Mindfulness-Based, Holistic Therapy in Vancouver
Present, Grounded, and Less Overwhelmed
Some days your mind won't slow down, no matter how hard you try. Thoughts loop, your chest feels tight, and being "present" can feel like an impossible ask. Mindfulness-based therapy works with exactly that, helping you notice what's happening in your body and mind without needing to fix or force anything right away, so you can feel calmer, more grounded, and a little less overwhelmed, even on the harder days. Our practice in Vancouver, BC, provides compassionate, evidence-based support that empowers you to navigate life's challenges with greater awareness and resilience.
What Mindfulness Actually Helps With
Mindfulness counselling is more than a treatment; it’s a journey of self-awareness and self-discovery. Integrating mind-body techniques can support with:
Noticing what's happening in your body and mind, without judgment
Building tools for staying grounded when anxiety or stress spikes
Slowing down racing or looping thoughts
Reconnecting with the present moment, even briefly
Building a steadier relationship with difficult emotions over time
Know you want support but not sure where to start?
Come take your shoes off, curl up with some tea and let’s make a plan. You’re not broken, you’re just wonderfully human, which can be complicated (and sometimes frustrating) to navigate.
Our Find a Counsellor form can guide you in connecting with a counsellor who is the right fit for you.
Meet our Mindfulness Therapists in Vancouver
The following members of our team have availability for new clients. We offer free 15-minute consultation so you can connect and ask questions first.
What Does It Actually Mean to Be Mindful?
Believe it or not, we can practice mindfulness without ever sitting stoically on a cushion in ‘meditation’, and a lot of people shy away from mindfulness because they think it’s the same as meditation, which even more people think they are “really bad at”. Meditation is just one way of practising mindfulness. Mindfulness is really just paying attention in a certain way.
Being mindful means noticing what's happening in the present moment with a little more openness and curiosity than normal, almost in a bit of a zoomed out way (like watching from a birds eye point of view) rather than automatically getting swept up in your thoughts, emotions, or reactions. You can practise it while sitting quietly and following your breath, but you can also practise it while walking, eating, talking with someone, working, or simply noticing what's happening in your body (and sometimes in your mind!) right now.
The point is not actually to empty your mind or stop thinking. Minds wander. That's what minds are build to do, and yours has thoughts in it, it definitely isn’t broken, just busy! Mindfulness is the practice of noticing when your attention has wandered, and gently, without judgment, bringing it back to what's happening now. Sometimes it even means having a bunch of thoughts but engaging with them in a way that you're not fully used to.
What Happens in Our Brains and Nervous System When We Practise Mindfulness?
Research suggests that regular mindfulness practice can strengthen your ability to notice where your attention goes, and to respond rather than automatically react. It's been linked to changes in attention, emotion regulation, and how we relate to difficult thoughts and feelings, and mindfulness-based approaches have been studied extensively for concerns including anxiety, depression, and stress.
In therapy, that becomes something much more practical than sitting cross-legged on a cushion.
Maybe you notice your shoulders creeping up toward your ears as anxiety starts to build. Maybe a familiar thought pulls you into a spiral, and this time you catch it happening. During an argument, you pause just long enough to notice what you're actually feeling before you respond. Or you simply notice you're distracted, tired, frustrated, or uncomfortable, and let that be true for a second without rushing to fix it.
That moment of noticing is mindfulness.
Over time, practising that kind of awareness can create more space between what you experience and what you do next. It won't mean you never feel overwhelmed again. It means you may become a little better able to notice what's happening, stay connected to yourself, and choose how you respond, one moment at a time. Even tiny shifts can build to be quite meaningful over time.
How Mindfulness Can Show Up in Our Sessions:
Meditation and/or breath-based practices
Learning a grounding technique for moments things feel like too much
Present-moment and body-based awareness exercises
Building a calm place you can return to outside of sessions too
Trying a body scan to notice what your body's holding
Building tolerance to meet challenging emotions
Practicing self-compassion for when your inner critic has a lot to say
Slowing down enough to notice what’s actually happening right now
Who Tends to Benefit from Mindfulness Therapy
Individuals experiencing:
Chronic stress, or a nervous system that feels constantly "on"
Anxiety and depression, especially when accompanied by racing or looping thoughts
Trauma recovery
Big life transitions that leave you feeling ungrounded
Relationship challenges and difficulty staying present with people you care about
People-pleasing or difficulty setting boundaries
Performance anxiety, or a mind that won't quiet down before something important
Various forms of emotional dysregulation and overwhelm
Perfectionism and the pressure of never feeling like enough
Emotional burnout, or feeling disconnected from yourself after stretching too thin for too long
In Person Mindfulness Sessions in Vancouver, or Online Anywhere in BC
Our counselling space and yoga / expressive arts space is based in Kitsilano, Vancouver. Our counsellors also work virtually across British Columbia. Mindfulness works just as fine online as it does in person, since a lot of it is simply learning to notice, wherever you happen to be sitting!
A Little About The Humans Who You'll Be Working With:
Registered Clinical Counsellors, with a variety of training, embodied practices and life experiences, who weave mindfulness into sessions
Counsellors who know how to be steady and present in the room with you, whether that room is our Kitsilano office or your own living room over video
Practitioners who understand that mindfulness isn't about being calm all the time, it's about noticing what's true right now, even when its chaotic, overwhelming or uncomfortable
Counsellors who pair mindfulness with deeper trauma or attachment work when that's what you need, not a standalone fix
Inclusive, culturally sensitive counselling, including attachment-focused and neurodivergent-affirming approaches
You're not broken. You're wonderfully complexly human who deserves to be here and to be heard.
Take the first step towards holistic healing and growth through mindfulness. Contact our intake team to be matched with a counsellor and connect for a consultation call.
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It's not separate from talk therapy so much as woven into it. Alongside conversation, your counsellor might help you notice what's happening in your body, slow down a racing thought, or bring gentle awareness to what's coming up as you talk, rather than staying only in your head.
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Not exactly. Meditation is one way of practising mindfulness, but mindfulness itself is broader, it's a way of paying attention that can show up anywhere, not just seated stoically on a cushion. In session, it often looks more like noticing a tightening in your chest or catching a familiar thought spiral, not having to sit silently.
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Yes. A lot of what mindfulness practices actually build is the ability to notice a thought spiral starting and gently interrupt it or watch it, rather than getting pulled all the way in. Mindfulness is less about stopping the thoughts and more about changing your relationship to them.
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Both. Mindfulness on its own isn't a trauma treatment, but it's often used alongside trauma-focused work like EMDR or somatic therapy to help you build enough grounding and tolerance to do that deeper processing safely.
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Yes. Several of our counsellors offer mindfulness-based sessions virtually, for clients anywhere in BC.
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Every session is different depending on what you bring in, but it often blends conversation with moments of noticing, whether that's a body sensation, a thought pattern, or something coming up right in the room… and of course it’s not necessary to have any mindfulness experience before starting.
Frequently Asked Questions About Mindfulness Counselling
Connect with one of our mindfulness-based counsellors for a free 15-minute consultation as the first step. This is your time to ask questions and see who feels like the right fit for you.
RCC (They/She)
Lauren works with trauma, self-worth, OCD, attachment and relationship patterns, neurodivergence, anxiety, depression, grief and complex emotions; she identifies as queer and neurodivergent herself. Lauren enjoys working clients navigating anger, religious trauma, non traditional relationship structures and those wanting to explore fat liberation. She is sex positive and particularly welcomes 2SLGBTQIA+ clients, creatives and people exploring gender, sexuality and identity.
Approaches:Somatic · Mindfulness · IFS · Anti-Oppressive · Narrative · Emotion Focused · DBT · Attachment-Focused · ACT · Trauma Informed · Neurodivergent-Affirming