WELL 14 — Playful Mindfulness: A Journey to Everyday Confidence, Calm, and Connection
Quarter: Summer
Day(s): Saturday and Sunday
Course Format: On-campus (About Formats)
Duration: 2 days
Date(s): Jul 15—Jul 16
Time: 10:00 am—5:00 pm (PT)
Refund Deadline: Jul 8
Unit: 1
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Tuition: $470
Instructor(s): Ted DesMaisons
Limit: 30
Class Recording Available: No
Status: Open
Summer
On-campus
Saturday and Sunday
10:00 am—5:00 pm (PT)
Date(s)
Jul 15—Jul 16
2 days
Refund Date
Jul 8
1 Unit
Fees
$470
Grade Restriction
No letter grade
Instructor(s):
Ted DesMaisons
Limit
30
Recording
No
Open
Our current world and all our relationships in it often leave us breathless and frustrated. Mindfulness—paying attention to the present moment with curiosity and kindness—helps us slow down, take a breath, and befriend the inner resources that lead to discovery, delight, and a life well lived. Integrating insights and exercises from mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with those from improvisational theater, this immersive, one-weekend experiential course will help you forge new neural pathways and develop a more connected personal presence. While mindfulness training sometimes takes on a somber or even pious tone (This is serious stuff!), in this course we choose a different track, learning to “play attention” through traditional methods and through humor, games, and exercises drawn from the wisdom of applied improvisation. Our topics will include relationship to failure, paying attention, cultivating curiosity and kindness, the mind as storyteller, moving from reactivity to response, and mindfulness in motion. Learning modes will include formal mindfulness practices, informal activities that integrate the skills we are learning into daily life, and shared inquiry using safe small and large discussions to draw wisdom from the whole group.
No previous improv or mindfulness experience is necessary. We make a conscious effort to create a welcoming learning space for everyone.
TED DESMAISONS
Founder and Principal, ANIMA Learning
Ted DesMaisons is a trained mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) instructor and has studied, performed, and taught improvisation internationally. He co-hosts the Monster Baby Podcast on improvisation and mindfulness, and he is the author of Playful Mindfulness. DesMaisons received an MBA from Stanford and an MTh from Harvard. Textbooks for this course:
(Recommended, see syllabus for details) Ted DesMaisons, see syllabus for details, Playful Mindfulness: a joyful journey to everyday confidence, calm, and connection (ISBN 978-1950373000)
(Recommended) Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World (ISBN 978-1609618957)
(Recommended) Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up (ISBN 978-1400081882)
(Recommended) Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World (ISBN 978-1609618957)
(Recommended) Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up (ISBN 978-1400081882)