Introduction & Theoretical Background
Core to compassion focused therapy (CFT) is the ability to notice and engage in distress, and then to take wise action to relieve or prevent it. An important first step in doing this is through attention training and mindfulness, which help us to develop skills in noticing, turning towards, and engaging in things that might be painful or distressing.
Mindfulness Of Sounds And Thoughts is an exercise taken from the Psychology Tools For Developing Self-Compassion audio collection. Some people find that mindfulness practices which focus on an anchor within the body may initially feel less comfortable than practices which use an external anchor. In this introductory mindfulness exercise the listener is guided through the process of focusing their awareness on a variety of targets including sounds around them.