Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
A day retreat for women.
Exploring key principles and establishing the foundations of personal practice.
Introduction to mindfulness meditation, a day retreat for women.
This one-day retreat will cover the basic principles of mindfulness and help lay the foundation for creating your own personal practice. Learn simple and effective techniques for calming the mind and opening the heart.
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September 14th 2024
9.30am - 4.45pm
The Fintry Trust retreat centre, Godalming, GU8 5UQ
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Limited to 14 participants, early booking advised.
Suitable for complete beginners, or those with experience who'd like to refresh their practice.
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£75 per person, including lunch & refreshments
concessionary rates by application, email Louise
About the day:
Meditating on your own can be hard, or you may wonder if you’re ‘doing it right’. You might know the benefits of mindfulness, or tried multiple apps, but solo meditating feels like another chore on the never ending to-do list. This is an opportunity to connect with others, move your body, and discover the power of applying meditation practice to everything in life.
Fintry is a beautiful and quiet retreat centre where you can step into peacefulness for a day, enjoy learning together, share delicious food, ask any questions, and reflect on how meditation feels in your body.
The goal is to explore a variety of techniques for on-the-cushion practice and everyday living, in an accessible way. A great opportunity for beginners, or those wanting to revisit the fundamentals.
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Feedback from recent Mindfulness Meditation Course participants:
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“the course has been a really positive experience… leaves me feeling much more positive about ways in which I can use mindfulness and the breath for my own benefit in the future.”
“really enjoyed the course, a good mix of practice with really insightful thoughts”.
“I've really loved the course, every week I've looked forward to meeting the others and listening to your words..”
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More about mindfulness meditation:
In our fast paced world it’s easy to lose touch with ourselves, and what matters most. A world designed to distract us and keep us busy can leave us feeling depleted, flat, anxious, overwhelmed or cut off from ourselves, from others or from our own sense of meaning and purpose. This is compounded if we are juggling busy careers or caring responsibilities, all of which can leave us running on empty.
When we slow down and connect to the present moment we see that our lived experience is created from how we interact with the world, through our thoughts, feelings and actions. We have normalised the experience of being tugged around by the urge to keep up, the ups and downs of our emotions or the detachment from our inner guidance.
Life takes over, but it doesn’t have to be this way. We can live more fully and authentically, reclaiming vibrancy, aliveness, peace and joy. We often forget or completely miss the sheer beauty that’s available to us in our ordinary everyday lives.
Just as we exercise our bodies, we can train our hearts and minds to experience more well-being. With mindful presence we cultivate a clear, kind attention to what’s right here. Through compassion practices we can learn how to be ok with our human messiness and struggles, how to tend to difficulty with increased skill and kindness, so we are better able to respond to life as it is.
The techniques I teach are based on Insight Meditation (or Vipassana: literally translated as ‘seeing deeply or clearly’) which is the practice of developing a calm and mindful investigation to the nature of experience, leading to wisdom, compassion and the end of suffering.
I'd love you to join me in this path towards greater peace and freedom.
Themes we'll explore:
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Common misconceptions about meditation, and how to get started.
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Working skilfully with emotions: navigating life’s ups and downs with greater ease.
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Gain greater clarity on unhelpful patterns of thinking.
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How lovingkindness and self-compassion practices enhance joy.
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Applying principles learned into daily life, without feeling overwhelmed.
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Outline schedule (times may vary):
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09.30. Welcome
09.45. Introduction to theme and opening talk
10.30. Guided mindfulness practice
11.00. Break
11.15. Walking meditation instructions & practice
11.45. Guided mindfulness practice
12.15. Q&A
12.30. Shared lunch, with mindful eating guidance.
13.30. Gentle movement practice.
13.55. Topic talk
14.15. Guided meditation.
14.45. Topic talk
15.00. Guided meditation
15.30. Closing talk & tea break
16.00. Q&A
16.30. Closing ritual, reflections & home practice guidance
16.45. Latest finish time
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Questions?
email: info@louiserogersyoga.co.uk
concessionary rates by request
About Louise
Louise has been studying and practising meditation and yoga since the early nineties, and has been teaching since 2011. She has trained to teach mindfulness meditation with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, two well known and much loved teachers.
Her own immersion into meditation happened in 1997 when she attended her first ten day silent retreat. From that moment, she became aware of the power of practice, and realised that our thoughts are not always helpful, and certainly not who we really are.
Louise has focused most of her teaching career on supporting women through various life stages like pregnancy, motherhood and menopause. She loves to dispel myths and make the teachings accessible, relatable and enjoyable. Firmly believing in the power of community, her classes are inclusive and welcoming. She brings heart and passion to her teaching, inspiring students to find their own reasons for practice.
Louise lives in Surrey and is married with two sons and two step sons, loves good food, good company, hiking with her dog, being anywhere in nature and loves all the creative arts.
