Full Catstrophe Living

I went to my mindfulness class this evening which is how to learn how to deal with stress and anxiety more effectively.  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with juggling school, work, kids, my life, money, friends, spiritual path, changing body.  I want to learn how to work with stress more effectively and not be run over by it.  This class is based on work by John Kabat-Zinn in his book Full Catastrophe Living.  Good book.  In the class we start with silence as we sit in meditation and then listen to a recording of John talk about becoming more aware of our breath and to come back to the breath in meditation.  There are two teachers one a therapist and the other a nurse who teach the class.  I know both of the women (Sharon and Janet) from previous mindfulness meditation retreats that I have done.  One of the women in the class has no hair so I assume that she is receiving chemotherapy treatments.  Other people in the class are working on chronic pain or depression.  We practice focusing on our breath as we sit in silence and then we end the class with gentle yoga.  There are 5 more classes.  I go every Wednesday for 2 1/2 hours.