If you have received a cancer diagnosis, you know that this brings up questions, uncertainty and changes that can be as difficult and stressful as the treatment itself. If you are living with cancer, or you are supporting a family member or a friend along their journey with cancer, this course provides a therapeutic combination of mindfulness practice and mindful movement to get stress and anxiety under control. This will improve your sense of agency and clarity, and of building a healthy relationship to yourself, improving your quality of life, whatever comes up along the course of your journey.
For practical details about your participation in this course: see the bottom of this page.
The time is now
Receiving a cancer diagnosis starts a process that can generate a lot of worrying and rumination. Both can be exhausting, and both pull us away from this moment here, the one we are living right now. Mindfulness teaches us to be present, to live this moment, and to be more aware of the mind’s tendency to wander into past or future, away from what is happening right now. Many of the people I work with say their mindfulness practice feels like an oasis where they can put down the burden of worry, step out of the recurring thoughts, and find a space to recharge their batteries, feel a sense of calm, or space for clarity and this gives them the resources they need to take on the demands of treatment and recovery.
A fresh perspective
Whether you are living with cancer, or supporting a friend or family member with cancer, it is important to maintain a sense of self, and to heal your relationship with your body, your illness and your emotions. Mindfulness gives us space to sit with these changes, and to give permission to the emotions, expression of your needs, clarity to your questions, and a space for self-compassion, kindness and care. Whatever is happening, however you are feeling, from one moment to the next, you can maintain a mindful and spacious perspective, space to breathe and to find yourself, a sense of your identity and agency at the center of it all.
Practical and easy exercises
The practice of mindfulness comes through several awareness and attention training exercises like meditation on the breath, body scan, mindfulness of thoughts and feelings and gentle mindful movement. The course offers practical exercises for self-regulation and calming, using the breath, and how to use mindfulness to manage the way we relate to possible side-effects of treatment such as nausea, sleeplessness, hair loss, pain, fatigue. The course also reminds us, that in the moment there can be a lot to connect to that feels enriching, wonderful, empowering and joyful too. You can follow the core practices of mindfulness while tucked up in bed, snuggled on your settee, sitting in a waiting room, walking around a supermarket. Once you have learned these simple and easy mindfulness exercises, you can use them whenever and wherever you are.
Science and experience
You will be taking part in the 9 week Mindfulness Based Cancer Recovery course devised by Drs Linda Carlson and Michael Speca of the University of Calgory. This course combines expertise from three threads:
- Their world class expertise in the field of Psychosocial Oncology.
- Decades of experience working with thousands of people going through a journey with cancer and their families.
- Decades of expertise with Mindfulness, drawing on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of the 8 week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course.
- The course is based on their clinical, empirical and peer reviewed research.
Drs Carlson and Speca have been running this Mindfulness Based Cancer Recovery course for people going through cancer treatment and their family members for decades. Empirical and peer reviewed research from the course shows participants experience improved resilience, equanimity and agency. Mindfulness practice has been proven to improve pain and stress management, reduce the effects of anxiety and depression, and enhance a sense of emotional wellbeing. Overall this can help you to develop a sense of healing and thriving even in the midst of difficult times.
I have completed an 8 month online training to teach the MBCR course, written, facilitated and guided by Drs Carlson and Speca and the course uses their materials and program. I participate in their monthly mentoring sessions, along with many others teaching their program around the world, so the course content and practice is up to date and supported by this community of expertise.
Practical information about this Mindfulness Based Cancer Recovery course
9 week course, in person, in English. Each session is 2.5 hours. One 6 hour “retreat” day.
September-November: Sunday mornings 10h-12h30.
Minimum group size 4. Maximum 10.
At a location close to Valbonne 06560 Alpes-Maritimes. Sunday mornings. 10h-12h30
Clear and supportive guidance, course handouts, recorded guidance for your own ongoing mindfulness practice, weekly group discussion and personalized feedback. Gentle, compassionate, caring and adapted to your personal wellbeing.
Course cost: 350€ (Vouchers can be obtained from Cancer Support Group 06 to cover course costs)
Next course cycle begins: September 2025
contact Anna at azurlivingmindfulness@gmail.com for more information and to reserve your place.
Azur Living Mindfulness: Mindful Living, working and well being 