Mindfulness-based stress reduction course coming to Summerside
Frank MacAulay says people’s lives are getting so busy with work, family and their community they don’t think about themselves.
“Because we’re so busy, we’re not listening to what’s happening in the body.”
MacAulay, who is from Chelton, is offering a mindfulness-based stress reduction course that’s coming soon to Summerside. The program was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts medical school. In Summerside, it will be offered on Thursdays, 4:30-7 p.m., beginning April 26.
The eight-week program will feature a daylong retreat in week six.
The program looks at ways to help people manage their own stress by not necessarily taking medication as their first option, MacAulay said
“Some people need medication to manage some health issues, but there are other ways.”
MacAulay and a colleague took training and have been delivering the program in a group process for about 14 years between Summerside and Charlottetown. It basically teaches people to become aware about what’s going on within their body, he said.
“We use a lot of meditation and yoga techniques to increase awareness. Once we get that awareness of my body’s getting tight or I’m getting angry, then we may decide to use different ways of managing that versus our old habits.
“It’s about listening to your body, the way you’re thinking and the feelings you may be having. The key part is just accepting whatever is happening right now. It’s very present-focused, MacAulay said.
The next step is for the person to become aware of what’s going on in his or her world.
“Sometimes, through different treatments, people may eat, so they teach awareness of mindful eating so they’re not eating excessively but saying, ‘I’ve had enough. I don’t need to go back for seconds’,” MacAulay said.
“Once we become aware that I’m eating (because of) emotions or eating because I’m sad or whatever it is, then we say there’s another way of dealing with this besides eating, smoking or drinking too much or whatever the behaviour might be.”
As a social worker, MacAulay has been working with people his whole career. He’s always looking for new opportunities to improve his skills in terms of offering services to people.
He took the training to run the group program personally. He thought this could help people based on the research and his own personal experience.
Over the years, people have shared great things that have happened to them in terms of recognizing they have anxiety and can manage it much better now that they’re in charge of themselves, MacAulay said.
There are a few spaces left for the Summerside workshop.
For information, contact jfrankmacaulay@gmail.com.