An Introduction to Relational Mindfulness - Insight Dialogue
January 20 at 1 PM EST/12 pm CT / 10 A M PST
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Join Ron Wilcox, a MILS Mindful Monday and Wakeful Wednesday leader, graduate of the two-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification program (MMTCP), and the Mindfulness in Law Teacher Training (MLTT), and CA attorney, and Filippa Marullo Anzalone, MILS Lifetime/New England Chapter member and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction teacher and Professor of Law / Associate Dean for Library & Technology Services, Boston College School of Law, (and also a Wakeful Wednesday leader) for this exciting introduction to Relational Mindfulness/Insight Dialogue.
Ron and Filippa will share the principles of Relational Mindfulness / Insight Dialogue drawn from trainings and workshops and wisdom from leaders such as Tara Brach, teacher, founder of the Insight Meditation Community in Washington D.C. and author of Radical Acceptance, and Gregory Kramer, Insight Dialogue founder and author.
We often react to one another out of habit, instantaneously, lost in our patterns of defending, pretending, judging and distancing. In his books, Meditating Together, Speaking from Silence and Insight Dialogue, Greg Kramer offers a practice that can help us break such patterns of reaction right in the midst of communicating. He writes, " There is sitting meditation. There is walking meditation. Why not listening and speaking meditation? Isn't it sensible that one could practice mindfulness in relationship and so get better at it?"
Kramer calls his interpersonal meditation practice Insight Dialogue. While engaged in conversation, instead of immediately responding when someone speaks, we pause for a moment, relax our body and mind and mindfully notice what we are experiencing. We might inquire, "What really wants attention?" and notice the feelings and thoughts that are arising. Are we judging, interpreting, or commenting on what another person is saying? What sensations are we experiencing in our body? By pausing and paying attention we become acutely aware of our own patterns of reaction.
Whether in a formal interpersonal meditation or in the midst of any of our daily interactions, this way of practicing Radical Acceptance with each other gives rise to more understanding and kindness in our relationships. When we practice pausing and deepening our attention, instead of being driven by unconscious wants and fears, we open up our options. We can choose to let go of our mental commentary and listen more deeply to another person's words and experience. We can choose to refrain from saying something that is intended to prove we are right. We can choose to name aloud feelings of vulnerability. We learn to listen deeply and speak with mindful presence, to speak what is helpful and true.
We hope that you will join this presentation to learn a new approach to communication as we begin the new year!
Click here to register!