Celebrating Mindfulness Teachers across the UK – Mindfulness Now Celebration Day 2024 – Annual Conference in Birmingham

A celebration of mindfulness teachers across the UK

Celebrating our Mindfulness Now Family

” This special day will be a chance to catch up with fellow graduates and tutors and to network with other members of our growing community. Promising to be a day of supportive mindful practice, the sharing of experiences, networking and learning something new.”

Time to celebrate the many achievements of our amazing Mindfulness Now graduates. This year is also a particularly special one as it marks the 10 year anniversary of our training school!

We are immensely proud of our community and would like to invite you to come and celebrate with us on Sunday 28th April 2024 at the home of Mindfulness Now, the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham.

We have 8 great workshops planned for the day…

Nick Cooke Compassion Focused Coaching
Clare Harris Embodied Confidence: Navigating the Spotlight Mindfully
Aston Colley Mindfulness Yoga
Kate Angell Tai Chi Chih – Joy through Movement
Léo Taylor Authoring meditations from our own stories and experiences
Nikki Street Experiential Virtual Reality
Amanda Carter-Blackford Mindful Journalling
Dr. Nikki Chatfield Mindfulness for Diabetes and Cardiovascular Health

This special day will be a chance to catch up with fellow graduates and tutors and to network with other members of our growing community. Promising to be a day of supportive mindful practice, the sharing of experiences, networking and learning something new.
In further celebration of our 10 year anniversary, we are also pleased to announce the launch of the Mindfulness Now Teachers Bursary Fund. Any profit made from this special day will be added to this fund. Initially, we will be supporting the training of mindfulness teachers within small community based projects/ organisations.

As usual there are a limited number of tickets available for this day. Please book your tickets now to avoid any disappointment!

Book Now

£49 pp (Each ticket price includes a vegan packed lunch and refreshments.

Need to stay over?…
For those of you who may be travelling and need to stay over in Birmingham, Edgbaston Park Hotel has offered us a 15% discount for any of our graduates staying the nights of 27th or 28th April 2024 using the promo code MAC24. The code will be valid until 16th March 2024 on the flexible rate.

For further information, please explore booking.com or airbnb.co.uk for other good and more affordable accommodation options.

Mini-retirement – What’s it all about

This little article contains my personal perspective on a, so called, mini-retirement – what’s it all about, the differences between it and a full retirement and between it and a holiday. Why should we do it? – are there rules for it? Is it a requirement to be old? Lastly some tips from someone who’s done it.

I originally trained in marketing and environmental science and took my first mini-retirement of 4 weeks after selling my share in a garment hanger reuse and recycling business which colleagues and I set up in my 30s to help M&S to meet its environmental obligations. The work was hugely stressful, and I was very glad of some down time.

Since then, I’ve come to really appreciate the value of the mini-retirement, of at least a few weeks, hopefully at least once a year. As I entered my 60s, with a successful practice in wellbeing and education, including my own clinic and training centre, I naturally considered retirement. However, I decided that, as long as I was well enough and loved my work, there was no point. In fact, I’ve known a number of others who have deeply regretted their retirement and not fared well with it.

In my case I’ve been fortunate enough to streamline my practice, partly due to the COVID lockdown, including selling my clinic and training centre and transitioning into the world of hybrid working, with a combination of online and in-person work.

Being part of a team makes the concept of mini-retirements more workable although, for those of us self-employed, we have to accept that other than any residual income, our mini-retirement will cost us financially. The financial loss will be fully compensated for by a period of freedom, rest and recharge, along with hopefully some new learning.

To me, holidays are normally very brief breaks and easy to arrange. They don’t get in the way of my client schedules. Mini-retirements, by contrast are much more of a challenge and require the cooperation and understanding of clients/participants and colleagues.

I strongly suggest that we don’t fall into the trap of believing that because we are fortunate to love what we do, that it is not real work and therefore we don’t need breaks. I have to admit that sometimes, over the years, I have been absolutely rubbish at taking breaks and I’m pretty sure that, on more than one occasion, it has had a serious negative impact upon my health.

Of course, these days there are numerous holidays which are advertised as ‘mindful’ holidays – whether that’s painting, river cruising or writing. Personally, I think that any holiday can be a mindful one as long as we stay with the experience of it.  One of my colleagues tells me that he is brave enough for he and his partner to go to the airport with only passports and credit cards and then select a departure destination from the announcement board and buy tickets! As he said to me ‘the worst that can happen is that we end up going back home, and at its best we find an exciting new adventure’.

This same friend was horrified when I told him that I normally take my laptop computer on holiday with me (well surely it deserves a holiday too?). Sometimes I enjoy spending some time writing and find that being in a fresh, enjoyable location can inspire some creativity (my grandchildren are not at all impressed with this)! So, I think that the rule should be… not to have rules. Let nobody tell us what we should or should not do, and just see what happens.

Good luck with taking your breaks, however they happen and, you never know, maybe see you on the beach sometime! I’ll probably be the only one with a laptop computer as well as an ice cream!!

www.mindfulnessnow.org.uk

Mindfulness Teacher Training, Oxford University, August 2023

Course Information

The Mindfulness Meditation teacher training course (in a 5 day, Monday to Friday format) is available at a cost of £850, which is inclusive of all training materials, assessment, certification and accreditation as a Mindfulness Now teacher.
After completion of the course,(which includes subsequent assignment) successful graduates are offered the opportunity to join the network of Mindfulness Now licensed and accredited teachers.

To book a place on the course call 01386 870893

or

Course status:
Spaces Available

Venue

 
 
Venue: 
St John’s College,
Oxford University,
St Giles’,
Oxford,
OX1 3JP

I found the mix and balance between formal presentation, role play and personal practice excellent. Group discussion was also beneficial. The retreat day was lovely surprise that I found helpful both on a personal + professional basis

Diana Titterton, Cumnor Oxford  Course

Want to book a place? It’s easy! Call us on 0121 444 1110 or email info@mindfulnessnow.org.uk

Or contact the Oxford  Course Director  Aston Colley on 01386 870893 or email  aston@mindfulnessnowoxford.org.uk

Mindfulness Teacher Training, Birmingham, November 2023 – In Person

Course Information

The Mindfulness Now programme offers an integrated approach to using mindfulness techniques to help clients deal with serious physical and emotional trauma, as well as building emotional resilience. After completion of the course, successful graduates are offered the opportunity to join the network of Mindfulness Now licensed and accredited teachers.

Course date(s)

13th – 17th November 2023

Price:
£900

Course status:
Spaces Available

Venue

Venue: 
Midlands Arts Centre, Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England, B12 9QH

Venue special notes: 
Full disabled facilities are provided along with ample parking. For further training venue information please visit https://macbirmingham.co.uk/

Want to book a place? It’s easy! Call us on 0121 444 1110 or email info@mindfulnessnow.org.uk

Mindfulness Teacher Training, Edinburgh, September 2023 – In Person

Course Information

The Mindfulness Now programme offers an integrated approach to using mindfulness techniques to help clients deal with serious physical and emotional trauma, as well as building emotional resilience. After completion of the course, successful graduates are offered the opportunity to join the network of Mindfulness Now licensed and accredited teachers.

To book a place on the course call 07720 426073

or

Course date(s):
25th – 29th September 2023

Price:
£900

Course status:
Spaces available

Venue

Venue:
The Restoration Yard, Dalkeith Country Park, Dalkeith, Edinburgh, Scotland EH22 1ST

Set in over 1000 acres just a few miles from Edinburgh, our venue is the beautiful Dalkeith Country Park, a stunning venue filled with green space, wildlife, fabulous architecture and steeped in history, this is the perfect place for mindfulness meditation. Our room is in ‘The Loft’ in the Restoration Yard, close to facilities, cafe’s and park trails.

Dalkeith is 8 miles south of Edinburgh and can be accessed by Car, Train and is on a Bus route. Onsite parking. The venue is accessible for wheelchairs.

Want to book a place? It’s easy! Call us on 07720 426073 or email sharon@wellbeingmind.co.uk