Events

Subcribe here to hear about our free drop in sessions 

https://www.mindfulness.ie

Links

This is an online course which  is suitable for those with prior meditation experience as well as those who have none.

You are asked to make a commitment to daily home practice of around thirty to forty-five minutes per day for the duration of the course.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

 was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979 for patients living with chronic pain originally and then adapted for all kinds of stressors.

In this MBSR course we will explore what we mean by the term ‘stress’ and how it manifests in our lives.  We will explore the ways in which mindfulness can support us in responding to the events in our lives rather than being caught up in reactivity - how can we pause in the midst of the everything that is demanding our attention and tune into what is actually happening within and around us, and thus afford ourselves the opportunity to respond in more helpful ways.  The programme promotes the development of self-awareness and general well-being.  Stress is part of life, we cannot avoid it.   We are encouraged to acknowledge life as it is, with all its joys and sorrows, and thus live more fully, with whatever is here.   

We practice different forms of mindfulness practice including sitting meditation, the body scan gentle mindful movement and walking meditation.  The emphasis is on bringing mindful awareness into everyday life.

Participants will receive a programme handbook in the post to support learning and a weekly email summarising the content and practice instructions for that week, plus guided meditation recordings.

When the course finishes there are online meditation groups you can join. This support can make a big difference to keeping up practice so that when we experience stressful times in our lives it is there to support us.

●      Use mindfulness to relate in healthier ways to chronic pain, worry and feelings of anxiety and to better manage stressful situations in both work/home life

●      Become familiar with the workings of the mind, including the ways we avoid or get caught up in difficulties

●      Sustain the practice of mindfulness as a self-care tool that can be integrated into our work and home life

●      Explore ways of releasing ourselves from old habits of mind that increase anxiety levels

●      Get in touch with a different way of knowing ourselves and the world

●      Recognise the harshness of self-judgement and develop self-acceptance

●      Be able to exercise greater choice in life

●      Manage interpersonal relationships and conflict more effectively

●      Experience improved feelings of self-worth and compassion for ourselves and for others

Participants who attend the programme fully will receive a Certificate of Completion in the “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Programme” from The Mindfulness Centre, on request.

Tuesday Evening 8 Week Online MBSR/MBCT with Erica Balfour

For the New Year, a Sunday of Contemplation - Trust: How Does The Heart Know Where To Go?

As 2024 begins, how do we set our orientation for the coming year?   In our world today, we can feel immobilised by all the information coming at us from so many different sources.  How do we know where to stand, or how to take the next step?  We cannot move forward without some sense of trust in the direction we are taking.  How and in what do we establish this trust and confidence?

variously translated as trust, faith or confidence, as the first of five spiritual faculties or powers. Why did he do so and what did he mean?  What different associations do each of these terms have for us?   And how might the cultivation of the qualities of trust and confidence support us in living well?

Our discussion will seek to shed light on both the helpful and unhelpful aspects of this qualities. We’ll explore together how these qualities can become something to sustain us through the ups and downs of our practice and the challenges of life.

The Buddha was very practical and down to earth, and his insights into the workings of the human mind are being found to be largely in keeping with modern psychological theory.  If this intersection between ancient wisdom and modern psychology interests you, and if you are seeking to live your life in a more meaningful way, please join us for this contemplation retreat with two highly respected teachers from the Bodhi College.

This day is suitable for anyone with an interest in the 2,600 year old teachings of the Buddha which form the bedrock of the modern mindfulness movement.  People of all religions and none are welcome.  Mindfulness practitioners, teachers and teacher trainees are welcome.  If you are thinking about coming to our annual August retreat in Castletown this year, this is an opportunity to meet Chrstoph and Jaya, who will be leading it, in advance.

The day will include some teaching as well as some time for reflection, discussion and periods of meditation.

We will meet  for 3 x 1.5 hour sessions, so there will be time for tea breaks and lunch:

 is a member of the faculty of The Bodhi College.  She began meditating in 1984, and from 1996 to 2005 was ordained as a nun in the Thai forest tradition in England at 

 in Massachusetts. She teaches meditation retreats and courses in the UK and internationally. Jaya has extensive experience teaching Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindful Self-Compassion and teaches retreats for Mindfulness teachers and teachers in training. She also enjoys practising and teaching qigong.

Christoph Köck is also a member of the Bodhi College faculty. He led an online retreat in Ireland last year for the MTAI and those who attended really appreciated his gentle, thoughtful style of teaching and reflecting.

Christoph was born in Vienna, Austria, and spent 17 years of his life as a Buddhist monk in the Theravadin tradition. He lived mainly in monasteries connected with Ajahn Chah in Thailand and the West.  Currently he lives in Vienna, working as a psychotherapist in a private practice. He teaches Buddhism and meditation internationally, and is trained to teach MBSR and MBCT. 

A weekly session led by experienced trainee teachers for those who wish to maintain their mindfulness practice after the 8 week MBSR or MBCT.  This session lasts an hour approximately and includes some reflection /inquiry. 

Tuesday Night Drop In Maintaining Mindfulness After the MBSR 7.30pm

The Mindfulness Centre offer a number of drop in sessions where we can gather online for Live meditations to provide a weekly anchor to support your practice.

 are open for all and take place at 7pm.  Sessions are offered freely but  If you find the sessions helpful and would like to support the centre by making us a small donation on our buy me a coffee here page: 

 (7.30pm - 8.30pm) are for those who have completed the MBSR or MBCT programmes and would like to continue to explore their experience. These sessions are led by our senior trainees. To receive the link just register 

Live Online Guided Meditation Sessions

With Rosalie Dores M.A..  Interpersonal Mindfulness & Mindfulness Trainer & Supervisor.  

mindfulness teachers and teacher trainees.  This workshop will also be helpful to yoga and movement teachers who are interested in bringing more mindfulness into their teaching.  

During this day-long workshop, we will enquire, theoretically and experientially, into the role of mindful movement in mindfulness-based approaches. 

- in deepening their personal understanding of why movement is important and

- in teaching movement with confidence and with integrity.

There will be mindful movement, discussion and teaching elements in each of the 3 sessions.  Please make sure you have space and privacy to practice mindful movement.

https://optimalliving.co.uk/blog/bodyfulness/

Leading From Within - an Exploration of Mindful Movement: Saturday Workshop with Rosalie Dores

This is an online course which is suitable for those with prior meditation experience as well as those who have none.

In this MBSR course we will explore what we mean by the term ‘stress’ and how it manifests in our lives. We will explore the ways in which mindfulness can support us in responding to the events in our lives rather than being caught up in reactivity - how can we pause in the midst of the everything that is demanding our attention and tune into what is actually happening within and around us, and thus afford ourselves the opportunity to respond in more helpful ways. The programme promotes the development of self-awareness and general well-being. Stress is part of life, we cannot avoid it. We are encouraged to acknowledge life as it is, with all its joys and sorrows, and thus live more fully, with whatever is here.   

We practice different forms of mindfulness practice including sitting meditation, the body scan gentle mindful movement and walking meditation. The emphasis is on bringing mindful awareness into everyday life.

Friday Morning MBSR (Online) with Rachel Ardagh

If mindfulness teaches us to be more aware of our present moment experience, self-compassion teaches us how to relate to our present moment experience in (what is for most of us) a very different way.

It involves treating oneself as one would a friend, being more mindful, and understanding our situation in the context of a larger human experience. When we can be more understanding and gentler with ourselves, identify less with the emotions that surround our mistakes, and understand that failure is a normal part of the larger human experience, we become stronger and more resilient. There is now a significant body of evidence showing that practicing self-compassion is strongly correlated with increased emotional resilience and well-being, in addition to reduced stress and anxiety (Source: Stanford Medicine – The Scientific Benefits of Self Compassion).

In this course participants will learn a variety of formal and informal practices which have been shown to increase self-compassion and resilience. Practicing over an 8 week period gives participants a chance to incorporate the practices into their lives and observe the benefits for themselves.

8 Week In Person Mindful Self Compassion Course with Barry Lee

Online Retreat: Sat  September 23rd time TBC

Monday Evening MBSR (Online) with Erica Balfour

De La Salle Pastoral Centre, Castletown, County Laois

 The retreat is open to anyone with previous experience of similar types of silent retreat of 5 days or longer, but preference will be given to mindfulness teachers and teachers in training.  

Personal meditation practice is an essential foundation for anyone who works with mindfulness-based interventions and participation in silent teacher-led mindfulness meditation retreats is part of all Good Practice Guidelines.  This retreat satisfies the MTAI criteria for a mindfulness teacher's annual retreat.

This retreat will explore aspects of the foundations of Mindfulness, as taught in the Satipaṭṭhāna discourse given by the Buddha. These are profound teachings that encourage us to place the path of freedom and compassion in the classroom of our lives, nurturing a heart that is receptive and unshakeable. Developing the capacity to encounter our own inner and outer experience with equanimity and curiosity creates a foundation for meeting the experiences of our students and clients, in offering mindfulness-based interventions.

Each day will offer a sustained schedule of formal meditation practice (both Insight and Metta), group meetings with the teachers, talks and instructions, all within an underlying environment of silence.  

 We welcome people with disabilities to our retreat.  The venue is fully accessible.  Please contact us with your specific needs relating to disability, long-term illness or health condition.

 for The Mindfulness Centre's August Retreat 2023 with John Peacock and Bernat Font. We hope these rates reflect our intention that anyone who would like to attend can through collective generosity. Prices include accommodation, food, teaching and administration.

Pay for yourself and help support one person to join on a Bursary -

For those in financial hardship who cannot afford our full priced rate (see below for more) -

A limited number of places are reserved for those unable to afford the concessionary Rate -

Cancellations up to 1st June 2023 will incur a €50 administration fee.

Cancellations after 1st June 2023 will incur the loss of the deposit.

The organisers may waive cancellation fees in exceptional circumstances, at their discretion.

We are keeping up-to-date with government guidelines to provide a safe retreat environment. As the conditions and guidelines change, we are remaining flexible and will be reviewing what is needed at the time of each retreat.

Prior to your retreat, we will send some more information about what to expect whilst at Castletown. We hope you find the following information useful

"Mindfulness, Insight and Freedom" 7-Day Silent Residential Retreat with John Peacock and Bernat Font

Tuesday Evening MBSR (Online) with Rachel Ardagh

This 8-week Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy course will be taught on-line using the Zoom platform.  

The online group is every Wednesday from 5.30 - 7.30 pm. Prior to the course Fiona will arrange an orientation phone call with you.  As this is an intensive course in mindfulness and meditation it is important that you understand fully what will be involved.  This call will help you to ascertain if it is the right course for you, and if it is the right time for you to do it. There is a home practice commitment of at least 40 minutes a day for the duration of the course.  You will be given a handbook and guided audios to support you in your participation. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s ground-breaking Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre in 1979.  MBCT includes elements from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and was initially designed to support people suffering from recurring depression from relapsing.  Research indicates that MBCT is highly effective in preventing relapse in depression in those with 3 or more episodes, and where there is relapse the symptoms are not so severe and the episodes don’t last as long. Over the last 20 years MBCT has been adapted to meet  a much broader range of needs – the ordinary stresses of everyday life, work, family and relationships (which can all be very stressful from time to time), anxiety, low mood, low self confidence, poor sleep, and so on.  Mindfulness helps us to wake up to our present moment experience instead of being lost in the past,  often in regret, or in the future, often in worry or obsessive planning.

Masters in Mindfulness Based Approaches from Bangor University, Wales, UK

Wednesday Evening Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

Mindful practices for all aspects of life.

A weekend to pause, slow down and restore yourself with the best of organic vegetarian food. In a warm and friendly environment, we will be taking time out from the frantic human 

 and spending time to nourish the human 

We will draw from a variety of mindfulness programmes and teachers – Mindful Self-Compassion, the Work that Reconnects (Joanna Macy), Thich Nhat Hanh, Positive Neuroplasticity (Rick Hanson) and Awakening Joy. 

The heart of this weekend is about how to care for ourselves and the natural world, which is so obviously under pressure. Often there can be a feeling of helplessness and overwhelm. How can we meet this? The first step is cultivating a sense of appreciation and connection.

There will be a range of activities such as mindful eating, mindful movement, guided meditations, mindful walking and cooking creatively together using seasonal, organic food and local vegetables from Kyrie Farm.

Shirley is a gifted and wonderful cook and she has some real treats in store for us like homemade elderflower cordial and rose petal syrup. We will learn how to support our micro biome with healthy foods like homemade pickles, keffir, kombucha and sauerkraut.

Slowing down in this way allows the chance of enjoying what you are doing, while you are doing it, to become possible. These practices also can serve as anchors in a frantic world.

Taking time to relax and enjoy the simple everyday experiences that we usually rush through allows us to resource ourselves to meet life more creatively.  When we slow down like this, we can become aware of  the limiting beliefs that can stop us from making more courageous choices in our lives. 

We are affected deeply by the world around us, however we often under appreciate how we can affect the world.  Mindful practices allows us to see this interconnection and support us in making better choices, for ourselves and the planet. Practicing appreciation and gratitude can perhaps free us from the belief that more is always better. We will also explore  how the practice of fierce self-compassion can support us in responding with kindness, wisdom and courage.

We have run a number of weekends together and very much look forward to this summer weekend that will have aspects of retreat, for example periods of silence, periods of preparation of vegetables with others in a quiet mindful atmosphere.  This embodiment of seeing, tasting and touching brings mindfulness so much more to life.  Along with this you will be given all the recipes so you can go home with a real understanding and knowledge of very tasty vegetarian food.  

All are welcome! The weekend is open to beginners as well as people with more experience.

Slow Down to Smell the Roses Weekend Retreat

Heart Of Inquiry - a Weekend Workshop with Sarah Silverton

Mindfulness and Attachment Theory: Connecting with Ourselves, Connecting with Others.

join us for a gentle exploration of how it is to meet our styles of attachment (in relationships), and where mindfulness and presence fits and supports us with this.  This is a five week online course.  Classes start at 6.30pm and run until 8pm.

Attachment patterns, while formed in childhood, are constantly evolving, just like our lives, and our relationships. Bringing mindful awareness to attune more compassionately to our patterns in relationships, perhaps withdrawal, avoidance, dependence, ’neediness’ etc., can lend itself to living and connecting with more ease, and security in ourselves. This course will facilitate some curiosity and reflection on how we are right now in our relationship to ourselves and others. It  is possible, with mindfulness and self-compassion to move towards more secure attachment templates. Learning how to bring a kindhearted presence to ourselves, to the life that's here, one moment at a time. It turns out that we can cultivate trust, kindness, acceptance and connection to our true selves. Over time through practice we can build a capacity to be at home with ourselves and this is a gateway to healthier relationship with others.

Whilst we will touch on some of the evidence base on attachment theory, we also invite a playful exploration and discussion on how it might be to gently hold these patterns with attention, acceptance and non judgement. Evidence suggests that It is possible to nurture and develop a secure base in ourselves through cultivating mindfulness, which lends itself to increased levels of resilience. (Yang and Oka, 2022). Among the many ways of connecting authentically with others, and so connecting genuinely/authentically within ourselves is through care, attention and kindness. These are qualities we cultivate in mindfulness practice, and prime us for a secure base. Our inner secure base can also be a soothing influence on those around us both young and old.

Mindfulness and Attachment Styles: Connecting with Ourselves, Connecting with Others

We will practice and discuss exactly what this means, looks like, feels like as although it can sound easy, at times it really is not. We will have the time to reflect the  the blocks, fears and beliefs that can stop us from feeling more compassionate to ourselves and others.

Please pay the rate that is suitable for you and your income, and if you are in a position to support someone else to attend, this is most generous.

Introduction to Mindful Self-Compassion

The 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programme (MBSR)

The 8-week MBSR was developed in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a micro-biologist working at the university’s Medical Centre.  A few years in he founded the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) there.  He initially intended the programme to be used with patients at the hospital with a broad spectrum of physical and psychological challenges – chronic pain, chronic conditions, anxiety and depression related to illness and illness brought on by anxiety and depression, and so forth.   The premise behind the programme is that, to paraphrase Jon Jabat-Zinn, there is more right with us than wrong with us, as long as we are breathing.  So the issue is not our medical condition, whatever that might be, but rather how we are relating to the challenges in our lives, whatever they might be.  Since 1979 the programme has grown and thousands of people have undertaken it in hospitals, clinics, schools, prisons, companies and various community and commercial settings all across the United States and Canada, and thence to the rest of the world.  The original components of the course structure – 

adherence to the spirit of the original CFM curriculum,

a pre-course orientation, 8 weekly classes of between 2.5 and 3 hours in length and a full Day of Mindfulness practice between weeks 5 & 7 of the 8 week course – 

Research has shown that MBSR is beneficial to patients with medical conditions (including chronic illness and pain, high blood pressure

cancer, vascular and respiratory disorders and many others), psychological distress (including anxiety, panic, depression, fatigue, and sleep disturbances) as well as in preventative medicine and wellness programmes.  MBSR has become part of a newly recognised field of integrative medicine within behavioural medicine and general health care.   A central tenet of MBSR is that we are active participants in our own well being, no matter what the condition of our body and mind.

Friday Morning In Person MBSR/MBCT with Erica Balfour

The online group is every Wednesday from 5.30 - 7.30 pm with a mini-retreat day, between Week 6 and 7 (date will be confirmed). Prior to the course Fiona will arrange an orientation phone call with you.  As this is an intensive course in mindfulness and meditation it is important that you understand fully what will be involved.  This call will help you to ascertain if it is the right course for you, and if it is the right time for you to do it. There is a home practice commitment of at least 40 minutes a day for the duration of the course.  You will be given a handbook and guided audios to support you in your participation. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy is based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s ground-breaking Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre in 1979.  MBCT includes elements from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and was initially designed to support people suffering from recurring depression from relapsing.  Research indicates that MBCT is highly effective in preventing relapse in depression in those with 3 or more episodes, and where there is relapse the symptoms are not so severe and the episodes don’t last as long. Over the last 20 years MBCT has been adapted to meet  a much broader range of needs – the ordinary stresses of everyday life, work, family and relationships (which can all be very stressful from time to time), anxiety, low mood, low self confidence, poor sleep, and so on.  Mindfulness helps us to wake up to our present moment experience instead of being lost in the past,  often in regret, or in the future, often in worry or obsessive planning.

You are welcome to join us for a day of mindfulness practice led by Helen Byrne it will take place in the Marino Institute of Education in Dublin 9.

This is a retreat day for anyone who is currently in the midst of or has completed one of our 8 Week Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) Courses or anyone who has a regular practice and attended a full day retreat previously.

A day of practice offers us an opportunity to set aside our usual tasks and responsibilities and take time to practice being present to the fullness of our experience.

Aside from the guidance, we will be practicing mostly in silence so that we can create the space to allow us to go a little deeper than perhaps our usual mindfulness practice.  We may see a little more clearly our reactivity, our patterns and practice bringing kindness and understanding to what we are discovering rather than our tendency to distract ourselves, criticise or attack ourselves. We invite awareness, presence and kindness to all of our experience, as best we can. 

Please wear comfy clothing and bring your yoga mat, blanket, cushion (if you need one), meditation stool (if you have one). 

Bring packed lunch and a flask of tea/coffee and a drink.  There is a canteen on site but it can be noisy and might bring you out of your retreat headspace.

Day of Mindfulness Practice

A Saturday Morning Workshop for Mindfulness Teachers, Trainee Teachers; and for people who have completed an 8-week MBSR/MBCT course with an interest in this topic

An Introduction to The Foundations of Mindfulness: The Neuroscience of the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta With Dr Alistair Wilson

This workshop aims to introduce us to the foundations of the modern mindfulness

movement in one particular teaching of the Buddha’s, the Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta. This

discourse on Four Foundations of Mindfulness outlines the core practices taught within Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT).

An understanding of mindfulness as expressed in these core texts will be explored in the light of current understanding of contemporary cognitive science and neuroscience.

There will be 2 teaching sessions: 9.30-11am and 11.30am to 1.00pm.

Dr Alistair Wilson is a consultant psychiatrist and fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatry in Scotland. He has worked as a Consultant Community Psychiatrist within the National Health Service for almost thirty years. During this time, he completed his training in Cognitive Therapy at Oxford University and graduated with a MSc in Mindfulness Based Approaches with the University of Bangor in 2011. He has also trained in Trauma-Focused CBT, Sensory-Motor Psychotherapy and Eye Movement De-Sensitisation Rationale in order to deliver care for those experiencing symptoms of trauma. Since retiring from the NHS in 2014 he has been employed by Combat Stress, a charity providing support to UK veterans experiencing PostTraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).Alistair has a long history of delivering MBCT within mental health services in and around Glasgow. He has delivered mindfulness sessions to medical staff and workshops on Mindful Approaches to Trauma in London, Dublin and UMass. He is currently engaged in a series of research projects evaluating the feasibility of Mindfulness Based Approaches in a variety of settings including Oncology, Addiction and Trauma, and has recently trained to deliver the MBCT for Life course through the Oxford Mindfulness Centre.

An Introduction to

The Foundations of Mindfulness: The Neuroscience of the

Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta
With Dr Alistair Wilson

Saturday and Sunday, 11th – 12th March 2023

Open to all, whether you are beginning to mediate or already have experience

CHRISTINA FELDMAN is a co-founder of Gaia House. She has been leading Insight Meditation retreats worldwide since 1976. She is a Guiding Teacher of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts and a founder member of The Bodhi College.

She is the author of a number of books including Woman Awake,

Way of Meditation, and co-author of Soul Food. Recent books include Silence and The Buddhist Path to Simplicity and, co-authored with Willem Kuyken, Mindfulness: Ancient Wisdom meets Modern Psychology.

This weekend will be dedicated to contemplating the vulnerability of being human and the possibility of being held in mindfulness and the family of mindfulness. Our weekend will take the form of longer times of teaching plus periods of sitting and there will be opportunities to ask questions and reflect.

Saturday and Sunday from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm

Please commit to attending both days in full.  There will be comfort breaks throughout the day with a lunch break from 12.30 – 1.30 pm.

€50 - This covers the cost of the teacher and admin. (If you are struggling financially the option is to pay concession rate)

If you have any questions regarding the retreat, you can send an email 

Vulnerability and MindfulnessOnline retreat with Christina Feldman

You are welcome to join us for a day of mindfulness practice led by Josephine Lynch, Erica Balfour and  Rachel Ardagh it will take place in the Marino Institute of Education in Dublin 9.

Day of Mindfulnes Practice

4 Week Course - starts Wednesday, 23rd March, Class begins at 5.30pm and ends at 7pm.  Cost €125.  A deposit of €50 on booking.

Fiona had the pleasure of training with Dr Rick Hanson in 2018. He argues that through what’s called “experience-dependent neuroplasticity”, the main way to develop inner strengths is to practice having experiences of them. He argues that repeated feelings of gratitude make a person more grateful. Hanson states that positive neural traits are built from positive mental states.

Neurons that fire together wire together!

Hanson has developed techniques to support people to turn everyday experiences into ‘a powerful sense of lasting well-being’. He suggests with these simple practices we can hardwire more love, gratitude and wisdom into our brains and into our lives. If we worry a lot, those neural connections in the brain will be well developed, so it may take time to fire up the neural pathways of love, gratitude and safety. You might like to think of this like different roads in the brain, if we don’t use particular roads much they are like thin lane-ways, whereas the roads we use a lot are like wide motorways, well-travelled and very easy to access! For some of us anxiety, feeling not good enough and feeling not loved are very easy feelings to access. And because of this we miss some of the good things we have in our everyday lives, like the ability to breathe, to walk, to talk, to have somewhere safe to sleep, to have clean drinking water… There are so many wonderful things happening in our days that we are often missing them because the pathways in our brains aren’t wired to notice these experiences. Hanson argues that developing inner strengths and positive emotions of gratitude, compassion and joy helps reduce stress in our lives. So how can we develop these neural pathways and networks?

The Negativity Bias: Our Stone Age Brain in the 21st Century!

It is useful to know that we learn faster from pain than from pleasure. Hanson says that our brain is like Velcro for the bad and Teflon for the good! If you think back to your last work appraisal, your manager may have mentioned 10 areas that you are working really well in and 1 area where there is some room for development, what do you think we end up thinking about afterwards? It’s usually the negative feedback right? Rick Hanson has developed a technique called ‘Taking in the Good’ and the ‘HEAL’ process to balance out this Negativity Bias.  Basically noticing a good experience and savouring it, allowing it to be absorbed for 5-20 seconds, 2-3 times a day, which is outlined in more details below. He is very clear that this is not positive thinking, it is opening up to pleasant experiences that are already here, but often we don’t notice them due to autopilot and the negativity bias. To survive in the past, it was more important ‘

, so being on high alert for danger was a helpful survival technique for our ancestors.  Hanson argues that this is a ‘bug’ in the Stone Age brain: most of the time we are relatively safe, however our brain and body often doesn’t feel like this!

The 3 Parts of the Brain! ‘Pet the Lizard, Feed the Mouse and Hug the Monkey’

Hanson states that the brain is crudely divided into three sections: the oldest part of the brain is the Brain Stem, the Reptilian part of the brain to do with feelings of Safety, the middle part of the brain the Limbic/Mammalian part is to do with feelings of Satisfaction, and the Neo Cortex, the most recently developed, is to do with our feelings of Connection. He uses some phrases to remember each section: we need to ‘Pet the Lizard (Reptilian), Feed the Mouse (Mammalian) and Hug the Monkey (Neo Cortex)’. He suggests we need to know what our ‘Vitamin C’ is? For example, if we feel a lack of connection in our lives, our ‘Vitamin C’ will be practicing experiencing feelings of connection. If we feel anxious or fearful a lot of the time, we need to spend some time letting the Reptilian part of the brain know we are safe, this might mean practicing phrases such as ‘I am safe and protected right now’ and really spending time feeling and absorbing this feeling of safety. He says if we are not sure which part of our brain needs most support, the good news is that practicing Love, connection and compassion is the multivitamin that supports all of these 3 systems of the brain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpuDyGgIeh0

Listen to one of these short meditations each day or do the 5 minute 10 Finger Gratitude each night before bed. As well as the HEAL technique a few times each day (5-20 seconds)!

Throughout your day see how it is to stop and during the day 2-3 times and notice something good that is part of your experience in that moment. It could be the really small things like listening to the birds, breathing in fresh air, someone smiling at you or said something nice. And then practice the HEAL technique 2-3 times a day for 2-20 seconds each time:

. Notice a positive experience that’s already present in the foreground or background of your awareness, such as physical pleasure, a sense of determination, or feeling close to someone. Or create a positive experience for yourself, for example you could think about things for which you are grateful, bring a friend to mind, or recognise a task you’ve completed. As much as you can help ideas like these become emotionally rewarding experiences, otherwise it’s merely positive thinking.

. Stay with the positive experience for 5, 10 or 20 seconds or longer, open to the feeling in it and try to sense it in your body, let it fill your mind. Enjoy it. Gently encourage the experience to be more intense. Find something fresh or novel about it. Recognise how it’s personally relevant, how it could nourish or help you. Get these neurons really firing together, so they’ll really wire together.

. Feel and sense the experience really sinking into you as you sink into it. Let it really land in your mind. Perhaps visualise it shifting down through your body, or feel it easing you like a soothing balm. Know that the experience is becoming part of you, a resource inside that you can take with you wherever you go.

Positive Neuroplasticity with Fiona O Donnell - 4 Week Course

Graduation cermony

Mindful practices for all aspects of your life

A weekend to pause, slow down and restore yourself with the best of organic vegetarian food. In a warm and friendly environment, we will be taking time out from the frantic human 

There will be a range of activities such as mindful eating, mindful movement, cooking creatively together, mindful walking and guided meditations. This allows the chance of enjoying what you are doing, while you are doing it, to become possible. These practices can serve as anchors in a frantic world.

Taking time to relax and enjoy the simple everyday experiences that we usually rush through, allows us to resource ourselves to meet life more creatively. When we slow down like this, we can become aware of the limiting beliefs that can cause us to make poorer choices in our lives. We will be exploring how we often speak to ourselves unkindly and we will take the time to learn a more compassionate voice.

We are affected deeply by the world around us however we often under appreciate how we can affect the world in a way we might wish to. Mindful practices allows us to see this interconnection and supports us in making better choices, for ourselves and the planet. Practicing appreciation and gratitude can perhaps free us from the belief that more is always better.

Jospehine Lynch and Shirley Copeland have been working together for many years in this area and are delighted to offer this weekend.

The retreat is open to beginners as well as people with experience.

Price € 320 for single room, ensuite €15 extra. A number of reduced places offered please email to enquire.

Times Friday 17th check in at 5 pm till Sunday 19th after Lunch.

Slowing Down the Wheel of Life.  Weekend Retreat with Josephine Lynch and Shirley Copeland

This course includes a Day of Mindfulness Practice on Sunday 26th 2023, from 10am to 4.00pm.

We meet at 6pm each Wednesday  and finish at 8:30pm. 

The course is suitable for those with prior meditation experience as well as those who have none.  

You are asked to make a commitment to daily home practice of around forty-five minutes per day for the duration of the course.

The full price of the course is €350.  A deposit of €100 is paid on booking and the balance is paid to your teacher who will let you know directly the payment options.  There are a number of concession places for those on low incomes. 

 was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979.  Twenty years later, Dr Mark Williams of Bangor and Oxford Universities, Dr John Teasdale of Bristol University and Dr Zindel Segal of the University of Toronto developed 

to support people experiencing recurrent depression.  

This course incorporates some aspects of MBCT into the MBSR programme, aspects which we have found helpful in allowing us to meet the anxiety, worry and low mood of being human in these challenging times in supportive ways.

In this MBSR/MBCT course we will explore what we mean by the term ‘stress’ and how it manifests in our lives.  The invitation is to explore the ways in which mindfulness can support us in responding to the events in our lives rather than being caught up in reactivity - how can we pause in the midst of the everything that is demanding our attention and tune into what is actually happening within and around us, and thus afford ourselves the opportunity to respond in more helpful ways. The programme promotes the development of self-awareness and general well-being.  Stress is part of life, we cannot avoid it.   We are encouraged to acknowledge life as it is, with all its joys and sorrows, and thus live in a more fully, with whatever is here.   

We practice different forms of mindfulness practice including sitting meditation, the body scan and gentle mindful movement.  As the emphasis is on bringing mindful awareness into everyday life, a commitment to daily home practice of around forty-five minutes is required.  

Participants will receive a programme handbook to support learning and a weekly email summarising the content and practice instructions for that week plus guided meditation recordings.

When the course finishes there are online and in-person meditation groups you can join. This support can make a big difference to keeping up practice so that when we meet stressful times in our lives it is there to support us.

●      Use mindfulness to relate in healthier ways to worry and feelings of anxiety and to better manage stressful situations in both work and home life

●      Experience improved feelings of self-worth and compassion for others

All participants who attend the programme fully will receive a Certificate of Completion in the “Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction / Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Programme” from The Mindfulness Centre on request.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction / Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy  8 Week 
In-Person Course with Helen Byrne

Mindfulness and Joy Workshop with Barry 10am - 1pm 

Like most people I was initially drawn to meditation because of suffering in my life. At the time I was working as a newly qualified solicitor. It was a stressful job and I experienced panic attacks. I learned how to meditate and it helped. I was able to stop and breathe. The inner pressure was more bearable. Over the years it completely changed my life for the better, to the point where I ultimately changed career in order to teach mindfulness full time and share the benefits with others.

In the beginning, if someone asked me why I meditate, I would probably emphasise how it helped me to “reduce stress” in my life. That felt like a socially acceptable thing to say. We are all interested in managing stress (particularly in the corporate world). There is something stoic about it. We endure stress because we are so busy.We manage it and we persevere. I would have been very hesitant to tell the same person how meditation made me more “joyful”. At the time, the word “joy” felt self-indulgent and, dare I say, a bit “happy clappy” to me. It didn’t feel socially acceptable to say that I just wanted to be happy… that life sometimes felt a bit grim and grey and relentless and I needed a counterbalance.

I think that in Ireland this attitude still prevails to a certain extent and it’s a pity. What is the point of life if not to experience moments of deep connection and meaning? The good news is that copious research has shown that joy, happiness and gratitude are states of mind that can be practised and cultivated. Neuroscience has shown how our brains have a “negativity bias” – we are hardwired to notice and remember unpleasant experiences and disregard pleasant experiences. If we are aware and we have the right intention we can bring this bias back into balance. We can be more objective. Awakening Joy doesn’t mean that we look at life through rose tinted lenses. Without glossing over the challenges of life which we are always faced with, we can discover that joy is always here in the present moment if we want it.

Mindfulness for Joy workshop with Barry Lee

This course includes a Day of Mindfulness Practice on TBC (Sunday between week 6 & 7).

We meet at 10am each Thursday and finish at 12:30pm.

The course is suitable for those with prior meditation experience as well as those who have none.

 was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979.  Originally developed for those living with chronic pain.

●      Use mindfulness to relate in healthier ways to worry and feelings of anxiety and chronic pain and to better manage stressful situations in both work and home life

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction 8 Week 
In-Person Course with Josephine Lynch

Mindful Self Compassion with Josephine Lynch and Barry Lee

This 8 week programme will be delivered in person and will explore what we mean by the term ‘stress’ and how it manifests in our personal lives and at work.  Can mindfulness can support us in responding to the events in our lives in an authentic way?  The programme promotes self-awareness, personal development and general wellbeing.  We know we cannot avoid stressful experiences, as long as we are alive this is part of life. However, how we respond, how we view, how we interact with stressful events can make things potentially worse or can help us, to not only tolerate discomfort but  to embrace a full life and even flourish.  

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre in 1979. The course is suitable for those with prior meditation experience as well as those who have none. It introduces participants to different forms of mindfulness practice including sitting meditation, body awareness and gentle mindful movement.  As the emphasis is on bringing mindful awareness into everyday life a commitment to daily home practice of about 45 minutes  is required. At the end of the course participants should have acquired a set of practical tools that allow them to cope better with stress in the workplace and in their personal lives, through increased self-awareness, emotional and attention regulation.

The programme is suitable for anyone who encounters stress and wishes to respond to stress in life with more understanding and ease. It is not suitable if you are in the middle of an acute crisis.

There will be an individual orientation call with each participant before the start, to enable each person to ask questions and to make sure it’s the right time to partake in this highly experiential programme

The practices in the programme aim to help the participant to:

●      Use mindfulness techniques to relate differently to worry and feelings of anxiety and better manage stressful situations in both work and home life

●      Sustain the practice of mindfulness as a self-care tool that can be integrated into their work and home life

The Mindfulness and Compassion Centre

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