Optimal Living CIC is a community interest company committed to delivering generic and bespoke Mindfulness Based Programmes to both the private sector and the general public. It is particularly interested in working with those within marginalised communities, and who may not ordinarily access mindfulness interventions.
Our work is grounded in the research and practice of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course devised by John KabatZinn and the Umass medical centre, Massachusetts; the Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy approach devised by Williams, Teasdale and Zegal; and the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, Wales.
The fundamental premise of our work is that we all, already have, the capacity to live mindfully and with a greater sense of ease and wellbeing. Our courses offer a structured; skills based approach to help you develop this capacity.
You will learn:
We met while undertaking our Masters training in teaching Mindfulness Based Approaches at Bangor University. We recognised in each other qualities of deep kindness and compassion and the shared wish to make the benefits of mindfulness accessible to as many people as possible. We decided to set up Optimal Living CIC, a not-for-profit company.
We believe that in order to live optimally, it is important that we recognise our own innate capacity for well-being, and the endless potentials we have to realise this right here, right now in the present moment.
Rosalie
I spent many years travelling, particularly in Asia, exploring Eastern approaches to living well. I first learnt meditation in 1997 in India and have committed to a daily meditation practice ever since.
My professional background is within higher education. I also work as a Mindfulness Yoga teacher as well as teaching Mindfulness courses privately and as distance learning programmes for the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice at Bangor University, Wales. I have been practicing meditation and yoga for fifteen years. Both practices became part of my life during a time of personal challenge, and their effectiveness have remained with me ever since. I am currently completing my thesis for my five year MA and have taught Mindfulness courses at Goldsmiths University as part of research undertaken for the Korean Institute of Brain Science. I undertake and follow Bangor’s guidelines for good practice and have regular supervision.
Peter
I have been a qualified social worker for over fifteen years, working mainly with people dealing with life threatening illnesses, those requiring end of life care, and those with substance misuse and mental health difficulties.
This programme is known to benefit a wide range of people. It can be helpful in gaining appropriate skills to deal with stress and stress related disorders, and other physical and emotional disorders such as chronic pain, heart disease, high blood pressure, sleep disturbance, skin disorders, anxiety, persistent low mood, depression, fear, anger low self esteem and poor coping strategies.
At certain times in our lives we can all experience difficult and stressful events, and for some of us this is a daily occurrence. At the heart of this programme is a simple premise that we have choices as to how to relate to even the most challenging of life situations and events. By bringing our attention more fully to the way our lives unfold moment to moment, we begin to discover how our habitual reactions exacerbate the problems we face, and how we are been prevented from getting the best out of our lives.
