SELF COMPASSION PROGRAM OUTLINE

This introductory session will acquaint you with self-compassion. You will learn how this secular, scientific, evidence-based practice has become an accepted part of mainstream medicine, and discover how it can positively affect the quality of your everyday life. Self-compassion is linked to wellbeing; reductions in negative mind-states, anxiety, depression, stress, rumination, thought suppression, perfectionism and shame. Self-compassion increases positive mind-states; life satisfaction, happiness, connectedness, self-confidence, optimism, curiosity and gratitude.

Here you will receive an overview of the course and establish the learning context for the rest of your experience. You will learn the theory and evidence of mind-body medicine and how to apply it in your life. You'll be experientially introduced to self-compassion, the misgivings about self-compassion, introduced to soothing touch and learn how to give yourself a self-compassion break, with a special emphasis on what it means to be fully engaged in the present moment.

Perception is key in mindful self-compassion—how you see things (or don't see them) will determine in a large part how you respond. Learn how mindfulness and self- compassion relate to one another. This week's session and practices will ask you to begin letting go of resistance and begin incorporating daily self-compassion. You will learn affectionate breathing meditation to cultivate a greater degree of awareness. You’ll also learn how we cause ourselves unnecessary suffering.

In this session, you'll explore the four different facets of goodwill––loving-kindness, self-kindness, compassion and self-compassion––and distinguish the felt sense of one from the other. You’ll be introduced to loving-kindness meditations and discover phrases that are authentically your own – ones that you would genuinely like to hear again and again.

By practicing self-compassion, we cultivate our inner compassionate voice. This week, your practice will focus on the development of your ability to identify stages of progress on the path to self-compassion. You'll learn how to motivate yourself with encouragement rather than criticism, discover why you meditate and discuss our inner self critic.

At the halfway point in this course, you should now be familiar with the foundations of mindful self-compassion and able to focus on applying it effectively; living more deeply in your life. This week you learn to identify what are your core values, discover hidden meaning in your struggles and acquire skills for listening to others in a deep, compassionate manner. 

This six-hour silent day guided retreat will take place between weeks five and six. The intensive nature of this four-hour-plus session is intended to assist you in firmly and effectively establishing the use of mindful self-compassion skills across multiple situations in your life, while simultaneously preparing you to utilize these methods far beyond the conclusion of the program.

At this point in the program a wide variety of mindfulness and self-compassion skills have been introduced. This week, mindfulness and self-compassion are applied together to learn strategies for meeting difficult emotions and stages of acceptance. Discussion about shame, the most difficult human emotion and how to work with shame. 

Self-compassion is all about having a relation with ourselves. This week, you will explore different kinds of relational pain and how we can hold pain–and ourselves–in mindful self-compassion. We will also explore caregiving fatigue and how the practice of self-compassion can be applied to manage caregiver fatigue. You'll learn how to understand relational pain more deeply and respond in a healthy manner. 

In the final week of the program, you will have a complete review of everything you've learned over the course, with an emphasis on carrying the momentum you've built forward into the coming months and years. You'll learn how to get the most of the positive experiences in our lives, and savor our positive qualities, so that we can enjoy all the moments of our lives more fully. The final lesson creates a satisfying closure by honoring both the end of this program and the beginning of the rest of your life.