WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?
Mindfulness is paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment and non-judgementally, or in other words, knowing what you are doing while you are doing it. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful inner resources for insight, transformation and healing. – John Kabat Zinn MBSR founder
Mindfulness is about being fully awake in our lives. It is about paying attention to present moment experience with open curiosity and a willingness to be with what is.
It is a way of living.
HOW DO WE DEVELOP MINDFULNESS?
To cultivate mindfulness we must train our awareness so that it becomes an increasingly reliable source of stability.
The Mindfulness journey:
Phase 1 is about becoming more familiar with what is actually happening in each moment. It is about becoming aware of our breath, our body as we sit, stand, walk, of the sensations in different parts of the body, of our emotions and our thought processes.
In Phase 2 we move toward the unpleasant aspects of our experiences. This might seem counterintuitive but in fact facing our emotional or physical pain is essential because those of us with chronic pain usually tend to resist it by trying to block the pain out or drowning in it. In this phase we learn to adopt a kind, compassionate, non-judgemental attitude to our whole experience and simply allow our painful experiences to be present.
When we bring this awareness to our pain, we often find that it is not as bad as we feared. By focusing on perceiving the sensations rather than our ideas about them brings us into the present moment, in which experience is always fluid and changing.
Phase 3 of the mindfulness journey involves becoming sensitive to the pleasant elements of our experience. When we harden against pain, we tend to numb ourselves to other people and experiences. By developing a more straightforward relationship with pain, we discover that there’s always something pleasant and beautiful in our experience when we look for it, that it has been there all along, just outside our field of awareness.
Pleasure is always present, but we can close ourselves to it when we are dominated by our pain. As we let in pleasurable sensations, we may feel relief that we are at last giving them attention.
Phase 4 we broaden our awareness to include both the unpleasant and pleasant aspects of our experience, like switching from a focused to a wide angle lens.
In this phase rather than focusing on sensations of either pain or pleasure, we become aware of the whole experience in a wider perspective with great depth.
From this wider perspective, we can manage whatever happens and maintain perspective with a deep sense of inner spaciousness.
Another aspect of this phase is that we become sensitive to and aware of other people. We may notice how we communicate with our friends and family and how they communicate with you. We then become aware of the world around us.
Phase 5 is all about choosing to respond rather than react to our experiences, especially when they include difficulties. This is the heart of the mindfulness practice: the sense that we have the freedom to choose how we respond. When life is approached this way, it can be a stream of choices and creative possibilities instead of continuous distraction and resistance.
The Mindful AUTUMN Program
The 8-week mindfulness program teaches mindfulness to help you cope with illness, pain, discomfort and stress.
It is a blend of meditation, body awareness and yoga: learning through practice and study how your body handles (and can resolve) stress neurologically.
Participants in the group class learn a lot from each other and support from fellow participants can be of powerful assistance in meeting many of the common challenges faced in integrating the practice of mindfulness in daily life.
The program is intended for a broad range of people with diverse backgrounds, ages, interests and levels of wellbeing.
People join because of physical and emotional stressors in their lives. Many enrol because they feel their life is “out of control” or they are “not feeling quite right” and wish to gain more peace, ease and flow.
This program is for you if you wish to:
- Improve your memory, concentration, attention and cognitive ability
- Find greater balance, harmony, energy and peace of mind
- Improve your health and reinforce your immune system
- Better manage and reduce pain (chronic illness)
- Better handle life’s challenges and stressful situations
- Reduce stress and anxiety
- Develop your emotional and social intelligence
- Increase your creativity and enhance sense of purpose
- Gain in self-confidence, increase your self-awareness
- Have better relationships
Through taking this Mindfulness course, you will learn skills that can increase your ability to:
- Be fully present and alive in this moment
- Cope with stress, pain and the challenges of everyday life
- Deal with disturbing events with grace and composure
Studies have demonstrated that the Mindfulness MBSR protocol can have a significant therapeutic effect for those experiencing stress, anxiety, high blood pressure, depression, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, chronic pain, heart condition, and other ailments. It has been shown that Mindfulness helped people cope better with symptoms and has improved their quality of life.
A Harvard research shows that 8 weeks of Mindfulness MBSR training rewires your neural networks, reduces cortisol levels, improves cognition, memory & executive function, and results in extensive physiological benefits, creating a healthier, more resilient, productive and peaceful you.
To get the benefit of the program, it is important to be able to participate in the entire course. This means that you should be able to attend all sessions and do your homework. If this is not possible for you, it is better to take the course at a later time.
The Mindfulness program is highly experiential and daily practice is the most important component. Mindfulness is a skill that involves both the body and the mind. It takes time and practice to adopt a new skill and to use it effectively and harmoniously.
No meditation experience is needed prior to taking this program. You will be guided through every step of the journey.
This is an experiential program which teaches the principles of Mindfulness through mixed modalities, including several types of mindfulness meditation, awareness-building activities, group inquiry and discussion, readings, and mindful movement.
It’s all about noticing patterns of thinking and feeling, and from this increased awareness learning to relate differently to them rather than habitually trying to ‘fix’ them. Trying to ‘fix’ or change difficult thoughts and feelings can too often be an expression of our anxiety, fear, frustration or denial, and because of this it does not ‘work’.
Course Format: 1,5 hour classes once a week on Wednesdays 7:00-8:30 pm (GMT+1), for 8 weeks online through Zoom.
Course Cost: Full price: €300; Early bird: € 250 before September 10th (enquire about payment options)
Intake Process: All participants are required to complete an individual pre-course introduction with Beatrice over Zoom.
Participant Materials: Participants are provided with worksheets. Guided practice recordings are provided via mp3 files.
Participant Support: Participants have phone and email access to Beatrice for questions and support outside of class times.
The Program overview
Throughout the program you will be consciously and systematically working the challenges and demands of your everyday life. You will be in a safe and supportive environment for this work.
Program Overview:
- Weeks 1-2-3 Grounding and strengthening our mind
- Weeks 4-5-6 Opening and understanding our mind
- Weeks 7-8 Applying mindfulness practices to all aspects of life
The Journey
Theoretical underpinnings of mind-body medicine
-Mindful eating, breathing and Body scan
Self-responsibility for positive change
-Sitting meditation
Cultivating strength and flexibility of body and mind
-Mindful yoga
Recognizing and interrupting thoughts
-S.T.O.P process
Dealing with difficult emotions and physical pain
-Creating space to make choices
Mindful communication
-Imagery meditation
Increasing empathy and positive emotion
-Loving Kindness meditation, RAIN process
Integrating mindfulness in your life
-Exploring choices
We have what we seek. It is there all the time, and if we give it time it will make itself known to us.
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