Equanimity Workshop: 4 Weekly Online Sessions
I will be offering a 4-session workshop on equanimity; the weekly sessions will begin on Sunday, July 12 at noon Eastern US. (Time zone converter here.) Each session will last about 2 hours, and this is offered without charge. If you want to register, you can go here or use the button below. For more info, read on!
[Please note that because of my unpredictable schedule I may need to change some of the dates. Thank you for understanding.]
Equanimity is a valuable quality of the heart that is about having a sense of balance in the midst of life’s vicissitudes. Other words for it might be serenity, ease, peace, or a sense of spacious nonreactivity. It is not about giving up or giving in, nor is it about ignoring challenges in the world. It is about having some balance around our own automatic reactivity to anything we don’t like—a reactivity that almost always tangles us up and makes things worse than they need to be. Equanimity helps us to be able to be with difficulties and helps us have a lot more of our own wisdom, compassion and creativity available to skillfully address those difficulties.
Of course, equanimity is also something that seems to never be around when you need it! But it truly is always within you—it is just covered up by all the hecticness and stress of life. So why not spend a little time exploring practices to uncover and cultivate it? Here is a breakdown of each session:
Week 1: We’ll talk about what equanimity is and look at how it shows up for you. We’ll see how this quality is inherent in any mindfulness practice, and also try a practice specifically designed to cultivate it using phrases.
Week 2: We’ll discuss what your experience of equanimity has been during the preceding week. We’ll then look at two more ways to uncover your own equanimity: guided imagery and the Compassion and Equanimity practice for caregivers from the Mindful Self-Compassion course.
Week 3: We’ll go a bit deeper to explore the practice of bringing equanimity to feeling tones (that very first and automatic sense of finding something pleasant or unpleasant). Doing so allows us to see the very beginning of our reactivity, and gives us agency around responding to life rather than being lived by automatic reactions.
Week 4: In this session, we will touch into the space from which equanimity arises with a natural awareness practice (also known as a nondual practice). We'll provide a cognitive framework around this, and then you can try some ways to access your inherent awareness that is imbued with equanimity--as well as other heart qualities like compassion and kindness.
Although my classes are open to all, it is best if you already have an ongoing meditation practice so you are familiar with the basics. This is especially true for weeks 3 and 4, where we'll explore more fundamental aspects of consciousness. Also, as with any meditation class, listen to your inner guide about whether it is the right time for you to try this. Doing a workshop on equanimity when you are dealing with really difficult things can be unhelpful. You may end up simply recycling being overwhelmed, and you can’t learn when in overwhelm. I’ll be offering this again, so you can always return to this when you feel you are more likely to learn from it.
I will also provide pre-made recordings and handouts that review what we cover, and you’ll have access to those after the workshop ends via a Dropbox folder, so even if you can't make all the sessions, you will be able to review the material. This session is freely offered to make it accessible, but if you find it of value and are able to make a donation, I would ask that you consider donating to the good folks at Imagine Mindfulness, a non-profit working to make practices like this accessible to all, or to the equally good folks at the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. Or anything else you feel is worthy---there is so much need out there.
You can register here or use the happy little button below. If you have questions about the class, please contact me directly at modestlymindful@gmail.com. For my background, you can view the “About Me” page. Testimonials are here.
Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash