DESCRIPTION: There is a growing demand in schools, work places and other organisations for Mindfulness training and trained mindfulness facilitators.

In this 2 day accredited certificate course you will not only be introduced to and learn the the powerful Mindfulness techniques that are helping individuals from all walks of life to have more balance and focus in their lives. You will also receive the tools and training to teach these techniques to anyone around you, including students and children.

Teaching mindfulness is about guiding people to their own mindfulness practice. It’s about co-creating an environment where mindfulness can ‘happen’.
In this ‘safe space’ everyone has the ability to come into a deeper contact with who they really are by continually being offered the possibility of surrendering to the present moment, exactly as it is, without an agenda or expected outcome.

During the two days we will be looking carefully at the basic neuroscience; how purposefully connecting with the body’s self-calming para-sympathetic nervous system leads to- lower stress and anxiety, increased attention and mental clarity, improved social and emotional intelligence and a host of other life-enhancing benefits.

In this course you will learn, as the teacher/guide, how to use language, your voice, authority and authenticity to create an environment, where a deep trust between participants naturally arises and a sense of freedom and safety also.
To guide mindfulness is like nothing else, it is not teaching in a traditional sense, it is not therapy. It is more like ‘decluttering’ the over-filled, busy mind.

By establishing your own Mindfulness practice and the fundamental understanding of how mindfulness works from a more scientific point of view, you will build the foundation needed to effectively guide others on to their own mindfulness journey.

The Natural State Of Being Human

Mindfulness is not new, it is thousands of years old and has been practiced in many eastern cultures as a way of maintaining mental balance against the inevitable distortions the mind generates. Mindfulness has made it to the west for a number of reasons; technology has developed and allowed researchers to study and understand the function of the brain more fully so that we now have an enormous amount of evidence-based research confirming the benefits of regular practice.

The increasing demands of living places enormous stress on all people, children, teenagers and adults, the purposeful, daily cultivation of minimising stress, self-regulation, connection to self, others and the world around us has been proven to assist mental, emotional and physical balance.

This course gives you the background, science, practices and techniques to teach/guide others and to establish a regular practice yourself.

Understanding how the brain works goes a long way to empowering people to practice mindfulness. Mindfulness ‘teaches’ us how thoughts and feelings affect our state of being and how we are able to train ourselves, intentionally, to observe the activity of the mind without becoming entrapped and start believing every thought the mind produces or be swept away by every emotion felt.

Mindfulness trains us to recognise we have a choice of where to put our attention and to recognise when we are becoming trapped in unhelpful thinking.

The course is based on the successful programme Mindful NZ Schools has been running the past five years as well as latest research and techniques on teaching mindfulness designed by the original MBSR members
who trained with Jon Kabat-Zinn.

This is an interactive course covering theory, activities and practices. You will have opportunity to deepen your own Mindfulness practice and be empowered by the discovery that you can self-manage your thoughts and emotions. Participants also get the chance to guide classes for first-hand experience.

IN SHORT-What will you learn?

Why should we teach Mindfulness to students and children?
Studies have shown that emotional regulation, social behaviour and academic achievement have noticeably improved for those who have received Mindfulness instructions.

Benefits such as:

• Decreased stress and anxiety
• Better sleep
• Better self-management
• Less reactivity
• Improved mental resilience
• Increased self-awareness
• Better memory
• Increased attention and focus
• Better conflict resolution skills

are common and expectable result from regular Mindfulness practice.

It doesn’t matter if you never meditated or done one Mindfulness exercise in your life, this course is for anyone who are moved to establish their own Mindfulness practice and get the tools and resources to help others to improve focus, mental resilience and impulse control.