2012 Workshop Schedule
How To Meditate
A Saturday workshop from 9 am to 2.30 pm
The Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Rd, Subiaco
$160, concession $120
| Workshops: | Jan 28 |
| Feb 25 | |
| Apr 21 | |
| May 19 |
This workshop presents a range of simple practices and will give you all the tools you need to get started on your own. The material is similar to the Basic Course, but abbreviated into a single day. You will learn how to relax at will, and make your mind more calm and focused. You will also learn three short ‘spot-meditations’ to destress rapidly during the day (See the next workshop for further details on spot-meditations). You will be given a copy of The 5-Minute Meditator as course notes. Tea and coffee will be provided but bring something for lunch.
Spot-Meditation Workshop
A Saturday workshop from 9 am to 1 pm, on March 17
The Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Rd, Subiaco
$120, concession $100
This workshop is designed for people who want to develop the spot-meditations presented in the Basic Course and in the How to Meditate workshops. You don’t have to get fixated on the sitting posture when you meditate. Learn how to relax and calm your mind when you walk, or wait, or do exercise or simple household activities. Relaxation is not just a state of inactivity close to sleep. It is about having the optimal levels of arousal, muscle tone, speed of movement and quality of attention for whatever you are doing. Don’t wait for ideal circumstances. These ‘spot-meditations’ will help you be present, and restore a sense of balance and control, at any time during the day. This workshop uses exercises from The 5-Minute Meditator and the new 2-CD set called Short, Active Meditations.
Mindfulness 101
A Saturday workshop from 9 am to 4 pm, on May 5The Subiaco Community Centre, 203 Bagot Rd, Subiaco
$210, concession $150
Meditation is often seen as little more than a tool for relaxation and mental calm. Valuable as this is, the greatest benefits arise from the kind of attention involved, which is usually called ‘mindfulness’. This term is now widely used in psychology and in the popular self-help literature, but what exactly does it mean?
St Augustine said “I understand the word ‘time’ perfectly well until I’m asked to explain it.” The same could be said of ‘mindfulness’ or even meditation itself. We seem to know what it is until we try to define it. Is it a trainable skill or an attitude or a spiritual virtue or a theory of consciousness, or something else altogether?
Mindfulness is commonly glossed as the act of ‘paying attention to present-moment experience’ but as a definition this is only a good starting point. The real question is ‘What is it for?’ Some uses of mindfulness are compatible but others are not. Monks use it to pray for peace, for example, while samurai warriors and modern soldiers use it to kill their enemies. To make matters worse, modern writers often contradict themselves by trying to have it all ways. Researchers in the field often try to blend their hard science with ill-defined spiritual values. This workshop will explore and tease apart the five most common approaches to mindfulness. Since I regard mindfulness primarily as a skill, I will also present exercises related to these.
The first of these five approaches is ‘Classical Mindfulness’. This is described with great elegance and clarity in the original Buddhist text called The Four Foundations of Mindfulness. This practical, how-to-do-it, manual is not hard to understand and it deserves to be better known. An abridged translation with explanatory comments will be given out as class notes, along with a recommended reading list.
The second approach is ‘Functional Mindfulness’. This is our continuous, ‘pay attention to what you are doing’ mindfulness. This is about giving sufficient attention, no less but also no more, to each successive activity during the day. Its purpose is to optimise performance, avoid mistakes and make good choices in unpredictable situations.
The third is ‘Erotic (or pleasure-seeking) Mindfulness’. This is mindfulness as a state of deep focus, motivated by the inherent satisfaction and rewarding nature of the activity involved. In its simplest form, it is about taking time to smell the roses. As an attentional skill, it is about developing states of single-minded absorption and ‘flow’ that are often essential for great achievements of any kind.
The fourth is ‘Psychological (or Detached Observer) Mindfulness’. This is mindfulness as a therapeutic tool to counteract depression, anxiety and pain. This typically involves regarding one’s problems objectively, while focusing on the sensory present to marginalise useless rumination and emotional reactivity. This emotional detachment amplifies the homeostatic ‘rest and recovery’ effects of any basic meditation practice.
The fifth is ‘Spiritual’ or ‘Transcendental’ Mindfulness. This seeks a state of pure, disembodied consciousness as the answer to all suffering. This Theory of Mind underpins most Buddhist and Yogic formulations of the path to happiness, compassion and enlightenment.
If we regard mindfulness or ‘self-observation’ as a trainable skill, we can see that it has benefits that go far beyond relaxation alone. It enhances our ability to see, evaluate and respond to what is happening as it happens. With practice, this enables us to control our thoughts, manage our emotions, cope well with difficulties and fine-tune our behaviour all day long. This kind of self-monitoring attention is the key to efficiency and success in everything we do, big or small. It is also the starting point for higher mental functions such as memory, judgement, learning, will-power and self-understanding. Relaxation is good, but the benefits of self-awareness are infinite. This workshop will help you understand and cultivate this versatile skill.
Meditation Teacher Training Workshop
$600, or $500 concession. Class limit: 10
Saturday and Sunday, 26-27 May, 9 am to 4 pm each day.
This course is suitable for anyone of good character who is in a position to help others with relaxation, stress, anxiety, pain or illness. This includes health professionals (psychologists, doctors, nurses, counsellors, physiotherapists, yoga instructors) as well as teachers, trainers and parents.
There are two prerequisites for the workshop. The first is that you have completed, or are currently attending, a Basic Course or the How to Meditate workshop. Even people with years of experience in other kinds of meditation find this essential to get the most from the workshop. The second prerequisite is attendance in the Mindfulness 101 workshop on May 5. Both these prerequisites are negotiable for people who live out of Perth.
This hands-on workshop aims to give you the ability, understanding, confidence and teaching experience to share this skill with others. You will be encouraged to prepare two or three meditations to deliver to the class, and to learn through the sympathetic analysis of each others’ presentations. It is assumed that you will develop a teaching style and content that is personal to you and your situation. The workshop also examines:
- How to explain meditation to others;
- How to structure and guide an individual meditation;
- How to structure a class and a course;
- Student and teacher expectations, and psychological dynamics;
- How meditation complements other disciplines;
- Pitfalls, ethics and responsibilities;
- Practicalities such as money, self-promotion and resources.
You will be provided a manual of useful information, including lesson plans for a course and a workshop, and authority to use the books and CDs from Perth Meditation Centre. Given fulfilment of course requirements, you will also be awarded a Diploma of Meditation Teaching. This can be used to obtain the necessary Public Liability Insurance that many organisations require before they employ you, or allow you to hire their premises.
To express your interest, phone Eric on 9381 4877 or send him an email.
