Why I Teach Mind-Body Practices

After many years of working as a psychologist, therapist, coach and trainer, I have become increasingly interested in simple things that people can actually use.

There is a growing need for people to have greater awareness of ways in which they can look after their own mental and physical wellbeing. Stress has become an increasingly familiar part of modern life, while anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout and other difficulties affect many people’s lives.

At the same time, professional health and support services are under considerable pressure, and access to timely help is not always easy. None of this means that people should be expected to cope alone, or that self-help is a substitute for appropriate professional care. But it does mean that knowing something about how we can help ourselves matters.

After more than 30 years of working with people, I know that we can often do more for ourselves than we imagine. We may not be able to control what happens to us, and we certainly can’t eliminate all of life’s difficulties, but we can learn skills that influence how we respond to them.

That is why I am interested in practices that are simple enough to be used in ordinary life.

There is little point in giving someone an impressive theory if they can’t do anything with it.

The practices I teach are therefore deliberately straightforward. They are designed to be experienced rather than simply discussed, and adapted so that people can incorporate them into everyday life.

Some people prefer sitting meditation. Others respond better to breathing exercises, movement, visualisation or relaxation. There is no single method that suits everyone.

The important thing is to discover what helps you and then practise it sufficiently for it to become familiar.

These practices are not about taking responsibility for everything that happens to us. Sometimes we need other people, professional help, medical treatment or simply a bit of luck. But having a few reliable ways of settling ourselves, changing our attention, recognising stress and responding rather than reacting can make a real difference.

And perhaps that is the most useful thing these practices offer: not control over life, but a little more choice in how we meet it.