Is this right for me?

Is this the right course for me? Is it the right time for me to attend?

Written by the Oxford Mindfulness Centre, content adapted for the purpose of this course.

The Finding Peace in a Frantic World mindfulness course we offer is aimed at the general public and is not necessarily helpful or suitable for everyone. When you register for this course you will be asked a series of questions in the application form and in a later assessment stage that will help us determine whether or not the course is likely to be safe and beneficial for you at this time. In some circumstances, we may suggest that you consider either waiting a while to take a mindfulness course, or that you explore other options, including more specialist mindfulness-based programmes designed for people experiencing specific difficulties, or support from a doctor or mental health professional.  Below we outline some things that we have found can limit or prevent people from benefiting from a course for the public. Of course, everyone’s situation is slightly different and we encourage you to speak to us, after reading the information below, if you have any remaining concerns or questions about the suitability of the course for you.

Mania, Suicidal Thoughts and Self-Harm

This mindfulness course is not suitable for you if you have experienced a manic or hypomanic episode in the past six months, if you are currently self-harming or if you are currently experiencing suicidal thoughts. It is not that mindfulness will not be helpful for people with these conditions – in fact we know it might very well be, but it would need to be delivered in a more specialist group. If you are feeling suicidal, we would strongly recommend you speak to your doctor or another mental health professional. We are unable to give specific advice or support to those with individual mental health problems. 

If you do need to speak to someone urgently, the following hotlines offer emotional support 24 hours a day

Hong Kong: Samaritans Hong Kong +852 2896 0000

Macau: Caritas +853 6330 2692

Mainland: Shanghai Mental Health Hotline +86 962525

Alcohol and Drug Use

Practicing mindfulness through attendance at a mindfulness course involves the completion of daily home meditation practice and other activities, and it is essential that this practice takes place when your consciousness is not impaired. If you are drinking a lot of alcohol or using other drugs please consider carefully whether you will be able to find time each day to complete the exercises when you are not under the influence of alcohol, drugs or their after affects. If this is likely to be difficult to you then the course will not be suitable for you at this time.

Current Depression

If you are currently depressed, to such an extent that it is difficult for you to manage your everyday life, it is probably not the right time for you to do the course. We know from experience that people joining our courses need to be reasonably well. The course involves some daily home practice and finding the motivation and energy to do this whilst feeling very depressed will probably be challenging.

Recent bereavement of a close family member or friend– in the past year

If you are recently bereaved, it is helpful to have come to terms with some of the grief before starting a mindfulness course. It can be difficult to recognise and work with pre-existing and more longstanding habits of mind when the bereavement is still very preoccupying. The 1 year period is a notional time (and people will differ a great deal in when they feel ready to begin a course) but our experience suggests it is often helpful to have gone through all the ‘significant’ dates of the person who has died before moving on to start something like a mindfulness course.

Other ongoing psychological treatment

Mindfulness is not a ‘therapy’ as such. However, it can be confusing or impractical to engage in two ‘psychological treatments’ at the same time. Mindfulness courses involve a commitment of time and adding it on top of another ongoing therapy may be difficult.

Stressful life events – current

Taking a mindfulness course, strange though it may sound, can at times be quite stressful. In addition to the weekly sessions, you will be encouraged to do daily practices at home which take about 10 to 20 minutes each day. If there’s too much going on in your life right now (change of job, job loss, loss of home, moving, relationship breakdown, too many work commitments etc.) adding a mindfulness course to the mix may not help.

Insulin-dependent Diabetes

During periods of meditation the body may become relaxed and for some people, over time, meditation reduces stress. This may in turn have an effect on blood glucose and insulin requirements and may potentially result in a need for adjustments to pattern of insulin administration and dosage. Please let your doctor or other healthcare professional know that you are doing the course and discuss this with them.

本課程是否適合我？現在是適合我參加的時間嗎？

英文版由牛津大學靜觀中心撰寫，內容根據本課程的目的進行了調整。

我們提供的“在喧囂的世界獲取安寧”的靜觀課程是針對大眾的，但不一定對所有人都有幫助或適合。 當您註冊本課程時，您會在申請表和之後的評估階段被問到一系列問題，這些問題將幫助我們確定這個課程在此時是否對您安全和有益。 在某些情況下，我們可能會建議您考慮等待一段時間再參加靜觀課程，或探索其他選擇，包括為特定群組的人設計的靜觀專科課程，或由醫生或心理健康專家提供專業支持。下面我們概述了一些我們發現限制人們從公眾課程中受益的情況。 當然，每個人的情況都略有不同，如果您對課程是否適合您還有任何顧慮或疑問，我們鼓勵您在閱讀下面的信息后，與我們交談。

躁狂症、自殺念頭和自我傷害

如果您在過去六個月中經歷過躁狂或躁狂症發作，如果您目前正在自我傷害，或者如果您目前有自殺的念頭，這個靜觀課程不適合您。 並不是說靜觀對有這些情況的人沒有幫助，事實上我們知道它很有可能，但它需要在一個更專業的小組中進行。 如果您有自殺的念頭，我們強烈建議您與您的醫生或其他心理健康專家交談。 我們無法向有個人心理健康問題的人提供具體的建議或支持。

如果您確實需要緊急與人交談，以下熱線電話每天24小 時提供情感支持。

香港：香港撒瑪利亞會 +852 2896 0000

澳門： 明愛 +853 6330 2692

內地：上海市心理熱線 +86 962525

酒精和毒品的使用

通過參加靜觀課程練習靜觀，需要完成每天的冥想練習和其他活動， 這種練習必須在您的意識不受影響時進行。 如果您正在大量飲酒或使用其他藥物，請仔細考慮您是否能夠在不受酒精、藥物或其影響的情況下，每天抽出時間來完成練習。 如果這對您來說可能是困難的，那麼這個課程在這個時候就不適合您。

當前的抑鬱症

如果您目前正處於抑鬱狀態，以至於難以處理您的日常生活，那麼現在可能不是您參加本課程的合適時機。 我們從經驗中得知，參加我們課程的人需要有相當好的身體。 本課程涉及一些日常的練習，在感到非常抑鬱的情況下，找到動力和精力來做這些練習可能是一個挑戰。

在過去的一年裡，最近有一位近親或朋友喪生

當喪親之痛仍然讓人心煩意亂時，可能很難認識到並處理原有的和更長期存在的思維習慣。 一年的時間是一個概念性的時間（人們在覺得準備好開始課程的時間上會有很大的不同），但是我們的經驗表明，在開始類似靜觀課程這類的活動前，過一年的時間經歷過死者的所有 "重要 " 日期往往是有幫助的。

其他正在進行的心理治療

靜觀本身並不是一種 "治療 "。 然而，同時進行兩種 "心理治療 "可能會令人困惑或不切實際。 靜觀課程涉及到時間的承諾，在另一種正在進行的治療的基礎上增加它可能是困難的。

當前的生活事件緊張

參加靜觀課程，雖然聽起來很奇怪，但有時可能會有相當大的壓力。 除了每周的課程外，我們會鼓勵您在家裡做日常練習，每天大約需要10 到20分鐘。 如果現在您的生活中發生了太多的事情（換工作、失去工作、失去房子、搬家、關係破裂、有太多的工作任務等），把靜觀課程加入其中可能沒有幫助。

胰島素依賴型糖尿病

在冥想期間，身體可能會變得很放鬆，對一些人來說，隨着時間的推移， 冥想會減少壓力。 這可能反過來對血糖和胰島素的需求產生影響，並可能導致需要調整胰島素的使用模式和劑量。 請讓您的醫生或其他醫療專業人員知道您正在參與本課程， 並與他們討論這個問題。