Ooh I'm glad this thread was bumped, I think I was off the computer when it was around...

I'm about to start an 8 week mindfulness course paid for and facilitated by my workplace. Went to the taster session and I think it might be something that is very helpful - have actually been trying to apply it already to good effect.

I particularly like the idea of its being a way of noticing your feelings and experiences, but sort of distancing yourself from them and staying calm. Perfect for someone who needs to constantly focus on my PCS symptoms so that I can tell when I'm overdoing it, but cannot afford to get stressed about them since that would be damaging. Good to hear it is/was helping greenfrog too.

Other ways of coping eg through distraction I think would not work so well for PCS, since we really need to pay attention to our symptoms all the time.

I am told that there is a fair amount of evidence for its beneficial effects and that we will be exploring this during the course as well. I'm guessing the evidence must be ptretty convincing since my petty, grasping employers would definitely not be paying for such a scheme unless they were pretty confident that it would reduce the number of sick days!

With regard to the religious issue, the facilitator (who is in fact a Church of England vicar) told us that 'mindfulness' is as Mark says originally and essentially an aspect of Buddhist practice, but one which has been deliberately removed from this religious context. The promoters of mindfulness seem very keen to present it as something which, whilst derived from Buddhism, no longer implies or involves religious belief of any kind. I'm really looking forward to it.