The Mindfulness Retreat

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The Mindfulness Retreat includes:
  • Morning and Afternoon Mindfulness training
  • Buffet Breakfast & Mediterranean Lunch & Dinner
  • Access to a Private Pool & 500 acres of private land
  • Quality accomodation in beautiful farmhouse, with four-poster beds & marble bathrooms
  • Delicious Mediterranean Food
  • Mindfulness Theory Hand-outs and Reference Sheet
  • 15 minute private sessions with your teacher
  • Guided Walks & optional town expedition
  • Optional end of week group boat trip and Horse-riding or Sea-Kayaking trips

The Mindfulness Retreat (Level 1) is a taught 6 day course & holiday covering the content of the 8 week Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation (MBSR & some elements of the MBCT program) as taught by Jon Kabat Zin and others. It is a great retreat for those wishing to be introduced to Mindfulness practice while also having a chance of enjoying some holiday time on the beautiful island of Menorca.

The Mindfulness Holiday is a holiday week for everyone. It also offers people who have already completed the 8 week MBSR course or have some Mindfulness Meditation experience a chance to deepen their meditation practice. The Midnfulness Holiday Week is a chance to spend some quiet, relaxing time on the farm while also having the chance of developing a more focused personal meditation. A trained Mindfulness Practitioner will be guiding morning and afternoon Mindfulness sessions. The first few days will be spent covering some of the material found in the 8 week MBSR course. During the week the course will develop to provide guests with some new theoretical ideas and practical meditations.

During the retreat your Mindfulness sessions will be guided by one of our compassionate Bangor University trained practitioners. The DANA Mindfulness Retreat provides you with an experiential understanding of Mindfulness meditation & aims to teach you the tools that will enable you to incorporate this practice into your daily life.

Past Clients: NHS Lilly

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness can be described as bringing attention to the present moment, intentionally, & without judgement. Mindfulness-based therapy involves simple breathing meditations and yoga stretches to help participants become more aware of the "now", including getting in touch with moment-to-moment changes in the mind and body.

The mindfulness practices that are learned on the The Mindfulness Retreat come from Buddhist meditation but they are skills that anyone can use and are taught in a completely non-religious way. In fact, we all have the ability to be mindful. It is simply something that we need to develop with practice. This is exactly what Mindfulness Training teaches us to do and is why homepractice is such an important part of the course. During the week, you will learn practices such as the Body Scan, Mindful Movement and Sitting Meditation but the aim is to be able to take what you learn in these practices into your everyday life.

Background

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) The Stress Reduction Clinic was founded in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical School to reach those patients whom the healthcare system was failing. Since then over 16,000 people have completed The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Programme, coming with conditions as diverse as coronary artery disease, psoriasis, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, sleep problems, life stress and many more. The programme has also been extended to teach staff and medical students and other programmes have been developed in prisons, schools and for specific problems such as eating disorders.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) In the last 12 years Professor Mark Williams, Dr John Teasdale and Professor Zindel Segal have further developed the programme specifically for the treatment of depression. MBCT is now recommended as a treatment of choice by The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE, 2004, p76) for people who have suffered 3 or more episodes of depression. This programme has also been taught to groups with other conditions such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and cancer patients and their carers. Most courses now include a combination of both MBSR and MBCT

What are the benefits of Mindfulness Meditation?

  • Helps you to recognise when your mind is caught in unhelpful thought patterns, allowing you to gently untangle yourself and come back to the present moment.
  • An ability to cope more effectively with both short and long-term stressful situations
  • Allows you to develop the skill of paying attention and coming into the present moment. This means that you can begin to experience your life with immense clarity & vividness.
  • Helps you to develop a new way of coping with pain that may not go away
  • Helps you to step out of constant doing and allowing yourself time for simply being.
  • A way of taking time to pause and come back to your present moment experience time and time again.

    • Above text is Copyright of Vanessa Hope & DANA Holidays 2009. Many Thanks.