Mindfulness and Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy
What Sheree and Somatic Rehabilitation offer
An experienced mindfulness practitioner since becoming a student of Hakomi Mindful Somatic Psychotherapy in 2003, Sheree has offered community classes (Pathway to the Present Moment) in mindfulness since 2012.
In a Pathway to the Present Moment, mindfulness is used to help pay particular attention to the connection between mind and body. If we are curious about what we find there, in mindful awareness, this connection can provide us with the support needed to take the next step on our journey.
Why the emphasis on mindfulness
Sheree believes mindfulness to be an essential tool for developing awareness of self. In mindful awareness, we are developing the Observer part of the brain. This capacity to observe ourselves, is essential for bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness, where it can be utilised and worked with.
How does this work?
Mindful attention allows us to become reacquainted with our internal experience. Knowing what is creating our moment-to-moment experience provides us with the possibility of interrupting our habitual functioning.
Oftentimes, there are things happening for us that we are not present to: feelings, sensations, impulses, thoughts and memories. These aspects of our experience can be shaping our life and the decisions we make, unconsciously.
Mindfulness classes in A Pathway to the Present Moment assist us to simply be in the moment, using mindful attention to observe what is happening in the body-mind in that moment.
What exactly is mindfulness?
As with studies in consciousness, science is unable to identify with any real precision what mindfulness actually is. Some refer to a state of particular awareness, some refer to a process of specific attention and focus. Others believe mindfulness to be a meditative process.
What research has demonstrated though, is that mindfulness is not meditation: different parts of the brain are used during a mindfulness practice. MRI scans reveal differences in the neural networks and parts of the brain, depending on which process you are using.
