Mindfulness - Course Description
The aim of this course is to promote awareness of your mind and body through the cultivation of mindful awareness. It is suitable for people wishing to enhance their general physical and mental wellbeing.
If you are experiencing stress, anxiety, sadness, feel generally 'dissatisfied' with your life or want to improve your resilience, this course could offer you some skills in how better to respond to the 'ups and downs' of everyday living.
The programme is not being offered as a treatment for any specific physical or psychological conditions. It is not suitable for people who are currently experiencing very severe problems in these areas, which needs professional treatment.
The MBCT program has been developed at Oxford University. It runs across 8 weeks, with a weekly online session of 1.5 - 2 hours each.
Each online session follows a routine. After getting settled, we begin with a guided meditation practice, followed by a reflection on the experiences of the practice. Then the group shares the experiences of the home practices during the past week. Each session has a theme that is woven into the discussions. We then do another short practice or an exercise and reflect on that. Near the end of each session, we explain the home practices for the following week and introduce the next theme.
Sessions may include sitting meditation, lying on the floor (if you want), simple stretches, and gentle walking. It is important you set a right and quiet space in your home for the sessions. You can use Yoga mats, cushions or any other thing that makes you comfortable. Standard “office” setting is also welcomed, and office and kitchen chairs are also suitable for the meditation practices. Detailed info about meditation postures will be provided during the course.
Teachers will provide recordings for the main practices and ask you to practice up to an hour each day. You may need to reorganise aspects of your life to fit this in, which is another form of mindfulness practice.
We will suggest the meditations to do each week but nobody will track your home practice in any way. Rather, participants are free to choose how they want to manage their own home practice. Simply, picture the course as a gym training program for your brain. The more you exercise, the bigger the benefits you will take from it. The Mindiverse team will be available to support your learning and answer any questions you may have about the home practice.
This course is for anyone who wants a structured, practical way to learn mindfulness and experience different types of meditation techniques within a group of people.
Mindfulness practice is like physical exercise. You don’t need much theory. To benefit from it, the best thing to do is to put it into practice, that's to do and feel it. The course is therefore very practical and recommended for curious people totally new to mindfulness, and also anyone who has tried mindfulness before, or perhaps read about it and wants now to find more within the structure of a course led by an experienced team.
This may not the right time for you to consider the MBCT course if:
At this moment you find impossible to get some quiet, alone time (between 30 - 60m each day)
You are currently a daily consumer of substances such as alcohol, weed or any other that influences your state of consciousness on a regular basis.
You are currently taking antidepressants, anxiolytics or you find yourself in a very sad or depressive state that needs psychiatric or psychological help.
You have diabetes or any other condition that prevents you from sitting still for long periods of time.
Likely, you will miss more than 2 classes during the course.
You feel too shy to stay with a group. (each participant shall commit to confidentiality, the group environment is to encourage each other to practice)
Please note your experience sharing would happen exclusively on a voluntary basis, and you will always have the opportunity to contact one of the teachers if there is something you like to discuss privately. Rest assured nobody will put pressure on you to talk during the training sessions. The course will create a friendly, helpful and stress-free environment to practice meditation.
One of the main benefits of this program is to experience meditation within a group and realize the common nature of the human condition together with your training fellows. Thus, an open minded and generous attitude will relax the mind and bring you better results.
The course is supported by a team of meditation instructors and practitioners.
Ana Pais is the teacher of this course and will guide you through the course. She has completed the courses to teach MBCT at Oxford University Mindfulness centre in the UK. She is leading this course for the Mindiverse Foundation, a non-profit organization for bringing meditation to more people.
Chao (Cico) Zhang is the assisting teacher in guiding you through the course with Ana. Cico is a philosopher and has a very extensive experience in meditation and many different subjects, like mathematics, AI, biology and human consciousness. He is also the director of Mindiverse Foundation. More information about him can be found from his homepage: https://hi-it.org.
Joyce and Bob are long-term meditators and will assist you with anything about the course.
The weekly session takes place via Zoom. One needs to download the Zoom client (on PC, Mac, Android or iOS) beforehand. One will receive a meeting code and passcode for each session to access the meeting.
The session would take place on Wednesday evening (7 to 9 PM), more information is coming.