Course Material

A = Awareness, Acceptance, AllowingAllow yourself to see and be with things as they actually are in this moment without changing anything.  Simply accept your experience right now.  Allow yourself to be open to all parts of who you are including those parts...

As you get to know yourself better, and become more aware of all the parts of your Self, you might notice that you are not your thoughts; you are not your feelings; and you are not your actions.  You are more than what you think, feel or do. Actually, you are...

We often think of “diet” as strictly related to our food intake. However, it might be helpful to broaden our definition of diet to include information we “digest” from movies, newspapers, television, computer websites, blogs & tweets, as well as social situations...

Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of Time Just because the world has speeded up through technology, there is no reason for us to be ruled by it to the point where we are stressed beyond all limits.  It is important to remind ourselves that time is a product of...

Once you become more aware of your own experiences (including your thoughts and feelings), you have the opportunity to share this with others—with more clarity—if you wish to. Expressing yourself to others can be done in three ways: aggressively, non-assertively or...

Emotional pain is usually comprised of two major interacting components: one is the domain of our feelings, and the other is the actual problem/situation that may be at the root of our feelings. It is often extremely difficult to cope with emotional pain when we are...

Stress is a normal part of day-to-day life.  We cannot entirely escape stress, especially living in a fast-paced society.  If we look around at the different people we know, we can see that different people tend to respond to stressful situations in...

Your breathing connects you to everything in you and around you. Thoughts and feelings are also connected to your breathing. With respect to thoughts, as your breathing slows down, the whirlwind of thoughts inside your head also begins to quiet down.  Your mind...

There are a variety of ways to listen. You will find that some of these styles are old favorites that you can use over and over. Others are held in reserve for certain types of people or situations. This is an opportunity to become more aware of your communication...

Low Stress/Anxiety Dietary Guidelines: Most of the following guidelines are adapted from the Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund Bourne. They are intended to be suggestive rather than prescriptive.  Although all of the guidelines below are important, they are...

Walking meditation involves intentionally paying attention to the experience of walking itself.  It involves focusing on the sensations in your feet or your legs; or, alternatively, feeling your whole body moving.  Initially, it is best to focus your...

We practice movement with the same attitude that we bring to the breath awareness and body awareness meditations: openness, curiosity, patience, gentleness, and kindness towards ourselves.  We move without striving or forcing. We practice accepting the body as we...

Practicing mindfulness techniques (sitting meditation, body awareness meditation or mindful movement) enables you to decrease stress, anxiety and depression, as well as your experience of pain or discomfort; whether it be physical, mental or emotional.  However,...

(Your pain is not you.) The next time you bang your shin, or stub your toe, try to apply mindfulness.  See if you can observe the sensations and the desire to cry out or scream.  It all takes 1-2 seconds.  If you are quick enough, and can apply...

  When doing different kinds of mindfulness work, physical sensations of discomfort will arise at various times. The sensations may range from mild tingling to a more intense experience that can make it difficult for you to remain focused and attentive to your...

We want to “fall awake”--not asleep—when doing the Body Scan meditation.  The idea is to actually feel what is occurring in each region of your body--no picturing or imagining the area of the body, but being with whatever is occurring in a non-judgmental way....

We call the heart of the formal mediation practice “sitting meditation” or simply “sitting”. As with breathing, sitting is not foreign to anyone. We all sit; nothing special about that. But mindful sitting is different from ordinary sitting in the same way that...

The following eight qualities of mindfulness are the attitudes which help to facilitate the practice of meditation. By adopting and cultivating these ways of being, your meditation practice grows deeper, richer and more meaningful. These qualities of mindfulness are...

When we begin to develop a meditation practice, we all encounter similar obstacles to the practice. These obstacles in your path are hurdles which need to be overcome. How you work with these hurdles, and how you relate to them and learn to move past them, is what...

The only way to overcome your stress or anxiety is by facing it.  In behavior therapy, this is called “exposure”. This involves going into a feared situation and staying there until the anxiety diminishes. The anxiety eventually does go away if you face it. It's...

Knowing what you are doing while you are doing it is the essence of mindfulness. During your mindful meal/snack this week, you are invited to bring your attention to seeing the food, observing it carefully as if you had never seen it before. Use all your senses before...

Anxiety is the reaction of your body and your mind to a perceived threat—i.e. to some apparent danger or perceived negative event in the future. Everyone experiences stress and anxiety; it is just a question of how much. We are all biologically programmed to...

Mindfulness simply means being aware, in the present moment.  It entails being fully present with yourself, and with everything around you, in a nonjudgmental way. Practicing mindfulness calms your body and your mind, and is a scientifically proven method for...

Notes From Dr Levine's Slide Presentation "By the end of this course, you are not expected to be stress-free, but if you manage a 5% improvement in your stress management, that is a great beginning".  Dr G. Levine Goals: lifelong stress management skills to...

Course Material Based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book Full Catastrophe Living andAcknowledgments to Center For Inner Freedom www.centerforinnerfreedom.com

To be truly kind to yourself requires self compassion. What is compassion?What is self compassion? Compassion is recognizing suffering and feeling the emotional response.Self compassion is recognizing our own suffering and feeling our emotional response. All too often...