Happy to announce we are commencing The Heartfulness Project. This is a collaboration with Maya Campbell, who has contributed to an All Party Parliamentary Group report for Heart Failure and specifically commented on the psychological support necessary for those with heart failure. Read more about the Heartfulness Project Team here.
More information about the study, supported by two MSc students from King’s College London, can be found here. We are now recruiting participants with Stage 1 and 2 heart failure who can attend a free weekly training on Monday afternoons (2-5pm) in South London (Liverpool Grove, SE17). The project will run from May 8th to July 17th 2017.
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 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).
The program trains mindful movement and self-compassion with exercises adapted for those with heart failure. 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.
To learn more about the power of self-compassion – check out this video by Kristin Neff. Her work has inspired the team to think about how self-compassion can help those with the experience of heart failure. There are also some great physiological reasons why we believe this might be really helpful.
We will also include creative activities to help participants make meaning from their experience. We are working with the new video journal tool, Mental Snapp
Mindful movement (including tai chi) has many benefits and is considered by Harvard Medical School as one of the five best exercises you can do. It is also excellent for promoting cardiac health and improving quality of life in heart disease.
