MEDITATION - TO QUIETEN THE MIND
Workshops by John Preston
Those who attend (and carry out the recommended exercises over time) should:
- experience an increased ability to relax and be calm
- understand themselves better
- enjoy an increased sense of personal well-being.
Some comments from previous participants on John Preston's courses:
"My introduction to meditation was from the best source of recommendation - word of mouth. A friend of mind had experienced what he described as a truly relaxed state of mind and a whole new way of dealing with life's everyday problems: looking at each one in a calm and sensible way. After attending this course, I too, have gained this wonderful peace of mind. Learning to meditate was easy and yet so effective, and the theory of it made so much sense. It has been a truly worthwhile experience that can be easily applied every day."
Mrs L. S. (Wiltshire)
"From the feedback we have received, this course has been very well received by all who have participated. Many patients have expressed a wish to continue with a further course. John Preston's approach is one of providing patients with a technique of coping themselves with life's problems and it offers a reasonable and effective alternative to medication. I thoroughly recommend John Preston and these courses."
Dr. R. F. M. MBBS, MRCPsych, MRCGP (Wiltshire)
"I had always thought meditation was a rather 'far out' thing to do - something the Beatles made fashionable in the Sixties. I also believed it involved sitting for hours in some excruciating posture trying to achieve some mind-bending experience. I was therefore very surprised indeed to find a totally normal person sitting in a chair delivering a very sound and sensible message. It was soon evident how beneficial meditation could be. One of the most wonderful aspects of the course has been beginning to understand the power of mind. Many, many thanks for all the help and advice. I really learned so much from the course."
Mrs R. H. (Gerrards Cross)
REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
Writing for personal and professional development
workshops by Sue Ashby
"For professionals, writing about practice and then discussing it confidentially with appropriate others, can be an adventure to the heart of practice. It can enable the exploration of thought, feelings and experiences, uncovering layers of meaning." (Gillie Bolton, 2001)
Over the past fifteen years reflective writing has been increasingly used for personal and professional development in health care for service users and health practitioners to gain insight into self and others and to manage the difficult situations that arise clinically and organisationally.
Reflective practice offers educationalists a unique opportunity to:
- experience a containing learning environment in which the log-jams and messiness of day-to-day practice can be faced and scrutinised in detail
- examine the nature of organisational structures and defences that frame the work in relation to identified tasks
- educate for a context of continuous change
- experience partnerships in learning through different ways of thinking, feeling and behaviour
- learn from others.
As a right-brained activity, reflective practice relies on the intuitive, linguistic and imaginative capacities rather than the left-brained rational and quantitative modes of thought that dominate much of professional training and practice.
As a writer and psychotherapist (in clinical training) Sue Ashby has led creative writing sessions for personal and professional development in further and higher education, treatment centres for drug dependency, health charities and voluntary groups. Since last June she has facilitated courses in Bristol in which school and health-centre counsellors, writers, teachers and mentors have explored their personal and professional lives through reflective writing. Outcomes have included the recovery of creativity, reconnection with lost emotions, a increased sense of identity and self-worth, redecisions about life-work balance, the ability to manage stress, and a qualitatively different experience of support and understanding from working in a group context.
"Effective learning is... dependent, at least in part, on access to that world of feeling and phantasy, which allows structures of meaning to be recognised, and to be open to change, in a way which facilitates a different (and perhaps more constructive) professional response." (Yelloly & Henkel, 1995)
To book a place on the next or any weekend, or to contact the team, please email couragetobe@vitalhub.net.
