After over 10 years of teaching a variety of Mindfulness courses, all of which have had significant benefits to those participants who have enrolled and that’s quite some statement! Deeper Mindfulness is fast becoming my favourite Mindfulness course and I will be teaching this for the second time in Autumn 2024.
So why is this course so special?
In many ways it is no different to the courses I have taught before. It runs over 8 weeks, consists of weekly 2-hour sessions and home practices and it conveys centuries old teachings in a modern format; ways to train the mind to support a clearer seeing of how our minds can tie us in knots and crucially how to unravel those self-same knots, leading to more wellbeing, peace and happiness.
The course comes from the same team of Professor Mark Williams and Danny Penman who brought us the multi-million best seller Finding Peace in a Frantic World, but offers some key differences.
Firstly, it is suitable for anyone-whether new to Mindfulness, or if you have already had some experience of Mindfulness or taken another 8-week course and are looking to deepen your practice.
Secondly it is incredibly flexible, offering a variety of practices for 10-30 minutes depending on your own circumstances. We are all individuals with different needs, at different stages of our lives and having different resources. This can vary from day to day so a key feature of the course is to be able to recognise this and act appropriately to do what’s right for us.
The course leads participants skilfully through an exploration of what Mindfulness is and the ways in which we can learn the tools to bring more awareness, steadiness and understanding into our everyday lives, enabling us to take actions to support our wellbeing. It introduces the concept of Feeling Tone which can be viewed as the taste of experience, whether something is pleasant or unpleasant and how this moment can be the Tipping Point for our minds to get carried away.
After some practise, I have found these tools to have the key attributes which are needed to be able to be helpful even in the midst of the busyness of our lives and facing our greatest challenges. They are simple and memorable and so can stop us from heading down the same old rabbit holes that we may have been going down for many years perhaps.
A Deeper Mindfulness book accompanies the 8 weekly sessions, as well as our own Course Booklet and access to all the home practices required.
Every time I teach a course it reminds me why Mindfulness has been such a gift to me over the last 10 years and continues to help me in all of my relationships. It’s an ongoing process and one that I am excited to be able to share with others.
I will be teaching the Deeper Mindfulness course for Tenterden Mindfulness in the Autumn, which can be attended in person from Ivy Court Surgery in Tenterden, or online, and I would be delighted if you could join me.
Dr Neil Pillai
GP and Chair Tenterden Mindfulness
