“I didn’t want to waste months riding out this stress, I wanted to savour life”
Marina Fogle reveals how a meditation app helped her cope with the grief she felt for her stillborn son
Over the last few years, the term ?mindfulness? has become something of a buzzword. While I could appreciate that being mindful was probably not a bad idea, I didn?t have the time to think about what it really meant and whether it could, as was claimed, significantly enhance our lives.
But in the summer of 2014, it all changed for me. My son was stillborn, suddenly and tragically one August morning, and immediately my brain was tested like it had never been before. In the months that followed, lost and overwhelmed, I got to know stress, panic and anxiety very well. And amid the deluge of advice was a suggestion that I download an app called Headspace. My friend, who had lost his brother some years ago, said that spending 10 minutes a day in guided meditation made him feel infinitely stronger, calmer and clear-headed. Because I didn?t download it straight away, it remained on that list of things ?I?ll do tomorrow?. The weeks went on, and the relentless carousel of questions, concerns and fears that had permeated my mind suddenly rose to a crescendo that was hard to ignore. I found myself getting stressed and losing my temper, with my children, my dogs, myself.
My acupuncturist told me to slow down. ?You need to take a few minutes every day, just to stop,? she said. But I coul...