Needless to say, this has been an extremely challenging year for many of us—from which we’re just beginning to recover. Although mindfulness offers much more than stress reduction, might some peace and tranquility be nice right now?

This intensive online retreat will offer calming and settling practices to soothe and heal our nervous systems. We’ll explore the stressors of this past year, making room to acknowledge and release some of the ragged, unmetabolized emotions that may have accumulated.

While an online retreat may sound like a strange idea, it can be a surprisingly powerful format, allowing not only for deep practice, but also cultivating gratitude and appreciation for the simple gifts of home.

You’ll learn tools to restore balance to your heart and mind using varied meditative postures, breathing practices, exploratory exercises, and both stillness and movement techniques designed to investigate challenging emotions and integrate difficult experiences.

We’ll discuss how to use these practices ourselves to be more present and responsive in our personal lives and clinical work, as well as how to share them with our clients to help them work creatively with the distress of the pandemic.

Let’s gather together and support one another as a community of spiritual friends. In addition to receiving mindfulness teachings, instruction, and guided meditations, this retreat will offer ample opportunities to participate in small group discussions and explore personal practice questions.

This retreat is open to all.  Sessions will be recorded.

12 CEs will be offered for social workers and psychologists. You must attend sessions live to be eligible for the CEs. 

Proceeds from this retreat will help support Vallecitos, which will be closed again this year.

Please join us!

Schedule 

Friday 

5-7 pm Mountain / 7-9 pm Eastern

Saturday – Tuesday

6-8 am Mountain / 8-10 am Eastern

12-2 pm Mountain / 2-4   pm Eastern

5-7 pm Mountain / 7-9   pm Eastern

Learning Objectives

Participants will be able to: 

1. Describe the three core components of mindfulness practice.
2. Identify the evolutionary roots and mechanisms of compassion toward self and other.
3. Demonstrate an experiential understanding of mindfulness and compassion interventions through personal practice.
4. Specify how a therapist can best choose which mindfulness exercises are most appropriate for different arousal states.
5. Describe how to use mindful movement to release anxiety-related tension.
6. Identify how mindfulness and compassion practices can enhance emotional regulation.
7. Discuss ways to assist clients to integrate mindfulness practice in their lives, especially during uncertain times.
8. Describe the use of mindfulness and compassion practices to support parasympathetic activation and calm sympathetic activation.
9. Specify contraindications for various mindfulness and compassion practices.