Your Stories: July 2011

When did you first start practicing mindfulness and why were you motivated to do so?

I began practicing several years ago as a means to cope with the acute and chronic stressors of police work, and life's journey for that matter.  I had been reading a lot about yoga and its efficacy for preventing and healing lower back injuries (many police officers have lower back problems).  I then began researching mindfulness as a tool for stress management and situational awareness (officer safety) for police officers.  In short, the suffering of many police officers led me to research and then begin practicing mindfulness.

Did you take a class? If so, what sort of a class did you take?

I first, with some level of hypocrisy, referred several officers to take a formal class and then eventually, just last year, took an MBSR course from Brant Rogers at Yoga Hillsboro.