Hi Angela,

I can relate to what you are going through and I thank you for trusting me enough to reach out. I ahve a few questions for you:

1) I would ask your psychiatrist to make sure he/she has looked into possible medical causes of depression (thyroid, vitamin B 12 and D levels etc;)

2) I would look into therapy that could explore what has changed in your life circumstances. Each decade brings certain challenges and responsibilites and joys. Exploring where you are in this journey may help.

3) Mindfulness is very useful technique to precent relapses, and studies have shown it does even better than antidepressents in thsi regard. However, do not stop your meds now, as a combination approach is bestwhen your depression feels as high as a 7/10.

4) To start, I would set aside just 10 mins a day, and connect it to another habit you already have established. Such as your morning coffee or as soon as you take a shower etc; Establishing a daily habit is most important in the beginning (than how long or how deep you meditate).

5) In terms of type of meditation, I would start with just keeping your awareness on your breath. Focus on one area of the body where you can best feel your breath, such as your abdomen or your nostrils, and keep your awareness in that spot, focuing on the sensation of the breath going in and out. When your mind wanders (which it will, thats what minds do), just gently and compassionately bring it back to your breath. Here is a link for a follow along breathing mindfulness : http://marc.ucla.edu/body.cfm?id=22

Don’t get distracted by all the other resources available on this website. Just stick with breathing and try to develope daily habit of just 10 mins for now.

6) I will be releasing a new e-book on my website in the next 1-2 days about MBCT. It’s totally free. Hopefully it will help give some more context to mindfulness for depression. It also has audio excercises by me that you can follow along to.

Take good care of yourself and do things for yourself that you would do for a loved one who is depressed.

Hugs,

Kavetha