Take Back Your Life Course – sign up session

Do you suffer from bad back pain, cancer, ME, arthritis or another chronic health condition? The Take Back Your Life programme helps people with pain and chronic illness to live their lives well again.

Taster and sign up session

Pain and illness can be hard to live with and feel so unfair, leading to depression, anxiety and difficulty sleeping. Research shows that mindfulness meditation can help as much as prescription painkillers with pain, anxiety, depression, exhaustion and sleep. Take Back Your Life helps people to live well again.

A breakdown of the course

The course starts with this sign up taster session where you can learn more about the course. This will be followed by a 1-2-1 meeting with the workshop facilitator to ensure your needs can be met in the course. If the course is right for you, there will be 5 weekly morning workshops. At the end of the course there is a 1:1 What Next? Session followed by monthly follow on workshops on the third Tuesday of the month starting in April 2020.

Taster Session

Thursday 23 January at 11am-12pm | Tuesday 28 January at 11am-12pm

Main workshops

Every Tuesday 25 February – 24 March at 10am-12.30pm

Monthly meetups

Begin on the 3rd Tuesday of the month from April 2020 until January 2021 at 10am-12.30pm

*This course is suitable for adult residents of Tower Hamlets suffering from chronic pain/illness and able to commit to all sessions.

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Take Back Your Life is funded by Tower Hamlets Council Local Community Fund.

Testimonials

Previous participants:

“Before the course I would worry about my pain constantly…After each session I went home and thought this is going to mean a lot less worry for me. Now I take time for myself at home…I know I can close my eyes and meditate if I need to. It becomes automatic… I used to think “I’m the only one with pain”, and feel a bit ashamed. Now I look around the bus and realise I’m not the only one who suffers with pain, maybe some people have even worse than mine. I feel there’s a connection with others. I feel OK walking with my stick now. Before I wanted to hide it somewhere so people wouldn’t judge me. I can laugh about that now! I’m not alone.” – Dorita, 63

“The course was interesting and gave you tools to be able to support the pain that you have. I do my meditation a couple of times a day. I have been able to cut down on medication (Tramadol in particular). The doctor is pleased!
I’m not feeling so tired because I’m taking less medication, so I’m able to walk and to be out more. Before the course I could only walk 5 to 10 mins and I would make sure my walk wasn’t too far from home in case the pain got unbearable. I wouldn’t go out on my own. I was scared my body would collapse. With my MS, if I overwork my body it just collapses. Now I can walk pain free on my own for up to 30 minutes. I do rest on my walks and I can watch the pain dissipate when I’m in nature and focussed on the view and what I’m seeing.” – Denise, 56

“Now I can manage the pain in my neck, I’ve decided to go back to college and get my GCSE’s so I can become a classroom assistant.” – Bee

About the facilitators

Tareshvari ‘Tish’ Robinson

Tish has been practising meditation and mindfulness and teaching adults for close to 30 years. She is a qualified and accredited Breathworks Mindfulness and Pain Management Trainer and worked in the Tower Hamlets Community teaching ESOL and Literacy for 18 years.

Tish is interested in the relationship between mindfulness, chronic pain, illness and wellbeing. The program has helped with her own chronic health condition and has allowed her to TAKE BACK HER LIFE. She feels passionate about sharing what she has learned.

The Globe Community Project (GCP) is a charity which has been supporting communities in London’s East End since 2002, mainly in Tower Hamlets and Hackney. The charity was set up to respond to the social disadvantage and suffering of people living in these areas.

Padmalila Coulson

Padmalila has lived in Tower Hamlets for over 30 years working as a nursery school teacher for 14 years. She then setting up and ran a charity shop for 7 years on Roman Road. Padmalila has been teaching meditation and mindfulness for fourteen years. She started as a Breathworks trainer in 2018 and loves this approach to working mindfully with pain and illness. She is currently training as a counsellor.