Mindfulness and Empathy in Communication

start Wed 9 Feb, 7 – 9pm

for people with previous experience of mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness practice can make a big difference to our lives, imbuing our days with more

spaciousness, meaning, kindness and choice. Often it is in our communication with others that the

ability to stay present and non-reactive is most tested. We all long for harmony, mutual respect,

understanding and fun, but when faced with conflict, we can find ourselves tensing up and falling

into old patterns, that can be hard to shift. Or we engage in safe, socially accepted ways of relating

that miss the opportunity to go deeper and touch in with what really moves and connects us.

This course explores the common ground between mindfulness practices and empathetic

communication, within ourselves and with others. It teaches us to stand in the power of self-

compassion while reaching out to others. It encourages us to transform judgements and criticism

into deeper understandings. In other words: it can transform our lives!

We will develop our emotional literacy, as well as the skills and confidence to discover and

galvanise the energy inherent in needs and values. We learn to be accurate in our observations and

both, precise and invitational in our requests.

This course will be of benefit to anyone who is interested to connect more effectively and kindly,

with parts of themselves, family and friends and in their professional lives. For mindfulness

teachers and supervisors, it can feed into their enquiry skills.

There will be guided meditation practises integrated with structured explorations, mainly based on

Nonviolent or Compassionate communication (Marshall Rosenberg). There will be suggestions on

how to take the learning into the week and it is recommended to keep a diary.

Like anything new we want to implement in our lives, it needs practice. There will be the option to

meet for short periods of time with another course participant between sessions, to have a further go

at some of the exercises and support each other in new ways of relating.

Ratnadevi has been teaching mindfulness for over thirty years, is a certified mindfulness coach

and a long-term practitioner of Nonviolent Communication. See www.livingmindfulness.net for

more info.

Cost: sliding scale between £100 – £200