Mindfulness for Busy People and Enhanced Stress Resilience Training (ESRT)
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Mindfulness for Busy People is a free 90-minute session offered on Sunday, March 1 at noon Eastern US (time zone converter here). It will be followed by 5 weekly1-hour sessions of ESRT, a mindfulness training developed by physicians for people who want a mindfulness practice, but have little time to do so. For more info about both offerings, read on!
[Please note that, like all my classes, there is a chance I may need to change the date. I'll let you now about that as soon as I know, and I appreciate your forbearance.]
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Information about the Mindfulness for Busy People session:
(For info about ESRT, jump here.)
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Most everyone has heard about the benefits of mindfulness, ranging from decreased stress to enhanced well-being. But when you try it, it can seem like not much is happening other than your mind going into overdrive. Plus, who has time to sit still and follow your breath these days?
Part of the problem is expectations. There is a sense that mindfulness is about generating a state of calm on demand. That can happen, but really it is about getting quiet and seeing how your thinking mind—with the best of intentions—tends to follow patterns that add to stress. Once we begin to see those patterns in meditation, we can work to change them as we meet life’s challenges. And it isn’t that hard to do.
This class will provide a framework that will help you get a better sense of what mindfulness is so you can bring it into your life in ways that work for you. We’ll go over a bunch of brief, in-the-moment practices that can be used in the midst of difficulties and can also be extended into formal meditations if you are inclined. There will be recordings and handouts on what we cover and time for discussion so we can learn from each other.
I think you’ll find this session can make the idea of mindfulness more understandable and accessible. And if you aren’t sure if you can attend, you are welcome to register anyway and you’ll at least get access to the recordings and handouts. Plus, you will be welcome to drop in at any of the ESRT classes that will follow so you can practice what we cover in this 90-minute session.
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Enhanced Stress Resilience Training
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The 90-minute introductory session will be followed (at the same time on subsequent weeks) by the 5-week Enhanced Stress Resilience Training (ESRT) program developed for surgeons by Dr. Carter Lebares, at Univ. of California, San Francisco. It is a mindfulness-based program that is a condensed version of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction; each session will last an hour, although I will stay later to answer questions.
ESRT combines the insights of mindfulness with input from modern neuroscience to create a targeted program honed to meet the demands of anyone dealing with stressful situations and very little time to practice meditation. Basically, it is for folks who are super busy but who recognize the value of understanding and training their minds. Emphasis is placed on increasing attentional control, metacognition, situational awareness and emotional regulation. ​Research shows that those who completed ESRT reported significantly lower perceived stress, higher mindfulness, and reduced burnout.
Each session consists largely of doing practices, along with observations about how each practice helps build the skills the program is designed to cultivate. This includes focused awareness meditations, body scans and mindfulness of movement. ​There is also a strong emphasis on bringing mindfulness into your day through brief, in-the-moment practices because that is often the only way to build the benefits of mindful awareness in very busy lives. In addition, you'll get free access to an app that contains the information covered in each session along with explanations and recordings of the practices we do. ​​​​This is a good opportunity to learn a lot of useful practices—and the rationale for doing them—with relatively little time commitment.
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​Because these offerings are designed to work together, when you register for the workshop you will also be registered for ESRT, although you are under no obligation to attend either one. You will still get the resources for this series, and you are welcome to attend as you are able. Again, the Mindfulness for Busy People session is at noon US on Sunday, March 1 (time zone converter here), and then the ESRT sessions will occur on the next 5 Sundays at the same time and same Zoom link.
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BTW, all these are offered freely, and if you find them of value and are able, please consider making a donation to Imagine Mindfulness, a non-profit working to make mindfulness classes available to all, or make a donation to support the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. (Or any other non-profit you favor—although, again, this is only if you are able!)
You can read the waiver and register at this form, or you can use the button below. Let me know if you have any questions at modestlymindful@gmail.com, and thanks for your interest!
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Photo by Benjamin Davies on Unsplash