Imagine presents the Mindful Self-Compassion 6-week Course.
Please note that this course is full and registration is closed. You can sign up for email notifications about upcoming courses at Imagine--we hope to have new offerings soon!
(There will be an 8-week MSC course at Imagine starting in September. More info here.)
Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is a research-proven program designed to cultivate the skill of self-compassion. MSC teaches practices that enable participants to respond to difficult moments in their lives with kindness, care, and understanding.
Self-compassion can be learned by anyone, even those who didn't receive enough affection in childhood or who feel uncomfortable when they are kind to themselves. It's a courageous attitude that stands up to harm, including the harm that we unwittingly inflict on ourselves through self-criticism, self-isolation, or self-absorption. Research demonstrates that self-compassion is strongly associated with emotional wellbeing, less anxiety, depression and stress, maintenance of healthy habits such as diet and exercise, and satisfying personal relationships. And it’s easier than you think.
The 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion course is wonderful, but many people don’t have the time to spend about 3 hours a week on a class. This shorter course manages to pack a lot of self-care practices into an accessible amount of time and is popular with people that recognize the need for more self-compassion but don’t have a lot of space in their schedules.
This course will be taught by jon walker, a certified teacher through the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. You can read about his background on the "About Me" page, and you will find testimonials here. He is very pleased to partner with the good folks at Imagine to add formal self-compassion courses to their offerings.
Here is a breakdown of each session:
Session 1: Exploring what self-compassion is and seeing how it does or does not show up for us, and then looking at simple ways to cultivate it even in the middle of difficulties.
Session 2: Seeing how mindfulness plays a crucial role in cultivating self-compassion, and how it can be brought into your day even if you barely have time to go to the bathroom. We'll also look at common obstacles that arise when starting to practice this, and investigate misgivings that surround self-compassion, such as the perception that it is "weak" or leads to being self-indulgent.
Session 3: Looking at ways to work with the inner critic and to find our inner compassionate voice.
Session 4: Using self-compassion to work with difficult emotions.
Session 5: Investigating caregiver fatigue and burnout, and how self-compassion can remind us to offer care to ourselves as we attend to the needs of others, even as we are immersed in providing that care.
Session 6: Exploring the importance of our core values for cultivating resilience and fulfillment, and how self-compassion can help us live more in alignment with those values. We will also look at the resources available to maintain a self-compassion practice.
There will be handouts on each subject that cover what we go over in each class, and there will also be audio/video links so you can try practices on your own. This course includes small and large group discussions since there is so much to learn from each other, and most people are surprised at how much we all have in common when it comes to needing self-compassion. The course itself is not recorded to respect privacy.
Imagine Mindfulness charges a $50 fee for this course; you need to register and pay at their registration page (or use the button below). Please note that I am doing this as a volunteer; all proceeds go to Imagine to help them make these practices accessible to people around the world. If cost is an issue for you, let me know and I will work something out.
If you have any questions, you can contact me at modestlymindful@gmail.com.
Thanks for your interest!
Image by David Hoefler on Unsplash.