Mindful Self Compassion - Short Course

6-week in-person course
with Michael LaValle and Janet Sandman
Tuesday, September 9 to Tuesday, October 14, 2025
6:30 – 8:00pm CDT

Half-day retreat: Saturday, October 4, 9:00am - 1:00pm CDT

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

Most of us feel compassion for our close friends when they are struggling. What would it be like to receive the same caring attention from ourself when we needed it most? All that’s required is a shift in attention recognizing that as a human being, we, too, are worthy of compassion.

Such self-compassion involves the capacity to comfort and soothe ourselves, and to motivate ourselves with encouragement, when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate. Self-compassion is learned in part by connecting with our innate compassion for others and including ourselves in that circle of compassion. The practice of self-compassion also helps to grow and sustain our compassion for others. It allows us to admit our shortcomings, motivate ourselvers with kindness, forgive others when needed, relate wholeheartedly to others, and be more authentically ourselves.

Research shows that self-compassion is strongly associated with 

• emotional well being
• decreased anxiety, depression and stress
• maintenance of healthy habits such as diet and exercise, and
• more satisfying personal relationships.

In this course, we will learn to cultivate the skill of self-compassion. And it is easier than you think!

What is Mindful Self Compassion and how does it work?

Self-compassion can be learned by anyone, even those who didn’t receive reliable affection in childhood or who feel uncomfortable when they are good to themselves. It’s a courageous attitude that stands up to harm, including the harm that we unwittingly inflict on ourselves through self-criticism, self-isolation, or self-absorption. Self-compassion provides emotional strength and resilience, allowing us to admit our shortcomings, motivate ourselves with kindness, forgive ourselves when needed, relate wholeheartedly to others, and be more authentically ourselves.

The practices aim at developing a state of warm-hearted, connected, presence. As we engage with the three core principles and practices, we become more able to respond to difficult moments in our lives with kindness, care, and understanding through:

• self-kindness, which opens our hearts to our own suffering so we can give ourselves what we need
• a sense of common humanity, which opens us to our essential interrelatedness so that we know we are not alone in facing our challenges, and
• balanced, mindful awareness, which opens us to the present moment so we can accept our experience with greater ease.

How is this 6-week course different from the 8-week Mindful Self Compassion course?

This shorther, more manageable 6-week program is based on the same groundbreaking research of Kristen Neff and the clinical expertise of Chris Germer, both leaders in the integration of mindfulness and psychotherapy.

The Short Course in Mindful Self-Compassion is a 6-week adaptation of the empirically-supported 8-week Mindful Self-Compassion program.  The shorter program is designed to allow participants to focus on a targeted set of Mindful Self-Compassion practices with less time commitment than the original full 8-week program.

 

About the teachers