Mindfulness Workshops

MINDFULNESS 101

Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

The practice of mindful awareness has a variety of well-documented impacts, including a reduction in toxic stress, an increase in emotional regulation, and an improvement in sustained attention, focus, and executive functioning.

In this six-week course, you’ll learn:

• The basics of mindfulness meditation

• How to work with thinking that arises while practicing mindfulness

• Techniques for meeting and navigating intense emotions

• The role mindfulness plays in communication and interactions

• How to set up and support a mindfulness practice after the course ends

MINDFULNESS 201

Mindfulness is not only a way to stay present, but a way to live in the world. Research has shown that mindfulness as a way of life, creates a deep sense of calm and workability.

Building on the Mindfulness 101 Course, in this eight-week course, you’ll learn:

• How to deepen your mindfulness meditation practice

• Practices to meet and release tension and stress in the body and mind

• Techniques for working with challenging thoughts and emotions

• How to work with challenging situations and relationships, through the lens of your mindfulness practice

• How to embody mindfulness as a way of life

MINDFUL RELAXATION

Relaxation is a process that decreases the effects of stress on your mind and body. Studies show that relaxation techniques can help you cope with everyday stress and with stress related to various health problems, such as heart disease and chronic pain. An ongoing practice of mindful relaxation helps to reduce stress and deepen the quality of life.

In this eight-week course, you’ll learn:

• The science of relaxation—how and why it is important for overall health to relax

• How to deeply relax, regulate, and soothe your nervous system

• Breathing practices to maintain a sense of relaxation throughout your day

• Techniques to cultivate a sense of ease and peace around challenging thoughts and emotions

• Ways to stay relaxed and calm, even in challenging situations

• Relaxation practices that deepen your mindfulness meditation practice

MINDFUL SELF-COMPASSION

Compassion is an essential part of a mindfulness practice—serving as an anchor when we work with our own, and anothers suffering. There are numerous proven benefits of both self-compassion and compassion toward others, such as increased happiness, improved medical outcomes, reduced stress, reduced psychopathology, and increased social connectedness.

In this six-week course, you’ll learn:

• The science of compassion—how the practice of mindful compassion affects us mentally, emotionally, and physically

• How mindful compassion serves as an anchor for working with our thoughts, emotions, and body sensations

• Practices to soften the ways we protect our own hearts

• Techniques to cultivate a warm, caring heart towards what we discover within ourselves

• Ways to deepen our own compassion, to be of benefit to others and our community

MINDFUL SKILLFUL ACTIONS

If you’ve heard of or read about mindfulness meditation—you might be curious about how it affects your day to day living. Spending too much time in our thoughts—planning, problem-solving, daydreaming, or thinking negative or random thoughts can negatively impact our mental, emotional, and physical health.

Bringing mindfulness practice into our day-to-day lives can help direct attention away from this kind of thinking, bring us more fully into our bodies, and engage with the world around you. Reconnecting us to our joy, creativity, and ease.

In this six-week course, you will learn:

• How to take your mindfulness meditation practice off the cousin and into the world

• Small, “flash” practices that you can do anytime, anywhere to stay present, focused, and calm

• Mini-mindfulness techniques to calm and regulate your nervous system, no matter where you are or what you are doing

• How to step out of habitual thought and action patterns, in the moment, that create stress in our lives

MINDFUL RELATIONSHIPS

Mindfulness practice doesn’t just enhance our own well-being. A mindful relationship is one in which we learn to pay attention to another, staying or being present to their here and now without judgment. Research shows that higher levels of mindfulness in our interpersonal relationships has a positive impact—creating happier, more lasting bonds.

In this six-week course you’ll learn:

• Mindfulness practices to be more present and attentive in your relationships

• How mindfulness lowers negative emotional reactivity

• Techniques that improve emotional regulation

• Self-awareness practices that help to lower reactivity

• Mindfulness practices that allow us to be empathic—towards ourselves and others

THE MINDFUL CREATIVE

Mindfulness mediation can enhance creativity and innovation. Research shows that mindfulness practices can have positive effects on our creative and work lives—boosting resilience, mitigating stress, regulating emotions, and cultivating a more positive outlook.

When we are present, embodied, and relaxed our natural creativity awakens. We are more able to switch out of reactive fight-or-flight responses and engage in a more thoughtful, receptive way to our work and lives.

In this six-week course, you’ll learn:

• Mindfulness practices that calm and center the mind, allowing space for creativity

• Techniques to shift into a relaxed, receptive open mind

• Practices to clear the mind and focus more on the task at hand

• Techniques to open and relax the senses

• Daily, mini-practices to cultivate a creative, open mind