Starts Tuesday 21 April | 7-9pm for 7 weeks (No Session on 5 May)

Plus a catch up session in the Autumn

PLEASE NOTE : 

• first 5 weeks of the course will have both In Person and Online (Zoom) participants

• the last 2 weeks (2 & 9 June) will be Online only (Zoom) for all participants

Leader: Pippa O'Connor
Costs: £280 [£225 if on low income; £155 if living off benefits]

For our concessions policy please click here.
Prices include materials and the additional practice afternoon.

Depression, stress, trauma and anxiety experiences can stay in the body after the events which activated the symptoms. Research shows the nervous system may react in the present as if the past is still happening. Mindful Somatic Body Mind Course - Body-based training helps release stored tension, process past experiences, and respond more calmly in the present, supporting better stress responses, manageability and resilience . With the aid of modern psychology, body-based release exercises and neuroscience, as well as knowledge of mindful compassion, polyvagal theory, and gut ecology, you will learn to be present, stable, and at ease with yourself and others. Ultimately, this course will lead you toward greater self-awareness and resource you for emotional resilience.

In a world full of uncertainty and perceived threats, how can we effectively manage ourselves? The answer lies not in survival of the fittest but in the survival of the nurtured. Neuroscience has revealed that activating the mammalian part of our brain is essential for feeling safe and secure, as well as for self-soothing and emotional regulation. Through this training, we will gain a deeper understanding of our inner experiences and learn about neuroscience-based tools for grounding and stabilizing ourselves. By exploring the Vagus Nerve and the threat-fear system, along with somatic body-mind awareness, we will acquire practical techniques to manage difficult mental states and experiences in a functional and effective manner.

You will acquire mindful compassion and somatic body–mind awareness, skills to manage the wild mind, and reactive thoughts and feelings. knowledge to activate your natural endorphins to trigger the release of positive neurochemicals like oxytocin to achieve self-soothing and attain deep relaxation. By engaging the safeness system, you can access the benefits of natural endorphins which help to ease muscle tension, alleviate pain and calm the nervous system. These core strategies are crucial in navigating the three states of polyvagal theory - trauma, stress, and anxiety release - by freeing the petrified, aroused self and fostering cooperation with oneself and others. Here we can learn to respond to life and lessen reactivity. Working with the evidenced-based trauma-informed - body, mind, breath, mindfulness, and physical skills, techniques to self-regulate and self-soothe.

We are not just the mind, we are a body-felt sense intelligence so we have to understand our feeling body experience, and not just our thinking mind.

• Reconnect with your body’s natural healing intelligence and capacity for regulation

• Learn practical tools to work with stress, fear, anxiety, depression, and past conditioning

• Understand how the nervous system responds to stress through neuroscience, polyvagal theory, and psychology

• Develop skills to manage mental health symptoms and become a “good-enough” manager of your inner world

• Cultivate mindful compassion, presence, and emotional stability

• Understand that lasting change begins with your relationship to yourself before it can transform your outer experience

• Improve and stabilise inner and outer relationships

• Learn simple body movements and practices to help self-regulate the nervous system

• Explore the gut–brain connection and its role in wellbeing

• Work with thoughts, emotions, and body sensations with kindness and awareness

• Build greater self-awareness, resilience, and inner calm

N.B. We will only share information on our direct experience of the skills/tools knowledge and practices from the mindful compassion somatic practices and application to your daily life.

IMPORTANT :

If one has an emergency and requests to change, from in person sessions to Zoom / online, we do allow this but then one must return to your in person place on the mindfulness class as there is a waiting list for these spaces at the North London Buddhist Centre.

Pippa O'Connor

Psychotherapist (BSc; MSc; PGCE & Dip) and senior lecturer in Mindfulness Based Clinical Applications at the North London Hospital, Southgate. She is a Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness Consultant at Tavistock Hospital and has a BSC in Cognitive Behaviour, Addiction and Trauma/ DIP Trauma/ EMDR.