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See below for information on courses, lectures, seminars and workshops with a contemplative approach.

Forum for Contemplative Studies

Courses, lectures, seminars and workshops with Forum members at other organisations:

The Eight Week Mindfulness Course
With Philippa Vick
UKCP reg. psychotherapist EMDR reg. Practitioner
____________________________________________________________

What is the eight week mindfulness course about?

The eight week course was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a doctor and psychologist who also practised mindfulness meditation. He discovered that mindfulness meditation, in addition to its spiritual purpose, was of great benefit in helping us be with physical and emotional stress, chronic pain, anxiety and depression. This is achieved not by rejecting our experience but by learning to be present with it in a consciously spacious and kindly way. It is now taught with success in hospitals and private groups in America and England.

Mindfulness meditation is very simple to understand and practice. It helps us be consciously aware of what is happening inside and outside of us from moment to moment. By acquiring this ability our experience of our self and our world begins to open. We come to know a stillness in the middle of our busy minds and are less afraid to feel fully parts of our experience that previously we have been afraid of. It is not a quick fix nor a miracle cure, it does takes work on our part, but what it offers is real and lasting, and of benefit to others.

What does the course involve?

To get the most out of coming to the course will require some work on your part. You will need a strong commitment to work on yourself through a gentle but rigorous daily discipline of meditation and relaxation which will require one hour each day. Making the time commitment, and the personal exploration involved, can make the course seem hard work at times but it is also very likely to be pleasurable and empowering as well.

The course enables you to be successful in this through:

An initial private meeting to make sure the course is what you need. This is an opportunity for you to ask any questions you have and address any concerns. At this point you may decide it is not for you.

A class for two hours, once a week for eight weeks.

A full day of mindfulness exercises and discussion between weeks six and seven.

Two CD's containing guided meditations on mindfulness of our body sensations, breathing, walking and stretching.

A work book to support and chart the growth of your mindfulness.

There is also the possibility of additional support during the course should you need it.

Who is the course for?

All of us! The programme is known to benefit people with a range of problems of both a physical and a psychological nature, but it is not necessary to have a specific health problem to find it helpful. We all have times in our lives when we experience difficulty, stress and struggle and for some of us this is our daily experience. The problem or illness itself may not change but the way we relate to and cope with the difficulty may shift, making it all feel easier. Developing greater awareness can open us to be able to change how we approach our experiences by taking more pleasure in the good things and dealing more effectively with the bad. We can see how our habitual and reflex reactions to events often add layers of difficulty for us on top of the original problem!

The course is therefore potentially open to any of us who are at a point in our lives where we wish to, and are ready, to look deeply at ourselves.

People do also come to mindfulness courses to gain skills in dealing with particular conditions. Mindfulness meditation has helped people with a range of problems including:

Heart disease
Chronic pain
High blood pressure
Headaches
Anxiety and panic
Depression
Sleep disturbance
Fatigue
Skin disorders.

What do I do if I am interested?

Either contact me, Philippa Vick, by phone, e-mail or letter to arrange a private individual meeting to see whether the course is for you at this time. This first meeting, prior to the course, will take about 20 minutes and it is an opportunity to tell you a bit more about the course, to answer any questions that you may have and to explore together whether the approach will be beneficial to you.

The course requires a commitment from you to regular home practice. It can feel challenging to both fit the practice into your life and also the process can feel quite intense. The intention of the course is to develop our ability to be more aware of our moment by moment experience. This can open us to both the pleasures and also the challenges of our lives. It is important that you really want to do this and this meeting will enable you to reflect on all this with someone who knows what it is like.

There is no charge for this meeting and you may decide following it that the course is not right for you or it is not the best time for you to take it.

Support during the course

Mindfulness helps us to be consciously present with small changes in our physical sensations, emotions and thoughts in each consecutive moment. It is not about where we generally are in our personal lives but rather how we can be consciously aware of our experience in this present moment.

For this reason, there is little opportunity or time during the course to support any current ongoing personal problems not related to the practices. Therefore, if you would like support for any personal concerns, this should be pursued through individual work with a friend, counsellor or psychotherapist.

However should you experience any difficulties in connection with your mindfulness practice in between the sessions, how to do it and what it may bring up, I will be available via e-mail during the working week and you can also make contact on the phone. It is important to use this as a resource rather than get stuck in any difficulty as most difficulties are surprisingly easy to resolve.

Philippa Vick

I am an experienced psychotherapist and a mindfulness meditation practitioner. I have completed the University of Wales, Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice mindfulness teacher training. (For a fuller CV please see www.contemplativeforum.co.uk founding members.)

How much does it cost?
The course fee is £190 payable in advance by cheque made out to Philippa Vick. A non-refundable deposit of £50 secures a place. The full fee is due by the first evening.

The fee includes:
eight 2 hour sessions.
a one day session.
between session e-mail/phone contact if you need support with the course work.
CD's and work book.

If in exceptional circumstances you find that you need more support than is envisaged here and that you would like further individual meetings, than this may be arranged for an additional fee.

When?
Next courses in Bath Thurday 24th. January. 6.30 - 8.30

Where?
Still Point, Bath

For further information or to book a place, please contact Philippa Vick on:
telephone: 01225 445532
e-mail: philippavick@tantraweb.co.uk
www.philippavick.co.uk

Towards a Contemplative Psychotherapy - a mindfulness based supervision group
with Nigel Wellings

A contemplative approach to psychological work differs from conventional therapy in being more concerned with recovering the presence of being, accessed through opening directly to experience, than with problem resolution. John Welwood

A contemplative perspective on psychotherapy brings new attitudes and skills. It values presence above all else - the ability to rest in what ever emotional experience we have without need of defensive closure. That is to be mindful. It also values unconditional friendliness - a fierce generosity of spirit which provides the environment in which mindfulness grows. These two together help create a deeper insight into accepting what our lives present us with and knowing how best to be with it.

I imagine this group investigating in an atmosphere of pleasurable curiosity the following subjects:

Mindfulness meditation - practicing and sharing our experiences together.

Focusing on the felt sense - developing this skill for our self and for use in our therapeutic work.

Discussion - of papers and ideas as they come up. Rethinking the self. The purpose of psychotherapy. What do we do with our emotions? Mindfulness , depression and anxiety.

Case material presented by the group with special concern for seeing how a contemplative approach might shed a new light.

Group convener: Nigel Wellings, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, previous Director of Training CTP, co-founder Forum for Contemplative Studies, co-author Nothing To Lose, Psychotherapy, Buddhism and Living Life.

Once monthly from October 2007 Tuesday evenings 7.30 - 9.30 pm. Fee £18

email info@contemplativeforum.co.uk
Tel: 0207 935 2294 or 01225 445532

Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice
The Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice aims to promote good practice in the teaching and researching of clinical approaches based on mindfulness, in particular, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), stress reduction through mindfulness, and other mindfulness-based approaches. The Centre delivers a range of courses for professionals who want to bring mindfulness-based approaches into their work.
Becca Crane
Director of Training
Institute of Medical and Social Care Research
University of Wales
Bangor
Gwynedd, LL57 2UW
Tel:01248 388066
www.bangor.ac.uk/mindfulness
e-mail: r.crane@bangor.ac.uk

Sharpham Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Enquiry
Sharpham Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Enquiry is a unique non-sectarian environment within Britain for the enquiry into the place of Buddhist values in the modern world. A full range of teachings, both practical and theoretical, are offered at the Centre that are directed at the question as to how we are to live ethically and morally in the contemporary world. Great emphasis is placed on the value of Buddhist practice in revealing our interconnectedness with and responsibility for others. The Centre is committed to the value of Buddhist enquiry in stimulating personal and social change. Engagement with contemporary issues, both social and personal, in the light of modern thinking emanating from a range of disciplines is emphasised throughout.
Sharpham House
Asprington
Totnes
Devon TQ9 7UT
Tel: 01802 732055
e-mail: susie@sharpham-trust.org
www.sharpham-trust.org

Consciousness and Transpersonal Psychology Research Unit
We run postgraduate programmes in Consciousness & Transpersonal Psychology. Consciousness Studies and Transpersonal Psychology have arisen as scholarly disciplines within which questions relating to consciousness, mind, spirituality and personal transformation may be explored both academically and experientially. The programme has been running for over ten years, and is currently offered either part-time or full-time on campus, or to students around the globe via a part-time distance learning mode online.
Les Lancaster
School of Psychology
Liverpool John Moores University
Henry Cotton Campus
Webster Street
Liverpool L3 2ET UK
Tel: 0151-231-4036/4106
Fax: 0151-231-4245
E-mail: b.l.lancaster@livjm.ac.uk
http://cwis.livjm.ac.uk/ctp

Buddhanet.net
The original Buddhist information and education network.
This website contains a complete list and contact details for all Buddhist groups in the UK.
As a non-sectarian organisation, BuddhaNet includes on its site material which is representative of many Buddhist traditions. However, BuddhaNet does not necessarily endorse the views or opinions of particular traditions.
www.buddhanet.net

Spirit Rock Meditation Centre
P.O. Box 169, Woodacre, CA 94973
United States
Tel: 415-488-0164
Fax: 415-488-0170
Click here to email the Centre

Gaia House
West Ogwell
Newton Abbot
Devon TQ12 6EN
Tel: +44 (0)1626 333613
Fax: +44 (0)1626 352650
email: generalenquiries@gaiahouse.co.uk

Dzogchen Community U.K.
Contact: Amerly Becker
15a Langdon Park Road
London N6 5PS
Tel: 020 7700 6253
email amerly@globalnet.co.uk
www.redsandstone.net/dzogchen/

Pundarika U.K.
The organisation of the Ven. Tsoknyi Rinpoche
Contact: Carol Bishop
Tel: 01225 312735
email carole@khandro.free-online.co.uk

Rigpa Institute
330 Caledonian Road, London, N1 1BB
U.K.
Tel: (0) 20 7700 0185
Fax: (0) 20 7609 6068
email:114335.615@compuserve.com
www.rigpa.fsnet.co.uk

Deep Streams Institute
121 Clement Street, San Francisco, CA 94118
United States
Tel: 415-487-8742
Click here to visit the Institutes website
Click here to email the Centre

Psychotherapy Training

The Centre for Transpersonal Psychology
London
Tel: 0207 935 7350
email: enquiries@transpersonalcentre.co.uk
www.transpersonalcentre.co.uk

Karuna Institute
Natworthy Manor
Widecombe in the Moor
Newton Abbot
Devon TQ137TR
Tel: 01647 221457
email:office@karuna-institute.co.uk

Amida Trust
Buddhist Counselling and Psychotherapy and Applied Buddhist Psychology
The Buddhist House
12 Coventry Rd
Narborough LE19 2GR
Tel: 0116 286 7476
email:courses@amidatrust.com
www.buddhistpsychology.info