Mindfulness Based Courses
Give your employees a tool to help them be more resilient in their busy lives, to help your business be a healthier place to work…with a tailored Mindfulness programme from Mindfulness Coaching.
Next 8 week programme starts on April 15th in Wendover, Bucks.
There are a maximum of 6 places available for each course
“Mindfulness has really helped me with my depression. Now, when the onslaught of depression starts, I can see it through a different lens. Mindfulness is unbelievable: you can really feel the difference, your heart rate slows down and the cortisol just drains away. Everyone is talking about it – neuroscientists, therapists – why wouldn’t you want to try it? It’s like finding the greatest elixir” (Ruby Wax, TV Presenter, on Oxfordmindfulness.org web site)
Next 8 week programme starts on April 15th in Wendover, Bucks.
There are a maximum of 6 places available for each course
“Mindfulness has really helped me with my depression. Now, when the onslaught of depression starts, I can see it through a different lens. Mindfulness is unbelievable: you can really feel the difference, your heart rate slows down and the cortisol just drains away. Everyone is talking about it – neuroscientists, therapists – why wouldn’t you want to try it? It’s like finding the greatest elixir” (Ruby Wax, TV Presenter, on Oxfordmindfulness.org web site)
What is Mindfulness?
Now approved by NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) as a treatment for recurrent depression, Mindfulness is increasingly recommended for a whole host of psychological and physical conditions. It is particularly helpful in:
· Stress management
· Anxiety
· Depression
· High blood pressure
· Chronic pain
Mindfulness practice can generate a healthier way of handling stress, to respond adaptively rather than automatically. Instead of helplessness or the fight-flight reaction to stress, moment to moment awareness allows control and influence to still be possible, even in stressful situations.
It can even reduce the rate of ageing and with consistent practice can actually rewire the brain into more positive and life-enhancing neural networks.
Mindfulness is a form of mental training that can enable an individual to live a more grounded, balanced and therefore happier life.
Mindfulness is being present in the moment, with mind and body connected. It sounds so simple, but it can have far-reaching consequences, and often mind and body are so disconnected in the busy lives we lead.
Mindfulness for Your Organisation
We can offer a programme tailored for your employees, based on the researched and proven Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) eight week programme. From a four hour introductory workshop, to a weekend course, to four to eight weekly sessions, it can be designed to meet your requirements. Our workshop leaders are fully trained to deliver the eight week MBCT programme and therefore ideally equipped to run professional Mindfulness workshops.
Benefits and Evidence
There is now extensive research verifying the benefits of mindfulness from around the globe. These include:
· Symptoms of depression and anxiety are reduced or minimised
After just 5 days of meditation training at 20 minutes a day, a group of undergraduates reported less anxiety, depression, and anger.
· Those practising Mindfulness are less affected by stress
A study showed office workers who practiced Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for twenty minutes a day reported an average 11% reduction in perceived stress. Another example of improved handling of stress was shown by a group practicing mindfulness meditation during light-treatment for psoriasis, known to be exacerbated by stress, revealing four times the speed of healing for the chronic skin condition.
· Improved concentration
Psychologists tested participants in a mindfulness programme and found that after only four days of twenty minutes practice per day, they exhibited significantly improved concentration skills.
· Strengthening of the immune system
A 2003 study focused on how an 8-week training course affected the brains and immune systems of individuals. This investigation showed increased activation in a region of the brain correlated with positive feelings, as well as evidence that the immune system reacted more robustly in antibody production after meditation training.
· Greater resilience around negativity
Mindfulness meditation practice makes people less prone to taking on another’s negative attitude or emotion. A study of an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course for nurses showed that their mindfulness practice facilitated a decreased tendency to take on others’ negative emotions.
· Improved relationships at work and at home
Studies of mindfulness-based programs have revealed that medical students experienced improved empathy and physicians had decreased burnout and enhanced attitudes to their patients.
Parents that practice mindfulness show less family related stress, and report an increase of positive social interaction within the family.
Research shows that the ways we intentionally shape our internal focus of attention in mindfulness practice induces a particular state of brain activation during the practice. With repetition, an intentionally created state can become an enduring trait of the individual as reflected in long-term changes in brain function and structure. This is a fundamental property of neuroplasticity—how the brain changes in response to experience. In Mindfulness, the experience is the focus of attention in a particular manner.
Some insight into the possible core mechanisms that enable the application of mindfulness to the treatment of a wide range of mental disorders was offered in a recent study by Norman Farb and colleagues in Toronto. After just an eight-week mindfulness program, subjects were able to alter their brain function in a way that confirmed they could distinguish the “narrative chatter” of their baseline states from the ongoing sensory flow of here-and-now experience. This ability to develop discernment—to differentiate our unique streams of awareness—may be a crucial step for disentangling our minds from ruminative thoughts, repetitive destructive emotions, and impulsive and addictive behaviours.
Workshop Formats
All workshops are experiential, with practical exercises and guided meditations. This is hands-on learning and experiencing, much more of an embodied and holistic exercise than simply reading a book or doing an on-line course. An example format of a four hour workshop and an eight week programme are shown below, but we can alter them to suit your needs, so please discuss your requirements with us.
Introductory Workshop: This is typically four hours long and includes:
· initial breathing meditation (just a few minutes) to bring presence
· a practical exercise to enable recognition of being on auto-pilot and the impact of this on day-to-day living
· a guided body scan, a meditation to promote connection with the body that increases calmness and well-being
· an exercise on thoughts and feelings illustrates the influence of thought patterns and mood on how we interpret events and situations
· a mindfulness of the breath meditation shows how a simple technique can quieten the mind, as well as highlight how active the mind generally is
Benefits: this introduction to Mindfulness gives an experience of focusing the mind in a different way, to perhaps quieten the mind for a short time and see how busy and chaotic the mind generally is, if left to its own devices. This helps with stress management, and also can be the start of being less driven by the mind, more aware. Beginning to see how much we live on auto-pilot highlights the possible richness of everyday experiences, how simple sources of pleasure and happiness may already be present in our lives but currently overlooked in our rush to the next thing.
Eight Week Programme: This can be undertaken for two hours per week over eight weeks, or completed over a weekend, or as four hour long modules. Whichever of these formats is chosen, the eight session themes covered are as follows:
· Session 1: Automatic Pilot
· Session 2: Dealing With Barriers
· Session 3: Mindfulness of the Breath
· Session 4: Staying Present
· Session 5: Allowing and Letting Be
· Session 6: Thoughts are Not Facts
· Session 7: How Do I Look After Myself?
· Session 8: Using What’s Been Learned Beyond the Course
Benefits: the eight week Mindfulness programme has the potential to be life-transforming. Gains are really seen with practice, and in an ongoing eight week programme homework will be set between sessions to encourage this. Participants are more likely to allow themselves this time in their personal schedule when set the task to do so. Recognising autopilot and instead being fully aware, even if for short periods of time, will open up a potential richness in many every day experiences. This is a route to greater satisfaction and contentment in life. The awareness of thought processes, the frantic activity of the mind and the impact of it on feelings and body sensations are an important benefit, reducing depressive tendencies, anxious feelings and improving resilience.
Our experiential format means participants can really understand more about how their minds function, which can be the beginning of living more easily and comfortably with a sense of being less ‘driven’ by thoughts and feelings. On the Eight Week Programme, with the practice that is encouraged between sessions, participants really get the opportunity to explore how to use these techniques in their daily life. Resource lists provided at the end of our workshops and programmes mean that the meditations experienced can be continued at home, to help manage stress or other negative feelings and promote increased calmness, to continue in the months and years ahead if they wish.
Now approved by NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) as a treatment for recurrent depression, Mindfulness is increasingly recommended for a whole host of psychological and physical conditions. It is particularly helpful in:
· Stress management
· Anxiety
· Depression
· High blood pressure
· Chronic pain
Mindfulness practice can generate a healthier way of handling stress, to respond adaptively rather than automatically. Instead of helplessness or the fight-flight reaction to stress, moment to moment awareness allows control and influence to still be possible, even in stressful situations.
It can even reduce the rate of ageing and with consistent practice can actually rewire the brain into more positive and life-enhancing neural networks.
Mindfulness is a form of mental training that can enable an individual to live a more grounded, balanced and therefore happier life.
Mindfulness is being present in the moment, with mind and body connected. It sounds so simple, but it can have far-reaching consequences, and often mind and body are so disconnected in the busy lives we lead.
Mindfulness for Your Organisation
We can offer a programme tailored for your employees, based on the researched and proven Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) eight week programme. From a four hour introductory workshop, to a weekend course, to four to eight weekly sessions, it can be designed to meet your requirements. Our workshop leaders are fully trained to deliver the eight week MBCT programme and therefore ideally equipped to run professional Mindfulness workshops.
Benefits and Evidence
There is now extensive research verifying the benefits of mindfulness from around the globe. These include:
· Symptoms of depression and anxiety are reduced or minimised
After just 5 days of meditation training at 20 minutes a day, a group of undergraduates reported less anxiety, depression, and anger.
· Those practising Mindfulness are less affected by stress
A study showed office workers who practiced Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for twenty minutes a day reported an average 11% reduction in perceived stress. Another example of improved handling of stress was shown by a group practicing mindfulness meditation during light-treatment for psoriasis, known to be exacerbated by stress, revealing four times the speed of healing for the chronic skin condition.
· Improved concentration
Psychologists tested participants in a mindfulness programme and found that after only four days of twenty minutes practice per day, they exhibited significantly improved concentration skills.
· Strengthening of the immune system
A 2003 study focused on how an 8-week training course affected the brains and immune systems of individuals. This investigation showed increased activation in a region of the brain correlated with positive feelings, as well as evidence that the immune system reacted more robustly in antibody production after meditation training.
· Greater resilience around negativity
Mindfulness meditation practice makes people less prone to taking on another’s negative attitude or emotion. A study of an 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course for nurses showed that their mindfulness practice facilitated a decreased tendency to take on others’ negative emotions.
· Improved relationships at work and at home
Studies of mindfulness-based programs have revealed that medical students experienced improved empathy and physicians had decreased burnout and enhanced attitudes to their patients.
Parents that practice mindfulness show less family related stress, and report an increase of positive social interaction within the family.
Research shows that the ways we intentionally shape our internal focus of attention in mindfulness practice induces a particular state of brain activation during the practice. With repetition, an intentionally created state can become an enduring trait of the individual as reflected in long-term changes in brain function and structure. This is a fundamental property of neuroplasticity—how the brain changes in response to experience. In Mindfulness, the experience is the focus of attention in a particular manner.
Some insight into the possible core mechanisms that enable the application of mindfulness to the treatment of a wide range of mental disorders was offered in a recent study by Norman Farb and colleagues in Toronto. After just an eight-week mindfulness program, subjects were able to alter their brain function in a way that confirmed they could distinguish the “narrative chatter” of their baseline states from the ongoing sensory flow of here-and-now experience. This ability to develop discernment—to differentiate our unique streams of awareness—may be a crucial step for disentangling our minds from ruminative thoughts, repetitive destructive emotions, and impulsive and addictive behaviours.
Workshop Formats
All workshops are experiential, with practical exercises and guided meditations. This is hands-on learning and experiencing, much more of an embodied and holistic exercise than simply reading a book or doing an on-line course. An example format of a four hour workshop and an eight week programme are shown below, but we can alter them to suit your needs, so please discuss your requirements with us.
Introductory Workshop: This is typically four hours long and includes:
· initial breathing meditation (just a few minutes) to bring presence
· a practical exercise to enable recognition of being on auto-pilot and the impact of this on day-to-day living
· a guided body scan, a meditation to promote connection with the body that increases calmness and well-being
· an exercise on thoughts and feelings illustrates the influence of thought patterns and mood on how we interpret events and situations
· a mindfulness of the breath meditation shows how a simple technique can quieten the mind, as well as highlight how active the mind generally is
Benefits: this introduction to Mindfulness gives an experience of focusing the mind in a different way, to perhaps quieten the mind for a short time and see how busy and chaotic the mind generally is, if left to its own devices. This helps with stress management, and also can be the start of being less driven by the mind, more aware. Beginning to see how much we live on auto-pilot highlights the possible richness of everyday experiences, how simple sources of pleasure and happiness may already be present in our lives but currently overlooked in our rush to the next thing.
Eight Week Programme: This can be undertaken for two hours per week over eight weeks, or completed over a weekend, or as four hour long modules. Whichever of these formats is chosen, the eight session themes covered are as follows:
· Session 1: Automatic Pilot
· Session 2: Dealing With Barriers
· Session 3: Mindfulness of the Breath
· Session 4: Staying Present
· Session 5: Allowing and Letting Be
· Session 6: Thoughts are Not Facts
· Session 7: How Do I Look After Myself?
· Session 8: Using What’s Been Learned Beyond the Course
Benefits: the eight week Mindfulness programme has the potential to be life-transforming. Gains are really seen with practice, and in an ongoing eight week programme homework will be set between sessions to encourage this. Participants are more likely to allow themselves this time in their personal schedule when set the task to do so. Recognising autopilot and instead being fully aware, even if for short periods of time, will open up a potential richness in many every day experiences. This is a route to greater satisfaction and contentment in life. The awareness of thought processes, the frantic activity of the mind and the impact of it on feelings and body sensations are an important benefit, reducing depressive tendencies, anxious feelings and improving resilience.
Our experiential format means participants can really understand more about how their minds function, which can be the beginning of living more easily and comfortably with a sense of being less ‘driven’ by thoughts and feelings. On the Eight Week Programme, with the practice that is encouraged between sessions, participants really get the opportunity to explore how to use these techniques in their daily life. Resource lists provided at the end of our workshops and programmes mean that the meditations experienced can be continued at home, to help manage stress or other negative feelings and promote increased calmness, to continue in the months and years ahead if they wish.
Programme Leader – About me
John Lingley
John is a qualified Therapeutic Counsellor and a member of the British Assocciation of Counselling Psychotherapists (BACP). I am qualified to teach Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and is also a qualified Acceptance and Commitment Therapist (ACT) and trained in Trauma Incident Reduction (TIR) . I have delivered the Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy Programme to staff members at The Beacon School and Egerton Rothersay School. He has aldo delivered well-being programmes to corporate companies including Leo Burnett, Arcc and S Three in London.
John Lingley
John is a qualified Therapeutic Counsellor and a member of the British Assocciation of Counselling Psychotherapists (BACP). I am qualified to teach Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and is also a qualified Acceptance and Commitment Therapist (ACT) and trained in Trauma Incident Reduction (TIR) . I have delivered the Mindfulness based Cognitive Therapy Programme to staff members at The Beacon School and Egerton Rothersay School. He has aldo delivered well-being programmes to corporate companies including Leo Burnett, Arcc and S Three in London.
Course feedback
"A very interesting and challenging course"
"A very good introduction-simple and manageable so that I was left wanting more rather than feeling exhausted."
"I feel very calm and relaxed after attending your course, thank you!"
"Very good workshop, it got me thinking and I will certainly act on what I have learnt"
"Very beneficial course"
"Very good course it has encouraged me to explore further."
'John has a wonderful therapeutic approach to help shift limiting beliefs and procrastination. Working with him on my corporate goals has certainly been beneficial and a quantum leap for my business goals. 'Thanks John' Personable, Expert, High Integrity
Jennifer Hooper December 2010
"A very interesting and challenging course"
"A very good introduction-simple and manageable so that I was left wanting more rather than feeling exhausted."
"I feel very calm and relaxed after attending your course, thank you!"
"Very good workshop, it got me thinking and I will certainly act on what I have learnt"
"Very beneficial course"
"Very good course it has encouraged me to explore further."
'John has a wonderful therapeutic approach to help shift limiting beliefs and procrastination. Working with him on my corporate goals has certainly been beneficial and a quantum leap for my business goals. 'Thanks John' Personable, Expert, High Integrity
Jennifer Hooper December 2010
ACBS
ASSOCIATION FOR
CONTEXTUAL BEHAVIOURAL
SCIENCE
Copyright (C) 2011 Aspirations Coaching All rights reserved.
