Cultivate your ability to be more fully present under the pressures of life
Practice a guided sequence of embodied meditations to feel the process of becoming more present
A 10-week course with self-study and live support to integrate this way of being into your life
Proactive mindfulness involves engaging with your body in a way that helps you be more present and effective in what you do.
This fresh perspective on mindfulness is informed by our practice of somatic psychotherapy. It is down-to-earth and oriented toward making changes in everyday life.
The course starts on January 30 (with materials for self-study of Class 1 released on January 23). It includes:
– 5 self-study sessions with guided meditations to help you internalize the process of coming into presence
– 5 live Q&A sessions for live support
– Optional peer practice group
Why take this course:
– To be present and effective when you need it (under stress, we do not rise to our best, we fall back to our level of preparedness).
– Practical tools to make it happen
– Live support to ask questions and deepen practice
Comments we frequently hear
I now understand what it feels like to be engaged with life and how it has to do with engaging the body instead of willpower.
I see how parts of my body have been disengaged and how this has meant functioning without a full deck.
Empowering and mind-expanding!
Course details and next steps
About us | Why do this | Specifics | FAQ | Pricing | Enroll now
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.
Why do this?
– A practical approach that you can feel at the gut level
– Translates “Be Here Now” into down-to-earth embodied process that you can use under pressure
– Combines flexible self-study pace and live Q&A
How this works:
You make new year’s resolutions to eat better, exercise more, or whatever else… It’s all abstract until the moment when you’re about to eat, or you’re finding it hard to jump out of bed to go to the gym… That is, the moment when the fears and pressures that keep you from changing come to the foreground and drown out all the logic and motivation that was behind your resolutions.
What makes these fears and pressures so powerful is that they are embodied. They manifest as energy. It can be high intensity energy (tensions in your body) or loss of energy (numbing out or giving up).
Practicing proactive mindfulness involves engaging with our bodies and noticing how doing so transforms our ability to be more present and effective in what we do. You could think of it as rehearsal for the moment of change. But it’s not just a rehearsal. It is also a way to awaken embodied resources that were dormant until you engage with them.
Describing the practices can make them seem more difficult than they are, very much the way that describing how you ride a bicycle or how you swim can make it seem daunting. As you engage with the embodied practices, they naturally fit into your life.
We call them Embodied Meditations to emphasize paying attention rather than forcing things through. But it’s not the kind of meditations where you sit still doing nothing. And you don’t need to be a meditator to enjoy them.
We’ll simply ask you to spend some time in a receptive mode as we guide you to pay more attention to parts of your body and noticing what happens as you do it. You engage with the process so you can let the process work for you organically.
Specifics of the course: 5 self-study sessions and 5 live Q&A sessions
5 self-study classes, released every other week, starting January 23:
– Each class includes a guided meditation and instructions.
– The class takes 15 to 25 minutes (on your own schedule).
– Class materials also include suggestions for daily practice (a few minutes a day, as it works for you).
Topics:
1: Engaging with your body
2: Engaging with your feet and legs
3: Engaging with your torso
4: Engaging with your core
5: Personal integration
5 live Q&A sessions on Zoom, a week after you receive class instructions. The 5 Q&A sessions are on Fridays from 12 to 1 PM New York time, as follows:
January 30 (with Serge)
February 13 (with Merete & Serge)
February 27 (with Serge)
March 13 (with Serge)
March 27 (with Merete & Serge)
Practice group: For those of you who want to, you can participate in a small peer group to practice together. We suggest you meet on alternate Fridays following the Q&A, but you are free to schedule it as you wish.
Answers to FAQ
– We will be recording the Q&A sessions so that you can catch up if you miss a session. But we encourage you to attend all of the Q&A sessions in person.
– You do not need to have a traditional mindfulness practice to take this course.
– If you come from one of the traditions, we believe you will experience the course as skillful means that will help you deepen your current practice and apply it in everyday life.
– This is not a therapy course, but it is very useful for therapists as a way to better understand yourself and your clients.
– This course is not a good fit for people who are looking for quick fixes or passive listening. It is for people who value mindful learning and personal integration of experience.
Pricing
The price is US$125. Based on 5 self-study sessions and 5 live sessions, it averages out to US$12.50 per session.
Note: We intend to offer a free self-study version of this course in the future. So, if money is a consideration, you can wait for the free version. If you can pay for it, the advantage is not just to have it sooner. The live support helps you go deeper.
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