Debbie Cooper

I am a mindfulness practitioner. I have been practising yoga as a method of relaxation and well-being for over 30 years and more recently I have embraced mindfulness. I am passionate about both practises and believe they are intrinsically linked.

I have completed the CMI Level 1 Mindfulness Teacher Training and I’m intending to undertake Level 2.  I’m also interested in taking the Integrated Yoga Therapy course to develop my awareness and experience of both yoga and mindfulness further. I have been practising Iyengar yoga for 14 years and have been fortunate enough to attend  three Iyengar yoga retreats. I provide mindfulness practice sessions in the workplace and love seeing the transformation in people during my  lunchtime sessions.  A regular group come along every week and benefit from seated meditations, gentle stretching exercises and hearing and talking about mindfulness.

Mindfulness helps you find space which leads to considered responses rather than knee-jerk reactions. It encourages kindness, compassion and self-love which is reflected in your communications with others. It promotes acceptance, patience, resilience and calmness which leads you to live your life feeling happier, more peaceful and grounded. Mindfulness at its simplest level is paying attention to whatever is being experienced/felt/sensed in the present moment and can be incorporated  into your daily life to promote well-being, curiosity, focus and gratitude.

As a professionally qualified project manager I appreciate and support the importance of professional guidelines, particularly in relation to  MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction), as it is a well defined and recognised programme which has an excellent reputation to maintain.  It is important that all teachers regularly practice formal and informal mindfulness exercises as well as having attended and passed a mindfulness-based teacher training programme or supervised pathway over a minimum duration of 12 months to ensure they are suitably experienced and qualified to teach others who may have physical and psychological health problems and ongoing life challenges.