Breath-Body-Mind Integration
Using breath-body-mind integration techniques for the support and management of hard-to-reach symptoms in supportive and palliative care.
Following on from Kate’s previous excellent study days, we are delighted to offer another for you, this time as a hybrid presentation. There will be a limited number of in-person spaces available in Oxford and we will stream the day for those unable to attend in-person.
Course description:
Helping patients to live well with illness and holistic care are core remits of supportive and palliative care, yet “hard-to reach’ symptoms including breathlessness, anxiety and psycho-social-spiritual suffering are under-researched and managed in life limiting and advanced disease. This is increasingly relevant with an ageing population and a growing need for the spread of the principles and practices of palliative care across services, in order to ‘help people achieve what’s most important to them at the end of their lives” (Atul Gawande, Being Mortal).
Who is this course for?
This course is for allied and health professionals, therapists, bereavement and social workers and spiritual care providers interested in broadening their embodied skill set. We will explore holistic approaches to understanding the complex causes which perpetuate common and difficult symptom “clusters” which are acknowledged to be bi-directionally affected by emotion (eg breathlessness-anxiety and pain-depression-fatigue). We know that emotions affect the body and visa versa and that context (a person’s lifeworld) is key to how they respond to the physical, psychological, social and spiritual challenges of living with and dying from advanced disease. Drawing on practical skills from the Wisdom traditions (breathwork, body awareness, micro-meditations) and Western psychology (in particular interpersonal neurobiology) we will learn how to integrate embodied relational skills into our clinical practice. These gentle skills are of particular use for those for whom language or cognitive difficulties, physical disability/frailty, fatigue, pain and breathlessness mean that other forms of physical or psychological therapy may be challenging.
We will explore how embodied relational skills may be used to support patients and families at times of stress/distress, promote closeness and wellbeing, and improve professionals’ confidence to rely on themselves as a vital clinical tool whilst remaining safe and whole (boundaries).
The use of body-mind techniques for self-care/flourishing will incorporated so that attendees leave the day feeling relaxed, refreshed and inspired!
PLEASE NOTE: we no longer take bookings over the telephone. Please pay at checkout, or via online banking/PayPal. Thank you.
Location: Oxford
Educational Credits:
+ Speakers
Kate Binnie is an HCPC registered music therapist, yoga and mindfulness teacher with 17 years’ experience working in supportive & palliative care settings. In 2016 she completed an MSc in palliative care at the Cicely Saunders Institute (KCL) funded by the Samuel Sebba Scholarship and is now a guest lecturer on the advanced psycho-spiritual care module. Kate is currently doing her PhD developing a Body-Mind training for breathlessness-related distress in advanced disease at the Wolfson Centre for Palliative Care Research, Hull York Medical School funded by UKRI (I3). She teaches on the first UK PG certificate in Psycho-Spiritual Care at Oxford Brookes, trains yoga therapists in palliative care, and runs community groups for people living with chronic and life-limiting illness. You can listen to her soundscape “First and Last Breath” Here, read her paper on music therapy with terminal agitation Here and on breathlessness in palliative care Here
Twitter: @holisticEoL
+ Course Programmes
Programme TBC
+ Course Aims
This course will
• Explain how working with the breath and body affects the emotions and down-regulates symptoms
• Via a tour of the current evidence base, show how BBMI can help with the management of symptoms in various settings where there are patients with supportive and palliative care needs (eg rehabilitative, primary, secondary and palliative care settings) with a special emphasis on breathlessness (a growing issue in an ageing population with multiple morbidities)
• Explain how self-regulation techniques and breath-body-mind awareness can enhance and support the therapeutic relationship and compassionate communication
• Teach practical, simple techniques that can be added to your professional tool-kit, especially when under stress
• Teach practices to promote “active” self-care and self-compassion, which in turn enhances clinical empathy and compassionate communication
