We run this courses over 8 weeks in 2.5 hour sessions. A day of mindfulness practice (Day Retreat) is offered after week 5/6 when participants have the opportunity to experience a whole day of practice to notice the effects of this. You receive 25 hours of training and practice with your teacher and other participants.
To get the most out of coming to the class requires some work on your part and each participant is required to undertake 30-40 minutes of home practice a day between classes. It requires a commitment to work on yourself through a gentle but rigorous daily discipline of meditation and relaxation. Making the time commitment and the personal exploration involved can make the course seem stressful at times but it is also likely to be pleasurable and empowering as well. A trained mindfulness instructor/s, who teaches the meditation practices and supports the participants’ learning, runs each course and group discussions are an important part of this process.
The programme is known to benefit people with a range of problems of both a physical and a psychological nature, but it is not necessary to have a specific health problem to find it helpful. We all have times in our lives when we experience difficulty, stress and struggle and for some of us this is our daily experience. The problem or illness itself may not change but the way we relate to and cope with the difficulty may shift, making it all feel easier. Developing greater awareness can open us to be able to change how we approach our experiences – taking more pleasure in the good things and dealing more effectively with the difficulties. We can see how often we are missing the moments of our lives! ​ We can see how our habitual and reflex reactions to events often add layers of difficulty for us on top of the original problem!
The course is therefore potentially open to any of us who are at a point in our lives where we wish to, and are ready, to look deeply at ourselves. People do also come to mindfulness courses to gain skills in dealing with particular conditions. We have worked with people with a range of problems including: Heart disease, Chronic pain, High blood pressure, Headaches, Anxiety and panic, Depression, Sleep disturbance, Fatigue, Cancer and other long term illnesses and Skin disorders.
The course programme encourages us to develop the skill of being aware of our experiences (good and bad, pleasant and unpleasant) from moment to moment - so that we can learn to respond more skillfully to situations rather than simply reacting automatically. Overall, the course is often helpful in dealing with an ongoing difficulty – the problem may not change but the way we can learn to relate to it differently.
​​What do I do if I am interested?
Register for a Taster/Orientation This taster/ orientation session with your teacher is important. It is an opportunity for the teacher to tell you a bit more about the course, to answer any questions that you may have and to explore together whether the approach will be beneficial to you at this time.
Register Here on the Eight Weeks Course by paying a deposit to confirm your place.