Two things are rare when we humans communicate:

1. being offered time and space to express ourselves, and
2. listening, and being listened to, without agenda

Join Rebecca Eldridge for a 4-week workshop during which we will offer ourselves and each other these 2 rare gifts.

We will cultivate in-the-moment communication, fueled by reflection, which is often the most alive, fresh speech we can experience, for both speaker and listener. It shakes us out of stale, habituated ways of communicating. We get to see and hear one another. We get to be seen and heard by one another. Communicating in this way can be both frightening and rewarding.

NOTE: this workshop is for graduates of an 8-week mindfulness-based program conducted live, in person or online.

Join Rebecca Eldridge on this 9-session, 20.25-hour program, which is open to MBSR teachers of all experience levels: whether you’ve taught 1 or 100 MBSR courses, you are invited to apply for a seat in this program. No matter when you initially trained to teach MBSR, or through which organization you trained (or maybe you’re still in the process of training), hopefully you never want to stop learning—about teaching MBSR and about yourself as an MBSR teacher. Mentorship, and being in collegial relationship with other MBSR teachers, is a crucial part of that ongoing learning.

During our 9 sessions, we will explore assumptions about what MBSR is and what it is not; about what “good teaching” of MBSR is and isn’t; about what it means to practice mindfulness and MBSR; about your personal and professional experience of teaching MBSR; about your personal meditation practice, and more. You will be invited to occasionally practice-teach parts of the MBSR curriculum, and to receive feedback from your teaching colleagues and Rebecca. We will also hold space for exploring what is alive for you around teaching MBSR.

Rebecca Eldridge studies, practices meditation, and teaches under the guidance, deep caring, and encouragement of her teacher, Pema Chödrön. She completed her MBSR teacher training through the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) at UMass Medical School, where she also served as an MBSR teacher and teacher trainer, designing and teaching the CFM’s first online Fundamentals training for MBSR teachers-in-training. She served as a one-to-one mentor for MBSR teacher trainees at the CFM and performed certification reviews at the conclusion of an MBSR teacher’s formal training. Rebecca is one of a limited number of MBSR teacher trainers certified as a calibrated rater for assessing MBSR teaching, and is a member of the International Mindfulness Integrity Network, a worldwide group of teacher trainers exploring ethics and standards of mindfulness training programs.

Classically speaking, there are four formal meditation postures: sitting, standing, walking, and lying down. Yet is seems that sitting gets by far the most attention, even though all four postures can be thought of as a first approximation as different doors into the very same room.

In this workshop, we will focus on the unique virtues of lying down meditations and how such practices can be seamlessly integrated into our daily lives.

Join Jon Kabat-Zinn and Rebecca Eldridge as they discuss the virtues, challenges, and opportunities of lying down meditation. Jon will also guide a brief period of lying down practice, and engage in dialogue with the participants about their experiences. This is an excellent opportunity to explore inwardly and outwardly what lying down meditation practices might hold for you.

Missed the live sessions? The recordings are now available on Jon Kabat-Zinn's website!

Photo credit: © Joshua Simpson