This live, experiential course is based on an action-oriented view of mindfulness: it is about being present and engaged in what we do. It helps you develop a down-to-earth, embodied practice of mindful engagement in everyday life.
It’s not about “being mindful” as a state that you attain in certain circumstances, such as while meditating. What we work on is the process of shifting from mindless to mindful, or becoming more mindful, in real life.
This is a body-based process, because becoming mindful means shifting from being in your head to being in your whole body. We cultivate the practice of shifting attention to the three sections of the body below the head: the feet and legs, the torso and arms, and the core.
How you do it is very simple. You shift your attention to a given area by engaging with it, i.e., doing some simple, small, deliberate movements. And paying attention to what happens as you do.
The training is not so much about learning some movements as it is about developing your ability to be more aware of what happens as you move. This is literally what it means to be more engaged with your body.
As you engage with your body, you notice how much of it had not been engaged before. And you notice how much more present you are to face the challenges of the moment.
This is simple conceptually and can be difficult in practice (“easier said than done”). We designed this training to give you the space and support to digest this process and make it your own.
An embodied, experiential course with 5 live classes
This is a 5-session live course (i.e., on Zoom, with Merete Holm Brantbjerg and Serge Prengel). It starts on Wednesday October 8 and we meet every other week. from 12:15 PM to 1:45 PM New York time.
Specific dates: October 8, October 22, November 5, November 19, and December 3.
This course guides you into embodied experiences from which you can develop proactive mindfulness. You get a sense of how to be less reactive and more responsive, and how to seek and benefit from corrective experiences. In other words, the goal is to get to know yourself better and stretch the limits of who you think you are.
Class size is limited so that we can all see each other on Zoom and participate in live, experiential learning.
About us
This course was developed by Merete Holm Brantbjerg and Serge Prengel. Our work with somatic, trauma-informed therapies has enriched our understanding of mindfulness beyond what we had gotten from meditation and mindfulness traditions. We have come to see mindfulness as an action-oriented healing process that can be integrated into everyday life and help all of us engage more fully in our lives.
Please note
– We will be recording sessions so that you can catch up if you miss a session. But we encourage you to attend all of the sessions in person, as this is a live experiential class.
– This course is for non-meditators as well as people who have a mindfulness practice.
– Our approach is informed by the Polyvagal theory. It is not necessary for you to be familiar with the theory to take this course, as we can give you a simple online tutorial.
– This is not a therapy course, but it is very useful for therapists as a way to better understand yourself and your clients.
The class is now full. Sorry.