“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work,

but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”

-Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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Professional Trainings

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Foundations of Applied Mindfulness Meditation Certificate at The University of Toronto:​ Please click here for more information

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Trauma Informed Mindful Movement course at The University of Toronto: Please click here for more information

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100 hr. Trauma Informed Practice: on and off the mat: Please click here for more information

 

Mindful Eating: Awareness and Well-Being Groups (8 weeks) (ongoing)

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Mindful Eating: Awareness and Well-Being is an 8-week journey into eating with kindness, awareness, and non-judgment. Through mindfulness-based practices, you'll learn to bring attention to your eating habits, explore your relationship with food, and cultivate gratitude and self-care.

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Practices to increase one’s ability to notice and respond to body sensations will be offered each week and students will be invited to practice in between sessions. The role of your automatic pilot, the importance of “Vitamin T” (Time), and how to skillfully respond rather than react to internal and external stimuli will be explored.

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Course Outline

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Orientation: 

• Welcome and introductions

• Introduction to mindfulness

• Course logistics and expectations

• Potential benefits and challenges

 

Week 1:  

• Introduction to mindfulness-based eating for health and well-being 

• Intention / aspiration setting

• Mindful eating activity

• Orienting and grounding practice

• Loving-kindness meditation

 

Week 2: 

• What is nourishment?

• Role of the nervous system

• Multi-tasking and eating (automaticity-automatic pilot)

• Orienting and grounding practice

• 3-step breathing space

• Loving-kindness meditation

 

Week 3:

• Exploring the seven types of hunger (Dr. Chozen-Bays)

• The role of mindful movement and feeling tones

• 3-step breathing space

• Self-compassion practice

 

Week 4:

• Role of interoception: hunger / fullness scale

• What is satiety?

• 3-step breathing space

• Self-Compassion practice

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Week 5:

• Gratitude body scan 

• Self-stewardship

• 3-step breathing space

• Appreciative joy practice

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Week 6: 

• The slow down diet / Vitamin T (time)

• 3-step breathing space

• Appreciative joy practice

 

All-Day: 

• In-depth day of practice

• Cultivate mindfulness techniques more deeply

 

Week 7:

• Explore the role of nourishment in our homes and culture

• Gratitude body scan

• 3-step breathing space

• Equanimity practice

 

Week 8: 

• Using what we have learned

• Gratitude body scan

• 3-step breathing space

• Equanimity practice

• Next steps

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Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)

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Join me in the Bahamas at the Sivananda Ashram! (December 2024)

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MBCT Offerings at Mindfulness and Health Institute (ongoing)

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• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is a 8-week evidence-based group therapy program (including an orientation session), which has been shown to reduce the impacts associated with depression, anxiety, and stress.

 

• Mindfulness is a non-judgmental way of paying attention to the present moment with compassion. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is designed to bring awareness to the habitual ways of being that can lead to depressive and anxious spirals.

 

• MBCT combines the skills of CBT and mindfulness-based practices, helping participants learn how to respond in more skillful ways to increase well-being and decrease suffering.

 

 

Who May Benefit from Attending?

 

• Individuals experiencing the impacts of the stress.

 

• Individuals experiencing the impacts of anxiety and/or low mood.

 

• Individuals with a history of depression. 

 

Course Outline​ 

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Session 1: Awareness and Automatic Pilot

Session 2: Living in Our Heads

Session 3: Gathering the Scattered Mind

Session 4: Recognizing Aversion

Session 5: Allowing/Letting Be

Session 6: Thoughts Are Not Facts

Session 7: How Can I Best Take Care of Myself?

Session 8: Endings are beginnings

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