Cultivating Calm: Mindful Stress Reduction
Stress should not undermine physical health, interfere with sleep or work, damage relationships or limit you from engaging fully with life. Many people seek happiness “out there”. They believe that if they get a raise, a more emphatic boss, or something else that they don’t have now, their life will improve. Our experience has been that the payoff for getting and having often falls short of the imagined outcome. True calmness arises from within. The activities and techniques in this course will help you to create an internal state of well-being that is always available to you because it is not dependent on external circumstances. We will guide you in attending to the root causes of stress so that you prevail over ongoing mental chatter by developing mindfulness, tuning your lifestyle, aligning your conscious and unconscious beliefs, and reconnecting with your life’s purpose. The course will focus on creating rich, in-class experiences and processes that will help you shift your consciousness to make choices that enhance your health, vitality and well-being. Expect lots of thought-provoking activities that encourage you to delve deeper into your heart and psyche and emerge with a life-long prescription for calm that really works for you! One that is easy to put into play, excites you and gives you results. One that you will actually stick with!
Monday April 7th – May 26th (No class Victoria Day May 19th) 7:30- 9:30 PM
St. Columba Church, 11 Rodney Avenue, Pointe Claire
$160 (tax included)
What you can expect from taking the course
– exposure to a variety of strategies to recognize and change self-sabotaging beliefs
– greater peace of mind, increased attention and clarity of thought
– improved self-regulation, resilience and contentment
– improved ability to maintain attention to your experience of the present moment
– personal support, individual feedback and course notes
Basic premises of the course:
– Our thoughts produce our moods and behavior
– Genuine happiness arises from within us
– Contentment is about being at peace and feeling good about who you are
– Health and illness result from the interaction of biological, psychological, social and behavioural factors – not biological factors alone
Who will benefit from this course:
– Individuals who want to attend to the root causes of stress rather than band-aiding the symptoms
– Individuals who are interested in experiencing a rich variety of paradigms and activities to manage stress
– Introspective individuals
What we encourage from participants
– Participation in class activities
– Commitment to practise the skills and techniques outside of class
Topics Outline
Mindful Stress reduction to help you detach from troubling thoughts
– Breathwork to stimulate the relaxation response
– Visualization to create commitment
– Meditation to change how you perceive challenges
– Presence to maintain attention on experiencing the present moment
– Using silence to increase awareness of feelings
Feeding your Mind
– Limiting information overload
– Creating time for yourself
– Developing self-acceptance and gratitude
– Keeping your commitments
– Weaning yourself from self-sabotage
– Stopping blame so you create what you really want
Feeding your Body
– Detoxification
– Healing and preventing inflammation
– Getting restful sleep
– Activity, walking, yoga and more
Feeding your spirit; Essence Activities
– Recharging yourself outdoors
– Creating connection with touch (Staying in touch)
– Laughter to refresh the heart
– Forgiveness to let go of the past
– Altruism to connect to the principles that transcend us
– Empathy and compassion to deepen connections with others
Ian Ramsay taught high school Math and Science for 20 years in Montreal public and private schools. He went on to train and certify individual conditioning instructors for three Montreal YMCAs and worked as a Personal Trainer for over fifteen years. He now creates and animates workshops and retreats on mindful, active living, leadership and personal development. Ian and Rukhshana are regular presenters at schools and Teachers’ Convention with their signature “Recess from Stress” programs.
Rukhshana Surty, after earning degrees in Education and Computer Science, switched gears to become a Holistic Massage and Bodywork therapist and ran Harmoni Holistic Center for 14 years. Her passions include teaching Healing Yoga, Breathwork, Meditation and Movement practices to taste the joy of stillness within each of us. Creating workshops to inspire and transform through breath and body, is what she’s all about. Rukhshana and Ian enjoy bringing new research, fun and an experiential twist to their presentations and courses on Mindfulness, Meditation, and Conscious Relationships.