Mindfulness Immersion:
Using Your Mind Wisely
with Kyle Kloostra
May 3 & 4, 2024
Friday | 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Saturday | 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
INVESTMENT
Sliding Scale Pricing: $10 — Scholarship | $29 — Community | $59 — Supporter | $99 — Builder
For anything to flourish, you must know how to use it — a principle that applies to your coffee maker as much as it does to your mind. Join Kyle for this 2-Day immersion where you will learn an ecology of practices that introduces you, through first-person experience, to how your mind works, as well as how to skillfully use it. Upon developing skillful use of the mind you will cultivate the capacity to increase your self-awareness, sense of connection, and compassion, all while expanding your window of tolerance, which is the path to contentment.
Modules & Topics Covered:
Over the course of the immersion, content will be split up into five focused sessions covering Foundations of Mindfulness, Skills of Mindfulness, and Implementing Mindfulness.
SESSION 1
An Introduction to the Mind
In this session you will learn, from first person experience, the ‘feeling’ of how your mind operates. You will learn that your mind has two primary modes of operation: The photographic mode and the authoring mode. By understanding how your mind works, you will, then, be able to develop the skills needed to direct these two modes towards your well-being and wisdom.
SESSION 2
Developing the Skill of Meditation: The Mind as Photographer
Meditation is the practice where you learn the skill of capturing your own thoughts, emotions, bodily sensations, and desires, much like a photographer captures a landscape. Here, you will learn how to not identify with your varied mental states, as well as connect with the most fundamental aspect of the mind: equanimous awareness. The cultivation of this skill develops the capacity for contentment by increasing your window of tolerance for qualitatively negative mental states, as well as making you less dependent on qualitatively positive mental states for your happiness.
Skills Learned:
Vipassana Meditation with both Narrowed Attention and Expanded Attention
SESSION 3
Developing the Skill of Contemplation: The Mind as Author
Contemplation is the practice where you learn the skill to (re)story your experience of yourself, others, and the world around you. Each of us dwells within a set of stories that we impose on the world to bring a sense of meaning to our lives. These stories will either bring a sense of connection, compassion, and contentment, or a sense of isolation, division, and irritability. Learning to (re)story your world is one of the most effective ways you can alter how you experience the world.
Skills Learned:
Loving Kindness Contemplation | Gratitude Contemplation | Meaning Contemplation
SESSION 4
Developing the Skill of Embodiment: The Mind/Body Union
Embodiment is the practice where you learn the skill of locating your attention in your body to increase your somatic awareness. With increased somatic awareness, you will cultivate the ability to recognize what mode of operation your nervous system is in and how to work wisely with it.
Skills Learned:
Body Scanning | Breathing
SESSION 5
Developing the Skill of Authentic Relating: Being Mindful in Community
Authentic Relating is where you begin to implement the skills of meditation, contemplation, and embodiment in your life. Utilizing these skills will increase your sense of presence, understanding, and connection while dialoguing with others.
Skills Learned:
Mindful Communication
About Kyle:
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Kyle Kloostra
(RYT-200, MMTC, B.A. M.div, Th.m)
Kyle embraces Yoga as an embodied mindfulness meditation practice that grounds him in the present and teaches him to adjust the unwise patterns of avoidance and identification so that he can be more open, awake, compassionate, and receptive to life off the mat. Further, Kyle has experienced Yoga as an essential practice for healing his relationship to his body and desires to invite others into the healing journey that Yoga can provide.