Shorifa

 

It’s been a very effective and positive experience.

 

I have a lot of negative thoughts and now I accept them and when they come I use the techniques I learned on the course.  I say “hello thought! Goodbye thought!” Sometimes I actually say it out aloud. It soothes my mind.

 

I do the  mindful movement at home whenever I feel a bit tense.  My body feels lighter.

 

Because my main problem is migraines, I find that when I am worried my migraines get worse and when I have a migraine I worry more.  But when I meditate I feel like I can breathe. It clears my airways, it soothes my mind and the migraine calms down.

 

It makes me feel happy to meet new people in the same situation… It doesn’t make you feel alone.  I feel more confident.

 

At the [end of year “Take Back Your Life”] celebration, I met Barbara and just in a 10 minute conversation I can understand her experience and how she’s dealt with it and how that can help me.  She gave me the name of a book that can help me.

 

Overall … the course made me happy … just meeting everyone, learning the techniques, learning different ways to cope.  I actually apply it so I can see the changes and it’s made me more confident to continue doing this because in such a short space of time I’ve noticed a change in my attitude and mindset.

 

Another thing… before I used to feel very uncomfortable sharing my pain and how I feel because I was frightened of negative judgements.  Because of the course I feel much more comfortable opening up to people.

 

I did that yesterday at the carers meeting at the Buddhist centre and Karen was very understanding.  Before, in the past, I wouldn't talk to people because in my community people don’t believe young people have pain.  It’s so unfair.

 

I’ve learnt about food and nutrition.  I’ve really enjoyed the food. I used to eat without being aware of what I was eating and now I’m tasting my food and more conscious of what I eat.