Course Overview

In this six-week online training program, you’ll dive into the practice of mindfulness and develop a personal toolkit of meditation techniques to meet your unique challenges, deeply enrich your life, and ultimately help you access greater and deeper levels of inner wisdom and freedom.

The Art of Human Being mindfulness curriculum is largely based on the work of meditation master and neuroscience research consultant Shinzen Young, which is utilized in research by institutions such as Harvard Medical School and Carnegie Mellon University. Shinzen’s system, Unified Mindfulness, offers a uniquely straightforward framework to break down the complexities and nuances of meditation so you can become clear and confident in your practice.

Syllabus

Week 1 - Begin Your Mindfulness Journey

In this first session, we establish the foundation of our mindfulness journey together. We’ll create a courageous and supportive community to make this experiential workshop challenging, safe, and nurturing. We’ll briefly define mindfulness and explore the three attentional skills of concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity. Then we’ll explore how to use your senses to engage in mindfulness practice, and you’ll learn how to shift, expand, and contract your focus range. You’ll also receive your meditation log for tracking your progress. 

Week 2 - Build Your Toolkit  

In this session we’re going to take a deeper dive into each of the three skills of mindfulness. You’ll learn the definition and benefits of each, as well as some tips for how to work with these skills in your meditation practice. You’ll also learn the tools of noting and labeling and how they can profoundly strengthen and deepen your mindfulness practice. 

Week 3 - Customize Your Practice 

Now that you’re starting to get a taste for your options, let’s customize your practice. Learn to explore your inner world (“focus in”) and your outer world (“focus out). Learn how to go broad and go narrow with your attention. Determine which sensory spaces and focus ranges work best for you and then build a practice that’s interesting and engaging for you, as a unique individual practitioner. 

Week 4 - Practice in Daily Life and Building a Habit

Learn how to bring your practice into daily life in clear, tangible ways and discover how this can have a radical positive effect over time. We’ll explore 3 types of practice: Micro-Hits, Background Practice, and Formal Practice. You’ll learn how and when to use each of these to accelerate your mindfulness practice and apply it to any situation in your life. In this session you’ll also learn tips and tricks for building a robust meditation practice. 

Week 5 - Work with Obstacles and Opportunities

Dealing with distractions, pain, or challenging emotions in your meditation practice? In this session, you’ll learn the walls-to-windows technique for transforming obstacles into opportunities for depth and transcendence. You’ll also learn how to recognize and optimize pleasant experiences and spontaneous opportunities that present themselves in your practice. In this session you’ll hone your skills of discernment using the ION principle. 

Week 6 - Wrap Up and Move Forward

In this final session together, we’ll focus on integrating and solidifying the knowledge and experiences from the previous five weeks. You’ll also learn six practice accelerators to supercharging your mindfulness practice, and we’ll discuss the four pillars of an ever-deepening mindfulness practice. Finally, you’ll be equipped with a monthly mindfulness tracker to support your growth beyond the course.