CPD Recordings

Tips and Ideas for Teaching Mindfulness Live Online

About

This professional development session is an exploration of ways of teaching mindfulness live online, using platforms such as Zoom. Breathworks Head of Training Ginny Wall will draw from her extensive experience of teaching mindfulness and other disciplines live online, to share tips and ideas of what works and what doesn’t. There will also be an opportunity for participants to share good practice ideas with the group and raise questions or challenges for Ginny and the group to consider.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS WILL GAIN:

• An understanding of how teaching mindfulness online differs from teaching face-to-face, and important considerations to bear in mind
• Points to consider before starting teaching a live online session
• Tips and ideas for making your online teaching lively and interesting
• Ideas for how to adapt enactments and other experiential aspects of Breathworks courses
• Some issues to bear in mind regarding trauma-sensitive teaching online
• What are the types of people who may be especially interested in online mindfulness, and/or would especially benefit from it?

Length: 1h 40min

Led by: Ginny Wall

Cost: £10

About

We all eat every day, but many of us do this without much awareness, or we struggle with eating too much or too little, or with eating unhealthily. Many of us have tried various eating restrictions to manage these struggles, often with limited, or temporary success.

This workshop is less concerned with what we eat and more concerned with how we eat and how we relate to food and eating.

We’ll explore eating as a mindfulness  - and compassion - practice, thus deepening our awareness of how we relate to our bodies and emotions. The workshop will have experiential exercises, so you will be asked to bring some food to the workshop.

Please note that the workshop is not suitable for anyone with an eating disorder. If you’re unsure of your suitability for the workshop, please contact the Breathworks office, who will put you in touch with the facilitator.

Length: 1h 57min

Led by: Fidelma Farley

Cost: £10

About

The normal developmental changes that take place during adolescence, as well as certain current issues in today’s society, often place great strain upon parents. Sophie will discuss these and aim to demonstrate why a good understanding of them is helpful. For example information about the neuroscience of the teenage brain particularly helped parents in my study deal more mindfully with stressful situations with their teenager(s).

Sophie will draw upon her own research, as well as the wider field of research into mindfulness and mindfulness for parents, to discuss the relevance, effectiveness and particular benefits of mindfulness for this group. Sophie will also discuss what specific aspects of mindfulness may be particularly effective and useful and why this might be.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS WILL GAIN:

• Sophie will give suggestions about factors to consider in order to effectively tailor a mindfulness programme, such as Mindfulness for Stress or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, to meet the specific needs of parents of teenagers
• Discussion of how and why mindfulness can be particularly beneficial for parents of teenagers
• Sophie will also discuss what it may be helpful for mindfulness teachers to consider in preparing for and teaching this group in order to most effectively meet their needs.

Length: 1h 52min

Led by: Sophie Matthew

Cost: £10

The Science of Chronic Pain and the Nervous System

About

Following a very successful masterclass in 2018, Vidyamala and Dr Julia Morris are teaming up once again to offer this masterclass that will look at the latest science and theory around pain and how the neuro-immune-endocrine systems play a crucial role in pain production. 

Julia is Consultant physiotherapist at Jersey’s Pain Clinic who is trained in the approach of Lorimer Moseley PhD - a world leader in pain studies and the role of brain and mind in perception. 

During the session Julia will introduce the latest thinking about pain and Vidyamala will show how mindfulness can help to calm the central nervous system, positively impacting pain perception by turning down the amplification that can occur when the CNS is sensitised. 

Length: 2h 02min

Led by: Vidyamala Burch & Dr Julia Morris

Cost: £10

Clicking this link will take you to a Paypal page for payment

The Whole World Breathing: Exploring Questions of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in Our Mindfulness Teaching

About

As mindfulness teachers, the principles of equality, diversity and inclusion are important ethical standards for us to connect with, as people living and working in a diverse, multi-ability, multi-person and multicultural world. So, how can we educate ourselves around our own potential blind-spots, take steps to improve the inclusiveness of our own teaching context, or reach people not currently able to access mindfulness?

This online CPD session will give an overview of equality, diversity and inclusion issues as they affect us as a mindfulness teaching community, including a brief introduction to the Equality Act 2010. It will offer an opportunity for us to explore these issues in a safe and non-judgmental space, inviting us to deepen our own engagement with them, celebrate what is working well and inspire us to courageous and transformative actions in our lives and work.

Length: 1hr 20 mins

Led by:  Ginny Wall

Cost: £10

Clicking this link will take you to a Paypal page for payment

Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness - Masterclass with Tim Duerden

About

Research suggests that most people learning mindfulness do not experience any major negative effects and, on this basis, those who have not received a thorough training can have an ill-informed attitude that mindfulness practice is intrinsically benign and that anyone could teach what seems so simple: 'Just follow your breath with awareness...'. 

But how concerned should we be about the minority who are not 'most people'? It is only recently that this has begun to be researched: Willoughby Britton, David Treleaven, and Leigh Burrows have found that a significant number of people have trauma-associated reactions to certain mindfulness practices and many more silently struggle with aversive reactions to certain practices. Their findings suggest that, of those that do experience negative reactions to particular mindfulness practices, many do not feel able to report their experience to their mindfulness teacher. Of particular concern are people who experience traumatic reactions while practising mindfulness: either re-triggering of old trauma or experiencing new trauma in the context of mindfulness teaching. The limited research suggests body focused and breath-focused practices are more likely to provoke trauma reactions - especially when the person is in a quiet environment with eyes closed and body still. 

While embodied mindful awareness is central to trauma recovery, what is emerging is an understanding of how crucial it is to ensure that the mindfulness practices chosen to cultivate mindful awareness are appropriate to the person practising them.

This webinar will be an opportunity to discuss these issues, consider how we can teach mindfulness practices with confidence in their safety through a person-centred approach, and explore a reflective framework that can help match individual needs to the mindfulness practices we teach. 

Led by: Tim Duerden

Length: 1h 58min

Cost: £10

Clicking this link will take you to a Paypal page for payment

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Informed Mindfulness with Alessio Agostinis

About

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a ‘Third Wave’ Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach that focuses on the workability of experience (not necessarily on reducing symptoms). ACT utilises a scientifically validated and theoretically driven recipe (what psychologists call a formulation framework) to help the individuals become their own expert assessor and self-coach.

In ACT, small practical techniques (in Breathworks what we would call habit releasers) are practised as mindfulness and acceptance processes. These aspects of ACT and the Breathworks approach are very compatible.

In addition, within ACT, there is an focus on committing to Values-Based Change; explicitly utilising mindful awareness to affect positive change in all areas of life, including personal growth, family, intimacy, occupation, healthy habits, learning, community, and parenting.

This session will be an opportunity to experience a brief background on ACT and make explicit links between The Breathworks Approach with the six-points recipe for self-management provided within Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. In addition, Alessio will guide and invite experiential awareness to targeted areas of value and committing to actions: how to elicit them and how these may inform our own action as teachers and practitioners.

Led by: Alessio Agostinis

Length: 1h 58min

Cost: £10

Clicking this link will take you to a Paypal page for payment

Teaching Breathworks Mindfulness on a One-to-One basis

About

This CPD session is an exploration of ways of teaching the Breathworks approach to mindfulness on a one-to-one basis. While most of us mindfulness trainers have had thorough training on how to teach mindfulness to groups, teaching mindfulness to individuals requires a range of different approaches. These include greater flexibility, finely tuned listening and enquiry, and the ability to adapt the material of the 8 week courses to be relevant and meaningful to an individual’s particular circumstances.

What participants will gain:

• Points to consider before accepting someone as a mindfulness client.
  
  
• What are the types of people who may be especially interested in one-to-one mindfulness, and/or would especially benefit from it?
  
  
• A consideration of the differences between teaching mindfulness to a group and to an individual.
  
  
• A consideration of tailoring the content to particular individuals – exploring the balance between following the course schedule and adapting the content and time-scales to be of benefit for particular individuals.
  
  
• An exploration of the differences and overlaps between one-to-one mindfulness and therapy.
  
  
• What aspects of mindfulness and compassion practice are especially relevant to/useful for the trainer while undertaking this work?
  
  
• The participants will be given a number of case studies through which to explore some of the elements above.

Length: 1h 44min

Led by: Fidelma Farley

Cost: £10

Clicking this link will take you to a Paypal page for payment

Adapting Breathworks Courses to Workplace Settings

About

This online CPD event explores ways in which teachers can adapt the Breathworks approach to mindfulness and compassion to suit a variety of workplace settings. The session explores frameworks for workplace taster events and adaptations of the Breathworks Mindfulness for Stress course suited to different needs & timescales. As well as looking at course content, there will also be an opportunity to consider whether/how it may be helpful to use different language and emphases when teaching mindfulness in a workplace setting.

Length: 1h 30min

Led by: Karen Liebenguth

Cost: £10

Mindfulness for Addiction: A MasterClass for Professionals

About

We’re all ‘addicts’. We all experience the compulsion to push away negative experience, grasp after what feels good and make the mundane more interesting.  And we all have our go-to ways of doing this – our crutches, that help us 'fix' our experience. 

In this masterclass Benedict takes as  our point of departure the assumption that the more acquainted we are with our own addictions and compulsive behaviours the better we can support others around theirs. 

We’ll begin by discussing what Buddhist and mindfulness-based psychology have to say about craving and desire and explore how these phenomena play out in our own lives. We’ll explore how we can bring this understanding to clinical work, in particular, helping clients/patients identify triggers, work with cravings, and manage the relapse cycle.

The session will be experiential in nature and we’ll be navigating the terrain through two key mindfulness practices from the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention for Addiction Behaviours programme – the SOBER Breathing Space and Urge Surfing – which you can take away with you, to practice for yourself  and/or with your clients. 

Length: 1h 45min

Led by: Ben Hoff

Cost: £10

The Buddhist Roots of Mindfulness

About

While it is generally known that mindfulness is a part of the Buddhist tradition, most people are unaware of how and where mindfulness fits within Buddhism, and how the Buddhist understanding and practice of mindfulness relates to the secular understanding and practice of mindfulness.

The aim of this workshop is to explore the Buddhist origins of mindfulness and how it relates to how we understand and practice secular mindfulness. This allows us to have a deeper appreciation of our own mindfulness practice, and a deeper foundation for those of us teaching mindfulness.

The Satipatthana Sutta is where the Buddha explains mindfulness: "This is the only way for the purification of beings, for the overcoming of sorrow and lamentation, for the destruction of suffering and grief, for reaching the right path, for the attainment of Nirvana, namely, the Four Foundations of Mindfulness."

In the workshop, we’ll cover the Four Foundations of Mindfulness, through a combination of presentation, discussion, exercises and short mindfulness practices. We’ll also explore how secular mindfulness draws on these four foundations, with particular attention to the concepts and practices within Breathworks courses.

Length: 1h 54min

Led by: Fidelma Farley

Cost: £10

Deepening Enquiry Skills

About

Enquiry is a practice of gentle, investigative dialogue to encourage your students to explore their experience more fully. It allows course participants to become aware of their direct experience and make meaning of their relationship to it, as well as strengthen their understanding of underlying principles of mindfulness teachings.

Through enquiry, a mindfulness teacher can create a deep practice of awareness and compassion that enriches their teaching and brings liberating insights to their course participants.

Breathworks former Head of Training Ginny Wall brings her years of experience and knowledge to this 2-hour workshop. You will explore the important elements of enquiry and the skills involved such as deep listening, awareness of body language, empathy to others' felt experiences.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS WILL GAIN:

• Deepen and develop enquiry skills through experiential and reflective exercises
• Transform the your student’s experience with skills of awareness and deep listening
• Gain confidence as an embodied and insightful mindfulness teacher
• Enrich your teaching and how you relate to students

Length: 1h 07min

Led by: Ginny Wall

Cost: £10

Using The Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Matrix

About

In this special CPD workshop, experienced Clinical Psychologist and Breathworks Associate Dr Louise Hankinson will walk you through the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) Matrix and how it can be used in group and 1:1 settings to train present moment awareness.

The ACT Matrix is a perspective taking tool used by therapists which allows individuals to take a step back to ‘notice’ and ‘sort’ their experiences. Based on contextual behavioural science, it is a useful paper and pencil exercise that works as a visual guide to bring self-awareness and values into focus. At its core is learning to notice and distinguish between our external space (our senses and actions) and our internal space (feelings, urges, thoughts etc.) whilst working towards aligning towards what truly matters to us. Watch this video for more on the ACT Matrix and how it works.

In this two hour session, Louise will explain the core processes of the model and how it can be used in your own life, before exploring how it can be applied to your work, whether that is in mindfulness teaching, 1:1 work or supporting teams in the workplace.

No prior clinical psychology knowledge is required.

WHAT PARTICIPANTS WILL GAIN:

• An understanding of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and how it can be used in different settings
• The knowledge to use the ACT Matrix with participants, clients and team members
• Links to resources for continued learning

Length: 1h 26min

Led by: Louise Hankinson

Cost: £10

Growing Embodied Confidence as a Mindfulness Teacher

About

Whether you are new to mindfulness teaching or you have been teaching for years, wobbles of confidence or not feeling good enough to teach can be common.

In this holistic and experiential workshop, Breathworks Head of Training Soo Strong will pass on supportive strategies to help you to build a deeper level of embodied confidence as a mindfulness teacher.

Incorporating her experience in Somatics, Reiki and Neuro Linguistic Programming, Soo’s wholehearted approach works to shift limiting mindsets and psychological barriers to develop a lasting sense of your true potential and worth.

What is Embodied Confidence?

Embodied confidence as a mindfulness teacher means developing a sense of ease, spaciousness and trust within us. This intuitive process involves going beyond cognitive understanding, to listen deeply to what arises in the body’s intelligence.

To find this, Soo will guide you through actionable steps that can help you access better clarity and communication, as well as ways of building a better understanding of your unique qualities as a mindfulness teacher.

Soo teaches through a trauma sensitive lens, and will create a safe space to explore ways of elevating self-belief. The workshop will include anchoring techniques and strategies rooted in self-compassion and respect.

When ‘imposter syndrome’ arises, Soo’s message is: "the world needs you as you are right now!". Her intention for this workshop is for those who attend to leave with a little less fear and a willingness to go out to shine their light more brightly. 

Length: 2 Hours

Led by: Soo Strong

Cost: £10

Train Your Attention for a More Present Life

About

We live in a world full of distraction and demands competing for our attention. If our life is what we attend to, how will you attend to yours?

In this two-hour workshop guided by experienced Associate Teacher, Karen Liebenguth, you will benefit from a combination of scientific theory, meditation practice, and group discussion to explore how our different attention types can be recognised in the mind and body.

Research shows that we spend 50% of our waking hours unaware of our internal and external experiences. This is because we often don’t consider what’s happening in our own minds, or where our attention has drifted to moment by moment.

The good news is that we can learn to train our attention through mindfulness. Humans have the unique and fascinating ability of metacognition or meta-awareness, which is to know we are thinking. In other words, we can pay attention to our attention.

Karen will present and explore how you can deepen and refine your existing meditation practice through learning to work with three different types of attention, known as our flashlight, floodlight and juggler attention. She will also look at new ways we can stay present and grounded, in order to live a more aware and intentional life.  

What I will gain?

• Explore the theory of our attention types
• Understand how working with attention can help us get more from life
• Deepen & refine your formal mindfulness practice with advanced attention training
• Develop new skills to stay present and grounded
• Learn to train attention to serve us better in times of stress & overwhelm
• New meditation practices to connect with attention in the mind & body
• Opportunity to connect, practice and share within a group

Length: 1h 29min

Led by: Karen Liebenguth

Cost: £10

Clicking this link will take you to a Paypal page for payment