Put simply, it’s a type of therapy that focuses on centering your mind and learning to be more aware of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It helps you react better to your surroundings and various situations while reducing your automatic negative reactions to things. It’s used for treating both mental health issues and physical conditions. For those in treatment for addiction, it can help manage symptoms during recovery, making the process a little easier.

Mindfulness therapy can take place individually or as a group. Some common practices and activities include:

• Meditation
• Breathing exercises
• Journaling
• Group discussion
• Yoga
• Home assignments, such as watching videos or guided meditation exercises

Throughout this therapy, you’ll learn various new skills that help you recover but are also good to have moving forward:

• Observation: learning to pay closer attention to what’s happening around you
• Participation: become more confident participating in things without being self-conscious
• Description: learning how to describe something that happened and how you felt/feel about it
• Focusing: learning how to better focus on things in the moment and not get distracted by other things or ideas
• Being less judgemental: learning how to better accept things as they are instead of jumping to judgment
• Effectiveness: learning how to do things without second-guessing yourself

These are some basic things you’ll learn as you practice mindfulness and go through therapy sessions. These things can help you recover, help prevent relapse, and help you navigate your day-to-day life even after treatment.

Our mindfulness centre for women offers a wide variety of mindfulness therapies and activities, including the more specific mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT). This is a form of mindfulness therapy that correlates with behaviour. It combines traditional CBT techniques with mindfulness practices.

It’ll help you develop a better awareness of your body, mind, moods, and experiences. It encourages you to practice mindfulness in small, everyday tasks like cleaning and eating. This helps you gradually learn how to better manage shifts in mood and feelings of sadness or depression.

Ultimately, It helps you develop strategies for managing and understanding feelings and emotions as they come rather than immediately jumping to a poor reaction. Some common reactions can include overthinking, overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, and automatic negative self-talk. You’ll learn how to stop these things in their tracks and take control of how you respond instead of spiralling deeper into something negative.

We have some of the best mindfulness-based (MBCT) therapists in Ontario. These women are highly trained and compassionate individuals, many of which have lived experiences of their own. This helps them relate to what you’re going through and understand how you’re feeling.

Our mindfulness clinic for women is situated on a beautiful, private piece of property that offers endless peace and tranquillity. You’ll have access to nature, where you can simply soak in some sunshine or go for a lovely walk. Even these simple things can boost your mood and calm your mind a little.

When it comes to mindfulness activities and practices, we have plenty to offer. All of these are available for the duration of your stay, and we encourage everyone to participate:

• Yoga. Yoga can be as simple or as intense as you want, with poses for all skill levels! It’s great for both your mind and body, helping you stretch and relax muscles while centering your mind.
• Meditation. Meditation has been around for centuries and is a staple in many people’s lives. There are many ways you can go about it, though it’s most often practiced by sitting quietly with eyes closed. It helps you focus on your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and even your body. It helps you stay grounded and clear-headed.
• Art therapy. Even if you’re not naturally “good” at art, everyone can use a creative outlet. By exercising your creativity and expanding your mind, you’re able to express yourself more easily. You may learn something new about yourself, or you’ll simply enjoy the process and feel calmer and more centred as a result.
• Keeping a journal and recording your thoughts and feelings is often quite therapeutic and can help you work through things. It can help you identify feelings that confuse you, and you can more easily return to things in therapy sessions when they’re written down.

These are some of the more popular mindfulness activities, but we’ve got even more for you to choose from at our mindfulness clinic. By engaging in these practices and combining them with the mindfulness techniques you learn in therapy, we hope you can significantly relieve any stress you’re feeling. With less stress, you’ll find the journey to healing and recovery not only easier but longer-lasting.