“Don’t turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That’s where the light enters you.” Rumi.
Transformational Coaching
IN PRESENCE & ON LINE
Transformational Coaching is an ontological approach that focuses on bringing about necessary changes, from promoting a shift in the client´s perception of life and challenges. That shift is based on the exploration of the cognitive, emotional ,relational and sensorial patterns from which the clients operate.
Transformational coaching dives deep into an individual’s psyche with the intention of guiding a profound self-work. It promotes and develops a deep change in the way people perceive themselves, their image and / or their limitations.
The guided self-exploration brings about the reflection over powerful questions such as who they are, and which is the purpose and place they have in life.
The immersion through a transformational work brings up a new awareness and embodiment that results in a true existing way of being, with more balance, acceptance, understanding, compassion and mindfulness.
Mostly through talking and enquiring, clients’ aspirations, blockages and strengths are revealed. Then, working together, the transformational coach and client would, in most cases, be able to transform the individual’s “being “and thereafter transferring such a change in all aspects of his /her life.
Changing their perspective, clients change their paradigm and subsequently allowing a fan of new possibilities to unfold.
Coaches do not tell clients what to do, they stand alongside them in supporting and guiding the process of transformation while acknowledging the client’s particular view.
Contact us to start your transformational journey.
Mindfulness Training & Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course (MBSR)
IN PRESENCE & ON LINE
What is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is an intrinsic human ability of being present in the NOW. It is a way of connecting with your life that involves cultivating attention in a particular manner, that is, to pay attention, purposefully and non-judgementally to the present moment.
Mindfulness practices have proven to be very beneficial for psychological and physical conditions as well as improvement of wellbeing.
When we start paying attention to our own mind, body and feelings as they are, moment by moment, we start reclaiming our life.
The inner capacity to pay attention and be present is in each human being, however, our way of living in most of the world has drifted us away from that ability. We have been taught over and over to be mostly in our thoughts. The capacity for thoughts is wonderful, and many great things have come out of that, but the other very powerful capacity, the capacity of awareness has been left dormant. Waking up to the present moment, developing the ability for mindfulness offers us to experience life to the fullest.
Benefits of Mindfulness
When we nurture mindfulness in our life, a new spectrum of possibilities becomes available to us. In the last forty years hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted about different aspects of mindfulness. The scientific evidence shows that the practice of mindfulness brings improvement to several psychological and physical conditions as well as improvement of wellbeing.
Mindfulness reduces stress. Many studies show that practicing mindfulness reduces stress. Those findings are consistent with evidence that mindfulness meditation increases positive effect and decreases anxiety.
Mindfulness is an effective complement to treat a variety of medical conditions. Researches have shown the participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction course, complements in the treatment of asthma, cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, HIV, hot flushes and hypertension.
Mindfulness improves psychological disorders such as stress disorders, sleep disturbances, major depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness improves cognition. Studies have reported that the practice of only 10 days of mindfulness meditations improves working memory, attention and concentration. Researchers suggest that the practice helps people to have greater cognitive flexibility.
Mindfulness reduces rumination. Several studies have shown mindfulness reduces the automatic process of thinking about the same thoughts, which usually tend to be sad or negative.
Mindfulness reduces emotional reactivity. Research also supports the notion that mindfulness meditation decreases emotional reactivity.
Mindfulness increases relationship satisfaction. Several studies find a person’s ability to be mindful can help relationship satisfaction — the ability to respond well to relationship stress and the skill in communicating one’s emotions to a partner.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. MBSR
IN PRESENCE & ONLINE
This is an 8-week evidence-based program in Mindfulness. It offers intensive and highly experiential training in mindfulness to assist people experiencing challenges in all areas of life and to improve well-being. The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course teaches:
- Articulate the key aspects of mindfulness as it relates to stress reduction, coping with pain and illness and enhancing well-being
- Differentiate MBSR from relaxation and other distraction techniques that may seem similar but are fundamentally and theoretically quite different in contending with difficulty and enhancing the quality of life
- Practice and apply mindfulness techniques in both personal and professional settings as a means of coping more effectively with the demands of both settings
- Integrate mindfulness into social interaction with colleagues, family and friends to facilitate more effective and mindful communication
- Articulate the potential benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction (and mindfulness in general) to educate others about the benefits of such programs in their own lives
This course is the authorized MBSR Curriculum Course used with permission of the Center for Mindfulness of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This 2017 version of MBSR Curriculum Guide is based upon the cumulative experience since 1979 totalling more than one million hours of clinical care, more than 24,000 MBSR program completers, referred by more than 7,000 physicians, hundreds of other health care professionals, and through self-referral.
How does It work ?
Through the training, people become aware of their relationship with stressful situations as well as other patterns of behavior, many of which creates suffering for them. They learn that, even when external situations cannot be changed there is always a possibility to approach them in a more skillful manner. A way that can be wiser, involving a response and not a reaction.
Description of the course
The Standard course, as Joh Kabat-Zinn developed it, consists of a weekly meeting of 2,5 to 3 hrs., once a week for eight consecutive weeks. It also includes one full day session after the sixth week with a full immersion in mindfulness practices in an adapted retreat format.
Each class consists mainly of mindfulness practices that are guided by the facilitator. These exercises are body scan, gentle mindfulness movements and sitting meditation. There is also time for guided and mindful reflection and sharing, which is not compulsory.
The instructor focuses on creating a safe, supportive and deeply engaging learning environment that allows participants to seek, explore and enquire.
Each class has a particular theme that is explored from the experience of the mindfulness practices, as well as with short presentations from the teacher and mindful dialogue with participants.
Interested about our next course?
Contact us.
Reiki Treatments
IN PRESENCE & AT DISTANCE
Reiki is a complementary and alternative treatment that helps your body, mind and spirit to balance themselves. Healing and authentic wellbeing can only take place when the overall system is balanced. Reiki healing produces a quick return to a natural functional state, a state where the nervous system is at rest, and not in alert mode.
Reiki is a soft touch therapy that implies placing lightly and held still for some minutes the practitioner’s hands on specific areas of recipient’s body. However, the practitioner may use a non-touching technique, whereby the hands are held a few centimetres above from the client’s body.
As the Reiki treatment stimulates the person’s natural healing processes, instant “cures” of specific health problems are not normally observed. The success of this treatment presents as a gradual and steady movement toward a more healthy and vital position. If you are not ill, the encouragement of a Reiki treatment towards a balanced system will help you to be fit and make the best of your potential.
Reiki treatments are safe and gentle. There is no pressure, manipulation or massage involved.
People who received Reiki reports a sense of relaxation, anxiety reduction, better management of pain and chronic conditions, sleep improvement, enhancement of wellbeing, reduction of side effects of medication, radiation and chemotherapy, better functioning of the digestive system and deeper self-awareness.
Note: Reiki is not a replacement for medical treatments of any kind, but can be used as a complementary therapy
For information about Reiki treatments at distance visit “ The Secret of Distant Reiki”
To book your first or next Reiki Treatment Contact us.
Group Guided Meditations
IN PRESENCE & ON LINE
Sitting together to practice meditation is a powerful experience. The group’ shared energy elevates each individual. The participation in a group supports individual practices, making it easier to renovate the commitment to it, hold accountability for the personal practice and enrich it.
Gathering in a group to meditate is an opportunity to connect and share with like-minded people and belong to a community.
Both, online and in presence groups are open to anybody who wants to join in for that session. New members are welcome at any time.
Group Meditation. Guidelines
It is important, when participating in a group meditation to read the guidelines in order to fine tune our expectations as well as what is expected from you while being part of the group.
Our groups are open to everybody, regardless of any previous experience. New members are welcome at any time.
In Presence Group:
Frequency/duration/date: Once a month, from 17.00 to 19.00 hrs. Every third Monday of the month.
Location: Bryanston, Johannesburg. Exact address will be sent once you confirm your attendance by email.
Structure: 30 minutes guided mindfulness practice, 15 to 20 minutes mindful enquire, 10 to 5 minutes share of an inspirational talk of reading related to mindfulness, 20 minutes mindful discussion, 40 minutes mindful sharing of a tea and informal but mindful talk and listening.
Sharing: Feel free to share when the invitation is open, but know you are not obliged to do so. At the end of each practice, we invite sharing of experiences by passing a “talking stick to signal to the group a member that wants to talk as well as the end of each participants sharing.
Speak out whatever is arising in you at that moment and we kindly ask to be very economical in the expression. We discourage the unfolding of each long story that the mind creates focusing on bringing awareness and words to the present moment experience.
Listen deeply and attentively to the other person and bring attention to what arises in you as you listen as much as when you talk.
Please do not give any advice. Always speak from your own experience.
Participating in the group implies that you agree in keeping confidential everything you hear in the group. Please honour it.
Arriving: The Meditation starts sharply on time. Please join in few minutes before the time. .
Cost: Group Meditations work over a dana principle The dana (donation) guidelines are R200/150/100/50, depending on your personal financial possibilities. No one will be excluded if having financial constrictions.
On Line Group:
Frequency/duration/date: Once a month, from 8 to 8.30 hrs. Every first Friday of the month.
Location: Zoom Meeting. The link will be sent to you when you confirm your attendance by email.
Structure: 15 minutes guided mindfulness practice, 10 minutes mindful sharing, 5 minutes guided loving-kindness practice.
Sharing: You are free to share when the invitation is open, but remember you are not obliged to do so. In order to give everybody the opportunity to offer some personal experience, we invite you to distil the comment to its minimal expression, offering only one word or a very short phrase that represents what is alive in you, in that moment. We use the zoom CHAT option for the sharing. We do NOT activate microphones for each participant. Read the chat with attention and absorb, as much as possible what others have shared. Bring awareness to what happens inside you while you read and you write your comment.
Participating in the on line group implies that you agree in keeping confidential everything you hear in the group. Please honour it.
Arriving: The Meditation starts sharply on time. Please join in few minutes before the time. Late entries disturb the group.
Meets on Zoom, from 8 to 8.30 hrs., every first FRIDAY of the month. It is a free, drop -in, online, 30 minutes group mindfulness meditation session. A great opportunity to find calm in times of rising anxiety, connectedness in a period of isolation and give support to each other.
The session is divided into 20 minutes of guided meditation and ten minutes of mindful reflection and optional sharing.
Contact us to join our next gathering.
Meets at a venue in Bryanston, Sandton, from 17 to 19 hrs, the third Monday of the month. During the time together we sit to meditate, share related experiences, listen to a talk or read an inspiring article and engage in a mindful discussion afterwards. Finally, we share a tea together while informally connecting to one another.
Cost: Facilitator’s dana donation. Please use the following dana suggestions according to your personal financial situation and the value that the space means to you.
Facilitator Dana guideline: R200/100/50. No one will be excluded if having financial constrictions.
To know more about the deep meaning of Dana read “This is what Happens When Exercising Generosity”
To join our next gathering Contact us.
Retreats
RESIDENTIAL & ON LINE
Retreats offer the possibility to exit the everyday scenery and to “be” with yourself, leaving aside all the normal distractions, from the cellphone to the task at work. That spaciousness is strategically designed to pull back and to create the possibility for regrouping your energy, gain a new perspective and deepen the practice of being in contact with yourself.
At retreats the conditions open the door for the inspiration to emerge, and translate into creativity. How does it emerge and express in each one? That is as personal as each human being and unpredictable in its quality.
Being away from your everyday life, away from your normal “tuning in”, on your own, and away from other’s lives, reveals the silence that is necessary to be able to fine tune your own music, your unique inner voice.
Our retreats bring also the time for a detoxification from whatever toxic you are exposed to. Perhaps it is mental clutter, unhealthy habits or negative social interactions.
We create a safe and nurturing space-time for you to be able to transform from “human doing to human being”.
Who doesn’t want some of that?
Contact us.
Mindfulness & Hiking Weekends
Three to four times a year we gather together in a small group of not more that 10 people for a special weekend away. We head to the Mountains on the Drakensberg or the forest in Magoebaskloof and sometimes to other regions, but always within 3 to 4 hours’ drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria.
During those days, we immerse in different practices on Mindfulness and infuse it into the planned hikes. Sitting and walking practices are combined with periods of noble silence and psychological enquire.
Do you want to know more about mindful hikes? Go to “If You Like Hiking, You Must Read This”.
Do you feel curious about the next “Mindfulness & Hiking”?
Mindfulness Mini Retreats
IN PRESENCE & ONLINE
Sometimes it is necessary to recalibrate our balance within a restorative and healing experience. Our mini retreats are offered with the intention to promote inner resilience and to weave self-compassion around our challenges.
Quiet time, sitting and walking practices in the context of practicing noble silence organically start to bring stillness and serenity. When we are serene it is possible to have a deeper insight and discover wiser ways to relate to our life experiences.
We offer half day and daylong mini retreats throughout the year. The retreats are appropriated for everyone, whether you have experience in meditation or not. The restorative time at the retreat can be an opportunity to start your practice of meditation and mindfulness, to boost your current practice or just a replenishing break in the business of everyday life.
For more details about the upcoming mini retreats
Contact us.
Weekend Retreats
Weekend Retreats attract people who are looking for healing of the body and mind, or often by people who is in a process of some transformation and needs to fine tune to what will be the best next step in their life. They are also a good opportunity to keep the individual practice afresh. Regardless of the reason that brings them to the retreat, the effect of inhabiting a space-time of reconnection with the present moment and subsequently the inner self, is deeply restorative.
These retreats are based in mindfulness practices which include sitting and walking meditations, mindfulness movements as well as laying down practices. There are periods of noble silence and psychological enquire that explore the present moment experience.
On that basic warp, different topics are weaved in each retreat: Gratitude, Loving-Kindness and Mindfulness at Work, just to mention a few.
The weekend retreats are suitable for any person regardless of their previous experience in mindfulness and or in meditation. They are conducted in one of the beautiful retreat centers in the country side, not farther than 3 hrs. drive from Johannesburg and Pretoria.
For more information about the upcoming weekend retreats
Contact us.
Mindful Hikes
IN PRESENCE
Mindful Hikes are carefully curated experiences that merge the practice of bringing conscious awareness of the here and now, being present, outdoors, while walking in nature.
This is an intentional practice that provides the opportunity to re-connect with your senses and discover the magic contained in each moment. Only when we can truly notice the variety of tones in colors, patterns and shapes, the smell of nature, it´s different textures and even it´s taste, we start waking up to the fullness of our lives.
When we detox from electronic distractions, disengage from our analytical thinking and pause the constant judging of our experience, we can meet the “whispered longings of our own hearts “(John Kabat Zinn).
Forty years of solid scientific studies show that mindfulness practice reduces stress and anxiety, improves depression and chronic pain, enhances attention and concentration, and benefits many more physical and mental problems.
More and more, researches show the practice of mindfulness in nature improves mood and sense of being connected, activation of intrinsic core values, consumption and sustainable behavior.
The regular practice of Mindful Hikes brings about the benefits of mindfulness practice combined with the well-being enhancing effect of spending time in nature.
Some benefits of Mindful hikes include;
*Stress reduction.
*Anxiety decrease.
*Reduction in emotional reactivity.
*Improves communication skills.
*Fosters empathy.
*Enhances sense of interconnectedness.
Every second Sunday or so, we gather for a guided morning Mindful Hike within the Cradle of Human Kind, Magaliesberg or Hartebeesport.
Our hikes are small group mindfulness training sessions aimed to allow participants to experience the transformative power of mindfulness and deeply connect with nature while being present moment to moment.
During each hike you will be guided into many simple, yet powerful mindfulness practices. Learn more about it.
Two to three times a year, Mindful Hikes take the form of a weekend retreat, where a small group goes into nature to undertake a fully guided mindful hike for some days. Our weekend Mindful Hike Retreats explore trails in different provinces three to four hours’ drive from JHB- PTA. These are excellent opportunities to immerse in mindfulness practices while hiking incredibly beautiful trails with the company of like-minded people. The spirit of this experiences is to de-stress and re-connect with yourself.
Need more info about next Mindful Hike or Retreat? Click Here
Group Meditation. Guidelines
Dr Lilian Cabiron
It is important, when participating in a group meditation to read the guidelines in order to fine tune our expectations as well as what it is expected from you while being part of the group.
Our groups are open to everybody, regardless of any previous experience. New members are welcome at any time.
In Presence Group:
Frequency/duration/date: Once a month, from 17 to 19 hrs. Every third Monday of the month.
Location: Bryanston, Johannesburg. Exact address will be sent once you confirm your attendance by email.
Structure: 30 minutes guided mindfulness practice, 15 to 20 minutes mindful enquire, 10 to 5 minutes share of an inspirational talk of reading related to mindfulness, 20 minutes mindful discussion, 40 minutes mindful sharing of a tea and informal but mindful talk and listening.
Sharing: Feel free to share when the invitation is open, but know you are not obliged to do so. At the end of each practice, we invite sharing of experiences by passing a “taking stick to signal to the group a member that wants to talk as well as the end of each participants sharing.
Speak out whatever is arising in you at that moment and we kindly ask to be very economical in the expression. We discourage the unfolding of each long story that the mind createsfocusing on bringing awareness and words to the present moment experience.
Listen deeply and attentively to the other person and bring attention to what arises in you as you listen as much as when you talk.
Please do not give any advice. Always speak from your own experience.
Participating in the group implies that you agree in keeping confidential everything you hear in the group. Please honour it.
Arriving: The Meditation starts sharply on time. Please join in few minutes before the time. .
Cost: Group Meditations work over a dana principle The dana (donation) guidelines are R200/150/100/50, depending on your personal financial possibilities. No one will be excluded if having financial constrictions.
On Line Group:
Frequency/duration/date: Once a month, from 8 to 8.30 hrs. Every first Friday of the month.
Location: Zoom Meeting. The link will be sent to you when you confirm your attendance by email.
Structure: 15 minutes guided mindfulness practice, 10 minutes mindful sharing, 5 minutes guided loving-kindness practice.
Sharing: You are free to share when the invitation is open, but remember you are not obliged to do so. In order to give everybody the opportunity to offer some personal experience, we invite you to distil the comment to its minimal expression, offering only one word or a very short phrase that represents what is alive in you, in that moment. We use the zoom CHAT option for the sharing. We do NOT activate microphones for each participant. Read the chat with attention and absorb, as much as possible what others have shared. Bring awareness to what happens inside you while you read and you write your comment.
Participating in the on line group implies that you agree in keeping confidential everything you hear in the group. Please honour it.
Arriving: The Meditation starts sharply on time. Please join in few minutes before the time. Late entries disturb the group.
When we start paying attention to our own mind, body and feelings as they are, moment by moment, we start reclaiming our life.
The inner capacity to pay attention and be present is in each human being, however, our way of living in most of the world has drifted us away from that ability. We have been taught over and over to be mostly in our thoughts. The capacity for thoughts is wonderful, and many great things have come out of that, but the other very powerful capacity, the capacity of awareness has been left dormant. Waking up to the present moment, developing the ability for mindfulness offers us to experience life to the fullest.
Benefits of Mindfulness
When we nurture mindfulness in our life, a new spectrum of possibilities becomes available to us. In the last forty years hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted about different aspects of mindfulness. The scientific evidence shows that the practice of mindfulness brings improvement to several psychological and physical conditions as well as improvement of wellbeing.
Mindfulness reduces stress. Many studies show that practicing mindfulness reduces stress. Those findings are consistent with evidence that mindfulness meditation increases positive effect and decreases anxiety.
Mindfulness is an effective complement to treat a variety of medical conditions. Researches have shown the participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction course, complements in the treatment of asthma, cancer, chronic pain, diabetes, fibromyalgia, gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, HIV, hot flushes and hypertension.
Mindfulness improves psychological disorders such as stress disorders, sleep disturbances, major depression and anxiety.
Mindfulness improves cognition. Studies have reported that the practice of only 10 days of mindfulness meditations improves working memory, attention and concentration. Researchers suggest that the practice helps people to have greater cognitive flexibility.
Mindfulness reduces rumination. Several studies have shown mindfulness reduces the automatic process of thinking about the same thoughts, which usually tend to be sad or negative.
Mindfulness reduces emotional reactivity. Research also supports the notion that mindfulness meditation decreases emotional reactivity.
Mindfulness increases relationship satisfaction. Several studies find a person’s ability to be mindful can help relationship satisfaction — the ability to respond well to relationship stress and the skill in communicating one’s emotions to a partner.
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course. MBSR
IN PRESENCE & ONLINE
This is an 8-week evidence-based program in Mindfulness. It offers intensive and highly experiential training in mindfulness to assist people experiencing challenges in all areas of life and to improve well-being. The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Course teaches:
- Articulate the key aspects of mindfulness as it relates to stress reduction, coping with pain and illness and enhancing well-being
- Differentiate MBSR from relaxation and other distraction techniques that may seem similar but are fundamentally and theoretically quite different in contending with difficulty and enhancing the quality of life
- Practice and apply mindfulness techniques in both personal and professional settings as a means of coping more effectively with the demands of both settings
- Integrate mindfulness into social interaction with colleagues, family and friends to facilitate more effective and mindful communication
- Articulate the potential benefits of mindfulness-based stress reduction (and mindfulness in general) to educate others about the benefits of such programs in their own lives
This course is the authorized MBSR Curriculum Course used with permission of the Center for Mindfulness of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This 2017 version of MBSR Curriculum Guide is based upon the cumulative experience since 1979 totalling more than one million hours of clinical care, more than 24,000 MBSR program completers, referred by more than 7,000 physicians, hundreds of other health care professionals, and through self-referral.
How does It work ?
Through the training, people become aware of their relationship with stressful situations as well as other patterns of behavior, many of which creates suffering for them. They learn that, even when external situations cannot be changed there is always a possibility to approach them in a more skillful manner. A way that can be wiser, involving a response and not a reaction.
Description of the course
The Standard course, as Joh Kabat-Zinn developed it, consists of a weekly meeting of 2,5 to 3 hrs., once a week for eight consecutive weeks. It also includes one full day session after the sixth week with a full immersion in mindfulness practices in an adapted retreat format.
Each class consists mainly of mindfulness practices that are guided by the facilitator. These exercises are body scan, gentle mindfulness movements and sitting meditation. There is also time for guided and mindful reflection and sharing, which is not compulsory.
The instructor focuses on creating a safe, supportive and deeply engaging learning environment that allows participants to seek, explore and enquire.
Each class has a particular theme that is explored from the experience of the mindfulness practices, as well as with short presentations from the teacher and mindful dialogue with participants.
Interested about our next course?
Contact us.