Welcome to The Mindful Choice a not-for-profit, Community Interest Company (CIC) based in the Southwest of England.

The Mindful Choice CIC is a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing diverse opportunities for the general public and specific groups to access mindfulness-based programs and nature therapy.

We offer a range of evidence-based and bespoke creative and inspiring courses and workshops throughout the year including (inside, online, and outside in the natural environment)

We offer the gold standard 8-week courses in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Life.

Naturally Well Nature-Based courses and experiences combine mindfulness with the Japanese practice of ‘Shinrin Yoku’ Forest Bathing, designed to enhance people’s connection and wellbeing to themselves and the natural world.

Bespoke Mindfulness Courses and Retreats

Jon Kabat Zinn
Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation, and healing.

John Lubbock 

“Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.

Mindfulness and effects

Evidence shows that mindfulness practice

• reduces chronic stress, anxiety, and pain

• the recurrence of depression and low mood

• increases feel-good emotions such as happiness, appreciation,
  wonder and joy

• increases capacity for resilience and overall confidence

• increases compassion networks and strengthens our capacity to be kinder to ourselves and to others

• strengthens focus,concentration, and memory

  
  Being in nature boosts our mental health and wellbeing

• Florence Williams, in her book The Nature Fix, reports the following findings from research into the benefits of nature for humans:

  1. After five minutes in a forest surrounded by trees, the heart rate slows, facial muscles relax, and the prefrontal cortex quiets.

  2. Water and birdsong improve mood and alertness.

  3. Spending 15 minutes in nature can reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

  4. Spending time in natural landscapes increases alpha waves in the brain, which are associated with calm and alertness.

  5. Spending an hour and a half in nature reduces rumination and helps us to be less preoccupied with problems.

  6. Spending two hours (120 minutes) per week in nature can make us happier and boost overall health and well-being.

Mindfulness on Radio 4

Mindfulness made simple