Group work

In Autumn 2024 I will be starting up a new English-speaking group in Compassionate mind training. We will meet for 12 session throughout autumn 2024.

The group is open to anyone who wants to develop themselves and their Compassionate mind.

Cost is 550 SEK/session. You sign up for all 12 sessions but can pay for each session or all at once.

Only 8 spaces available!

What is CMT?

Compassionate Mind Training is a training programme that helps us develop a more Compassionate side of us towards ourselves and others. CMT helps us to understand, and work with, our tricky brains. It builds our abilities to use our bodies to support our minds, and develop the courage and wisdom to address our life difficulties and flourish.

CMT is generally an 8-12 week course, with each session having a specific theme.

This course will follow Chris Irons & Elaine Beaumonts workbook "The Compassionate mind workbook". And the book will be used both as reflective material in the course as well as for homework.

The Course

In session 1 we will define compassion, how and why we suffer, and the role of our tricky brains and the old brain-new brain loops we get caught up in.

Session 2 looks at the “three circles model” of emotions—threat, drive and soothing

Session 3 goes a little deeper, discussing the idea that we are made up of multiple parts, and that one of those parts is the compassionate self.

Session 4 starts to explore the three flows of compassion, beginning with the flow of directing compassion to others. The compassionate self helps with this, offering compassion to others, and in this session we also take a look at fears, blocks and resistances to compassion.

Session 5 discusses the second flow of compassion…how we can open ourselves up to receiving compassion from others. This is a tricky one, and so we explore the fears, blocks and resistances again, starting to identify opportunities to notice and accept compassion from others in our lives.

Session 6 explores our life stories. What startegies have we had to develop to keep ourselves safe? And do they serve us? What would have happend if we had grown up under other circumstances? What strategies would we have developed then?

Session 7 focuses in on self-compassion, bringing the compassionate self to ourselves, exploring practical skills and strategies, and examining the fears, blocks and resistances that may arise for this flow.

Session 8we dive into the issue of shame and our social selves and how that can create tricky situations for us. We work on facing our shame experiences with Compassion.

Session 9 looks at another important part of ourselves—the critical self—and we explore the forms and functions of self-criticism and how to direct compassion to this part of ourselves.

Session 10 brings in a range of other parts, especially the big three—angry self, anxious self, and sad self—and how we can extend our own compassion to these evolutionarily important, yet sometimes very difficult, emotional selves.

Session 11 We sum up what we've learned and develop our Compassionate selves further to adapt to what we've learned. We work on our Compassionate response through a Compassionate letter.

Session 12 We sum up the whole learning experience and work onhow to maintain it all, living a compassionate life…inside and out.

Practice & reflect

Importantly, throughout these sessions are lots of practical exercises and techniques. Things like mindfulness, breathing exercises, imagery exercises, setting compassionate intentions and taking compassionate actions, deploying the compassionate self to bring compassion to aspects of ourselves and others, especially in order to relieve suffering.

And there is home practice. Audio recordings, building self-awareness, behavioural tasks and little experiments to help move from learning about compassion, to practicing it, and eventually embodying the compassionate self, this part of ourselves that is wise, strong, courageous, and committed to being kind, caring, helpful, supportive…and compassionate.