MBRP Teacher Training 2023

Week 3: April 20, 2023

From Reacting to Responding

Integration/home practices: (with an intention to do daily) (Downloadable recordings)

• Breath Meditation

• Meditation on Sounds

• SOBER space

• Mindfulness of Daily Activities (see below)

Today we practiced Mindfulness of Hearing/Sounds, Breath Meditation, False Refuge exercise, and the SOBER space.

False Refuge: an exercise that helps us recognize basic human needs that often underlie craving. We explored whether addictive behaviors truly fulfill those needs. Since they usually don’t, we might refer to these behaviors as a false refuge: something that at first seems like it’s a place of stability and security, but in the long-term proves to be false.

Session Themes: Mindfulness practices can help us increase awareness and subsequently make more skillful choices in our everyday lives. Because breathing is always a present-moment experience, pausing and paying attention to sensations of the breath can be a way to return to the present moment and come back into the body. When we are more present, we are often more aware and less reactive and can make decisions from a stronger, clearer place. The SOBER space is a practice that can extend this quality of mindfulness from formal sitting or lying-down practice into the daily situations and challenges we encounter.

Mindfulness of daily activities: consider small, everyday things you do during your day (washing dishes, brushing teeth) and try one or two out like we did with the raisin exercise, where we slow down and bring our full mindful awareness to the process.