It is not always easy to communicate in a wise and compassionate way but if we are able to speak and listen with an open and non-judgmental attitude, our work and life will be less exhausting and both participants and clients will benefit. This Interpersonal Mindfulness retreat offers you the opportunity to deepen your own mindfulness practice and to get to know a method that supports you in developing mindfulness, empathy and compassion in the interpersonal sphere.

It is based on the practice of Insight Dialogue (ID) as developed by Gregory Kramer (see www.insightdialogue.org). With Kramer’s permission, two leading mindfulness trainers from the USA, Florence Meleo-Meyer and Phyllis Hicks, have designed a programme based on the principles of ID and intended for mainstream settings. This training is called the Interpersonal Mindfulness Program (IMP) and applies the six guidelines of ID into secular domains of work, such as health and education.

This retreat is aimed at those with an existing mindfulness practice including mindfulness teachers, health care professionals, coaches and other professionals who work with people are also welcome. This experiential exploration of practices and key elements of IMP will take place online which we hope will make it supportive and accessible for people to join. The weekend will include periods of silence and participants are encouraged to maintain silence or minimal verbal contact during the breaks and in the evenings in order to support a deepening of practice.

This weekend could form part of the retreat requirement as part of the BAMBA Good Practice Guidelines for Mindfulness Teachers. However, please note that this retreat does not replace the participation in an 8-week Interpersonal Mindfulness Training or replace participation in an Insight Dialogue Retreat, which are prerequisites for the IMP Teacher Training Programme.

Objectives:

– Becoming familiar with interpersonal mindfulness experientially. – Deepening one’s own mindfulness practice and applying it to communication in general.

– Practising with the interpersonal mindfulness guidelines (in pairs or in groups of 3/4) as used in Insight Dialogue: “Pausing”, “Relaxing”, “Opening”, “Attuning to Emergence”, “Listening Deeply” and “Speaking the Truth”.

– Exploring life themes in meditative dialogue (e.g. reactivity in body and mind, ageing, evaluating, comparing, feelings of superiority and inferiority, desire, different roles in private and social life, change and cultivating healing qualities in communication).

– Refreshing and deepening the practice of mindfulness and compassion.

Scientific background:

Empathy is an important quality in any teacher-student relationship and, as scientific studies have shown, is also very important in the therapist-client relationship (Hick & Bien, 2008; Wilson & Dufrene, 2008). Professionals who work with people are often susceptible to empathy fatigue. Here, MBP‘s can prevent empathy fatigue and other symptoms of burnout and contribute to increased self-compassion, wise self-regulation and empathy skills (Karpowicz et al., 2009; Saunders et al., 2007; Shapiro et al., 2005, 2007). In addition, Porges (2011) and Siegel (2007) have shown that attentive and careful interpersonal attunement has calming effects and leads to a deep inner resonance at the neurobiological level (Porges, 2011; Siegel, 2007). Click here for a first feasibility study on IMP in which Frits Koster was involved as teacher.