Course Information

Retreat: Foundations of Mindfulness

When: 28 Jan 2022 - 1 Feb 2022
Where: Online Event
Tutors: Alison Evans, Pamela Duckerin

What’s involved?

We will deepen our personal and experiential engagement with the core meditation practices taught in courses such as Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy, alongside offering an opportunity to explore theoretical understandings that underpin them. In particular, we will structure the retreat around the four ways of establishing mindfulness as expressed within Buddhist philosophy. These teachings will be offered as a framework to support first-person exploration of experience in formal and informal mindfulness practice – the core curriculum will be the immediacy of personal experience. Whilst having their roots in Buddhist psychology, the themes, teaching, practice guidance and explorations will be presented in terms of their application to secular mindfulness programmes such as MBSR and MBCT.

The retreat will include:

  • periods of both guided and self-directed practice
  • short talks with time for questions and discussion
  • group exchanges with the teachers
  • interpersonal mindfulness practice in dyads to support us to bring compassionate awareness into our experience of interacting with another – and to deepen contemplation on the teaching themes
  • sustained periods of silence to enable participants to connect more fully with their inner experience
  • time to practice mindfulness informally between the scheduled sessions

The teachers will be available to talk to people individually.

A core teaching intention for this retreat is to offer a structure and atmosphere within which we can deeply look into experience with the freshness of beginner’s mind, enabling new insights and perspectives to emerge.


Who is the retreat for?

This retreat is suitable for people who have attended an eight-week MBSR/MBCT (or similar) course and who have a personal practice of mindfulness. It is open to anyone who meets these requirements, and is particularly intended for new and trainee mindfulness teachers, and others who are integrating mindfulness into their professional work.  

This retreat will enable mindfulness teachers who wish to be included on the UK Network Listing of Mindfulness Teachers to fulfill the requirement to attend an annual mindfulness retreat. It also fulfils the TTP five-day retreat requirement.


Requirements to attend:

Completion of an eight-week course (or similar). Prior attendance on a guided silent day of practice is also recommended, but not required.

Please ensure you are able to attend the entire event. If this is not possible, please contact us to discuss before submitting an application.


Timings:

The retreat will start at 4pm on 28th January and finish at 12.30pm on 1st February.

All times given are UK, GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). If you are attending from a different time zone, please check equivalent timings in your time zone.


What to bring/wear:

A mat, cushions and a blanket would be helpful to support your meditation space at home. 


Location:

Online, via Zoom. A Zoom link will be sent nearer to the start date.

Please check you have the best internet connection possible. Use of an ethernet cable can improve the quality of the connection.


Fee Options:

  • Full Rate of Online Event - £315
  • Employer's Rate - £365

    Employer's rate - Recognising the large administrative overhead of dealing with employers, we will be adding a £50 surcharge if the employer is paying directly; where possible we would advise applicants to pay themselves and reclaim on expenses to avoid the charge.


The Application and Payment Process:

Our application and payment process involves the following steps:

  1. We receive your application form and assess it to ensure this course is suitable for you. We endeavour to make assessments within a week but if the retreat leader is on annual leave or on retreat then this can take a little longer.
  2. Upon offering you a place we will issue an invoice for the full amount.
  3. Your place is confirmed once we receive full payment.
  4. We will email you the joining instructions in advance of the course.

Payment and Cancellation Policy:

Please read our Terms and Conditions for information regarding payments and cancellations.


For more information:

Please email us at retreats@mindfulness-network.org


Click here to sign up to our waiting list - unfortunately this event is now full.