Public Courses

A deeper Mindfulness experience for people who have previously attended the Mindfulness is Now 4-week course or have a Mindfulness practice which they would like to develop further.  A group, led by Julia Ronder and Louise Chester, of discussion and mindfulness practice to help support your individual practice. £5 donation on the night. Please email info@mindfulnessatwork.com if you would like to join this group.

Facilitated by: – Dr. Julia Ronder, Trained Teacher in Mindful Self-Compassion, Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist & Community Paediatrician, and Renee van der Vloodt, Psychotherapist, Trainer and Coach.

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is an empirically-supported, eight-week (+ intro session), training program designed to cultivate the skill of self-compassion. Based on the ground breaking research of Kristin Neff and the clinical expertise of Christopher Germer. MSC teaches core principles and practices that enable participants to respond to difficult moments in their lives with kindness, care and understanding.

The three key components of self-compassion are self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and balanced, mindful awareness.

Rapidly expanding 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.

After participating in this workshop, you’ll be able to:

• Understand the empirically-supported benefits of self-compassion
• Practice self-compassion in daily life
• Motivate yourself with kindness rather than criticism
• Handle difficult emotions with greater ease
• Transform challenging relationships, old and new
• Manage caregiver fatigue
• Practice the art of savouring and self-appreciation

What To Expect

The course include meditation, short talks, experiential exercises, group discussion, and some exercises to try out between sessions. MSC is a workshop rather than a retreat or therapy. The goal is for participants to directly experience self-compassion and learn practices that lead to greater self-care in daily life.

There is a pre-course orientation session, followed by the 8 week MSC course and a half day retreat session.

Prerequisites

No previous experience with mindfulness or meditation is required to attend MSC.  To insure safety, participants are asked to provide background information when they register for the course.

Recommended, but not essential reading prior to the course: Self-compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind by Kristin Neff & The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion by Chris Germer.

This program fulfils one of the prerequisites for becoming a MSC teacher. For more information on MSC and MSC Teacher Training, please visit www.CenterForMSC.org.

Venue: Witherdens Hall, Popsal Lane, Wingham, Canterbury, Kent CT3 1AT.

Witherdens Hall is a beautiful space, and is an already established centre for mindfulness and home to the organisation Mindfulness at Work. It is about 15 minutes from Canterbury, just beyond Littlebourne.

The course will be held from: TBC

Cost:  Cost £275 (£60 deposit). This includes the introductory session, the eight week course, the half-day retreat, handouts, materials and refreshments.  The deposit will be refunded in full if you choose not to proceed after the introductory session.)

Registration: To apply for a place on this MSC course please use the online application form available at http://newron.co.uk/msc-application-form.html.  Or email office@newron.co.uk with any enquiries.  We will respond as soon as possible by email. Alternatively, please email with any enquiries to info@witherdenshall.co.uk or call on 01227 720 543.