Molly Knott Mindfulness

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United States
Truckee, CA
Molly Knott Mindfulness

I help adults with chronic pain reconnect with ease and well-being using mindfulness and gentle yoga practices. Accessible to all bodies. MA, RYT.

10/31/2023

A few years ago, I read the book Sacred Instructions by Sherri Mitchell Weh'na Ha'mu Kwasset. It was deeply impactful and today I returned to it, compelled to revisit her "Prayer for Healing and Openness."

"My fate is twined with the fate of destiny, held in perpetuity with all life, spiraling all the way back to the beginning of time. As I move towards my highest expression, the wisdom of ages is wrapped around me like a cloak. It moves with me, shifting to match my own unique rhythm and then integrating that rhythm into the movement of creation. Let that cloak be a comfort to me in times of trial.

Allow me to open myself to this wisdom and let it soften my defenses against it, knowing that any pain that I feel during this process is caused by denying the wise enticement of my own true heart.

I seek to become a willing vessel and to open my heart completely to those whom fate has drawn toward me. Allow me to see them, not through the obscured vision of my own wounding, or the defensive shelter created by theirs, but with the clarity of vision that can reveal their Soul to me.

Give me strength to remain seated in this pursuit beyond the levels of my own discomfort and fear, so that I may become the boundless being you have created me to be, capable of embracing all life and capable of giving and receiving all of the love the divine Spirit holds for me.

Kci woliwon, n’dilnabamuk.
My heart thanks you, for all of my relations."

- Sherri Mitchell, Sacred Instructions

12/07/2022

Deadline for the early registration rate is this Friday, December 9, for the January session of Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain.

The new year is the perfect time to begin or recommit to a mindfulness practice and develop new skills for navigating life’s turbulent waves.

Space is limited to 10 so tap the link In bio to register and reserve your space now. 🦋

12/02/2022

In many ways, the great journey of my life hinges on the knife’s edge moment when I first discovered Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain. By that point, I had lived with daily, debilitating pain for six years and, quite frankly, was unsure if I could keep going.

Like many women with it took nearly two decades of dismissal by doctors to be diagnosed. By the time I found a doctor who recognized the disease, it had destroyed my fertility and put me into full-blown menopause. At age 37.

Soon after, I developed Interstitial Cystitis, an incurable bladder pain condition that frequently coexists with Endometriosis. The research on both conditions is woefully inadequate, leading to barbaric, ineffective treatments and medical trauma.

In what can only be described as a pelvic pain “perfect storm,” I was at the time a horse trainer and began to experience Pudendal Neuralgia, an extremely painful nerve pain condition related to riding horses and cycling.

These were the hardest years of my life. I spent close to a year mostly lying on my side because the pain of sitting was so excruciating.

I would have wild fits of laughing and crying at the same time, in near-hysterical disbelief at the intensity of the pain and the fact that no one could help me.

I gave up riding.

I sat with my beloved grandmother as she was dying, unable to find the words to tell her I had just learned that I would never be able to have a child.

I waited three years for an adoption, only to have the process fall apart and end in driving home - shellshocked - from an unfamiliar city with an empty car seat.

When my pain specialist referred me to the eight-week Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain program, I thought “What do I have to lose?”

(Cont’d in comments - the good part!)

08/01/2022

I'd love to have you join the group that is coming together for the 8 week program that begins in September.

07/13/2022

Have you found it frustrating and not very helpful to talk with others about your chronic pain? If someone hasn’t lived it, it seems like they can’t possibly understand, and sometimes unintentionally say some really hurtful things.

In Mindful Yoga, we utilize the yogic practices of "svadhyaya" or "self study" and “satsanga," translated as “keeping the company of truth,” to connect deeply and compassionately to ourselves and with others who are also experiencing persistent pain.

In a safe and nurturing environment, program participants (limited to 10) bear witness to one another and share what they are learning through their yoga practice. And I’m a part of this process too, as both your guide and someone who has healed from chronic pain.

I believe this mutual trust, belonging, and understanding that develops over the full 8 weeks is one of the most powerful parts of the course. Because community is fertile soil for growth. 🌼

07/05/2022

Part of my mission is to dispel a myth about yoga. Ready? Yoga is NOT just exercising through a set of postures.

Unfortunately, Western culture has come to equate yoga with performing acrobatic-like movements. At best, this disregards the most important aspects of yoga and, at worst, has left many people feeling like it’s not accessible to them.

In Mindful Yoga, we embrace yoga as a system of practices that help unite our body and mind and connect us with the steadiness of our inner resources.
That’s why we say: all you need to practice yoga is breath and attention.

In each of the 8 live classes, we learn mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga based coping strategies in combination with a gentle movement practice.

All of this is so much more powerful, and so much more inclusive, than a typical yoga class.

When you practice yoga in this way, it’s benefits can literally go anywhere with you because it is WITHIN you.

06/28/2022

For many people, the impacts of living with chronic pain or a chronic condition are much more than just difficult symptoms and sensations in the body.

Chronic pain is sadness over missing out on favorite activities. Or frustration at not being able to give our best selves at work. Sometimes it’s anger about having health conditions that feel so outside of your control.

On really tough days, it can seem like life as you once knew it is slipping away.

That’s why the eight week Mindful Yoga program takes a comprehensive approach to healing, combining gentle exercise with mindfulness-based coping skills.

We start by calming the nervous system - which neuroscience tells us is critical to finding relief. Then, we learn to work with the challenging waves of stress, fatigue, and difficult emotions that can accompany chronic pain.

Researched at Duke University Medical Center and Oregon Health Sciences University, Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain is an evidence-based program that has demonstrated symptom relief including improvements in pain, fatigue, and mood.

In essence, a return to YOU.

05/19/2022

One of the essential elements of a Mindful Yoga practice is curiosity. When we pay attention to something with curiosity, the entire tenor of our experience changes.

There's so much about an experience that gets left out or misunderstood when we think we already know. With curiosity, we set down our judgements and assumptions. We acknowledge that we might not know and, actually, it's ok NOT to know.

It helps if we can pair our curiosity with kindness. So the practice becomes paying attention with a genuine inquisitiveness; interested in a loving way.

You can bring curious, mindful attention to absolutely anything - a beautiful view, an interaction with a loved one, even a difficult sensation in the body. Kind curiosity is the alchemical ingredient that allows for transformation as experience unfolds. 🦋

05/18/2022

RESCHEDULED! The next 8 week Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain course will now start in September - the perfect time to begin or recommit to mindfulness practices before the holiday season. 🦋

05/02/2022

Words matter. Words create worlds.

I've recently heard colleagues use these phrases to describe the way in which the words we use sculpt our experience. We see this clearly in interactions with others. But our words also sculpt our inner landscape of experience. In other words, how we feel.

In the Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain program, we call this "Noticing the Effects of Labeling on Sensation." Participants are often shocked how much of an impact it can have when they use labels like discomfort or unpleasant sensation to replace the word pain (Latin root "poena" or punishment, btw).

Of course, we're not trying to deny the pain. Instead, we're exploring a strategy to change our relationship to it and embracing our ability to be a co-creator of our own experience. 💫

10/14/2021

How can we best prepare for surgery or series of treatments and set ourselves up for a steady recovery? These are some of the practices I have been using to reduce stress and open to a major surgery as a healing opportunity:⁠⁠
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THREE PART BREATH | This foundational breath practice in the Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain program calms the nervous system by activating the body's natural relaxation response.⁠ I use this several times/day when my nervous system is on high alert.⁠⁠
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WAITING ROOM MEDITATION | This 5 min recording invites steadiness and support into the often stressful moment of waiting for an appointment or procedure.⁠ When I use this practice, I enter appointments more grounded in presence and self compassion and better able to communicate clearly with practitioners.⁠⁠
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LABELING SENSATION | In the MYCP program, we learn that the words we use to talk about pain can shape our experience of the sensation. Subtle shifts such as "there is a burning sensation in my left hip" vs "my hip is killing me" keep us grounded in the reality of experience instead of emotionally-driven stories about our experience. ⁠⁠
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With consistency, this practice allows difficult thoughts & emotions about pain to settle, a greater sense of safety is cued, and sensations can become less painful. For this surgery, I worked with "I've previously had a difficult time with this procedure" vs "my body hates this procedure" as one tool to reduce anticipatory stress and pain related to a prior medical trauma. ⁠⁠
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PAIN GATE OPENERS & CLOSERS | Modern neuroscience shows us that the brain decides what we experience as as painful. Thoughts and emotions can influence the experience of pain, opening and closing a biochemical pain "gate" in the nervous system - allowing for a greater or lesser pain signals to be processed.⁠⁠
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Identifying one's personal pain gate openers and closers can be a way to communicate needs, make wise decisions, and set yourself up for less pain. Be playful with this! My closers include foot rubs and cuddling with my dog, while a messy kitchen and too much social media contribute to a more open pain gate.

09/30/2021

On social media, I see many pain patients who feel that yoga is not for them. Maybe they’ve had past experiences where a yoga class aggravated their pain or they're simply tired of being told by well-meaning friends that a little yoga, kale, and apple cider vinegar will make their pain go away. 😒⁠⁠ 🥬

Yoga DOES NOT EQUAL exercising through a set of postures. It is a system of practices that help unite our body and mind and connect us with the steadiness of our inner resources. In Mindful Yoga, we utilize mindfulness meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga-based coping strategies in combination with a gentle movement practice. ⁠⁠

Truly, all you need to practice yoga is breath and attention. 💨 🧠

In the Mindful Yoga for Chronic Pain program, the movement practice is specifically designed for people living with chronic pain. There are standing and seated options, as well as ways of practicing if you aren't able to move your body at all.

Learn more about the radical inclusivity and accessibility of Mindful Yoga https://bit.ly/3zXhHVR

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Truckee, CA
96161

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https://mollyknottmindfulness.com/

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