How mindfulness has helped me respond to a cancer diagnosis and treatment
“I was always trying to fix a broken egg.”
Christine is a mum of two and a “recovering perfectionist”. She shares how an eight-week mindfulness course helped her take care of herself in the aftermath of her diagnosis and treatment for cancer in 2024.
This blog post was written by Christine with Tamsin Bishton the editor of the blog series “My journey with mindfulness”. Christine recently completed a mindfulness course for people living with cancer.
How I came to mindfulness
I’ve always had a really busy mind. It wasn’t until I had my children that I realised just how busy my mind is. I did have an interest in mindfulness and I tried some mindfulness apps and I would read books on mindfulness. But it always felt very abstract.
Mindfulness was probably the last thing on my list, because I had tried it so many times and staying present is hard work for me. It still is.
After my cancer diagnosis in 2024 and post-treatment I found I came to the end of the care process in hospital, and suddenly I was on my own, with so many questions and worries. I felt hypervigilant. Would cancer come back?
Mindfulness was suggested to me by my counsellor. I deeply wanted it, but I was scared. I talked to Chris Barker, who was teaching an eight-week course specifically for people affected by cancer, and he encouraged me to give the course a try. I thought two hours each week felt like a long time to be trying to meditate. Especially for someone with such a busy mind as me.
Once I put it into the diary, it started becoming like self care time. It wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be!
Personal benefits of mindfulness
I joined the course in spring 2025. There were 10 people in the group and it was very healing to know that I wasn’t alone. There were people in their forties like me and also older people – up to their seventies. Everyone in the group had similar trauma related to cancer and the noise that creates in the mind.
In the first three weeks, I really struggled. I had so many questions. I think I saw the practice as transactional – trying to make something specific happen. Chris was helpful and encouraged me not to be so intense. It’s not about making mindfulness happen. It’s more about allowing it to happen.
It was later in the course when I had a realisation. I think the biggest thing for me is to go back to my breath more. Surrendering to the process is a whole new skill I have developed from there. It’s the breath that we just go back to. It takes down the hyper vigilance.
I’m still practising and I find I can go back to the breath more now and let things happen.
Better relationships with my children and my own challenges
Being on the course and continuing with mindfulness practice definitely helps in parenting. Chris talked about how sometimes our minds are working to try and fix problems that aren’t fixable. I was doing that with my children’s problems and my own.
I realised I was always trying to fix a broken egg. You just can’t fix it. Now I can breathe and imagine the broken egg and think “it’s broken”. I can’t pick up the yolk, I can’t put the shell back. That realisation calms me down. So then I’m able to be present. It was very healing to be able to do that in a safe space.
Responding to my children’s needs – and to my own reality with cancer – from a place of presence rather than being in the noise is very helpful.
Should you try mindfulness?
If you’re already looking and thinking about mindfulness to take care of yourself after cancer treatment, there’s probably something in there for you. It might be scary, but maybe just quieten the fears, map the time out and start.
It helped me to reframe it as self care. It’s not a must-do. It’s a nice-to-do. Then, just jump through the first hurdle and see where you are.
Our next mindfulness course for people after cancer is advertised here. If you would like to try a mindfulness taster session find a slot and sign up here.