"How do we consciously overcome reacting to unpleasant sensations in daily life? By cultivating mindfulness, moment by moment and grounding ourselves in our body and our breathing"
- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living

The Breathworks Living Well with Pain and Illness Course is a self-management mindfulness-based programme aimed at anyone wanting to learn new strategies for managing chronic physical pain and ill health. 

The programme has been running successfully since 2001 and several hundred people have already directly benefited from the methods introduced.  It is based around the central skill of mindfulness – an ability to be aware, in the moment, of what you are actually experiencing – and learning to make choices as to how you respond. 

Pain and illness are innately unpleasant and inevitably many of us develop unhelpful habits in reaction such as aversion, avoidance and tension. This just adds to our overall experience of suffering.  Mindfulness can help us break this cycle of reactivity and regain a sense of initiative, confidence and control.  Paradoxically, by learning to live with our pain or illness we can broaden our perspective and experience a greatly improved quality of life.

Who is the programme for?

The programme is open to all on a self-referral basis. So far we have welcomed people with conditions such as chronic back pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, post-operative pain, cancer, multiple sclerosis, parkinson’s disease, and other non-specific pain. This list is not exhaustive and we welcome your enquiry whatever your condition.

The only requirement for joining the course is a willingness and commitment to engage fully with the programme, which will involve practice at home between sessions for 30 - 45 minutes a day.

• Detailed overview of the Breathworks Living Well with Pain and Illness programme
• Frequently asked questions about the Living Well with Pain and Illness programme

We now run courses in the following locations:

Blackburn, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff, Manchester, Leeds, Newhaven and London

• Details of courses in these locations

If you are unable to attend our courses, we offer a distance learning and support course by telephone.

• More information

From time to time we run residential retreats for those who are training with us or have completed our Living Well with Pain and Illness and Living Well with Stress Programmes.

The next retreat is 14 - 19 July 2008

and will be held at Taraloka, a residential centre in Shropshire.

• Booking details

Please email us with any queries on info@breathworks.co.uk