mindfulness

Grief is a complex issue to treat. The practice of mindfulness meditation can give the client a greater sense of awareness and well-being in a grieving client’s waking life, but trouble sleeping due to disturbing dreams is a common symptom that can take a toll on her emotional and physical reserves.

The Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) model rests on the concept of workability. An ACT therapist asks, “Is what you’re doing working to give you a rich, full, and meaningful life?” If the answer is yes, the behavior is workable. If the answer is no, it’s unworkable.

A new study published in the International Journal of Yoga Therapy entitled “iRest Yoga-Nidra on the College Campus: Changes in Stress, Depression, Worry, and Mindfulness” (Eastman-Mueller, Wilson, Jung, Kimura, and Tarrant, 2013) found that the iRest yoga nidra program, developed by psychologist Richard E. Miller, may reduce symptoms of perceived stress, worry, and depression while increasing mindfulness-based skills among college students. In the study, students participated in two hours of the yoga nidra program for a period of eight weeks.

This summer, New Harbinger released Advanced Training in ACT: Mastering Key In-Session Skills for Applying Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, an eight-hour workshop in the use of mindfulness and acceptance to treat emotional disorders.

Using mindfulness to treat the suffering that comes with the symptoms of borderline personality disorder is a difficult task because it requires you to attend to what’s going on in your mind. The explicit application of mindfulness used in dialectical behavior therapy provided a way for people with BPD to get unstuck from their judgments and the intense emotions that lead to suffering.