Short Course in Mindful Self-Compassion (SC-MSC)

This event will be recorded and the link to the recording will be sent to all registrants afterwards.

SC-MSC was developed by Kristin Neff, PhD, the pioneering researcher in the field of self-compassion and Christopher Germer, PhD, a leader in the integration of mindfulness, compassion and psychotherapy. The SC-MSC 6-hour program was developed to allow participants to begin to learn a targeted set of MSC practices with less initial time commitment than the full 26-hour MSC program. Most of us feel compassion for our close friends when they are struggling. What would it be like to receive the same caring attention from yourself when you needed it most? All that’s required is a shift in attention—recognizing that as a human being, you, too, are a worthy recipient of compassion. Self-compassion involves the capacity to comfort and soothe ourselves, and to motivate ourselves with encouragement, when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate. Self-compassion is learned in part by connecting with our innate compassion for others and including ourselves in that circle of compassion. The practice of self-compassion also helps to grow and sustain our compassion for others.

The SC-MSC program draws on the skills of mindfulness and focuses on developing the resource of self-compassion to enhance our capacity for emotional wellbeing. Burgeoning research shows that self-compassion is strongly associated with emotional wellbeing, coping with life challenges, lower levels of anxiety and depression, healthy habits such as diet and exercise, and more satisfying personal relationships. It is an inner strength that enables us to be more fully human—more fully ourselves, and is a skill that can be learned by anyone.

At the completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

• Understand what self-compassion is and isn’t – including both tender and fierce self-compassion
• Develop and apply self-compassion practices to motivate themselves with encouragement rather than self-criticism
• Develop the capacity to contend with challenges and difficulties through awareness of selfkindness, common humanity and mindfulness.
• Apply core self-compassion practices into daily life

Meditation experience is not necessary.

PRESENTER: Dr Anna Friis

Anna Friis, PhD, is a certified MSC Teacher and a psychologist in private practise in Auckland, New Zealand. She specialises in mindfulness and compassion-based therapy. She has had a life-long devotion to ashtanga yoga, a form of moving meditation which provided the foundation for her evolution as a practitioner and teacher of MSC. Anna previously had a substantial corporate career specialising in crisis management, a challenging environment in which the practise of equanimity proved essential to the health and wellbeing of both herself and her clients. Her corporate life provided the inspiration for a Master’s degree investigating the effects of stress and meditation on the autonomic nervous system. Her subsequent doctoral research demonstrated the psychological and physiological effects of self-compassion training, effectively reducing biological markers of stress. The results of these studies have been published as peer-reviewed journal articles, contributing to the scientific understanding of the mind-body effects of self-compassion and the MSC programme.

Her current practise is “unbusying” which she describes as an orientation towards a more spacious, present-focussed life and a daily opportunity to practise more yang self-compassion.

www.annafriis.com