Mindful Gail Mid-September Newsletter
- gailcalthrop
- Sep 16, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 17, 2025
Welcoming the arrival of September: a month full of quiet energy as the season seeps slowly into Autumns mellow promises of abundance in Nature. The light is softer, the pace of growth eases, and still silences steal into the spaces where you can connect and ground into mindful practice. A rhythm of change, of transition, arriving deliciously slowly with the smell of apples, crunchy leaves, earlier dusks, crisper air brushing the skin, as summer drifts out of sight. Rest into this flow, take comfort in the shifting cycle that tells us nothing stays the same, revel in the colours, sights, sounds and fragrances. Feel the connection of change deep within yourself and rest into its flow.
HELLO SEPTEMBER,
THE SEASON OF LETTING GO
And so begins the season of letting go,
when Mother Nature shows us all,
how it’s done.
Let go,
free yourself,
shake it off,
drop it,
give way for the new.
Create space for new thoughts, new ideas,
new adventures and new connections,
by shedding the dead weight you’ve been carrying around,
for so long.
And whilst you are there, being reborn and renewed,
let go of old anxieties too.
Let go of any doubts, fears or beliefs which no longer serve you well.
Release bitterness or past hurts which feast on your beauty.
Be brave,
Don’t fear the nakedness as your leaves slip away.
Mother Nature doesn’t,
watch and learn.
By Donna Ashworth
Mindfulness:
We often say mindfulness is not just about paying attention, it's about how we pay attention.
A recent study by Dr Shinnosuke Ikeda and colleagues at Tamagawa University in Japan illustrates this beautifully.
Nearly 500 adults were surveyed about how sensitive they are to bodily sensations things like tension, aches, heartbeat or breath and how mindful they tend to be in daily life. The researchers also looked at depression levels to see how these factors connect.
Here's what they found:
People who were highly sensitive to their body and low in mindfulness had the highest depression scores around 25 on a scale where 19+ can indicate concern.
But for those who were highly sensitive but also mindful, depression scores dropped dramatically, to about 13.
In other words: Mindfulness acts as a 'buffer' to depression for people who are highly attuned to bodily sensations. Read the Study HERE! The present study demonstrated that sensitivity to bodily sensations and emotional vocabulary independently affect depression, with mindfulness tendencies specifically mitigating the impact of the former. |
Mindful Events Coming up:
Mindful Evening sessions:
Mindfulness Mini Retreat Evenings, spaces filling up fast! The next one is Friday 26th September, 6.30-8.30pm, in the lovely location of Hampton Bishop, in the Acqua Dolce studios, for just £20. Enjoy mindful practices and approaches that support and boost your wellbeing and nourish all aspects of mind, body and spirit. The following one is October 24th. Book your place now.
Monthly On-Line Mindful Drop In
If meditating in the comfort of your own home is your thing, join me for my monthly On-line Mindfulness Drop In, Wednesday 17th September, 7-8pm. If you would like to try it, the first session is free, and thereafter £10 per session or £35 for 4 booked sessions. Please book your space!
A blissful Mindfulness Retreat Day
2nd November 2025
An opportunity to sink into silence, soak up the spaciousness of being present, and connect with Nature, in the beautiful venue of Hellens Manor, Much Marcle, near Ledbury. Follow the link to book your place on this restorative and nourishing experience.
Meaning of a Word
I came across this meaning of the word Beautiful and felt it was so reflective of how we can be:
“Be you to the full’’
You believing that, whatever your ‘full’ is/looks like/feels like, authentically inhabiting your values and beliefs, and sharing this with tender self compassion and kindly awareness, brings your best self to your place in the world. It does not need to conform to the ‘established’ societal or cultural systems of ‘beautiful’. Everyone has the ability to inhabit being ‘their’ beautiful, however that may be. When we show up in mindful awareness of our ‘fullness’, we are creating the spaces to grow and nourish ourselves, and in turn this nourishes and supports those around us, often our most important people, our tribe. When we practise mindfulness, we bring this open awareness to our moments and our ‘beautiful’ grows.
FREE COURSE from Breathworks
This Pain Awareness Month, we’re giving away one of our best-selling courses for FREE - Methods to Live Well with Pain & Illness.
Through daily emails, you will hear Breathworks Founder, Vidyamala Burch OBE, share her pain story and teach you the techniques & meditations that help her to live a full and enriching life in this 10-day online course.
Access to this course is free when you sign up by 30th September (usually £25), and once registered, the resources are yours to keep for life.
Click the link HERE to sign up for free!!
MINDFUL TIP
A reminder of a small Mindfulness ‘First Aid’ activity. ‘If in Doubt, Breathe Out, all the way out’. Let the slowing and deepening of your breath in and out, be your friend. It will activate your parasympathetic nervous system, allowing the calming and soothing endorphins be released, helping you steady and be with whatever is arising.
I wish you a happy early Autumn, enjoying the abundances of Nature and the lingering sunshine.
If you have any questions about anything in the newsletter, please do contact me.
With kindest everythings,
Gail
YOU TUBE
I have now added some new videos, please check them out!
I also recorded a few meditation videos during Covid and put them onto a YouTube channel. Their content can be helpful now as it was then, so have a look if you would like to follow guided practices. Follow the link HERE!
What I Offer...
Get in touch
Mindfulness crept into my life about 12 years ago after I completed a Mindfulness Based Reduction for Stress Course [MBSR], offered by my workplace, a Hospice. The teachings touched a need in me to want to experience life in a calmer and more enjoyable way; to find ways to be present helpfully to the way my life was unfolding rather than engage in battling with the automatic behaviours with repeating conflicting thoughts and emotions, with all the attendant emotional and physical fallouts.
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