Orientation information & activities

This section contains orientation information and activities, as well as resources that will guide you throughout the eight weeks of the course. 

There are 2 optional “action points” before our first live session and please bring a raisin to our first live session. If you don’t have a raisin, any small nut or berry will do.

Dates, time & Zoom information 

  • We will use the same Zoom meeting room for all sessions:

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88145691455 *

(Zoom meeting ID: 881 4569 1455)

  •  Our first Zoom session will be 2.5hrs and will take place on:

Saturday, January 8, 2022 from 08.00am to 10.30am Pacific Time

(please bring a raisin to our first live session.

If you don’t have a raisin, any small nut or berry will do)

  •  All other weekly live Zoom sessions will be 2hrs and will take place at the following time:

Saturdays from 08.00am to 10.00am Pacific Time

On January 15, 22, 29 and February 5, 12, 19, and 26, 2022

(please use Time Zone Converter * for times in your time zone)

* A note on underlined words: you will only find words underlined in these pages if they are a link to another website. Sometimes it will be to the page of the author of a poem, or to the website of someone whose work you might like to look at. Get curious and click away!

 
 
 

If you are new to Zoom, click on the logo above to find out more and have a play with Zoom

 
 

Course information

I will be your teacher for the entirety of this course. Feel free to chat to me anytime via the FB group page throughout the course. You can also send me a private text or WhatsApp.

Please make sure that you take care of your needs during this course, as I would encourage you to do during a course in person. For example:

  • ask questions when you're not sure of something – there are no “silly” questions and everybody is doing THIS course for the first time;

  • make sure you don't spend hours at your laptop or on your phone without stopping to stretch or change posture (yes, that includes during our live sessions!);

  • try to approach this online learning experience differently than you might usually do things when online; go gently, take breaks, don't multi-task or check social media / news sites while you're engaged in a course activity;

  • when you’re practicing the meditations, ensure that you're comfortable – and if you're not, try other postures, add a cushion to support you or cover yourself with a blanket.

If you are on FB, you will have received an invitation to join the Facebook group from me. It is optional to join the group, but I would encourage you to use it as a place to connect with the other amazing people in this course and to learn from them, as they will from you.

About the course

  • This is an 8-week course delivered in eight, weekly 2-hour online sessions (except for the first session which will go for 2.5hrs).

  • All the content of the 8-week Mindfulness for Stress course will be available for six months after the end of the course, so you can access resources and practice guidance anytime during that time.

  • There will be group discussions on the FB group page where you can share reflections and questions with me and the other participants between the live sessions.

  • You'll be part of a group of fellow course participants from around the world.

How do I take part?

  • Join the weekly live online learning session.

  • Read the (optional) learning materials for each week – at a time that suits you.

  • Practice the meditations – 10 minutes twice a day, for six out of seven days, over the 8 weeks of the course.

  • Do a “mindfulness in action” practice each week – these are very brief, and hopefully fun practices that help release unhelpful ways of being, and introduce a bit of mindful awareness throughout our days.

  • Talk to the other participants and me online (in the FB group) about how you’re finding the course and how the meditations, mindfulness, and compassion practices are affecting your health and general well-being. This is the place to share the good, the bad, and even the ugly!

Course guidelines

Here is a proposed list of guidelines to help us engage with the course, and connect with one another well in this online learning environment.

1. Communicate with me – especially if you have questions or needs.

2. Be kind, gentle and patient with yourself:

•        you don’t have to get it all at once;

•        it’s a process;

•        try to practice compassion towards yourself, even if that is unfamiliar for you.

3. Be kind and respectful towards others:

•        practice mindful listening;

•        practice compassion;

•        practice confidentiality (anything that is shared during the course remains private to those it was shared with).

4. Be curious, and pay attention to what happens for you as it arises, whether during a meditation or a course session.

5. Share, participate in discussions or talk about your own experience only as feels appropriate for you.

6. Engage with the resources for each week or section of the course if you possibly can – that will help you get the most out of this learning opportunity.

7. Show up for the live sessions if you possibly can (for the same reason!) – if you can't make it, then let me know.

8. If you're late for a live online session, simply make sure your audio is muted once you're in the online classroom. Join in as quietly as you would if you had entered a physical classroom a bit late.

9. When practicing a meditation, please consider keeping your camera on, not only for your safety, but also because even if we look at an empty background while you are lying down, we can feel connected to each other in our practice.

10. We will not be recording any sessions, unless all members of this group agree to do it only for the use of someone who cannot attend a “live” session. This recording will then only be available for private viewing until the week after the end of the course.

ACTION POINT #1: Is there anything you’d like to add to this list? Simply make a post in the (optional) FB group or bring it to our first live session to suggest your idea to the group.

Make an introductory post

ACTION POINT #2: Please make a post in our (optional) FB group to introduce yourself. You can simply click “comment” on the post I have already made and add your introduction. 

Feel free at any time during the course to add a new discussion thread – it could be about anything you might usually share over a hot drink with fellow course participants, pictures of pets, mindfulness adventures, personal reflections, favorite poems, art you have created, …