Introducing Mindfulness
Who is it for?
• You are new to mindfulness
• You have tried mindfulness before – perhaps listened to an app or read a book – and you want to experience doing a course in a group, led by an experienced teacher
Entry Requirements
You are eligible to attend this course if you:
• Can commit to attending all 3 sessions of the course
• Have both the time and motivation to dedicate to personal practice each day
• You are over 18 years of age
• You are able to speak and understand the English language (both spoken and written) to a level where you can fully take part in the course without the need for additional translation support.
Description
This course is designed for anyone interested in exploring some key mindfulness themes and practices in ways that might support them personally, in everyday life and work.
How is the course different to 8-week courses such as Mindfulness for Life?
There are 3 sessions of one hour each as opposed to 8 sessions of 2-and-a-quarter hours. Despite being briefer than the 8-session format, Introducing Mindfulness explores some key mindfulness themes and practices in ways that might support you personally, in everyday life and work.
This course is not being offered as a treatment for any specific physical or psychological conditions. Please do not sign up for this training if you are currently experiencing severe problems in these areas.
What will I do on this course?
The sessions are group-based, and involve a combination of teaching, mindfulness practices, trying out what is learned in everyday life, and discussion.
• Attend 3 weekly sessions lasting one hour each week.
• This is a structured course where each session builds upon what has been introduced before. This is why it is important to attend all the sessions.
• You will be taught 1-to-1, or in a group led by an experienced mindfulness teacher.
• Each session will have guided and structured meditation practices. Many drawn from modern psychology.
• Each practice or exercise is followed by a review of what you and/or other participants experienced or discovered in that practice/exercise. This review does not include a discussion of participants’ past history.
• Each session is followed by suggestions for personal practice. This includes both recommended guided practices, and also ways to cultivate new habits of mindfulness in everyday life.
• Each session (except the first) includes a review of the previous week’s personal practice.
• You will be given a detailed course manual and access to guided audio practices to support each session.
Learning Outcomes
The course takes place over 3 sessions, each of which explores a core theme:
• Understanding the mind’s natural tendency to be scattered and to wander; how we can train attention to create choices about where and how we place attention, and how this can fundamentally shape our experience
• Exploring different ways of being and knowing; recognising how much of our experience is shaped by thought; that other more experiential and observing modes are also available to us, and how we can learn to use them to help us flourish over time.
• Recognising the difference between reacting and responding; developing ways to create the space to make choices between them, and exploring how this understanding can shape our experience and the quality of our lives.
What happens after I complete the course?
• You will be invited to give your feedback – this is not compulsory.
• In the final session you will be given information about ways to carry your practice forwards if you wish to do so.
