Megan co-hosted the “Pain Management and Awareness for Meditation Teachers” PoD for Meditation Australia on Sunday 14 June, 2020. This online panel discussion and forum is now available to watch online – purchase-to-view here. (Cost: $5).


Meditation Australia (MA) is the national peak industry body for meditation and meditation teachers in Australia.

An initiative presented by MA, “PoDs” are professional development events run by meditation teachers for meditation teachers.

“Pain Management and Awareness for Meditation Teachers” is an important subject, and, a growing area of health concern for many people.

In June 20202 MA Board members Lisa Forde and Megan Spencer co-hosted a national online panel discussion exploring this important area. The Q&A included speakers clinical psychologist, author and health coach Helen Perry; orthopaedic surgeon and MBSR teacher Tony Dunin and long-time MBSR teacher Jo Dunin.

They are all experienced advocates and teachers of mindfulness-based pain management.

Topics:

  • What is chronic and or acute pain and how does it affect us.
  • How to teach meditation to people whose bodies are not necessarily safe and happy and well.
  • Working with health care professionals.
  • Teaching health care professionals.
  • The benefits of meditation and self-compassion practice for people dealing with chronic pain and health conditions.

More information and speaker bios here. This was an online event. Each participant received a Zoom link after purchasing a ticket. Date/time: Sunday 14 June, 2020, 4pm-6pm (AEST)


The event grew out of an interview Megan recorded in February 2020 with Vidyamala Burch, an internationally recognised leader in mindfulness-based pain management, and the co-founder of Breathworks CIC, a UK-based organization offering mindfulness-based and compassion-based approaches to living well with chronic pain, illness and stress.

Living with chronic pain can be incredibly debilitating, so finding something that can help soothe it, or make it less impactful is highly needed.

From the ‘inside out’, Vidyamala shares key insights into what she has learned from her own journey with chronic pain, discusses the benefits of mindfulness-based pain management (MBPM), teaching others, and the foundations of her pioneering Breathworks program.

Watch the video below!


Grateful thanks to everyone generously involved in the PoD event and to Vidyamala Burch for sharing her time, inspiration and wisdom for the video.