We are now recruiting for The Heartfulness Project. Are you someone with experience of heart failure or a heart condition? Are you interested in helping us to understand how we can support people with heart conditions in the community to lead the best life possible?
This is a brilliant opportunity to input your ideas and experiences into a new project which will help to shape future services.
We are seeking a small group of pioneering individuals with experience of an acquired heart condition that has led to significant medical or emotional distress (e.g. people who have had a heart attack, heart failure (Stage 1 or 2) or myocardial infarction, those with aneurysms in the heart).
The project will run over the period May-July 2017 and require you to attend a free weekly training on Monday afternoons (2-5pm) in South London (Liverpool Grove, SE17).
We will have a drop-in session at the Dragon Café (Borough, London) on Monday May 1st, between 2-5pm where you can come and find out more about the project and take part in a short training exercise (the Transitional Pause).
You can also come to any of Tamara Russell’s Sunday classes (tai chi and meditation, 3-5pm, Herne Hill).
Frequently Asked Questions:
What will I learn?
Participants will learn key self-management and well-being tools including gentle mindful movements, mindfulness and self-compassion training. It’s mindfulness PLUS…..Plus movement, plus self-compassion training and a chance to make meaning from your experiences and allow you to live as fully as possible.
What exercises will I have to do?
The program trains mindful movement and self-compassion with exercises adapted for those with heart conditions. It is based partly on Mindfulness in Motion which is a blend of tai chi and mindfulness. Here is a video of Dr. Tamara Russell talking about this approach.
The intervention has been co-designed by Dr. Maya Campbell, a research scientist who retrained as a psychologist and mindfulness teacher after a cardiac arrest that led to heart failure. You can find out more about Maya’s amazing story and how she has used mindfulness and self-compassion practices to conquer fears and live life to the full, despite a serious medical condition. Check out some of her videos or her website. Or let Maya lead you through a Soothing Touch meditation. Click this link to read about the Heartfulness Project Team.
The project is being evaluated by two King’s College London Masters students. We will ask participants to complete a number of questionnaire measures, do a short walking test and have their heart rate variability measured.
We will be running a taster session at King’s College London (Denmark Hill Campus) on April 24th, 4-6pm. Please contact ceri.mccorry@kcl.ac.uk or tara.flynn@kcl.ac.uk if you would like further information. You can also come and try out a session on Sunday afternoon at Tamara’s regular class in Herne Hill (Mindful Movement 3-4pm, Seated Mindfulness 4-5pm).
Did you know that tai chi is a great gentle exercise that has many benefits for those with heart failure? A recent meta-analysis showed that there were multiple benefits include changes in physical, physiological and psychological profiles. This recent article by Wang et al can be found here.
