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

Online Retreat: Sat  September 23rd time TBC

Monday Evening MBSR (Online) with Erica Balfour

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

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

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

●      Reduce the impact of self-judgement and increase self-acceptance

●      Manage interpersonal conflict more effectively

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

Participants will receive a programme handbook. The main intention of this programme is to offer experiential learning.  There will be the opportunity during the training for participants to practice and experience mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques.  As mindfulness training is primarily experiential in nature, the main ‘work’ of the course is done at home between classes.  Participants will receive a weekly email summarising the content and practice instructions for that week plus meditation recordings. Participants are required to practice at home during the week for about 45 minutes per day.

Following the course there are ongoing weekly guided practice sessions open to everyone to join on a drop-in basis. We have found that this support can make a big difference in keeping up the practice. As Jon Kabat-Zinn says,  “we weave the parachute a little bit every day so that when we need it, it will actually hold us!”

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

“I would like to extend my appreciation and gratitude towards Erica for leading us through the 8 week MBSR program. I really felt a lot of warmth and compassion on both an individual and collective level. It was an experience that I hope will nurture my ability to be compassionate and caring towards myself and others even in stressful and less happy times.  I thought the course was excellently structured and taught. The interaction with yourself and the other participants was invaluable to me at this time. I  am sure the experience is very different when taught in a non remote environment but I still felt the benefits through Zoom.”

Pat – participant of online MBSR/MBCT programme

“Attending the course has been a completely new learning experience for me. Learning about myself this time, the learning that can be the most challenging of all but the learning that it is the most needed. Learning to know, support and heal myself in life. Thank you so much for guiding me through it and all your beautiful work Erica.”

“Thanks Erica for this 8 week MBSR course. I am constantly learning and it has really helped me with my practice to begin again and remembering the attitudinal foundations of mindfulness. It was really good to be part of this community at this time.”

“Thank you so much for your MBSR course. It was really wonderful and it was such a gorgeous group of people. It was great to have that support as I went through a difficult challenging time and to help me to respond better to the number hindrances that were arising in my practice.”

BSc (Environmental Science), Grad Dip Psychotherapy, Dip Counselling Skills, Dip in Mindfulness Based Interventions, Dip in Mindful Communication, Director of the Mindfulness Teacher's Association of Ireland.

Mindfulness Teacher, Supervisor, Course Co-ordinator for The Mindfulness Centre for Professional Training, Director of Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland.

The Mindfulness Centre for Professional Training 

in 2015 and is now a Course coordinator with the centre. She trained to teach Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (

) and Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (

). She trained also in Mindful Communication with Greenzone Institute in 2018 to lead groups. She is a supervisor and trained in MBI TAC. She is currently studying a MSc in Psychotherapy. She sits on the board for The Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland.

Monday Evening 8 Week MBSR/MBCT with Erica Balfour and Rachel Ardagh

This 8 week programme will be delivered online via zoom 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.  

Along with colleagues from the teaching team with The Mindfulness Centre , Erica facilitates online sessions and courses which are tailored mindfulness and compassion-based trainings using the latest researh and neuroscience designed for work places and organisations.

Erica has a HDip in psychotherapy and is currently undergoing a MSc in Psychotherapy and her understanding of the therapeutic relationship and developmental theory informs her mindfulness work.

Erica has worked for many years in the  eco-tourism industry followed by a number of years in banking.  Working and understanding the culture in corporate organisations has been foundational in her application of mindfulness and compassion based intervention in the workplace.

BSc Hons, Environmental Science, University of Ulster

HDip Psychotherapy, University College Dublin

Certificate in Counselling, National College of Ireland

MBSR & MBCT teacher (Mindfulness Centre for Professional Training)

paws.b teacher (Mindfulness in Schools Project)

I teach the following mindfulness courses:

Good Practice Guidelines for Teaching Mindfulness-Based Courses

Mindfulness Teachers Association of Ireland 

I’ve had a personal meditation practice since 2010. My foundational practices are mindfulness, vipassana and compassion based and my practice is informed by embodied inquiry. I have regularly attended silent meditation retreats and I have one-to-one weekly guidance from an experienced supervisor when teaching 8 week courses.

Since childhood, Erica has found solace in nature and in particular wildflowers & trees.  She is very interested in the nature of the human mind and has a particular interest in grief work and how this might play an key role in the way that we engage in social mindfulness with regards to biodiversity loss and the climate crisis. She is one of seven daughters and has three girls of her own and is very interested in how this practice can be used to support women with strong symptoms related to PMS, PMDD and perimemopause. She loves poetry, walking with her Tibetan Terrier in the woods and working with groups.

Monday Evening 8 Week MBSR/MBCT with Erica Balfour 

This 8 week programme will be delivered at the Mindfulness Centre in Dublin 2 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.  

MBSR/MBCT with Erica Balfour

This 8 week programme will be delivered online 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.  

This programme will be delivered live on Zoom: Relatively stable WiFi is needed.

Participants will receive a programme handbook in the post. The main intention of this programme is to offer experiential learning.  There will be the opportunity during the training for participants to practice and experience mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques.  As mindfulness training is primarily experiential in nature, the main ‘work’ of the course is done at home between classes.  Participants will receive a weekly email summarising the content and practice instructions for that week plus meditation recordings. Participants are required to practice at home during the week for about 45 minutes per day.