Sometimes life hurts. Sometimes it hurts alot. Dr Andrea Grabovac knows all about this and the mental strategies to cope with daily pain.
Mindful-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a a psychological therapy which has been used globally to treat many ailments and conditions, such as anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and trauma. By working from a place of self-awareness and compassion, we are able to identify the behaviours and thoughts that can lead to declining mental health conditions. Dr Andrea Grabovac has whole-heartedly used this therapy style to change lives over the last 9 years, as a practicing clinician, co-founder of the North American Chapter of the MiCBT Institute, published peer-reviewed author on the Buddhist Psychological Model, and teacher trainer, including her 5-Day Professional Training at Hollyhock.
Listen in as Dr Grabovac leads us on a daily mindful practice used to help with pain management. Love yourself, one day at a time.
Transcript:
Gently offering the possibility of a kind understanding towards oneself and continuing throughout this practice to maintain this intention of kindness towards physical and mental sensations. It may be possible to feel sensations in the body that are consistent with a kind attitude. Perhaps a pleasant flow of tingling sensations whether in the hands or soles of the feet or the chest perhaps a warm and expansive feeling. Sometimes when we first start a loving-kindness practice we don’t feel many or any physical sensations and that’s fine too. We are still doing the practice and benefiting from it. Also, sometimes during loving-kindness practice thoughts or sensations might occur that are unpleasant and that is normal as well. Welcome even these more difficult thoughts or physical sensations into awareness with acceptance and non reactivity and if you are feeling some pleasant sensations consistent with kindness, with each out-breath, visualize that the pleasant sensations are expanding slowly throughout the body perhaps feeling the sensations spreading throughout the body each time you breathe out and whether working at the level of gently offering kindness to yourself or offering kindness and pleasant sensations paired with this. Beginning to wish yourself well by extending thoughts of well-being harmony and love to yourself, I’ll be offering some examples of loving kindness phrases and feel free to change them as works best for you to best express your own wishes.
May I be peaceful and at ease
May I be kind to myself
May I accept myself as I am
May I extend compassion towards myself
May I be patient with myself
May I feel joy and contentment
May I be peaceful and at ease may I be kind to myself
May I accept myself as I am
May I extend compassion towards myself
May I be patient with myself
May I feel joy and contentment
May you be peaceful and at ease
May you be kind to yourself
May you accept yourself as you are
May you extend compassion towards yourself
May you be patient with yourself
May you feel joy and contentment
May all beings be peaceful and at ease
May all beings be kind to themselves
May all beings accept themselves as they are
May all beings extend compassion towards themselves
May all beings be patient with themselves
May all beings feel joy and contentment
May all beings be happy