"Mindfulness is the miracle by which we master and restore ourselves."
Thich Nhat Hanh
Welcome to the lunchtime meditation for stress reduction course. Please take a moment to congratulate and thank yourself for taking this course!
What Will I Learn in the Course?
We all know that knowledge is useful, and we also know perhaps that its usefulness has limits. After all, we all know a lot, but are we always able to put what we know into practice? Doesn't what we know even hinder us sometimes, when we feel we can't live up to certain standards...or when our minds are so full that we can't think straight?
During this course we will cultivate a different kind of knowledge, one that is grounded not so much in ideas, but in direct experience. We can think of the content--mindfulness and meditation--not as information to be gained in the usual sense, but as a few simple practices that will support a shift of perspective. Our greatest challenge perhaps is not to acquire more information, but to learn to embody--to live--what we know. This is what the course is about. This kind of knowledge, which cannot be forced into being but only consciously allowed to unfold, links us to our innate wisdom and kindness.
We will learn to look beyond our habits of avoidance and into our (at least sometimes) scattered and stressed selves. This simple practice can be profoundly liberating. The good news is that we all have the ability to do it, and that doing so has many health benefits. A very few examples: clinical studies have shown that practicing mindfulness regularly over a period of time lowers blood pressure, increases immunity, and promotes positive changes in brain structure. The challenge is remembering to do it! That's also much of the purpose of this course, to help us to remember.
So...life is short, and this class is A LOT shorter than that! We will have less than five hours together. Hopefully in these hours we will ignite a lifelong love affair--between you and your inherent capacity to be aware. All it takes is remembering to open to the present moment, whatever it contains, tuning in to the body and mind, moment by moment.
This blog is to support you in this endeavor. May it be of benefit.
Can I Look at an Outline of a Course?
Some courses are longer or shorter than five weeks, and some include a free orientation. So there is some variation, but in general, this blog is the course outline!
Finding Out More
If you would like to prepare a bit more for the course, please listen to this excellent 28-minute audio introduction from Oprah magazine, "Learning to Exhale"
Or read Jon Kabat Zinn's Full Catastrophe Living or something else on the Recommended Reading List.
Or read more about mindfulness here: What is Mindfulness?
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