Introduction to Mindfulness for the Holidays Free Four Week Online Course November 2022

Where: On Zoom for four consecutive weeks

When: Wednesdays starting Nov. 9th. 7pm-8:30pm

How much does it cost?: Free or Donation Only

~November 9th~Session One: What Is Mindfulness? Learn the basics of mindfulness, why it is a powerful life skill and some common misconceptions about meditation/mindfulness practices and how they can help you through the holidays, grief and the darker days. We will have a short practice and Q&A each class to help deepen your practice.

~November 16th~Session Two: Being Fully Human: Working with Emotions. In this session we will be working with our breathe more and sensations in the body as they relate to emotions. This will be a great foundation for connecting with your emotions safely with more acceptance and compassionate boundaries. We will also common emotions that show up around the holidays and how mindfulness can help!

~November 23rd~Session Three: The Wise Heart During the Holidays: Do ever feel drained and saddened by the holidays? Or something in your personal life around the holidays? We all have experienced suffering in some form. We can also share collective healing by connecting with the wisdom of our hearts. In this session we will be discovering how mindful loving kindness can support us and allow us to increase our resiliency and compassion.

~November 30th~Session Four: Bringing Your Practice into the World During the Holidays. In this final session, we will review mindfulness skills practice from the prior weeks and how to bring your practice into your daily life in many forms; especially compassion and gratitude. We will also touch on how mindfulness practice can support of social activism, intentionality and wisdom for you and your community during this season.

Cost: Donation only or Free-Recommended 100$ for the series or any amount you can offer.

To Register: Please email me at lindsayhuettman@soulstewardscounseling.com

Agreements for Multicultural Interactions:

These sessions are open to all folks. Through my teacher training we follow these agreements to be in safe respectful community and awareness around diversity, equality, accessibility and inclusion.

(From East Bay Meditation Center and adapted from Visions Inc., “Guidelines for Productive Work Sessions”)

TRY IT ON: Be willing to “try on” new ideas, or ways of doing things
that might not be what you prefer or are familiar with.


PRACTICE SELF FOCUS: Attend to and speak about your own experiences
and responses. Do not speak for a whole group or express assumptions
about the experience of others.


UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INTENT AND IMPACT:
Try to understand and acknowledge impact. Denying the impact of something said
by focusing on intent is often more destructive than the initial interaction.


PRACTICE “BOTH / AND”: When speaking, substitute “and” for “but.”
This practice acknowledges and honors multiple realities.


REFRAIN FROM BLAMING OR SHAMING SELF & OTHERS:
Practice giving skillful feedback.


MOVE UP / MOVE BACK: Encourage full participation by all present.
Take note of who is speaking and who is not. If you tend to speak often,
consider “moving back” and vice versa.


PRACTICE MINDFUL LISTENING: Try to avoid planning what you’ll say
as you listen to others. Be willing to be surprised, to learn something new.
Listen with your whole self.


CONFIDENTIALITY: Take home learnings but don’t identify anyone
other than yourself, now or later. If you want to follow up with anyone regarding
something they said in this session, ask first and respect their wishes.


RIGHT TO PASS: You can say “I pass” if you don’t wish to speak.
http://www.eastbaymeditation.org
http://www.visions-inc.org

MMTCP (Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program): This course is offered as one of many more coming from my two year teacher training certification with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield. I am a long time meditator and am now certifying as a meditation teacher. This course may have audio recorded ONLY for certification purpose and will be mostly of me teaching and one Q&A session. You are in a completely confidential group as no names, etc. would be shared without your permission. A course evaluation is also a required part of this class. I will also let you know if I intend to record a Q&A session beforehand. Please let me know if you have any questions!