Mindfulness: a Kindly Approach to Being with Cancer
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Praise for Mindfulness: A Kindly Approach to Being with Cancer A diagnosis of cancer can produce waves of shock, confusion and despair affecting not only the sufferer, but also family and close friends. Where can you turn? What resources can you find right now that will ease the pain? From start to finish, Trish Bartley provides the best sort of support for anyone suffering such anguish. Drawing on her own experience of recurrent cancer and using her long and deep experience as international mindfulness teacher and trainer, she offers words you can trust. Here is not only something to read, but something to practice. Mark Williams, Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology, Oxford Mindfulness Centre, University of Oxford, UK How do we skilfully meet suffering with kindness? Trish has distilled her years of experience into this wonderfully clear and accessible guide to mindfulness. An embodiment of compassion and wisdom, and an inspiring read. Rebecca Crane, Director, Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice, Bangor University, UK Trish has distilled the very essence of Mindfulness in a way that makes it accessible for folks who may be at the most stressful time of their life. All of us experience pain and fear with physical challenges, and cancer tops the list. What a gentle, useful guidebook for us all and particularly for those handling this big challenge. Thank you, Trish! Pam Erdmann, MBSR Teacher, Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA Through the vehicle of mindfulness Trish Bartley is reaching for you. Grab her hand. It will light a fire in the face of fear. Become a warrior for gentleness. Medicine needs this book. We all need this book. Dr. Anna Mandeville, Consultant Clinical Health Psychologist This is a lovely book - wise, compassionate, and very practical. Here is a wonderful friendly guide to tried and tested ways to live more fully and kindly with cancer. John Teasdale, Research Scientist, Medical Research Council, Cambridge, UK, and author of Affect, Cognition, and Change and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy for Depression Mindfulness: A Kindly Approach to Being with Cancer Trish Bartley This edition first published 2017 © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Registered Office John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK Editorial Offices 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148‐5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services, and for information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com/wiley‐blackwell. The right of Trish Bartley to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services and neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. If professional advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication data applied for Hardback ISBN: 9781118926277 Paperback ISBN: 9781118926284 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Set in 10/12.5pt Times by SPi Global, Pondicherry, India 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To the memory of Christopher, Peggy and Charles, with my gratitude. To Eleni, Aris, Elizabeth and Alexander with my love. This book is dedicated to helping people with cancer and other life threatening illness bring mindfulness and kindness into their lives. Also by Trish Bartley Holding Up the Sky: Love, Power and Learning in the Development of a Community Mindfulness‐Based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer: Gently Turning Towards Contents Acknowledgments ix About the Companion Website xi Some Opening Words 3 Starting Out 5 1 Intention 21 Intention Theme 22 The Practices 33 Experience of Cancer – Diagnosis 45 Personal Story – Sarah 55 2 Coming Back 60 Coming Back Theme 61 The Practices 72 Experience of Cancer – Treatment 97 Personal Story – Caroline 112 Contents 3 Turning Towards 117 Turning Towards Theme 118 The Practices 131 Experience of Cancer – Remission / Living with Uncertainty 152 Personal Story – Peter 160 4 Kindness 165 Kindness Theme 167 The Practices 176 Experience of Cancer – Recurrence 201 Personal Story – Jane 211 5 Completing And Continuing 217 Personal Story – Helen 234 6 Connecting To Our Common Humanity 240 Some Parting Words 250 Appendices 254 1 Cancer And Mindfulness‐Based Approaches 254 2 Resources 256 3 The ‘Map’ of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Cancer 259 4 Lee’s Soups 261 Bibliography 265 Index 269 About the Author viii Acknowledgments I am very grateful to all those who have helped in many different ways to bring this book into being. I wish to express particular appreciation to Sarah, Caroline, Peter, Jane and Helen, for their courage, dignity and generosity in being willing to share their stories. I also want to thank all those who wrote poems – almost all of them poetry ‘novices’, and to all the ‘cancer’ mindfulness participants who attended classes or worked with me one‐to‐one, who were willing for their experience to be included in this book. Their motivation to benefit others is inspiring. Grateful thanks also go to people within Wiley Blackwell and connected to it, who have supported the production of this book. I especially want to thank Andy Peart, Karen Shield and Kathy Syplywczak. Several people have contrib- uted to the illustrations in this book. I am very grateful to Maria Hayes for her beautiful drawings. Thanks also go to Julie Louwman, Evan Herbert, and Katie Green – and to Stewart Mercer, Jill Teague, Joanna Macy and Anita Burrows for generously allowing me to reproduce their poems. I am lucky in my colleagues and want to thank them for their support in the writing and shaping of this book. Christina Shennan has read several drafts and been unstinting in her support and wise feedback. Her considerable experience as a teacher and trainer of this approach and her kindly realism has enriched this book. I am also very grateful to those who have given support and feedback especially Jane Maitland, Rebecca Crane, Ursula Bates, Helen Jones and Stirling Moorey. I have much appreciated their wisdom and experience. I also want to acknowledge the kindness and support of Jody Mardula, Cindy Cooper, Mariel Jones, Janne Foster, Evan and Delphine Herbert, Josephine Seccombe, Diana and Jim Allanson, Ciaran Saunders, David Shannon, Maura Kenny, Davine Thaw, Loretta van Schalkwyk, Nick Stuart, Cath Bale, and the team in Alaw – and many others including Centre for Mindfulness Research Acknowledgments and Practice colleagues and friends at Bangor University – and students, trainees and supervisees. They have offered me much learning. It has not been possible to adequately acknowledge in the notes the particu- lar contribution that Christina Feldman has made to so much of this book. She has been patient, wise and generous. I am especially grateful to her. I am indebted to all my teachers and mentors, who directly or indirectly offered their guidance, wisdom and inspiration, recently or in the past – in par- ticular Jon Kabat‐Zinn and John Teasdale. I also wish to thank Tina Usherwood, Mark Williams, the late Francis Batten, Christina Feldman, Linda Gwillim, Andrew Patching, Ferris Urbanowski, Akincano Marc Weber, Stephen Batchelor, Rigdzin Shikpo and Ken and Elizabeth Mellor. I am very grateful to my family for their love and support. I dedicate this book with much gratitude to my parents and my brother, who shaped much of my childhood; and with much joy to my four grandchildren, who shape my old age. x About the Companion Website This book is accompanied by a companion website: www.wiley.com/go/bartley/mindfulness The website includes: Mindfulness Practices and Exercises organized around the four key chapters: 1 Intention ● Intentions Practice ● The Raisin Exercise ● The Pause (short practice) ● Feet on the Floor (short practice) ● Body Scan (core practice) ● First Aid Practice (cancer practice) 2 Coming back ● Mindful Walking (core practice) ● Standing in Mountain (short practice) ● Coming to the Breath (short practice) About the Companion Website ● Walking