Suffolk &amp; Cambs

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Feeling frazzled already and it&#8217;s only the second week of January? Make 2024 the year you do something about your constant feelings of stress, anxiety and generally never being on top of things by practising some mindfulness. Before you roll your eyes to heaven and brush it off as the sort of thing only incense-burning fruitarians do, you&#8217;ll want to read what Rebecca Fensome from <a href="https://www.crclewellbeing.com">Crcle Well-being</a> in Cambs has to say about how it changed her life. 



Rebecca is passionate about mindfulness after she used it to help her get through the stressful lockdowns, home schooling and working from home during the pandemic. She&#8217;s now a fully qualified SOMA and Kids Programme Youth mindfulness teacher, an accredited teacher of the Mindfulness Now programme, a Mental Health First Aider, a Trainee Integrative Counsellor, a IPHM accredited Sound Therapy Practitioner, and founder of Crcle Well-being, which organises UK retreats throughout the year and runs a membership programme.



So what is mindfulness? In a nutshell, it means being present in the moment and aware of what you&#8217;re doing and why. You can practice mindfulness through exercises including meditation, breathing methods, guided imagery, mantras, journalling and talks.



Now, take a deep breath and be ready to have your mind opened. Here are 7 ways mindfulness could change your life&#8230;



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1. You&#8217;ll become more patient 



&#8220;I’m more comfortable with stress and worry now,&#8221; says Rebecca. &#8220;Mindfulness teaches you a level of patience that I think in our busy lives, where we can get anything we want at the click of a button, is sometimes hard to find. You learn to sit still with whatever you are feeling, physically and mentally. If you are feeling awful, you learn to manage that. You learn that those ripples in the water don’t last forever, the stillness eventually returns.&#8221;



2. You&#8217;ll learn to accept 



&#8220;The second big lesson for me?&#8221; says Rebecca. &#8220;Acceptance. Learning to accept myself, imperfections and everything. Instead of trying to make myself change, improve myself or be ‘happier’ I learnt to accept myself just as I am. So much of wellness inadvertently makes us feel as though we should feel amazing all the time. But we are complex humans, with complex emotions. We can’t feel just one emotion all the time! 



&#8220;As I started to accept that in myself, I found it easier to accept it in other people. When someone is short with me, or maybe a little rude, I don’t take it to heart so much. I accept that maybe they are not feeling so great and that’s ok. It’s not about accepting bad behaviour or just putting up with people treating your badly. Instead, it’s making a conscious decision about where you place your energy, which is actually pretty liberating!&#8221;



3. You&#8217;ll stop striving for peace



&#8220;Instead of trying to clear your mind of thought (which is impossible) just notice your thoughts. Allow them to be there. If we just allow to be there whatever needs to be there, we stop striving and grasping for this peace. And conversely, like so many things in life, the moment we stop chasing something, it appears! When we stop clawing for perfection, we can cope with that extra stress and noise and still be ok. We stop becoming so unravelled and learn even amongst the noise, we can find peace.&#8221;



4. You&#8217;ll find joy in the little things 



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&#8220;Mindfulness really is a practice in coming into the present moment. Not agonising over the past or worrying about ‘what next’ but just living more in the moment. And we know, from numerous studies that being in the present moment makes us feel happier. This has really helped my feelings of anxiety, which was often preoccupied with planning for the perceived danger of the future! Learning to be more here in the moment, helped for me to change those habits of my mind and see the joy in my everyday life.



5. You&#8217;ll be able to let go&nbsp;



Through mindfulness practice I learnt to let go,&#8221; says Rebecca. &#8220;Let go of all those worries, that pain and be more present. Accepting who I am, my whole self and just feeling a little bit more free. Because I’m no longer chasing something, I’m no longer rushing around trying to make everything just right. I’m no longer replaying conversations in my mind, thinking about what I would say differently. What has happened, has happened. I’m here now, and I’m alive. There’s a simplistic joy in discovering that.&#8221;



6. You&#8217;ll always find the glimmer of light



&#8220;I’d always hated people telling me to be grateful,&#8221; says Rebecca. &#8220;I felt as though this was a stick to beat me with, telling me to shut up about feeling bad and anxious and stressed because I should be grateful for what I have. Mindfulness taught me that gratitude isn’t about shame though. It’s more about where you place your focus. So much of my attention was placed on what was going wrong, rather than what was going right. Learning to be grateful is just about changing the channel in your mind. Not ignoring the bad stuff, but also not allowing it ALL of your thinking space. This has really helped me manage stress, as even in those hardest times, I can still find a little glimmer of light. 



7. You&#8217;ll learn to love your body



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&#8220;The final lesson was huge for me and only one that I have realised I’ve learnt very recently,&#8221; says Rebecca. &#8220;Growing up in the 90s and early 00s I was exposed to some pretty damaging body image norms. I wasn’t tall and elegant. I am 5ft 2inches. I’ve never had a flat tummy, I’ve never had the thigh gap, I don’t have long luscious hair but short fine hair. And I hated my body for all of these ‘flaws’. And in my best passive aggressive way, I learnt to ignore my body. In mindfulness, you learn to use your breath and your body as an anchor to the present moment. You learn to feel comfortable with your physical self and you learn a gratitude for your body. My amazing body heals itself when I’m sick. My wonderful body keeps me alive without even having to think about it. My magical body grew my babies &#8211; I mean it actually created life! So spending time reconnecting with my body in a patient and caring way has helped me accept my physical self, and love my body too. If you’d said that to me 5 years ago I would have laughed in your face! This is how powerful this simple little practice is.&nbsp;



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sounds-like-the-perfect-way-to-start-the-new-year-here-s-how-to-get-on-board">Sounds like the perfect way to start the new year! Here&#8217;s how to get on board&#8230;</h2>



Rebecca runs wellbeing events throughout the year at venues around East Anglia including regular Sunday Self Care Sessions in Hemingford Grey. <a href="https://www.crclewellbeing.com/retreats">Find out about upcoming retreats and workshops here</a>. Crcle Wellbeing also has a Mindful Membership and for just £7.50 per month you can have access to a weekly half hour zoom session (or recording if you can&#8217;t make it) micro mindfulness teachings, monthly workshops and a weekly email with journalling prompts, mantras, inspirational talks, and wellbeing research to help you prioritise your self care. Members also receive discounts for the retreat days and 1:1 sessions. 



For more details visit <a href="https://www.crclewellbeing.com">crclewellbeing.com</a>

7 ways practising mindfulness can change your life

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