About the retreat:

It is not always easy to treat ourselves compassionately and in many ways it can feel counter-intuitive because we’re often socialised to push on through, achieve, strive and be ‘successful’. When we fall short of these ideals our inner critic can be quick to speak up – yet research shows that self-criticism can take a heavy toll on both our minds and bodies leading to ruminative thoughts that interfere with all aspects of our functioning, and it can impact our bodies by stimulating inflammatory mechanisms that lead to health challenges. By contrast, developing the capacity to respond to ourselves with compassion when we experience life’s inevitable challenges is strongly associated with a decrease in depression, anxiety, stress and shame and with increases in happiness, life satisfaction, optimism and better physical health. It also enables us to be more available and responsive to others.

The Mindful Self-Compassion programme developed by Drs Kristin Neff and Chris Germer cultivates this capacity to respond to ourselves with compassion and identifies three fundamental components: mindfulness (so we’re more aware of our direct experience), common humanity (experiencing challenge is part of the human condition that we all navigate) and self-kindness. Kindness takes two forms: tender (the capacity to validate, comfort, soothe ourselves) and fierce (the capacity to protect, provide for and motivate ourselves) in the face of difficulty.

In order to be truly self-compassionate – in order to be whole – we need to integrate both the ‘tender’ and the ‘fierce’. If we are tender without fierceness, we risk becoming disempowered; if we are fierce without tenderness, we risk becoming hostile or selfish. Like a tree with a solid trunk and flexible branches, we need love in our hearts so we don’t cause harm, but we also need fierceness in our belly to stand up to harm. This retreat will offer a grounding in the mindful self-compassion model focussing particularly on the ’fierce’ (or strong, assertive) aspect which can often be overlooked in popular understandings of compassion.

This weekend could form part of the retreat requirement as part of the BAMBA Good Practice Guidelines for Mindfulness Teachers.