Have you noticed how often stress, and how stressed people feel, crops up in our conversations? Many people are finding the stresses and strains of modern life are taking a toll on their mental and physical health.  However, the ‘stress response’ is a natural response to threats, perceived threats or life events. This natural response is not necessarily negative.  For short periods of time, stress may help us perform well…

Mindfulness is a bit of buzz word these days.  Many people speak about and write about it but it can still be unclear what mindfulness actually is. Jon Kabat Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and who is often credited with birth of the modern mindfulness movement, describes mindfulness as:    ‘paying attention in particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally’.    Let’s break that…