Working with Challenging Mind States and their Antidotes: An Intensive Mindfulness Retreat for Mental Health Professionals

Many in our field have been studying mindfulness and its clinical applications for years but have not found time for more intensive meditation practice. Others appreciate the opportunity to refresh their meditation practice with like-minded colleagues. By deliberately stepping out of everyday life and into a pristine retreat environment, the subtle habit patterns of heart and mind are more easily accessed, and mindfulness can begin to deepen.

Join us for a different kind of retreat, one that brings Theravada (vipassana) and Tibetan perspectives into conversation and into practice as we work with challenging mind states and their antidotes. Joining us is Willa Miller, a Buddhist teacher (lama) who has studied and practiced extensively in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and who is committed to making meditation psychologically relevant and accessible to caregivers in our culture.

Practitioners in this cognitively oriented, high stimulus, high stress culture, frequently struggle with unsettling mind storms. A variety of instructions and guided meditations from both traditions will be offered. These are designed to create and optimize the conditions in which mindfulness practice may flourish even in difficult situations.

This course provides a container in which to explore these practices with colleagues. The teaching is experience-near, practice oriented, focusing on the development of mindfulness practice and its relevance in our work with others, particularly in the delivery of accurate empathy and therapeutic presence. Throughout the day there will be mindfulness meditation instruction from both traditions, with three to four hours of meditation each day, study modules, dyadic exercises and/or small group discussions, and an individual meeting with a teacher. Overall during the week silence will be observed including during meals, to facilitate a deeper contemplative experience.

This is a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in an exquisite natural environment and work closely with leaders in the growing field of clinical mindfulness meditation and compassion. Every effort will be made by the teachers and staff to give each participant a delightful, educational retreat experience, so that you can return home with renewed enthusiasm for clinical work and for cultivating mindfulness and compassion on and off the cushion.

20 CE units available to psychologists, social workers and mental health counselors. Eligible participants will receive a certificate for 20 CEUs at the conclusion of the retreat.

Sponsored by the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy