Clive Bennett’s guest post explores haiku as a mindful practice emphasizing present-moment awareness and nature. Originating from Japanese poetry, haiku captures fleeting experiences through structured form. Modern haiku celebrates simplicity and sensory language, inviting readers to reconnect with the world. The practice encourages observation, reflection, and emotional engagement with life’s beauty. Continue reading Haiku – A Mindful Practice
The post celebrates International Dawn Chorus Day, encouraging mindfulness through birdwatching and listening to birdsong. It highlights the significance of this annual event, where people enjoy the morning symphony of birds worldwide, even suggesting a virtual playlist to recreate the experience for those unable to participate outdoors. Richard Bostock’s art complements the theme. Continue reading Watching Birds – The Dawn Chorus
Personally I have used a few different browsers while surfing the internet and I am always looking out for a browser that can offer a better experience, whether that is one of greater security or a faster more user-friendly one. If I am honest, it would be good to have a browser that was more relaxing to use. While not wishing on AI to take over, I often get more stressed trying to navigate the interface, finding the ‘print’ or ‘download’ icon, or staring at the screen which shows screensavers that are dull and boring. Oh, how I wish for … Continue reading Mindful Browsing
The post is about the jackdaw, a sociable and agile bird found in diverse environments. Known for its unique eye communication and acrobatic skills, it thrives in windy conditions. The author shares insights on the bird’s playful nature and social interactions, emphasizing its impressive evening displays and mindful observation experiences. Continue reading Watching Birds – The Jackdaw
Recently, while working in collaboration with an Edinburgh charity, get2gether, to provide a relax in nature walk, we decided on a location a few miles from Edinburgh city centre, which is aptly named Saughton Rose Gardens. Even at the end of the season there were still a few roses in bloom; it was evident that the local community who tended this area, had done a remarkable job producing healthy plants and flowers amongst beautifully landscaped gardens. I was surprised to see a statue of Gandhi as we entered at the East gate. The beautifully managed gardens that met us as … Continue reading Relaxation Walk
National Robin Day on December 21 raises awareness for garden birds and wildlife in winter. Initiated by Songbird Survival in 2016, it highlights the robin, Britain’s national bird. With connections to Christmas cards and Victorian postmen, the robin symbolizes companionship and mindfulness, evoking a deeper connection to nature. Continue reading Watching Birds – The Robin
This piece explores the therapeutic benefits of birdwatching, particularly focusing on starlings. It highlights how observing birds fosters a connection to nature and alleviates stress, serving as a complementary practice to mental health care. The article celebrates starlings’ beauty, especially their winter aerial displays known as murmurations, encouraging outdoor engagement. Continue reading Watching Birds – The Starling
The author reflects on the mindfulness of birdwatching, recalling childhood moments of joy spent observing birds. This activity serves as a reprieve from daily chaos, encouraging appreciation for the present. Birdwatching can be done anywhere and offers mental well-being benefits, reminding adults of the natural mindfulness often inherent in childhood. Continue reading Mindful Birdwatching
Setting an intention for the day is a great habit to get into. I do this as part of my daily morning meditation. I also visualise what I would like to happen during my day. Being thankful for everything that I have experienced, even the negative ones, as they are life’s lessons to be learned from so as not to repeat them. Think of an important goal that you have for the day, anything at all, and focus on that goal. See it, by visualizing the goal and tell yourself how you are going to achieve what you set out … Continue reading Set an Intention
My favourite part of the day is the Morning, the earlier the better. It is usually anywhere from 6am to 7.30am, before the neighbourhood starts to get busy getting ready for their day ahead. There is a calm around my property, with the noise of the birds still singing their songs, and somehow the weather fronts feel far away; almost like there is a kind of bubble surrounding this particular part of my world. This feeling of security comes about through my daily practices of Meditation, two or three at different times of the day. I would like to share … Continue reading Morning routine
The work I do every day makes a difference to others – mostly, I hope, for the better. Take a break from your routine and practice slowing down during this unique Guided Mindfulness Session. I was the first therapist to offer Mindfulness Walks in this part of the UK and many others continue to follow my lead in this field, which began around the start of the 2003. There is a difference having someone who is a highly qualified Psychotherapist and Counsellor by your side. I have a Bachelor of Science degree, with Honours, in Psychology and Counselling, and I … Continue reading Mindfulness Walks
“Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation and healing” – Jon Kabat-Zinn. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction comes under the umbrella of Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBI’s) which are intended on helping people improve their health and wellbeing. Change Therapy delivers MBSR Certification courses – get in touch for more information, using this link. Intended to increase consciousness and encourage the connection between your body and mind, MBSR uses techniques that target negative subconscious thoughts, behaviours … Continue reading Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
It’s Not Happiness That Brings Us Gratitude, It’s Gratitude That Brings Us Happiness. If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world. If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed that the million who will not survive this week. If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and spare change in a dish, or moneybox somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy. If you can attend a church meeting … Continue reading Gratitude
Working in collaboration with Get2gether, we arranged this month’s Mindfulness Walking therapy at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh. There are two buildings, named Modern One and Modern Two. Both buildings are impressive examples of neo-classical architecture, with Modern One designed by William Burn in 1825, housing the independent school John Watson’s. Modern Two was designed by Thomas Hamilton in 1831 and was known as the Dean Orphanage in 1833, then became an educational college until 1999 We gathered in mid-afternoon under a warm sun and walked around the grounds with guidance on how to be mindful … Continue reading Modern Art Gallery
Amisfield Walled Garden was our destination for my Walk and Talk therapy for groups. The garden and grounds of are part of the Amisfield House Estate, with the mansion built by the Earl of Wemyss in the 1750s. The garden is tended to by volunteers with the charity Amisfield Preservation Trust and is open to the public. It is early morning, and the sun is out, with a soft glow that is neither warm nor inviting, yet the world always seems more cheerier with this great solar giant so prominent in the sky. It is the anticipation of when the … Continue reading Walk & Talk March 2023
Body shaming is the action of making negative comments about one’s own or another person’s attractiveness or appearance. Body shaming leads to withdrawal, isolation, and is associated with depression, anxiety and a whole host of negative emotions, which have a serious impact on a person’s wellbeing. Why do people make critical comments about the shape or size of someone else’s body? This behaviour is witnessed in the playgrounds of schools and continues through time into the adult environments of work and leisure, where sarcastic remarks are still seen as ‘a bit of fun’, by many, including those in responsible positions … Continue reading Body Shaming
Why not take 6 minutes out of your day, to try out some Mindful Breathing? Make yourself comfortable sitting or lying down, close your eyes and listen to my audio track. If you don’t have time right now, the contents of the audio go along these lines: When you breath air in, you feel and sense the oxygen entering your body, then you breath out the used air. This process of breathing is natural, and one we never really stop to think about. When was the last time you fully concentrated on your breathing? Breathe in through your nose and … Continue reading Breathing – Mindfully
A Mindfulness strategy called “Anchoring” can assist us in focusing our attention on the here and now. We may become unaware of our surroundings when we our feelings are overtaken by our emotions and thoughts. “Anchoring” involves pausing for a second to check in with ourselves. If you think of a boat that throws its anchor over the side, this stops the boat from floating away. Similarly with Mindfulness, we ‘Anchor our Awareness’, maintaining concentration on the present time. This is done by accepting these ‘other’ thoughts and allowing them to pass, and re-focus on our breathing. If we focus … Continue reading Anchoring
Anxiety. A word that I hear more and more of as each week passes by. Some people have common anxieties about the cost of living or the plethora of viruses circulating in the community. Some have anxieties concerning their own lives and how they can deal with things troubling them. There are self-help books, websites and experts all over the place that promise to help you deal with your anxiety, but what if you do not have ready access to a book, website or a professional to talk you through what to do in the moment that anxious thoughts appear … Continue reading Calming anxiety quickly
Following on from the last Mindfulness Walk in collaboration with Get2gether, we chose Edinburgh’s Botanic Gardens as the ideal location for our Walk in September 2022. This fabulous place is very popular for locals and tourists alike, and has so much space to walk around in, with plenty of benches for the weary traveller too. The massive greenhouses that hold hundreds of species of plants from around the world were closed for maintenance when we visited, yet we found that everything around us in nature was plentiful and free. Some fortunate couples choose this location to get married at, and … Continue reading Botanic Gardens
We had a really nice summer this year, and with it the opportunity to get outside more than usual, as more people were mixing outdoors again. Working in collaboration with the well-known charity, Get2gether, I offer Mindfulness Walks in the Edinburgh area, and these have proved very successful. We have visited the beach at Portobello in June, and everyone really enjoyed a couple of hours of mindfulness meditation, talking, and meeting new people. The added bonus of a free ice-cream helped soothe the sore feet from walking too! The next Mindfulness Walk was arranged for mid August at The Thistle … Continue reading A quiet corner in the City
If you have had a Heart attack or similar cardio event, recovery can be slow and frustrating to many people. You can change your life around and become more optimistic about the future. I am walking breathing testimony that this is possible with some guidance and a determination to succeed! When I first created Change Therapy many years ago, the aim was to provide extra support to survivors of cardio events by introducing gentle therapies that we could work through together, to benefit your overall wellbeing. This includes altering your outlook on life, and learning how to be more positive … Continue reading Post Cardio Therapies
One of the most frequent issues that clients bring to my sessions is loneliness. One general assumption of loneliness is that you are an elderly person with little contact with the outside world. From my experiences these past few years, the people that are lonely, come from age-groups starting in late teens upwards. One individual’s story springs to mind, where they said they were lonely, and could not fathom out what to do. A young man with a job and a house, with lots to offer, but no-one to share life with. He wanted to go on holiday abroad, go … Continue reading Loneliness
The term “mindfulness” refers to a compassionate and clear-headed awareness, or the awareness of what is occurring simultaneously in the external and internal worlds. The majority of us are more accustomed to its opposite: mindlessness, which refers to situations in which we are not fully aware of what is happening and are therefore more likely to make mistakes. In order to make informed decisions, mindfulness entails waking up and paying attention to the present moment. A specific method of being present in the moment is mindfulness. The mind is less prone to become ensnared in negative thought and emotion patterns … Continue reading Mindfulness
Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy improves on the ideas of cognitive therapy by teaching people to deliberately pay attention to their thoughts and feelings without passing judgement on them, utilising techniques such as mindfulness meditation. Cognitive therapy’s basic tenet is that incorrect self-beliefs cause unpleasant feelings like depression and that thoughts come before moods. To assist you in identifying and re-evaluating your negative thought patterns and replacing them with more realistically optimistic ones, MBCT makes use of cognitive therapy techniques. This method enables people to reflect on their ideas without being pre-occupied with what may have been or what might happen in … Continue reading MBCT
Anger is an unpleasant feeling. It is like a blazing flame that burns up our self-control and causes us to say and do things that we regret later. When someone is angry, we can see that they are in a form of hell, a cycle of never-ending rage. Anger and hatred are the materials in which hell is made. A mind without anger is cool, fresh and rational. The absence of anger is the basis of real happiness; the basis of love and compassion. When our anger us placed under the spotlight of Mindfulness, it immediately begins to lose some … Continue reading Mindfulness of Anger
Being non-judgmental implies not seeing things as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ ‘right’ or ‘wrong.’ Instead, you simply witness or experience it; you are not obligated to make sense of a situation, your own ideas, feelings, or behaviours, or the behaviour of others. It is difficult to remain non-judgmental all of the time. We make snap judgments about people based on their look, conduct, and words from the moment we first see or meet them. And that is perfectly fine. Perhaps you see a person dressed in a way that makes you feel insecure, or they have a voice or look which … Continue reading Non-judgemental
How many of you reading this get distracted? Whether you are reading, talking or listening, many a time you will have experienced being distracted. It can be annoying, frustrating and takes you out of your stride until you can focus again. What about when we are listening to someone speak. It can take a lot of concentration to hear their voice and what subject they are talking about. Listening takes a lot of effort, and sometimes it is hard to shut out other noises. Can you think of times this happens to you? Sometimes it is not just noises that … Continue reading Distractions
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