Awareness in Action recently offered a workshop to introduce the practices of mindfulness and meditation to a group of care workers supporting children in need. It was a large, lively group with a good cross-section of caseworkers, psychologists and support staff. We were about a third of the way into the workshop and had tried out some simple mindfulness exercises. It’s always a special time in a workshop—people have begun to leave their preoccupation with their schedules aside for a couple of hours and to sense the simple effectiveness of what they are learning.

After an exercise in watching the breath we asked for responses from the groups. Following some moments of discussion a woman at the back put up her hand and asked, ‘This is for us, isn’t it? This workshop is for us to learn these techniques?’ Puzzled, I replied that yes that was the purpose and then she continued, ‘I almost feel guilty that this is for me and not for my clients.’

It’s not the first time that I have heard this sentiment expressed and it won’t be the last but each time is still surprises and touches me. I am surprised that people who spend their whole working life caring for others get so little assistance is learning how to care for themselves, and the fact that they expect so little is always touching.

It is a fallacy that I come across more often than I would like—the idea that to spend time learning how to care for oneself on a deep level with practices like mindfulness and meditation is somehow an indulgence that can only be justified if it can be translated into benefit for the client. Care workers will spend any amount of time learning techniques to teach their clients but quickly feel guilty if the object is themselves. One of the things we stress in our workshops is that learning to quieten one’s mind, and open one’s heart through mindfulness and meditation is the surest way to enable you to offer more to the people you work with—whether they are people in need, or colleagues in business. Taking the time to work with oneself in this way is the best safeguard against burn-out and emotion-fatigue and increases one’s stability and capacity. To put it simply—everyone benefits: you, the clients and your management!

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