Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Distance/Intensive Practicum Training in MBSR
14th – 18th July, 2010
Inner Space Centre, Wilton NSW
With Bob Stahl and Timothea Goddard
The Openground Distance/Intensive Practicum program:
- offers an intensive small group format in which to cultivate your skills and capacities with practice teaching sessions, supervision and direct feedback.
- will explore the curriculum in detail
- is for people who already have an ongoing meditation practice (including at least one silent retreat) and some hatha yoga experience
- is based on the Center for Mindfulness' (CFM) Practicum program and will use CFM materials which have been kindly offered to Openground for this purpose
- invites the integration of personal practice and professional application that is central to MBSR teaching
- is engaging, practical and profoundly transformative
Structure of the Distance/Intensive Practicum:
i. Distance MBSR eight week program.
This prior experience of the program is central and will ensure that practicum participants already share an understanding of how the four foundations of mindfulness are taught in an MBSR context, the shape of the program, how the teacher engages with participants and the group process.
If you live in area where there is no MBSR courses available, you can experience this important part of training through an online program offered in conjunction between Openground and Steve Flowers of Mindful Living Programs in the USA. Steve Flowers (MS, MFT) is the director of the MBSR Clinic at the Enloe Medical Centre in Chico, California. He has been teaching the MBSR programs for 14 years and also works as a psychotherapist in private practice. Steve Flowers – along with Bob Stahl PhD – is co-director of Mindful Living Programs – an organization which offers accredited MBSR training for health professionals.
Please contact Steve direct if you want to attend the online course:
steve@mindfullivingprograms.com
You can enroll directly at: E-Mindful:
http://www.emindful.com/schedules/MBSR.html
The Online MBSR course will commence on the Tuesday 23th March (Australasian time) and be able to be attended at the following times, depending on your time zone:
| NSW |
11.30 am |
| TAS |
11.30 am |
| Q'LAND |
10.30 am |
| NEW ZEALAND |
1.30 pm |
| SA |
11 am |
| WA |
8.30 am |
| SINGAPORE |
8.30 am |
| HONG KONG |
8.30 am |
ii. Intensive Five Day Residential Training: 13th – 18th July, 2010
In a rural retreat centre in NSW, we will explore the MBSR program using a range of didactic, experiential and small group work and provide opportunities for practice teaching/leading with supervision from the instructors (teacher/student ratio 1:8)
Specific areas of focus will include:
• Refining and deepening personal mindfulness practice (through formal and informal practices, in silence and in dialogue) • An exploration of the development of MBSR, the theory underpinning it and the research into its efficacy • Exploration of key aspects of the program including group process, exercises, use of poetry/stories, leading and inquiring into practice • Exploring the value of mindfulness in attending to physical and emotional difficulties including depression, anxiety, pain and stress within ourselves and our clients • On-going self-inquiry
Learning Objectives:
Practicum participants...
- Explore in detail our approach to instructing people in MBSR
- Develop an understanding of the theoretical, philosophical, pedagogical, and scientific underpinnings of MBSR
- Practice teaching skills in the areas of communication, leading practices and mindful inquiry.
- Refine and deepen personal meditation practice.
Pre-requisites
Practicum applicants are required to:
• engage regularly in a personal meditation practice and have retreat experience
• have a professional background which involves working with people (in a clinical, educational or communications area)
• have attended an eight week MBSR program or equivalent (ie MBCT eight week program)
Preference will be given to suitable applicants who have already attended an MBSR course or equivalent.
Retreat experience and training in MBSR
Regarding retreat experience for MBSR teachers, the Center for Mindfulness, UMass., advises:
Teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) requires the capacity to meet our own suffering and that of others with attention, resilience, transparency, and compassion. For most people, cultivating these qualities is both cumulative and non-linear.
Because wonder and inquiry into the nature of the self and reality is an essential practice for MBSR teachers, your engagement in a daily practice of mindfulness meditation and on-going participation in silent, teacher-led retreats is critically important. We recommend attendance at retreat centers that emphasize Theravadan Buddhist teachings because the spirit, practices, and attitudes of MBSR are reflective of this tradition. Other consciousness disciplines that include many days of silence, interaction with a meditation teacher, and practice in a style of meditation that encourages spaciousness and introspection may be acceptable.
We are lucky that there are many opportunities in Australia to undertake a silent, teacher-led retreat. Below are a few websites which give some info about retreats. Please contact Timothea Goddard (tim@openground.com.au ) if you wish to discuss the different styles of retreat.
http://www.dharma.org.au/
http://www.dhamma.org/en/schedules/schbhumi.htm
(Please note:
The Stillness in Action retreats and the Insight Dialogue retreats are very worthwhile and would certainly contribute to your learning but they are not silent.)
http://www.meditation.asn.au
http://www.dhamma.org/en/cnc/centers-anz.shtml
Teachers
The teachers of the Practicum bring many years of experience in the fields of psychotherapy, education, body awareness and mindfulness practice. All have been involved in developing and teaching MBSR programs in Australia, and in teaching other professionals.
Bob Stahl
Dr Bob Stahl (MA Counseling Psychology, PhD. Philosophy and Religion) is a counseling psychologist and long-time practitioner and teacher of insight meditation. Bob lived in a Buddhist monastery for over eight years. He has a PhD in Philosophy and Religion with a specialization in Buddhist Studies, and now directs Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction programs in five medical centers in the USA. He has taught MBSR Practicum programs for the past 10 years.
Timothea Goddard
Timothea Goddard (BA, Dip Psychotherapy, AASP, ANZAP, PACFA reg.) has trained with the Centre for Mindfulness, UMass, USA and is accredited by the CFM. Timothea works in private practice as a psychotherapist and teacher having trained in humanistic, psychodynamic and body-based psychotherapy as well as MBCT and MiCBT. Since 2007, she has been offering MBSR training and supervision for health professionals. She is a long time student of yoga, Aikido and meditation and practices in the insight tradition. She is the Director of Openground – an Australia-wide network of clinicians and teachers offering MBSR and related programs.
Assisted by:
Sue Hays
MSc, MClinPsych, MAPS, M. Australian Pain Society, M. Australian Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
Sue Hays is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice who has worked in a variety of mental health and rehabilitation settings over the past twenty years. She has taught MBSR classes since 2004 as well as two Practicum programs for health professionals. She has completed the TDI at the CFM, UMass, USA and practices in the insight tradition.
Nique Murch
B.A. Dip.,Adult Education, Feldenkrais Practitioner, Dip. Mime Mask and Movement
Nique has taught movement, improvisation and critical literacies to adults for the last twenty years. She practices in the Tibetan and Insight traditions and has experienced first hand how effective a neurophenomenological approach can be in the management of chronic pain. Nique currently teaches at Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Studies and has taught MBSR for the past five years.
Pre-Reading
The following books are pre-reading for the program. Three CD ROMs of additional reading material (articles and curriculum information) will be sent to you on payment of your Practicum fee.
Full Catastrophe Living (1990), Kabat-Zinn, Dell Publishing, New York, NY, USA
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse (2002), Segal, Williams, Teasdale, Guilford Press, New York, NY, USA
Heal Thyself, (1999), Santorelli, Random House
The Mindful Brain , (2007), Siegel, D., Norton: New York.
Cost
Application fee: $100 (non-refundable)
Payable on application
Intensive practicum retreat cost (including full board) and GST: $2100.00
FEE SCHEDULE
Application fee $100 on application (non-refundable)
Deposit: $300 on acceptance
(After payment of deposit, you will be sent course materials
including 3 CD Roms of reading materials, kindly provided by the
Center for Mindfulness, UMass, for this training in Australia.)
Final: $1800 by the 15th June, 2010
Deposit will be retained if you withdraw later than 1st June 2010.
Payment Options
Fees may be paid by cheque or EFT (credit card facilities are not available at this time).
Payment by EFT via internet banking details are as follows:
Bank: ANZ BSB: 012-241 Account No: 4990-00818
Please email a PDF copy of your transfer receipt to Openground at info@openground.com.au and include your surname in the reference field.
Payment by cheque:
Make cheque out to Openground and post to:
Registrar
Openground
3/71 Boronia Rd
Bellevue Hill NSW 2023
Application process
Firstly, please click here to complete the online form
Secondly, Please send your electronic application to Brenda, the Openground administrator at: info@openground.com.au
Your application should include a cover letter and your CV, combined into a single document, with your name in title of the document.
In your application, please detail your personal development, educational and career experience, as well as your meditation experience. Please include: years of meditation experience, regularity of practice, as well as the tradition(s) in which you practice and note all teacher-led, silent retreats you have attended. Address such issues as the meaning of practice in your life and work, what has drawn you to participate in this program, and your vision or intentions for integrating this into your work.
You will be contacted by Timothea to arrange a phone interview - which will be conducted in person or by phone.
If sending a cheque, please send to:
Openground
3/71 Boronia Rd
Bellevue Hill NSW 2023
You will receive confirmation of receipt of your application by email.
Please send:
- your electronic application
- your payment or confirmation of payment
via the Openground administrator, Brenda Rowlandson at: info@openground.com.au
3/71 Boronia Rd
Bellevue Hill NSW 2023
To find out more
Contact Timothea Goddard
Tel 02 93897 5204
Email: tim@openground.com.au
Venue
Inner Space Retreat Centre
150 Macarthur Rd, Wilton, NSW
Inner Space Retreat Centre is a spacious, quiet and beautiful centre located in a rural setting one hour south of Sydney. Inner Space offers superb retreat facilities for meditation and training. Delicious vegetarian meals and twin share accommodation (with ensuite bathroom) will be provided. There may be some provision for single rooms. This will not be known until closer to the retreat. Decisions about single rooms will be made on the basis of availablity and need.
