough.

What mindfulness offers is skill-power. Mindfulness not only helps with low moods, anxiety and stress, which make us more prone to turning towards bad habits. It also teaches us how to surf the urge of acting out a bad habit, so we can become more resilient when such addictive urges arise.

With practice, we can slowly break out of those habits and start making healthier choices for good.

The course will be led by the UK's primary Mindfulness-based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) teacher trainer, leading addictions specialist Devin Ashwood, alongside mental health nurse and mindfulness teacher with an addiction specialism, Nicola Mouat.

The course consists of nine, two-hour sessions with up to 45-minutes of daily home practice.

Through psychoeducation, group discussion and mindfulness practice, participants will learn the principles of mindfulness and how to:

• Come out of automatic pilot and give ourselves a chance to respond rather than react.
• Cultivate a new relationship with difficult thoughts, feelings and sensations, so that we can cope in healthy ways rather than turn to addictive patterns.
• Use mindfulness tools and techniques in challenging situations to help cope with the inevitable ups and downs of life.
• Practice accepting things as they are, as a first step towards responding to challenges skilfully and making wiser choices.
• Recognise cravings and let go of thoughts before they draw us in.
• Become more resilient in the face of our addictive urges through 'urge surfing’.
• Respond to ourselves with kindness and acceptance when we give in to our habits instead of self-critism.
• Look after ourselves during recovery and beyond by incorporating our practice into everyday life.

The course is suitable for anyone who is affected by addictive behaviours, which could include, but is not limited to, problematic urges for drugs, alcohol, smoking, food, gambling, sex or digital consumption.

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Notes:

• This course will be held live on Zoom.
• No previous mindfulness experience required.
• Attendees should be clean, sober and in recovery from any addictions.
• Attendees should not be currently physically dependent on problematic substances and must attend the course sober.
• Current tobacco / nicotine users are welcome to attend.
• Registrants will receive additional details and joining information a few days before the first session.
• To apply for a concession rate please email friend@londonmindful.com.
• The teacher and participants will be live and visible at various times. There will be group and one-to-one interaction as you would expect in a traditional classroom setting.
• Please contact us (friend@londonmindful.com) if you'd like to test Zoom or your internet connection before signing up.
• This course is not offered as a treatment for any specific psychological or physical conditions. The course may not be suitable for people experiencing severe difficulties, for more information please see our FAQs or email us if you would like to discuss before booking.
• As part of the booking process participants are required to complete a personal history questionnaire, and a follow-up call may be arranged. If during this call there is a mutual decision that the course isn't suitable at this time, a full refund will be given.
• If you are based outside of the UK and would prefer to pay via PayPal, please get in touch with us (friend@londonmindful.com) to arrange.

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Schedule

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