New Mindfulness Course Starting in January 2025
Course Link: Mindfulness Level One Monday Evenings
Do you ever have a feeling of exasperation at the pace of your own learning? That sense that you’re coming up against the same patterns, or you again experience a very familiar set of feelings, and you hear yourself say: “I thought I was done with this by now!”
If you do, you’re not the only one. I’ve seen patterns repeat themselves both in me and in others so many times, that I don’t think it can be coincidence that I encounter this yet again. Rob Nairn, the founder of the Mindfulness Association, often talked about how our habitual patterns keep us stuck in the past. And when Chogyam Trungpa, a Buddhist teacher, was asked during a teaching on reincarnation and rebirth what gets reborn, he replied “your bad habits!”
Clearly there’s quite some power to our patterns, but I feel so heartened that this doesn’t mean we’re imprisoned by them forever. No doubt there are different ways of working towards freeing ourselves from them, but there’s a good lot of evidence* these days that mindfulness is one of them. When looking at Rob Nairn’s working definition we use for mindfulness – knowing what is happening, while it’s happening, no matter what it is – it may seem paradoxical that just knowing what is happening would make a difference to an ingrained pattern.
And yet it does! Stephen Covey summarised Victor Frankl’s teachings like this:
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In that choice lies our growth and freedom.”
When becoming aware of what is happening in the moment, some choice opens up about what’s next. Yes, I can act out in the way I usually do when triggered like this, or distract myself out of feeling this discomfort in more (or less!) skilful ways. Or… I could acknowledge what’s here, take a few breaths and as best I can, allow my experience to be as it is. I might even turn towards it with an intention of kindness, and investigate whatever feelings are centre stage in that moment – before continuing my day, perhaps with a little bit more spaciousness and presence.
The above is a very light version of one of the practices we explore in-depth in the Level 1 mindfulness course: Becoming Present. It uses the acronym of RAIN as a reminder of four steps that together can help us find a way out of the difficult and stuck spaces. Instead of revisiting the same habitual patterns again and again like an inescapable cycle, it can help us spiral closer towards freedom with each new occurrence of the pattern.
References:
http://dr.lib.sjp.ac.lk/handle/123456789/11581?show=full
https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Here_and_Now_Habit/aVyfCwAAQBAJ
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40429-020-00302-2
Message from the tutor:
I have accompanied many people through this course in the last 15 years, but I never tire seeing what difference these seemingly simple practices can bring to people’s lives, as they have done to mine. Simple, but not easy – which is why practising in a group with others tends to be so helpful! Seeing how fellow practitioners both struggle with similar things and find different glimpses of freedom, can be profoundly encouraging and supportive. The online format offers the advantage of breaking it up into small chunks over a significant amount of time, long enough to really embed these mindful practices and attitudes as a way of life. I look forward to seeing what this course starting in January will bring!