Happy Eastertime from all of us here at Without Wings! A few of us will be meeting for a low-key RAmble, April 30th 10.30am, Ballaugh. Please contact us via Facebook if you would like to join. It is anticipated our first RAmble will be a quiet affair, so we would love to see you! All welcome, including friends and family. If people wish to come who are very incapacitated please let us know in good time so we can change the venue to one that is more autoimmune arthritis friendly! We hope you've had a wonderful Easter break and are all looking forward to the lighter evenings along with that extra fix of vitamin D. It's been a whole month since Without Wings blogged last and we have so many exciting things to tell you!
First off, leaflets, posters and business cards are finally here. The business cards should have gone out to GP surgeries, so please let us know if there aren't any visible at yours. The rest will be delivered via the next nurses' quarterly meeting. Secondly, Without Wings has been working hard on our counselling initiative. In discussions with the Department of Health, it was brought to our attention that NICE guidelines 'recognise a pathway for psychological intervention for sufferers of arthritis.' Presently however, in relation to this, it has been agreed that there is a 'service gap' on the Island. It is this that Without Wings has been designed to fill. The current lack of a comprehensive support structure for local sufferers, has therefore led to some very positive talks with MHKs, the Department of Health and other useful bodies. Presently, statistics state that 20% of people receiving a chronic diagnosis (not exclusive to autoimmune arthritis), will go on to experience severe mental health problems in relation to their illness. In reality, this is likely to be a much higher figure, as many people choose to suffer in silence. At the very core of Without Wing's work is a belief that not only is it possible to live well with these illnesses, but it is a person's right to have access to the correct type of support to ensure this becomes a reality. The Department of Health are in agreement with us that this is not a matter for NHS mental health services. Rather, the provision of appropriate psychological intervention, whenever necessary, in relation to the illness, should form part of a pathway of integrative care right from diagnosis. This type of support can therefore serve as a preventative, as well as a therapeutic, measure. This is crucial. Better coping strategies and a strong sense of support have been proven to lead to better outcomes in physical health for people with progressive autoimmune illness. Without Wing's main focus for the next few months will therefore be on developing a business plan to prove our sustainability. This will ensure that everything we are working hard to put in place is easily accessible via your GP surgery or the hospital. We have already set the wheels in motion for this. Without Wings are in the process of drawing up an agreement with the Lisa Lowe Foundation. This amazing charity already have beautiful premises in Tromode and a fully accredited counsellor at their disposal. They have agreed to allow patients with autoimmune arthritis access to this service. The proposal is that these counselling sessions will be funded by Without Wings, will be open ended and available to the whole family unit. We are so incredibly grateful for this wonderful opportunity, and very much looking forward to building this partnership as time moves forward. Our next two bigs goals are therefore: 1. Continue to raise our profile, 2. Continue to raise enough funds to satisfy a 3 year business plan that will cover the costs of this service. Keep your eye on these blog posts for further developments! In other news: Many thanks to Mike Kewley, local mindfulness meditation teacher, for donating his knowledge in our last bi-monthly blog! If you missed it you can still find it below. Mike runs tonnes of workshops. If you're interested in his work then you can find out more about it here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/mikekewleymindfulness/ Pain monitoring soft toys are now in production! Commissioned with the very young in mind, these cuddly Lulas have 6 detachable feathers to help describe pain levels. They would, however, also be suitable for anyone with these illnesses who has communication difficulties, such as people with special needs or with dementia. Please let us know if you would like one. Each one has been kindly produced and donated by In-Stitches, local soft furnishing company. You can find more about In-stitches on facebook: www.facebook.com/InStitches2016/ Last, but certainly not least, we have heard from one of our local sufferers who is in hospital at the moment due to complications with their illness. Our hearts go out to them and their family, and of course, a big, 'get well soon.'
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The first of our guest blog posts! Mindfulness Meditation and Pain By none other than our awesome, local mindfulness teacher, Mike Kewley. Please see Mike's website, www.myfreemind.org for more information about his fantastic work. How to be Hit by an Arrow By Mike Kewley Yes it hurts, but the trick is not minding that it hurts. - Peter O'toole as Lawrence of Arabia.
How we relate to being ill is a good example of the way we fight life when it suddenly stops doing what we want it to do. We struggle with illness simply because it’s something we would never choose to experience. Being consciously ill – which means to fully acknowledge how we’re feeling – is always counterintuitive because we're afraid of the consequences of letting go into pain and discomfort. Observing what happens if we do let go into our moment to moment experience, with eyes wide open, is the goal of Mindfulness practice. It is the adventure of letting go, on purpose, into this incredible ride we call life, regardless it's content. This is why Mindfulness is a practice for grown-ups. It’s not about chasing special feelings, or expanded states of consciousness, but about meeting your life as it is, because your life is what you always return to. We don’t have to like our experience, but we do have to accept it simply because it’s already here and no amount of imagination can make it disappear. Indeed trying to avoid what is already happening is a kind of madness. It seems like it just might work but it doesn't. The struggle simply adds extra weight to our suffering. Buddhism illustrates the way in which we exacerbate our own suffering with the story of the second arrow: We're walking along peacefully when we're suddenly hit by a poisonous arrow. We now need to pay attention to it, pull it out and live. But there is a second arrow ready to fly: our reaction to it. “Who fired it? Why me? I knew this would happen! I’m really angry now, this wouldn’t have happened if…” Instead of responding with clarity and focus to the first arrow, we become embroiled in the drama of our own reactivity. In fact the story tells us that the second arrow – the one we shoot ourselves with – is more poisonous that the first. So the next time you’re experiencing physical discomfort, try the following exercise to ease your reaction to it. The point of the exercise is to see what happens if we gently allow ourselves to feel, know and allow uncomfortable sensations, rather than block them off and shut them out. It works by really allowing ourselves to focus on the shifting real-time sensations of discomfort (the first arrow) rather than the stories about them playing in our head (the second arrow). Through this simple explorative practice intense sensations can soften, dissipate and even disappear. So sit comfortably, drop your awareness into the body and experiment with asking the following questions, listening to your body for answers. Close your eyes whilst focussing single pointedly on the sensations and see what you can discover. Do it with an open mind, no expectations and a sense of play. Spend a few minutes with each question, before moving onto the next one: - Where is the pain right now? - Does it have a colour? - What does it feel like? (pressure? throbbing? tingling?) - Does it move or is it still? - Is it solid like concrete or fluid like water? - Can you find the edges? - Can you find space or distance around it? If so can you stay with the sensations of space or distance? - Is the sensation constant? or does it come and go, increase and decrease? - Can you find somewhere in the body that feels good or relaxed? If so can you switch attention between the discomfort and any pleasant or neutral sensations? - Is the pain or discomfort something you are actively doing, or is it something the body is doing all by itself? - Does it have a centre or a source? - What happens when you direct an attitude of kindness towards the discomfort? (here we can say ‘May you (sensation) be happy, healthy and well’). - What happens when we direct the breath into it, flooding the sensation with breath? - What happens when we say “Yes” to it and allow it to be here, as life? - Can you hold the present moment, and all sensation, in awareness, allowing it move, flow and be felt, without interfering? - Can you be with this moment, just as it is? By exploring our sensations with mindfulness, awareness and kindness we can transform the ways in which we experience ourselves, others and life in general. We become skilled at allowing the many flavours of the human experience – good, bad and ugly - to arise and fall within us, without becoming entangled or overwhelmed by them, like waves moving across the ocean. The waves come and go, the ocean remains. |
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January 2018
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