Deeper Mindfulness: Frame by Frame

‘Deeper Mindfulness: exploring feeling tone Frame by Frame' is a new eight-week course developed by Mark Williams and colleagues. It is designed for those who have already completed an eight-week mindfulness-based programme and want to explore mindfulness more deeply.

Overview​

This course allows people to explore an aspect of mindfulness that isn’t covered explicitly in other courses: ‘feeling tone.’ Feeling tone is a sense of the positive or negative that every human experiences and is the tipping point for our mood.

Deeper Mindfulness is informed by recent psychological findings that reveal that every waking moment, our understanding of the world is dominated by imagining how we can take action within it, coloured by what is called ‘feeling tone.’ Feeling tone is the moment-by-moment ‘read-out’ of how much a sensation, thought, or emotion feels pleasant, unpleasant, or neither. Based on this moment-by-moment ‘read out,’ the body allocates its resources as it gears up for real or imagined action. This can prepare us well for action, but it can also put us at risk of becoming exhausted without our realising it.

During the eight weekly sessions, you will learn meditations that help you tune into feeling tone moment by moment, frame by frame. This provides an opportunity to see more clearly both the tipping points for distress and exhaustion, and also how to flourish by freeing yourself to appreciate life again, even in the midst of difficulty.

When

Tuesdays, 5.30pm to 7.30pm, starting 19 Jan and running until 16 March 2027 (NB: no session on 16 Feb)

Where

Online. The zoom link will be sent closer to the time of the course.

The format of the course

The course is delivered over eight weekly sessions, each lasting two hours. Each session builds on what’s been introduced before, so it’s important to attend all the sessions if possible. (If you know you’re going to miss a session, please let your teacher know).

You’ll be in a group of up to 16 people, led by one of our experienced mindfulness teachers.

Each session begins with a short, guided meditation, then (with the exception of the first session) there’s a review and inquiry into the past week. The second half of the session introduces the theme for the week and includes a meditation. There’ll be space to review what you and others experienced or discovered during the practice. The sessions are followed by suggestions for home-based personal practice of around 20 minutes per day. This includes both recommended guided practices for the week, and also ways to cultivate mindfulness in everyday life.

You’ll have access to guided practices to support each session.

Facilitators

We have two experienced teachers leading this course. Apart from being experienced in many aspect of teaching mindfulness, Taravajra and Bethan Roberts are supervisors and are key members of our team of teacher trainers, leading courses for others who want to become teachers themselves.

Taravajra

Taravajra has been teaching mindfulness in Sussex since 2005 to community groups, carers, teachers and NHS staff. Taravajra gained a Masters degree in mindfulness-based approaches in 2010 at Bangor University. Since 2011, he has been part of the core training team at Bangor, teaching on the Masters programme and teacher training pathway in the English and Spanish speaking worlds. He holds a British Wheel of Yoga teaching diploma and is a Focusing practitioner. Since 2011 he has been one of the main trainers on the Sussex Mindfulness Centre’s teacher training programme.

Bridgette O’Neill

Bridgette is a clinical psychologist by professional training and has taught mindfulness-based approaches in NHS mental health services for staff and clients since 2002. She is a senior lecturer, trainer, and supervisor with the Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice and the Mindfulness Network as well as a trainer with the Sussex Mindfulness Centre. Bridgette has a particular interest in mindfulness and compassion-based approaches in relation to social and environmental challenges and is part of the author group of the paper ‘Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Our Time: A Curriculum that is up to the Task’.

Cost:

• £250 standard admission (£225 supported rate for those on low incomes; £275 supporter rate)

Please note, we ask all those who book a place on this course to fill in an application form that will be sent to the facilitators. If you haven’t already, please head here to the application form.

This course is designed for the general public who have done an eight-week mindfulness course and may not be suitable for everyone. If you are experiencing significant mental health issues, you should talk to your GP about being referred to the appropriate clinical service.

For enquiries: spft.smc@nhs.net