I came across the Breathworks programme over three years ago.  After completing the course I have regularly attended the weekly drop in group ever since. I have learned to be more accepting of my pain and less reactive towards it, diminishing the mental and emotional suffering that was very much part of my experience. By trying to live in the moment, in a mindful way, I now recognise that my physical condition is only part of my overall experience in any given moment.  There is so much more to my life than just the pain.  Furthermore, I have learned that I have a choice about responding rather than reacting to my pain. I find it a daily challenge to live with this sense of mindfulness, but my life is considerably richer and fuller. I have found that it is possible to differentiate between how I physically am in any one moment, and how I feel emotionally. I can therefore be in a great deal of pain but at the same time experience a deep sense of being well in myself. My physical condition has not changed but my experience of it has, and in practising the techniques offered by the programme, I have changed my life. 
Julie Franklin. Fibromyalgia.

I arrived at the pain management course at the Manchester Buddhist Centre in 2001, after having two surgical interventions for spinal disc protrusion and a cyst. I had also had a course of postural re-training from my physiotherapist. I lost my job as a result of my condition and suffered with depression. After the surgery my symptoms had improved in that I wasn’t spending my whole time having to lie flat.  However, I was still experiencing pain and was reliant on a high dose of analgesics, which only helped by leaving me “zombie-like”. I was introduced to the pain management course by a friend of a friend and my expectations were not high. I was desperate enough to try anything that might help. I found the experience invaluable. The key for me was to accept my condition and work with the pain- not fight against it.  I was encouraged to keep a diary of my daily activities and pain levels- yes it does sound sad! But I was able to use this information eventually to pace my activities in advance, bringing my pain to a manageable level as well as identifying activities that caused a flare up of my condition. Another important element of the course was practising meditation using the body scan and mindfulness of breathing and to incorporate this into everyday life. Three years on, I am now able to go on holiday, go out with friends and family, and work on a part time basis.  Am I pain free? No, certainly not.  However, I feel more able to cope with the pain using the tools from the pain management course.  I am grateful to Vidyamala and the team for their continuing support and encouragement.
Colette Jubbs

The benefits of the course and more especially the knock on effects are immeasurable. Just being present at the weekly sessions alone helped me deal with intense anxiety related to work issues.  The skills taught offer the means to establishing a counterbalance to modern frenetic life. This is backed up with detailed handouts and lovely CDs.  Learning is inspired and supported through the example and gentle teaching of the course leaders and is an ongoing process which I am steadily developing since the course ended. Mostly, I'm learning to "be where I'm at" - which is not as bad as I thought, - and to stop fretting about what has or might happen! I just want to do the course all over again!
Lyn Tully. Occupational Health Officer. July 2005

As a key account manager in the reprographics industry, I work in a fast moving and highly demanding work environment where I am constantly striving to meet a plethora of customer demands, often in extremely tight timescales. At the beginning of last year I also found myself facing a major issue in my personal life. It was during this period that I decided to commit to the “Living Well Course” through the Breathworks Team. During the course I got the opportunity to explore and integrate a number of key principles: mindfulness, pacing, meditation, breath awareness, and relaxation. Central to these is mindfulness or awareness of what on one level is a very simple idea “the present moment is the only moment we have”.

Over the course, I gradually learned to spend more of my time in the present moment and less of it worrying about the past or the future. This has had a transformative effect on my approach to every day life. Perhaps for the first time in my life I now find myself responding rather than reacting to the challenges that life inevitably prevents all of us with. I found the CDs we were provided with invaluable and still use them most days to help ground myself in the present.
Dr. Alan Knowles, Key Account Manager,  July 2005