Full Course Description

Cultivating Non-Dual Awareness

Objectives

Discuss how to guide clients through a meditation that helps them access their third “eye”</
Guide clients through a process that helps them “dissolve” the self and achieve greater awareness
Explain the role of the body in the Wholeness process
Explore the difference between traditional mindfulness practice and the Wholeness practice
Discuss when to schedule body scans over the course of general assessments and talk therapy

Outline

Overview of cultivating non-dual awareness
- Why clients need a wholeness approach
- Issues that mindfulness doesn’t resolve
Experiencing the wholeness of the self
- Notice the location of “I”
- Explore experiences through guided non-dual awareness processes
Concluding remarks from Connirae Andreas
- Focusing on awareness rather than compassion
- Engaging clients with no non-dual awareness experience

Copyright : 19/01/2015

The Power of Mindfulness Practice

Program Information

Objectives

Articulate implications of mindfulness and awareness to help improve clinical outcomes.

Outline

Kabat-Zinn answers the question: what is mindfulness?

Separating mindfulness from spiritual practice
Mindfulness as an exercise in cultivating “wakefulness”
Why mindfulness isn’t a concept, but a door into oneself: a way of being, and being in relationship

The main tenets of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Kabat-Zinn explains his “operational definition” of mindfulness-paying attention to awareness
Why listening to the body (and the breath) is such an important part of mindfulness
The importance of attending, not focusing on the objects (handholds) for attention
The dynamics of relationality
What optimal mindfulness looks like in human communication/”embodied conversation”
How mindfulness helps people move beyond their initial perceptions of who they are
Mindfulness in the service of humankind
Mindfulness is an inclusionary movement that can be applied to many different situations
Humans are “starving for authentic experience,” accounting for mindfulness’s widespread appeal
Acknowledging the stories we tell ourselves about who we are
- Kabat-Zinn on how to avoid getting lost in the thought stream about our identities
- Kabat-Zinn on how 8 weeks of MBSR treatment can change the brain’s mind-wandering network
- The specifics of non-judgmental awareness: having judgments without them consuming you
Jon Kabat-Zinn reflects on his own professional and personal growth journey
There’s continuity between the young and older Kabat-Zinn in interest in mindfulness teachings
Says, “I feel like I’m just beginning” on the “growing edge” of a new chapter of life
Concluding remarks from Kabat-Zinn
- What’s in store for the future of the mindfulness movement? Kabat-Zinn predicts a fluctuation
- Mindfulness has a direct, positive influence on us as human beings, apart from scientific findings
- Focusing on stories about what’s wrong with us makes it difficult to heal-we get in our own way
- Asking ourselves the question “what is our own way?” is an exercise in self-discovery and healing
- Learning to look beyond the digital world is an opportunity for us to pursue what’s important

Copyright : 08/12/2014

Escaping the Cybertrance

Program Information

Objectives

Identify ways to help clients detach from their technological dependencies

Outline

Overview of escaping the cyber trance

Becoming aware to the effects of technology
Enter the false refuge of world knowledge

Experiencing the cyber trance

Develop a sense of mastery when dealing with the cyber world
Explore how “cyber world” appeals to one’s sense of self
Learn to “leave the screen” to connect with one’s self

Concluding remarks form Tara Brach

How technology can be, and is, used advantageously
Establishing a sense of reality

Copyright : 08/12/2014

Creating a Sacred Space in Psychotherapy

Objectives

Discover how to make your therapy office a sacred space using decoration
Use the power of ritual to get conversation with clients on a deeper level
Identify two exercises to help clients promote mindful healing outside the therapy room
Explain the difference between teaching therapy and teaching morality and virtue
Dissect the relationship between Western mindfulness therapy and Eastern mindfulness traditions

Outline

Overview of a sacred space
- Introducing a sacred space into the medical field
- Reducing “road noise” in your sacred space
Experiencing sacred space
- Using a ritual to create a sacred space
- Explore the meanings of ritual
Wrapping up with Jack Kornfield
- Gateways to other life dimensions
“The Wise Heart” and additional trainings

The Power of Self-Compassion

Objectives

Identify the difference between self-compassion and mindfulness training
Discuss how to have a healthier relationship with angry thoughts
Identify the “Unholy Trinity of Reactions” and explain how to overcome it
Use self-compassionate questioning to teach clients self-care
Demonstrate two exercises for down-regulating a client’s nervous system

Outline

Overview of mindfulness and self-compassion
- Defining self-compassion
- Distinguishing mindfulness from self-compassion
Experiencing self-compassion
- Learn the super-structure of compassion
- Explore the core elements of self-compassion through gestures
- Discover when to say no to compassion
Concluding remarks from Chris Germer
- Allow yourself and your clients to be a “Comasssionate Mess”
- Additional resources from Chris Germer

The Fiction of the Self

Objectives

Identify how mindfulness helps us realize the fallacies in the stories we create about ourselves, and the healing process therein
Explain the concept of the “Super-Organism” and how mindfulness practice can help clients recognize the state of human interdependence
Interpret your clients’ preoccupation with rank, and how mindfulness practice can undo this type of thinking
Use body scans to help clients assess and articulate deeper sensations and tension
Name one of the pitfalls to embracing mindfulness and the concept of interdependence too fully

Outline

Overview of the fiction of the self
- “Mindfulness craze” and visions of one’s self
- Learning to let go of “bigger – better”
Experiencing the fiction of the self
- Explore the somatic aspect of feelings
- Experience the powerful emotions affiliated with therapy
- How to celebrate insignificance
Wrapping up with Ron Siegel
- Client response to fiction of self therapy approach
- Creating maps for experiences