Mindfulness courses offered at Warwick

Two mindfulness courses are being offered at Warwick this year.

The courses, entitled ‘Mindfulness For Everyday Living’ and ‘Cultivating Mindfulness’, last 10 weeks and cost £280 and £80 respectively.

Both courses take place on Westwood Campus on Tuesday evenings and are led by Dean Howes, a certified consultant who uses mindfulness as a holistic approach to therapy.

The courses focus on breathing, detachment and awareness with the accredited Mindfulness for Everyday Living also providing an understanding of the history, benefits and types of mindfulness.

Warwick has provided mindfulness courses for over nine years now along with other institutions such as Surrey, Manchester, Cambridge, Oxford and UCL, all of which offer any student or non-student the opportunity to learn.

Mindfulness is the act of focusing one’s attention on the present and becoming self-aware of the sensations and feelings in our minds and our bodies. It is not to be confused with meditation during which you attempt to clear your mind of all thoughts.

In mindfulness you are encouraged to allow thoughts to pass through your mind and become aware of those thoughts passing.

The pursuit of mindfulness is said to be very therapeutic and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended it to those suffering from depression.

Moreover, the NHS recommends mindfulness as an aid to mental health and well-being.

With the increasing demand for improvements in mental health services in the UK mindfulness is becoming commonplace within therapy for a vast array of mental illnesses.

Warwick Counselling Service encourages the importance of mindfulness and writes “[mindfulness] not only puts the mind and body in a healing state so that we are less stressed but it also has real benefits in everyday life”.

The University commented: “The two mindfulness courses running each term this year are very popular and generally fully booked, the courses and the tutor receive excellent feedback.”