Manage MS with the power of mindfulness

Phil Startin and Yvette Sargoood explain the role of mindfulness in managing MS

The variety of symptoms arising from multiple sclerosis (MS) is huge and two people with MS rarely, if ever, have exactly the same symptoms and temporary or permanent changes in function.

However, the one thing all of us living with MS have in common is that life becomes a lot more uncertain. From the day of diagnosis, a whole new level of unpredictability is introduced into the rest of our life, and the path forward can feel unpredictable, bringing physical and cognitive challenges that can affect how we see ourselves and our sense of identity.

As two mindfulness teachers who have both lived with MS for over 15 years, and having delivered mindfulness courses to over 150 people with MS (PwMS), we’ve seen how mindfulness can help navigate this complex and often challenging journey.

Living with unpredictability

One of the hardest things about MS is not knowing what’s coming – what will happen next? Will I lose mobility? How will this affect who I am?

From our experience of running mindfulness courses for PwMS, and our own personal experience, we’ve noticed common thoughts and emotions that often arise including

• •Fear about the future and imagining worst-case scenarios
• •Feeling ashamed or isolated, as if ‘it’s just me’
• •Longing for the way life used to be
• •A sense of lost identity when roles or abilities change

These fears are completely normal. But they can trigger anxiety and stress, and it’s well established that there is a link between stress and exacerbation of MS symptoms and relapses.

When these fears take over they can create a vicious circle – stress and anxiety can make MS symptoms feel worse, which leads to more unpredictability, which in turn creates more stress, and so on. It can feel like you’ve lost control.

Mindfulness doesn’t magically take the unpredictability away. Instead, it offers a way to change your relationship with it, helping to find your footing even when the ground feels shaky.

How can mindfulness help?

Over the last 20 years there’s been considerable medical evidence of the benefits that mindfulness can bring specifically to PwMS. This includes reducing anxiety and depression, improving sleep, better dealing with pain, reducing fatigue levels, improving quality of life, and even reducing relapse rate. These benefits alone are truly amazing, but through our experience of delivering mindfulness courses to PwMS we’ve found other, more subtle, benefits and tools. These are

Taming the ‘what if’ spiral. It’s so easy to get lost in catastrophic thinking about the future. Mindfulness helps you notice your thoughts without getting swept away by them. You learn to see them as just thoughts – not proven facts. This simple shift can dramatically reduce anxiety and stop stressful thought patterns in their tracks.

Making peace with your body. Pain, fatigue, and loss of function can make your body feel like the enemy. It’s tempting to disconnect from it. Mindfulness practices, like gentle body scans, invite you to reconnect with kindness. You learn to listen to your body with care instead of criticism, noticing what’s there without judgment.

Soften around the grief and longing. It’s natural to miss the way things used to be before diagnosis. We all do. Mindfulness helps you gently acknowledge that longing and sadness without letting it consume you. It’s not about forcing acceptance, but about loosening the grip of resistance and grief, one moment at a time.

Acknowledging that things will change. Instead of resisting change, mindfulness invites softening – meeting change with awareness rather than reactivity.

Cultivating Self-Compassion. MS can be hard on our self-esteem, triggering harsh self-judgment. Mindfulness encourages you to treat yourself with the same kindness you’d offer a friend. Instead of asking, ‘What’s wrong with me?’ you can start to ask, ‘What do I need right now?’ This question is a game-changer.

Navigating a Changing Identity. MS can change how you see yourself, especially if your abilities shift. Mindfulness helps you navigate this with more grace. Many of us go through stages – from rejecting the diagnosis, to feeling completely defined by it, to finally finding a way to accept it as a part of life – and sometimes, even finding new meaning and growth along the way. Mindfulness supports you wherever you are on that journey.

Adapted course for MS

Mindfulness shouldn’t be another overwhelming thing on your to-do list. That’s why mindfulness courses designed for people with MS need to be flexible and accessible. We’ve adapted our approach to meet the needs of PwMS to help make mindfulness feel supportive and manageable – not overwhelming – but without changing the core. The courses we offer through MS-UK include

• •Eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and shorter four-week mindfulness courses
• •A mix of shorter and longer guided practices
• •Gentle, inclusive movement practices
• •Session themes designed specifically for MS
• •A strong focus on kindness and self-compassion
• •Ongoing monthly drop-in sessions to support connection and practice

All course participants either have MS or a very close connection to someone with MS and this, perhaps more than anything else, helps create a deeper understanding and a stronger bond because all participants (and teachers!) ‘get it’.

Mindfulness doesn’t cure MS. But it can profoundly change how we relate to it. With mindfulness practice, many people discover more emotional resilience, self-understanding, and a gentler relationship with their bodies, minds, and lives.

Mindfulness can help us develop a much greater sense of kindness to our self – a sense of kindness is actually at the core of mindfulness – and it the combined attitudes of kindness and gentleness, of courage and determination that gives us the mental strength we need.

But perhaps most importantly, many of our course participants say mindfulness gave them more than just tools, it gave them a sense of connection and a reminder that they’re not alone on this journey.

If you’ve ever wondered whether mindfulness might help you, maybe now’s the time to explore. You don’t have to face this journey alone – and mindfulness can be a gentle companion along the way.

More information

To find out more about our online courses, please visit ms-uk.org/mindfulness-courses/. If you think one of the courses is right for you, you must first register to the introduction session. During the introduction session, details to join the courses will be shared.