Mindful Self-Compassion

Term 4 2020
Thursday evenings 6.30 – 9.00pm

 

Teachers

As part of the Melbourne Centre for Mindfulness Team, Suzanne Peyton and Jo Dunin are experienced mindfulness teachers offering Mindfulness Training programs for resilience and wellbeing within the healthcare sector, to professionals and consumers.

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is an empirically-supported, 8-week, training program designed to cultivate the skill of self-compassion. Based on the groundbreaking research of Kristin Neff and clinical expertise of Christopher Germer, MSC teaches core principles and practices that enable participants to respond to difficult moments in their lives with understanding, care and kindness.

The three key components of self-compassion are self-kindness, a sense of common humanity, and balanced mindful awareness. Kindness opens our hearts to suffering, so we can give ourselves what we need. Common humanity opens us to our essential interrelatedness, so that we know we aren’t alone. Mindfulness opens us to the present moment, so we can accept our experience with greater ease.

Together they comprise a state of warm-hearted, connected presence.

Self-compassion can be learned by anyone, even those who didn’t receive enough affection in childhood or who feel uncomfortable when they are good to themselves. It’s a courageous attitude that stands up to harm, including the harm that we unwittingly inflict on ourselves through self-criticism, self-isolation, or self-absorption.

Self-compassion provides emotional strength and resilience, allowing us to admit our shortcomings, motivate ourselves with kindness, forgive ourselves when needed, relate wholeheartedly to others, and be more authentically ourselves.

There is a growing body of research that demonstrates 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. And it’s easier than you think. Read more about Dr. Kristen Neff and her self compassion research here.

Learning outcomes:

After participating in our MSC group, you will learn:

• How to stop being so hard on yourself
• How to motivate yourself with encouragement rather than criticism
• How to relate to difficult emotions with more ease
• How to transform challenging relationships, old and new
• How to practice the art of gratitude and self-appreciation
• How to practice core mindfulness and self-compassion skills in daily life
• Manage “compassion fatigue” – suitable for caregivers and health care professionals

What to Expect

Program activities include meditation, short talks, experiential exercises, group discussion, and home practices. MSC is a workshop rather than a retreat. The goal is for participants to directly experience self-compassion and learn practices that evoke self-compassion in daily life.

• MSC is primarily a compassion-training program rather than mindfulness training like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), although mindfulness is the foundation of self-compassion.
• MSC is also different from therapy insofar as the emphasis of MSC is on building emotional resources rather than addressing old wounds. Positive change occurs naturally as we develop the capacity to be with ourselves in a kinder, more compassionate way.
• MSC is a journey that entails a variety of challenges. Compassion has the effect of soothing and comforting us as it paradoxically opens us to emotional discomfort. Suzanne and Jo are committed to providing a safe, supportive environment for this process to unfold, and to making the journey interesting and enjoyable for everyone.