The Compassion Training

If you have found mindfulness beneficial but need even more integration of a gentle, kind attitude into your daily life, the compassion training is a wonderful next step. Even deeper than the mindfulness training, this training invites further self-examination; into unconscious patterns and beliefs that prevent you from living life with an open heart.

In addition to theoretical background information on the functioning and evolution of our brain and emotion regulation systems, we will practice extensively with guided visualizations, meditations, writing, and physical exercises. The experiential exercises, focused on treating yourself and others with compassion, you can immediately apply to your daily life.

We will continue to recognize, develop, and deepen a gentle, compassionate attitude within ourselves, primarily towards ourselves (including our shadow sides) and our experiences.

Many of us didn't receive the safe emotional support we needed as children to develop to our full potential. We create patterns to avoid re-experiencing old pain, rejection, or fear. This can cause tensions to build in our bodies and minds. It takes courage to feel what's going on inside you. To not avoid your body's signals, but to see them as a guide. We practice this in our mindfulness training.

In our compassion training, we go further and encourage the ability to love yourself (self-compassion). You learn to be a safe support system for yourself so you don't have to avoid your feelings. Becoming aware of patterns and the pain behind them makes you more gentle with yourself. As a result, you'll need less confirmation from others. Setbacks will throw you off balance less than before, and you'll notice that you become more resilient and can make better choices.

Training Content

In this training:

• We practice giving ourselves the same kindness and care as a good friend.
• We practice becoming more sensitive to ourselves and others.
• We explore 3 survival mechanisms of our brain:
• Avoiding Danger, Chasing, Caring
• We gain insight into how they influence our daily lives and how we can use them positively.
• We learn to connect with an inner helper instead of an inner critic.
• To embrace and befriend emotions so we can deal with them more effectively.

The training is based on the work of Chris Germer (clinical psychologist, affiliated with Harvard Medical School), Kristin Neff (affiliated at the University of Texas and specialized in self-compassion), Paul Gilbert, author of the book The Compassionate Mind, and the Dutch pionieers Frits Koster and Erik van den Brink, who together wrote the book Compassievol leven. This book is free with the training.

Practical

The training structure is the same as the mindfulness training:
8 sessions of 2,5 hours and a day of silence together.
This training also includes a comprehensive workbook and audio tracks to practice with at home.

For dates, location, and prices, see agenda