The Hows and Whys of Mindfulness and Meditation

offered in-person by Christiane Baud

Sunday January 12 to February 9
11:15 am -12:30 pm USA Central Time

Location:  4015 Normandy Avenue, Dallas TX 75205
First Unitarian Church of Dallas

Many of us seek out meditation and mindfulness practices to help us move through the challenges of each life stage. We may begin a meditation practice for relief from a too busy life and its associated stress, for relief from mental health challenges, or for help in coping with ill health. We may also seek greater engagement with life and cooperation with others, and a deepening of our spiritual life.

The practices of mindfulness and meditation as they have now developed in our Western culture include many different dimensions, each of which has the potential to transform us in a different way. As we grow in our practice, we learn to find our way through all of them as we adapt our practice to our own life situation.

This 5-week course is a progressive guided journey into the various practices included under the umbrella term of “mindfulness meditation”. Each session includes short lectures followed by communal practices. The classes will be presented in-person (with possibility of joining the live stream).

The course emphasizes a Western science point of view on meditation and consciousness, pointing out the bridges to Buddhist and other spiritual practices and traditions. In spiritual traditions, mindfulness meditation is a way of cultivating wisdom and moving away from the limitation of a separate sense of self. On a practical level, mindfulness meditation is a way to improve concentration and clarity of mind, to cultivate resilience in response to daily life stressors, and to enhance wellbeing through emotional regulation.

The class will first cover the practices of attention-training that serve as the basis for all other practices. We then move into ways to deepen our awareness of all aspects of our experience: body sensations, feelings, emotions, and thoughts. Finally, resourcing practices such as loving-kindness, compassion, equanimity and gratitude together with visualization practices are introduced.

About the teacher

Christiane is a certified mindfulness meditation teacher within the International Mindfulness Teachers Association having completed Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program.

Her approach and philosophy are based in equal measure on sound Western scientific knowledge and on contemplative approaches. On the scientific side, she relies on her background as a biologist (PhD) and a psychologist (MA) to understand and describe the human being as interconnected layers of body, emotions, and mind. On the contemplative side, she draws on 15 years of meditation experience within various traditions.

Christiane holds a PhD in biology from the University of Paris and has had a 20-year career in the pharmaceutical industry research and development. She recently completed a M.A. in Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University in Palo Alto. She has taught yoga and mindfulness meditation in Dallas for the last 15 years.

Registration

This course series is free. It is offered in co-sponsorship with First Unitarian Church of Dallas.