Mindfulness for Carers is for all carers of people with additional needs including fathers, mothers, LGBTQI carers, grandparents; carers who feel like they’re doing a great job, and those who don’t; carers who have their own additional needs, and those who don't.
You don’t need to already be calm and wise to start this course; you just need to be willing to attend a weekly workshop and a daylong retreat and try to meditate every day for seven weeks. Life will get in the way at times, but anyone who is willing to give daily practice a go is very welcome.
Participants will have opportunities to share their experiences in a safe, confidential environment, but the course is not group therapy and getting value from it does not require a willingness to share the details of your personal life.
The curriculum will be modified to suit the goals and needs of those carers who participate. However, its core intention is to give you the fundamental skills and understanding to develop your own mindfulness practice including –
The basics of how to meditate: how to sit, what to do, some of the challenges and how you might respond to them
A range of mindfulness meditations techniques including,
awareness practices, to help you arrive in the here and now
heart practices to cultivate positive qualities like compassion, equanimity and joy for example
Mindfulness of emotions
Bringing mindfulness into your daily life
The daylong retreat will be an opportunity to deepen your meditation through sustained practice and will include practice and theory specifically for carers including –
Balancing compassion and equanimity, drawing on Sharon Salzburg's mindfulness work with carers.
The RAIN practice for finding peace with difficult emotions, developed by Michelle McDonald and Tara Brach.