WELL 14 — Playful Mindfulness: A Journey to Everyday Confidence, Calm, and Connection
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Ted DesMaisons
Date(s): Jun 25—Jul 30
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $435
Refund Deadline: Jun 27
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 30
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Summer
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 6 weeks
Time: 7:00—8:50 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jun 25—Jul 30
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $435
Refund Deadline: Jun 27
Instructor(s): Ted DesMaisons
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 30
Recording Available: No
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
Our fast-paced world and the relationships within it can leave us breathless and frustrated. Mindfulness—paying attention to the present moment with curiosity and kindness—helps us slow down, reconnect, and access the inner resources that support discovery, delight, and a life well lived. Integrating insights and practices from mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with techniques from improvisational theater, this immersive course invites you to “play attention.” Rather than taking a somber tone, we cultivate awareness through humor, games, and applied improvisation. Topics include relationship to failure, cultivating curiosity and kindness, the mind as storyteller, moving from reactivity to response, and mindfulness in motion. Learning modes include formal meditation practices, informal exercises that bring mindfulness into daily life, and guided small- and large-group inquiry designed 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 has studied intensively with voice and presence coach Patsy Rodenburg and earned recognition as a Patsy Rodenburg Associate. He co-hosts the Monster Baby podcast on improvisation and mindfulness and is the author of Playful Mindfulness. DesMaisons received an MBA from Stanford and an MTh from Harvard. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Ted DesMaisons, Playful Mindfulness: A Joyful Journey to Everyday Confidence, Calm, and Connection (ISBN 978-1950373000)
(Required) Mark Williams & Danny Penman , Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World (ISBN 978-1609618957)
(Optional) Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up (ISBN 978-1400081882)
(Required) Mark Williams & Danny Penman , Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World (ISBN 978-1609618957)
(Optional) Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up (ISBN 978-1400081882)