YOU may have seen on the BBC or bee hearing a lot on the radio about Mindfulness recently.

Mindfulness is a programme for reducing stress, pain, anxiety and low mood which has been widely approved by the international medical community.

It teaches greater awareness of our thoughts, feelings and sensations through simple techniques such as meditation and gentle movement.

Not only does it teach coping strategies to deal with difficulties throughout your life, but it has also been shown to change the physiology of the brain and other systems in the body to elicit a feeling of calm, control and happiness.

Dr Maya Spencer and Karen Atkinson have been teaching Mindfulness to their patients for 15 years and now run MindfulnessUK from York House.

MindfulnessUK programme: Saturday, March 24: Introductory Workshop; Introduction to Mindfulness: Key Principles and Practice; Sunday, March 25 - Mindfulness for Professionals; Integrating Mindfulness into your work, for professionals who work with people.

Their next eight-week courses are on Thursday, May 17, from 6pm to 8pm; Friday, May 18, from 10am to 12 noon.

All courses are open to the public and healthcare professionals.

Please contact Karen Atkinson for details and registration at York House, Centre for Integrated and Complementary Medicine, 27 Canon Street, Taunton TA1 1SW. Phone: 01823-323206. Web: www.mindfulnessUK.com