Introducing Mindfulness

Further information for this class/course/event

This Introducing Mindfulness course offers a brief taste of mindfulness practice and theory in a format intended to be accessible to anyone new to mindfulness helping you to improve and support your mental health and wellbeing. This 3 session course is designed for anyone interested in exploring some key mindfulness themes and practices in ways that can support them personally, in everyday life and work. What is Mindfulness? In the same way that physical exercise is recognised as supporting physical health, there is a growing recognition that mindfulness training and cognitive-behavioural therapies can support our mental health and well-being. Mindfulness is rooted in ancient wisdom and practices, whereas cognitive behavioural methods were developed in modern psychological science. They have different perspectives, but each offers specific ways to a common end – becoming more familiar with the mind and learning to work with it more skilfully. The Introducing Mindfulness course is built on the framework of the original 8-week Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programme using the combination of these two approaches. It is for use in everyday settings, offering a taste of 3 key MBCT themes and practices, and exploring how these can support us personally and more broadly in our life/work context. How will the sessions work? The sessions are group-based, and involve a combination of teaching, mindfulness practices, trying out what is learned in everyday life, and discussion. The course consists of 3 sessions each lasting one hour. Each session builds upon the previous one so it is important to attend all the sessions. You will be in a group of up to 8 people, led by a certified teacher, Sara Santos, trained to deliver a curriculum from Oxford University Mindfulness Foundation. Each session will have guided and structured meditation practices, many drawn from modern psychology, and will review personal practice from the previous session. You will receive guided practices and written material to support each session. Each practice or exercise is followed by: a review of what you and/or other participants experienced or discovered in that practice/exercise (this will not include a discussion of participants’ past history). suggestions for personal practice which includes both recommended guided practices, and also ways to cultivate new habits of mindfulness in everyday life.