‘Beo’, the Irish word meaning alive, and a centre for mindfulness and integrated healthcare in Sligo that recognises the unique interaction between mind and body for health and healing
THE blue logo of Beo surfs the outline of a wave, the image itself seeming to illustrate the surge of energy I feel after talking to Paula Martin and Jared Gottlieb, the impressive couple at the helm of Beo.
It seems fitting too that the Irish name for their centre means ‘alive’, a word that in its fullest meaning sums up their intention for participants: to achieve the best life possible for themselves through a holistic mind/body/ science approach.
Paula, a GP, and Jared, a psychotherapist, believe that each person has a unique capacity to impact positively on their own health and invite participants to take an active role in their physical and emotional wellbeing – and in the whole of their lives. Paula said: “As humans we can’t always stop the challenges of life, but we can learn to mobilise our inner resources to cope and live better with what life throws our way.”
Paula is originally from Dublin and fell in love with Sligo when she was doing her GP training here. She founded Beo in 2015, offering EvidenceBased Mindfulness Trainings & Integrated Health Consultations to people experiencing a wide range of chronic medical issues.
“There’s a cohort of people who live with chronic illness that can’t be cured by pharmaceuticals and this is where Mindfulness and mind/body approaches can be really helpful.
“In understanding the connection between mind and body, and the effects of stress on the nervous and immune system, clients are invited to tap into their own inner resources to support their bodies to come back into balance. All of these mind/body interventions and lifestyle approaches are used alongside tradition medical treatments. It’s wonderful to see science confirming the benefits of meditation and mindfulness for so many health issues like high blood pressure, chronic pain, anxiety and depression and stomach issues – and the research continues to grow”
“A huge thread in my life was my personal meditation practice which I discovered during my early years of medical school.
“During my training I spent a lot of time in healthcare settings in India and Nepal which introduced me to different perspectives on medicine and healing, and the many health benefits of mindfulness.
“I felt a strong commitment to integrating these ancient approaches into my work as a doctor and started to explore what was available to me in the West.
“When I finished my GP training I discovered The Centre for Mindfulness at The University of Massachusetts Medical Centre. I signed up for an internship program and spent several months there training. I came home feeling passionate about the work and went on to complete my formal training in the well renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Course (MBSR).
“For my first three or four years working as a GP in Dublin I was doing a lot of meditation, doing it for myself, maintaining my own balance and presence in quite stressful situations and with the time pressures of work and so on. And then I started teaching meditation practice to other doctors. A new journey had begun, and since 2011 I have been offering the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program in hospitals and community settings nationwide.” Paula’s next course began earlier ths month at The Natural Therapy Centre, Murrow House, Sligo Town.
These days Paula works part-time in a Primary Care Centre and part-time at Beo. “I’m passionate about continuing to explore the mind/body connect and integrating these approaches into modern medicine. Much of the time people have an intuition about what’s going on upstream, be it stress, poor sleep or low mood and often times we can treat what’s happening downstream. There needs to be a holding space to look at and explore what’s really out of balance, to listen to and support the wisdom of the body.”
Paula met her husband Jared in 2015. “It’s still surprises me how small Sligo is”, says Jared. “Even though I’ve done psychotherapy and meditation training in great settings, had meaningful work experiences in Los Angeles, Massachusetts and Ireland, often one my most important credentials is that I don’t know anyone, I’m not anyone’s cousin” he laughs. “Not being from Ireland is something that can be useful when someone is contemplating taking that first step towards psychotherapy. Then, as talking about things becomes more familiar, it makes it easier.
“It’s not uncommon that people come with the idea that ‘there’s something wrong with me’, and what often emerges in the space is a reclaiming, a rediscovering of all that’s good about you, and getting more clarity about the dynamics that are wrong for you, and there’s a moving away from the things that aren’t important and moving towards the things that are important.”
“In other places where I lived therapy had no stigma to it, you could meet a total stranger and they’d talk about their therapist helping them navigate circumstances.
“There’s not so much of that in Ireland and I want to try and break down that stigma; there’s a courage in being able to ask for help, reaching out and having conversations that are useful when the comfort zone is no longer working, and to be able to acknowledge that.
“Challenging the beliefs we’ve formed about ourselves, that have been formed by the way we’ve been reared or treated, takes courage and strength. It was Mark Twain who said ‘some of the worst things in my life never happened’, because what the mind is telling us is not always true. A Tibetan monk, Tsoknyi Rinpoche, has a beautiful phrase: ‘real but not true’. What often ends up happening is we beat ourselves up about something, but if we can acknowledge the realness of the feeling or thoughts arising, but not believe the story those harsh thoughts are telling you, we can access more kindness and perspective towards ourselves.”
Jared recalls something the clinical professor of psychiatry Daniel Siegel once said: ‘name it to tame it’. What I mean by that, is that certain thoughts we have about things or ourselves can have incredible power over us and once we’re able to name it, give a name to it and say this is the fear, the important distinction being fear is passing through, that’s a totally different experience.
“It's impossible to figure out something if you can’t acknowledge it. ‘Say nothing and keep saying it’ becomes the survival strategy. The ancient wounds never heal if they’re not properly treated.”
Jared was born in the US, and worked in National Geographic. He held a number of different positions, and was assistant to the president of National Geographic, “inspiring people to care about the planet”. He lived in Washington DC, California and Massachusetts, arguably the birthplace of the modern mindfulness movement with the foundation of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, where he met Paula.
“It was a really interesting time for me”, says Jared. “I was doing a lot of writing, and every single vacation day and some unpaid leave time was used for meditation retreats all over the US, and I would write for National Geographic about mindful travel. And then I started a meditation program in National Geographic.
“I’d reserve big conference rooms, didn’t even advertise them, and we were soon filling a conference room every week.
“But things changed at National Geographic. Rupert Murdoch and Fox were taking over and I realised I was going to be conflicted with the new culture, there was going to be a fight, and I did some pretty bold things, asking pointed question and the answers reinforced my feelings pretty strongly. It was time to make a big change. I was going on retreats all this time and had embarked on meditation teacher training.
“Tara Brach (the globally known meditation teacher) became my friend and mentor. I finished this training in 2012, and then spent two and half years in a fellowship at the Insight Meditation Society as a peer crisis counsellor. I then did a Masters in social work with a clinical path at the Smith School for Social Work.”
“There’s no barrier to reaching out,” says Jared. “It’s possible to explore our mind and body with curiosity, openheartedness and kindness.”
Paula and Jared offer holistic health consultations, individual and couples therapy/ counselling, and mindfulness courses and workshops. They can be reached by calling 087 1147811 or emailing info@beomindfulhealth.ie.