Mindfulness is awesome but it is not a panacea. If anyone attempts to sell it to you as one, walk out and ask for your money back. It is merely a tool. It's an extremely powerful tool, but also has to come with a warning, especially if your personal history has any trauma in it.
The teachers that I respect the most are the ones that warn you to stop and are humble enough to admit that it is not a cure-all. There are times when it is extremely inappropriate and actually can increase suffering to a point were I would argue it is dangerous to continue. You have to have very good supports in place to be dealing with trauma, and mindfulness can start lifting lids off of boxes. If the time isn't right people's mental health can really be put at risk.
That said, I found once I started I couldn't stop. I watched a conference speech recently by Jon Kabat-Zinn where he was describing how he felt the same hook at a similar age to me and it made me smile. The problem was that I suddenly found myself in a situation where I was being flooded with traumatic memories and I knew in my heart it was un-healthy. I balled my eyes out to my therapist, saying I have such little help and now I have give up the help I have. Luckily that was only temporary.
If you practice mindfulness for long enough it makes you realise there is something that no-one can steal from you. It is so liberating. To feel out-side of time.
