Mic Carlson
Introduction to Mindfulness
(4-week class)
TWO SESSIONS (Same content in each session):
Tuesdays, 9:30am-11:30am
Session 1: May 14 - June 4
Session 2: July 9 – July 30
$180.00
(10% discount if you have previously taken a
class, workshop, or traveled with Lynn)
Location:
Ann Arbor Friends Meeting
1420 Hill Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Registration required:
Session 1 by April 30
Session 2 by July 2.
For more information or to register:
734-332-3365 or lynnsipher@gmail.com
In our busy, technology-distracted, rushed lives, we are often checked out: bodies in one place, minds in another. We may not be aware of the smile of a loved one or the friendly nod of a stranger passing us on the street. We don’t notice the butterfly that landed on the railing or the sun hitting our skin. We are often lost in memories about the past or imagined stories about the future. We are living on auto pilot.
Mindfulness practice invites us to pay attention to the present moment. The practice cultivates not only the ability notice and more easily accept our experience, it adds a dose of kindness toward ourselves.
Like we go to the gym to train our bodies, this class offers basic practices to train the mind to come into the present moment. These sessions are based on the first four classes of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression (MBCT) and The Mindful Way Workbook by Teasdale, Williams, and Segal. There will be on-line resources for guided meditations for practice between classes.
Falling Awake: Mindfulness for Depression & Anxiety
Years of research have shown Mindful-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) to be an effective approach for addressing depression and anxiety. This 8-week class based on MBCT is intended for people who have had one or more episodes of depression or live with anxiety. You can participate whether or not you are taking medicine or are currently in psychotherapy or have had therapy in the past.
Each week you will learn new skills to help you change your relationship with anxiety and depression so they interfere less with how you want BE in your life. Discover that you can live more fully and in the present moment even with these conditions. The benefits of the class correspond with the degree you can practice the skills at home between class sessions.
A day-long silent Saturday retreat is included as part of the 8-week class between weeks 6-7.
Topics:
Introduction and Automatic Pilot
Living in Our Heads
Gathering the Scattered Mind
Recognizing Aversion
Allowing/Letting Be
Thoughts are not Facts
Kindness in Action
What Now?
Tuesdays
October 15 - December 10, 2019
(no class November 26)
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Orientation: Tuesday, October 1, 6pm - 7:30pm
Retreat: Saturday, November 23, 9:00am - 3:00pm
$400.00
(Includes workbook with MP3 and day long retreat)
Location:
Genesis of Ann Arbor
2309 Packard St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Registration required by October 8, 2019
For more information or to register:
734-332-3365 or lynnsipher@gmail.com
Day of Mindfulness
Join the Falling Awake class for a day of guided mindfulness practice. Familiarity with mindfulnesss meditation is recommended. Contact Lynn to register.
Saturday, November 23
9:00am - 3:00pm
$75.00
Deepening Mindfulness:
An Experiential Exploration of Emotions, Compassion, and Forgiveness
This 6-week class will shine the light of our awareness on the heart’s capacity to identify, accept, and express emotions whether they are pleasant or unpleasant. From that foundation, we will explore compassion and forgiveness for self and others.
We will begin each class with mindfulness meditation. Devoting two weeks to each topic using guided practices, exercises, and inquiry, will help incline us toward these natural capacities of the heart. Familiarity with mindfulness practices highly recommended.
Please check back for future offerings
Sitting Together:
Mindfulness for Psychotherapists
8-week class
Thursdays, September 12 - October 31
10:00am - 11:30am
$300.00
Location:
Lynn's office
202 E. Washington, Suite 202
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Registration required by September 5
For more information or to register:
734-332-3365 or lynnsipher@gmail.com
Mindfulness is a common concept in the lexicon of many approaches to psychotherapy. Many therapists, however, have no formal training in mindfulness meditation and/or do not have a sustained meditation practice. A sustained meditation practice offers clinicians a direct, felt experience of the benefits of mindfulness meditation both personally and professionally. A clinician with a personal meditation practice offers enhanced therapeutic presence, equanimity, and whole-hearted attention - qualities needed for a successful therapeutic relationship regardless of treatment approach. Meeting weekly in a group where safety and trust is co-created provides support and a learning environment where struggles and questions about the practices are welcome.
Each week in this experiential class, we will meditate together using practices found in many with mindfulness and compassion-based curriculums. Informed by the work of Paul Fulton, EdD, Janet Surry, PhD and her personal experience and training, Lynn will offer additional exercises and practices specifically for psychotherapists. The class will also include a lesson in Buddhist psychology on which many of these secular practices are based.
This class is appropriate for clinicians with little or no experience in mindfulness meditation, as well as those more experienced clinician meditators who welcome “beginners mind.” Consider taking the class solely for fostering personal well-being as well as bringing it into clinical work. Meditating weekly with colleagues is designed to inspire creating a community of psychotherapists who meditate regularly together once the class ends.