Mindfulness for Stress Reduction 6-week course (Rome)

Hi everyone -- A couple of spaces are still open for the Mindfulness based Stress Reduction course starting next Weds the 16th in Trastevere from 10,00 to 12,00. The other dates are 23 March, and 6, 13, and 20 April, plus a half-day retreat.

Here are the details:
Mindfulness is a life skill which involves training the attention to our present moment experience with an attitude of curiosity, equilibrium, and compassion. Rooted in Buddhist psychology and philosophy, secular mindfulness now has twenty-five years of research behind it demonstrating the effects of the practice. Mindfulness practitioners have lower levels of physiological stress, a more flexible and optimistic outlook on life, greater self-compassion and self-awareness, a reduction in the intensity of negative emotions, an improved ability to concentrate, and a higher tolerance for the risk associated with stepping outside one’s comfort zone. Practiced consistently, in other words, mindfulness cultivates well-being and resilience.

This course is based on the standard curriculum of the eight-week Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program developed by Jon Kabat Zinn, and includes aspects of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

Week One: simple awareness
Formal practice: the body scan
Week Two: attention and the brain
Formal practice: sitting meditation
Week Three: stress -- responding vs reacting
Informal practice: three minute breathing space
Week Four: dealing with negative thoughts -- cognitive distortions
Informal practice: observing trains of thought
Week Five: compassion for self and others: dealing with difficult feelings
Formal practice: mindful compassion meditation
Informal practice: ACT (Accept, Centre in the present, Take constructive action)
Week Six: committing to the practice of mindfulness as a life skill
One hour group discussion and review; three hours of silent and guided meditation
(to be conducted over a half day, date to be agreed upon by the group)

This training in mindfulness develops both formal and informal mindfulness skills. Formal skills include sitting mindfulness meditation, walking meditation, and the body scan. These practices are the cornerstone of mindfulness and the foundation on which self-awareness and equilibrium are built. Informal skills relate to mindfulness in daily life; i.e., practices including compassionate awareness of thoughts and feelings, emotional self-regulation, recognition of unhelpful habits of thought and behaviour, centering in present moment experience, and cultivation of a resilient attitude to all life experiences.

This course requires a personal commitment to undertake a daily practice in mindfulness throughout the training period of seven weeks, amounting to at least a half hour a day of formal meditation and additional time for informal practices and some reading material.

The cost for the full course of six two-hour training sessions, support materials, and one half-day retreat is €180.
For further details or to reserve a place, please contact Pam Powers on Protected content Protected content .

Pamela Powers, (BA psychology, Smith College, MA; THP: NSHAP, London; certified .B teacher, Mindfulness in Schools Project, UK; ACT and MBCT teacher training, Mindfulness Training Ltd, London; twenty-five years of personal practice in meditation and mindfulness disciplines), has been training individuals, schools, and organisations in mindfulness for the past twelve years. She has a private practice in mindfulness-based psychotherapy and leads courses on various applications of mindfulness drawing on research-based methods including mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MCBT).