Mindful Self-Compassion or “MSC” is an empirically-supported 8-week training program developed by Drs. Christopher Germer and Kristin Neff. It helps participants cultivate the mental and emotional habit of mindful self-compassion by learning the process of infusing our moment-to-moment habit of experience with kindness, especially when we feel frustrated, hurt, inadequate, or overwhelmed. Mindful self-compassion is the first step in emotional healing - being able to be-friend oneself, turn inwardly and acknowledge our difficult thoughts and feelings with a spirit of openness, curiosity and love, rather than self-judgement, or self-criticism. Perhaps most importantly, cultivating self-compassion means that we honor and accept our humanness. Things will not always go the way we want them to. We often encounter fruestrations and losses. We make mistakes and bump up against our limitations, or fall short of our ideals. This is the human condition, a reality shared by us all. The more we open our heart to this reality instead of constantly fighting against it, the more we will be able to feel compassion for ourselves and all of our fellow humans. Research has shown that self-compassion greatly enhances emotional well-being. It boost resilience, happiness, reduces anxiety and depression, and can even help maintain healthy lifestyle hapbits such as diet and exercise. Being both mindful and compassionate leads to greater ease and well-being in our daily lives. Mindful self-compassion can be learned by anyone. It's the practice of recognizing moments of difficulty, and repeatedly evoking good will toward ourselves. It extends cultivation of that same desire beyond ourselves to all living beings to live happily and free from suffering. In the weekly program, participants will learn through activities such as meditatio, experiential exercises, short presentations, group discussion and home practices. Learning is mostly experiential and includes current theory and research on self-compassion. |