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When did you first get into mindfulness? Were the
re any triggers which led you to it? My first course was in Buddhist meditation in the Dublin Buddhist centre in town, quite a while ago. I think I was 24 or so. I was drawn to it from both a place of curiosity and feeling low after a breakup. Something landed with me on that course. I had my first taste of not being totally tied up in my thoughts, and I liked that. However, I also liked to have a lot of fun and continued on with my somewhat hedonistic lifestyle at the time and left meditation behind, before returning again about seven years ago. I was experiencing some mental health difficulties at the time, so I was trying just about everything to try and feel better. I did an eight-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course, and from there a bit of a love affair with meditation and mindfulness blossomed. Again, I suppose I was beginning to get a taste of what awareness was, of how I could untangle from unhelpful mind states, and how instead of being an asshole to myself I could actively nurture my mind to be kinder - to myself and other people. I began to notice small simple beautiful things that were in my life that I was missing normally from excessive planning/ worrying/ruminating. So, the love affair really began back then. interview RACHEL ARDAGH INSIGHTOUT MINDFULNESS photo: Neil Smyth 60 What are the common misperceptions about mindfulness? There are so many! For a start it’s all not about being ‘zen’. It’s about being able to pause in our life and be really awake to what is going on for us. Even for a moment. The lovely moments as well as the not so lovely. In this way mindfulness takes a bit of courage, and we sometimes say it’s not for the faint hearted! But being alive to our present moment experience gives us greater flexibility and insight into what we need, how we want to respond and take care of ourselves and others, the environment, etc. It’s not a panacea either, and it’s not the most helpful thing for everyone to do. Sometimes we need to work with a therapist to support our mental health. And sometimes we need both. At the very least it’s important to have a trauma-sensitive mindfulness teacher who is qualified and accredited. There is some substandard/ dangerous stuff happening out there and I would always recommend people find their teacher on mtai.ie, (Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland) to make sure you are in safe and competent hands. Mindfulness isn’t fluff either. We can see in MRI’s how parts of the brain responsible for things like emotional regulation, compassion, and perspective taking grow in grey matter, even after eight weeks of meditation. Mindfulness is proven to