What is this Year of Compassion about?

The Year of Compassion is a transformative year-long program designed to cultivate self-compassion through a progressive series of three specialized courses and a half-day retreat. Beginning with Mindful Self-Compassion, participants establish a foundational practice, nurturing the ability to treat themselves with kindness and care in challenging moments. The journey continues with Fierce Self-Compassion, where participants learn the courage to set boundaries and protect their well-being through assertive action. The final course, Self-Compassion for Shame, offers an in-depth exploration of using self-compassion to address the deeply ingrained patterns and emotions of shame. The series concludes with a half-day Compassion Retreat to consolidate learning and strengthen community bonds.

What are the Benefits of a Mindful Self-Compassion? 

While each student's experience is unique, the published research has shown changes like these are common.

• Enhanced Emotional Resilience: Develop greater resilience to cope with anxiety and challenging emotions.
• Strengthened Self-Compassion: Cultivate a supportive relationship with oneself, countering self-criticism with empathy and kindness.
• Healthier Boundaries: Learn to assert boundaries and protect oneself from harmful interactions and self-destructive behaviors.
• Increased Self-Acceptance: Embrace imperfections and reduce feelings of shame and inadequacy.
• Empowered Decision-Making: Gain clarity and courage to make decisions aligned with personal well-being and integrity.
• Improved Relationships: Foster healthier, more authentic connections by practicing compassion toward oneself and others.
• Holistic Well-Being: Experience greater life satisfaction, balance, and personal fulfillment.

Mindful Self-Compassion
Discovering Mindful Self-Compassion: Welcoming session, orientation to program, how to navigate MSC, setting intentions, Theory & Research on Self-Compassion.

Practicing Mindfulness: This session focuses on mindfulness as a prerequisite for self-compassion and explores the conceptual framework of mindfulness.

Practicing Lovingkindness: In this session participants explore conceptual differences between lovingkindness and SC and have direct experience of these practices.

Discovering Your Compassionate Voice: We review stags of progress in SC training, reflect on the course, and explore how to motivate ourselves with kindness rather than criticism.

Living Deeply: Participants identify core values, discover hidden meaning in their struggles, and acquire skills for listening to others in a deep, compassionate manner.

Meeting Difficult Emotions: This week we bring mindfulness and SC to difficult emotions and explore practical ways to work with strong emotions.

Exploring Challenging Relationships: We will explore different kinds of pain that arises in relationships and how we can hold the pain, and ourselves, in mindful self-compassion

Embracing Your Life: This session contains practices to help participants embrace the positive aspects of their lives, including themselves.

Fierce Self-Compassion
Discovering Fear Self-Compassion: Welcoming session, orientation to program, how to navigate Fierce SC, setting intentions, Theory and Research on Fierce SC.

Tender Acceptance: Session 2 focuses on tender acceptance. We need to have a strong foundation in tenderness because fierceness must ultimately be balanced and integrated with tenderness for wholeness and wellbeing.

Protecting Ourselves: Session 3 focuses specifically on fierce self-compassion in the form of protecting ourselves. If we care about ourselves we need to take action to make sure we are safe. This can include speaking up, demanding fair treatment or drawing boundaries.

Harnessing the Power of Anger: This session focuses specifically on fierce self-compassion in the form of anger. Anger is often misjudged as it is a useful evolved emotion that can help us protect ourselves and others.

Motivating Change: Learn how to use fierce self-compassion to motivate change. We will also explore how to find language and fierce loving-kindness phrases to encourage, support and empower themselves.

Meeting Our Needs: In this session, participants will understand how the energy of fierce self-compassion can be harnessed to lead a more fulfilling and satisfying life. In particular, it will help counter the focus on self-sacrifice and give participants permission to meet their own needs.

Finding Wholeness: In this session, participants will explore how gender dynamics can operate in relationships in ways that reinforce patriarchy. We will also explore our yearning for fulfillment in our relationships, and how the energy of self-compassion - especially when yin and yang are in balance - can be used to find wholeness and completeness within.

Finding Meaning: In this session, participants will: Learn how to use fierce self-compassion to make a commitment to bring meaningful change into the world. They will also learn to embrace the messiness of any attempt at social change, and to have compassion for this mess.

Self-Compassion for Shame
"Introduction to SC for Shame: Session 1 focuses on the concepts of self-compassion and shame, and how self-compassion is an antidote to shame. We start becoming aware of when shame arises (which is a lot!) and begin to respond with compassion—the Self-Compassion Break for Shame."

Practice Groups are intended to integrate and extend the information learned during the two-hour large group sessions in a small group. The class will be divided into smaller groups depending on the overall number of participants.

Self-Compassion for Shame (continued)
The Wish to be Loved: Session 2 focuses on the motivation behind shame, namely, the “wish to be loved.” Connecting with the “wish to be loved” increases our capacity to be compassionate with ourselves in the midst of shame, and it starts the process of uncovering when we were not loved and needed to be loved.

Practice Groups are intended to integrate and extend the information learned during the two-hour large group sessions in a small group. The class will be divided into smaller groups depending on the overall number of participants.

Origins of Shame: This session explores the meaning of shame and the motivation behind shame. It also provides theory and research as an on-ramp to the exercises and practices which are the centerpiece of each session.

Practice Groups are intended to integrate and extend the information learned during the two-hour large group sessions in a small group. The class will be divided into smaller groups depending on the overall number of participants.

The Compassionate Self: In Session 4, we explore the Inner Critic and the Criticized Self through the eyes of the Compassionate Self. Participants will evoke the Compassionate
Self in relationship to shame and explore different aspects of self-criticism from the perspective of the Compassionate Self.

Practice Groups are intended to integrate and extend the information learned during the two-hour large group sessions in a small group. The class will be divided into smaller groups depending on the overall number of participants.

Self-Forgiveness: In this session, we will learn self-forgiveness, tapping into our Compassionate Self to forgive ourselves. We can forgive ourselves for pain we have caused to others or to ourselves. In this session, we will focus specifically on pain we have caused to ourselves by self-criticism and other behaviors.

Practice Groups are intended to integrate and extend the information learned during the two-hour large group sessions in a small group. The class will be divided into smaller groups depending on the overall number of participants.

Compassion for Our Bodies: In this session, participants will understand the meaning of body dissatisfaction and body shame, and bring self-compassion to the experience of body shame. Begin to forgive themselves for the harm experienced and caused by feeling ashamed of their own bodies. Learn how to shift from shame to appreciation of the body.

Practice Groups are intended to integrate and extend the information learned during the two-hour large group sessions in a small group. The class will be divided into smaller groups depending on the overall number of participants.

Compassion for Our Parts: Participants will review the self-compassion phrases for shame that they have collected during the course and choose one that they would most like to hear in a moment of shame. Connect with a hidden part of the personality that is bearing the burden of shame and begin to relate compassionately with that part.

Practice Groups are intended to integrate and extend the information learned during the two-hour large group sessions in a small group. The class will be divided into smaller groups depending on the overall number of participants.

Returning Home to Ourselves: In this session, participants will explore what personal values have guided them throughout their lives in spite of shame and generate a phrase to remind themselves of a core value that is bigger than shame. Reflect upon how their lives would be different if they were free from the grip of shame. Review what they learned in the course and share with others what they would like to remember, going forward.

CLOSING OF THE YEAR
Half-Day Silent Retreat: This dedicated time to practice together and continue to integrate the experiences and learnings of the past year. There will be opportunities to connect and share.