Adult MBCT

Weekly Topics & Home Practice

Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way:
on purpose
in the present moment
non judgmentally
to things as they are.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn

Before Classes Start
“A little kindness and gentleness toward yourself is a wiser and more skillful response to feeling threatened than any amount of analytical problem solving.” Mark Williams

• Read Chapters 1-3 in the Mindful Way Through Depression
• Think about what you want from the class.

Week 1 – Cultivating Mindfulness: Awareness & Autopilot
It is very wise to spend some quiet time alone getting to know your true self better … Edmond Mbiaka

• Practice daily: Body Scan for Beginners (30 minutes), Body Scan – Living Presence (11 min) or Body Scan to Help You Sleep (9 min)
• Notice the different ways you judge yourself (e.g., name calling, “shoulding,” sarcasm, tone of voice, etc)
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Read Chapter 4 in the Mindful Way through Depression

Week 2 – Sidestepping the Ruminating Mind: Stories We Tell Ourselves
There’s no point in clinging to illusions.  Eva Heller

• Practice daily Awareness of Breath Practice (11 min) or Encouraging Deep Breathing (9 mi) or Three-Minute Breathing Space (3x) or meditation of your choice.
• Notice pleasurable moments
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Read Chapter 5 in the Mindful Way Through Depression.

Individual Consultations (To Be Scheduled)
Discuss what kind of meditations will work for you and develop a meditation plan that is realistic for your schedule and lifestyle.

Week 3 — Another Way of Knowing: Emotions Arise in the Body
“Every cell in your body is evavesdropping on your mind. ..,. Your body keeps the score.“
Bessel van der Kolk

• Practice daily Mindful Yoga (19 min) or Mindful Yoga (36 min) or Exploring Your Senses (12 min) or Three-Minute Breathing Space (3x) or meditation of your choice.
• Notice body sensation every hour for one day. Be prepared to share.
• Do activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Read Chapter 6 in the Mindful Way Through Depression.

Week 4 — Reconnecting With Our Feelings: Primary and Secondary Emotions
I want to be at the mercy of my emotions. I want to use them, to enjoy them, and to dominate them. Oscar Wilde

• Practice meditation daily: Three-Minute Breathing Space (3x) or Meditation for Anxious Emotions (Practice #3, 20 min) or Meditation to Label Difficult Emotions (10 min) or meditation of your choice.
• Notice your primary emotions. If you notice yourself shifting into secondary emotions, ask yourself “what is in front of me to do in this moment?”
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway).
• Read Chapter 7 in the Mindful Way through Depression

Week 5 — Understanding Urges, Thoughts & Emotions: What The Body Tells Us
Your emotions make you human. Even the unpleasant ones have a purpose. Don’t lock them away. If you ignore them, they just get louder and angrier. Sabaa Tahir

• Practice meditation daily: Three-Minute Breathing Space (4x) or Anxiety Practice (23 min) or A Meditation for Exploring Your Habitual Reactions (20 min) or meditation of your choice.
• Notice and name your emotions; then identify where in your body you feel them.
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway).
• Read Chapter 8 in the Mindful Way through Depression

Week 6 – Seeing Thoughts As Creations of the Mind: Our Distorted Thoughts
The more [thought] distortions we have the less attention we can pay to realizing our potential and self- actualization of our personality.  Sunday Adelaja

• Practice daily: Observing Thoughts Non-Judgmentally (20 min), Labelling Thoughts & Emotions (20 min) or Three-Minute Breathing Space (5x) or meditation of your choice.
• Notice your cognitive distortions. Which ones do you use most frequently?
• Do activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Read Chapter 9 in the Mindful Way Through Depression

Week 7 — Mindfulness in Everyday Life: Accepting “What Is”
Accept – then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it …. This will miraculously transform your whole life.  Eckhart Tolle

• Practice daily: Three-Minute Breathing Space (5x) or Explore Your Habitual Reactions (20 min), Settling Your Busy Mind (9 min), Radical Acceptance (14 min) or meditation of your choice
• Notice unrealistic expectations and irrational beliefs. Be prepared to share an example.
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Read Chapter 10 in the Mindful Way Through Depression

Week 8 — Mindfulness in Everyday Life: Who Am I?
Without accepting that everything changes, we cannot {live into our true self}.  But unfortunately, while it is true, it is difficult for us to accept it. Because we can’t accept the truth of transience, we suffer. Shunryu Suzuki

• Practice daily: Three-Minute Breathing Space (5x) or Resting in Awareness (30 min), Exploring Your Senses (11 min) or meditation of your choice
• Notice “I am ….” statements.
• Journal five gratitudes daily online
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Read Chapters 11 in the Mindful Way Through Depression

Full Day Retreat – Morning (8:30 – 11:30 am)
You will find that it is necessary to let things go; simply for the reason that they are heavy. So let them go, Let go of them. I tie no weights to my ankles.” C. JoyBell C.

Participants practice and discuss three guided meditations — letting go and forgiveness. Then we will demonstrate pattern analysis.  You will spend the remainder of the morning working on identifying your patterns that lead into and out of depression or anxiety. Participants will take turns presenting their patterns in sessions 7-9.

• Meditation – Letting go
• Meditation – Self-Forgiveness

Full Day Retreat – Lunch (11:30 – 1:30)
They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts…” Acts 2:46

Walking Meditation – Loving Kindness
Individual half-hour consultation – to be scheduled

Full Day Retreat – Afternoon (1:30 – 4:30 pm)
We all are so deeply interconnected; we have no option but to love all. Be kind and do good for any one and that will be reflected. The ripples of the kind heart are the highest blessings of the Universe. Amit Ray

In the afternoon, we practice and discuss walking and loving kindness meditation.  Continuing the morning’s pattern analysis, we identify the process of turning the mind from the thoughts & emotions that fuel depression and anxiety.

Week 9 —  Fully Alive: How We Avoid and How To Engage
I learned to be myself rather than avoiding myself with limiting habits. I started to be aware of my feelings more rather than numb them.  Judith Wright

• Practice daily: Rain of Compassion (20 min), Self-Forgiveness (12 min), Self-Compassion or Three-Minute Breathing Space (5x) meditation of your choice   
• Notice when you are avoiding your emotions
• Do one activity mindfully all week 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online

Individual Consultations (To Be Scheduled)
Discussion to begin developing an action plan based on your pattern analysis. The focus will be on what takes you out of suffering.

Week 10 — Turning The Mind Toward Happiness
There is a space between stimulus and response.  In this space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Viktor Frankl

• Practice daily: Three-Minute Breathing Space (5x) or Cultivating Moment-to-Moment Gratitude (23 min), Self-Forgiveness (21 min), Self-Compassion (15 min) or or meditation of your choice.
• Notice when you create space to respond (instead of react). 
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online

Week 11 – Developing An Action Plan For The Logjam That Holds You Back
“It is wise to put time aside on a daily basis for the more formal cultivation of mindfulness using practices ….” Mark Williams

• Practice daily: Three-Minute Breathing Space (5x) or Cultivating Moment-to-Moment Gratitude (23 min), Self-Forgiveness (21 min), Self-Compassion (15 min) or or meditation of your choice.
• Notice fear and where you feel it in your body
• Do one activity mindfully all week (something you would do anyway). 
• Journal five gratitudes daily online

Week 12 – Living Mindfully as a Way of Life
The real meditation is how you live your life. Jon Kabat Zinn

• Practice meditation daily
• Develop a plan to continue
• Validate yourself and others