What we’re about
Have you ever been curious about mindfulness meditation, but have never really known where to start? Have you ever wondered how you could be more present with your daily life? Have you ever been willing to shift and establish a more caring, compassionate, kinder relationship with your body, you mind, and your emotions?
If so, this mindfulness meditation for beginners course is your invitation to begin a new chapter in your journey of self-discovery and personal growth.
Drawn from established Buddhist and contemporary psychology practices and studies, this course series will take you on an in-depth exploration of yourself through your body, your mind, and your emotions in order to develop and cultivate more presence and acceptance in your daily life.
This naturally gives rise to the many reported benefits of mindfulness meditation : well-being, empathy, compassion, self-awareness, emotional modulation, emotional and physical resilience, patience, gratitude, focus, cognitive flexibility, memory, intuition, and relationships among many others.
Designed to support beginners in developing an effective and regular daily mindfulness practice, this mindfulness course includes a unique emphasis on kindness and compassion and takes place over 12 classes divided into 2 modules :
- 1st module (6 classes) :
The first module “mindfulness as a practice: introduction to mindfulness” introduces the fundamental mindfulness practices : breath, body, thoughts, and emotions. This module can be taken as a course in itself, without obligation to continue, or as the first step to the rest of the course.
- 2nd module (6 classes) :
Completing this course enables you to continue your mindfulness journey into compassion with the second module “mindfulness as a way of life: cultivating the heart qualities”. Although there is no obligations, participants are encouraged to attend the first module before attending the second module.
Overall, this course teaches practical skills to help you build resilience, navigate the challenges in life, and cultivate compassion and inner strength.
It is recognized that this requires practice, and a certain amount of commitment. By providing the tools to identify the typical obstacles to commitment and to overcome them through the practice of self-compassion, this course aims to help turn commitment into motivation and enthusiasm.
Class structure :
• Dharma talk on the session's topic (25 minutes)
• Guided meditation (25 minutes)
• Q&A and self-reflection (15 minutes)
CLASSES AS PART OF MY PRACTICUM :
As a candidate for the certification of a mindfulness meditation programme, this course is part of the programme’s practicum submitted to an academic assessment by the programme’s tutors. Due to the requirements of the practicum, the sessions will be Zoom-recorded. Rights to privacy will be abided by and only audio excerpts will be submitted for assessment.
The programme and curriculum have been created by the Awareness Training Institute and their partners The Greater Good Institute Science Center at the University Of California Berkeley, conducted by Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield, both Vipassana teachers and doctors in clinical psychology, and hosted by spirituality-focused publishing company Sounds True. Link for more details : https://mmtcp.soundstrue.com/
For the participants that are attending the sessions, if you want to take part in it, a questionnaire will be made available to you for my final assessment’s grading.
If you have any questions about this course series, its content, and how it will be facilitated, please, feel free to ask.
ABOUT ME :
Hi everyone, my name is Gerald. I’m currently a student of a mindfulness meditation teaching programme, and I’m running a free course series on mindfulness meditation for beginners as part of the programme’s practicum for the final assessment.
I’ve been practicing meditation of various traditions for 7 years, and this is something I quickly realised I would love to share with the people at some point. I believe we all have something valuable to share with one another to help navigate and grow together on this Earth. Each with a gift to the world. One that comes naturally and joyfully share. What comes the most naturally to me is the practice of meditation, which I’m looking forward to sharing with you.
I’ve focused on mindfulness meditation of the Buddhist tradition adapted to western audience with the support of clinical research for this teaching. I’ve found it is the most accessible, versatile, and practical to a wide range of people, from the curious to the most enthusiastic, with reported benefits on many levels. Mindfulness meditation as simple a practice to reduce stress in our daily lives through to a deep contemplation in presence for spiritual growth, and anything in between. Mindfulness is a doorway to self-discovery, healing, and spiritual growth that can have tremendous impact on your life.
Mindfulness meditation has helped me manage stress in my daily life, be more mindful of my emotions and actively modulate them, focus, and be more present in daily activities.
Most interestingly, this practice has also helped me with self-awareness, patience, resilience, gratitude, empathy and compassion to myself and to others, which as a result has improved the relationships I have with myself and with the people in my life.
Most importantly, mindfulness practice has helped me be more receptive to the wonders of life, the aliveness in what is in every moment we live. It has helped me be open to the natural and calm presence within us and all around us, loving awareness, which makes up our very existence to us all.
I only but hope that you will reap the same benefits with this teaching.
