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Managing Your Emotions – ReTrain Your BrainThe course “Managing Your Emotions – ReTrain Your Brain” is an 8-week training course in mindfulness, aimed at helping you better manage difficult emotions like anxiety, fear, sadness, depression and anger. Download course flyer in pdf format here
About unpleasant emotionsWhy “ReTrain Your Brain”?What is this ‘mindfulness’?About the courseWhat you need to doSkills developed through the courseEnrolling in the courseWhere and WhenCostsFurther enquiries
About unpleasant emotionsDo you feel that your emotions are sometimes (or maybe even often) running your life instead of you? Are you anxious a lot, or do you easily loose your temper? Or are you maybe struggling with being sad and down in the dumps a lot? And the more you try not to ‘have’ those emotions, the more they seem to want to stay? We all have intense and unpleasant emotions sometimes, but if this is happening more often than you would like, or affecting your life in a negative way, then maybe this course is something for you.
Why ‘ReTrain Your Brain’?Intense overwhelming and unpleasant emotions are partly caused and maintained by automatic and unconscious reaction patterns of our mind. Changing those automatic reaction patterns is possible, but it definitely does not just happen by itself! The course “Managing Your Emotions – ReTrain Your Brain” offers a structured and effective method (body focused mindfulness meditation) to retrain your own mind and start extinguishing unhelpful automatic thinking patterns. You will also learn to become more at ease with unpleasant emotions, which leads to those emotions becoming less and less intense. The second half of the course focuses on applying mindfulness skills in situations in your daily life that may be difficult for you to cope with, such as busy traffic, interactions with other people, etc.
What is this ‘mindfulness’?Mindfulness is the ability to pay attention to an experience in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment (so without drifting into thoughts of the past or concerns about the future) and without having any judgements about the experience. The use of mindfulness meditation and mindfulness in daily life has proven to be very helpful for many people in their recovery from a wide range of mental-emotional difficulties such as depression, anxiety, anger, PTSD, interpersonal difficulties, and also as effective relapse prevention. Mindfulness meditation has also been used successfully in the management of chronic pain and has been demonstrated to have a positive effect on stress levels and the immune system. Mindfulness meditation is not about relaxation or about ‘zoning out’ to Nirvana, but about training yourself to become fully aware and emotionally balanced in the here and now. You also do not need to sit cross-legged on the floor (although you can if you want to), chant ‘ohm’ or be a spiritual person.
About the courseThe course “Managing Your Emotions” has been running at the Redland Community Centre since September 2006. Since July 2007 we have been offering mindfulness meditation as part of the course. The course consists of eight 3-hour group sessions and weekly individual sessions (30 minutes to 1 hr). The course is a mixture of:
The course is facilitated by a qualified counsellor and experienced mindfulness practitioner, and is based on Mindfulness Integrated Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (MiCBT), a treatment program developed by Dr Bruno Cayoun, clinical psychologist at the University of Tasmania. Please see the website www.mindfulness.net.au for more information about MiCBT and other organisations and institutions that use MiCBT.
What you need to do
Course participants need to meditate at home every day for at least the duration of the course. Learning to better manage your emotions does take practice and to get maximum benefit from this course, you will need to meditate twice daily for about 30 minutes (in the morning and in the evening). Your main benefits from this course will come from your daily meditation practice at home! As part of the course, you will receive a CD with instructions for mindfulness meditation to help you with this daily meditation practice.
Skills developed through the courseThe course focuses on developing greater self-awareness, self-acceptance and a greater sense of self-efficacy by helping you to develop the following skills:
Enrolling in the CourseIf you are interested in the course, contact Astrid at the Redland Community Centre on (07) 3245 2117 or leave your name and contact details with Reception, and we will get back to you as soon as possible. You can also send an e-mail to: astrid.rcc@powerup.com.au
Before the start of the course, pre-course interviews are held to answer any questions, identify whether this course will meet your needs, and to discuss any specific needs or concerns you might have. It is also possible to do the Course on an entirely individual basis, so without group sessions.
This course is not suited for people with severely aggressive or violent behaviour. If you have a problem like that, please contact us, and we may be able to refer you on to another course or organisation.
Where and WhenThe course are held at the Redland Community Centre, 29 Loraine Street, Capalaba (behind the Library).
Starting dates and times for the next courses are:(subject to change)
NB: It is also possible to start a course on an individual basis at any time during the year.
CostsThe contribution of participants to the costs of this course is $40. This includes a CD with instructions and tea/coffee and light refreshments. It is possible to pay $5 each week.
For the second half of the course a second CD with meditation instructions is recommended, the costs of this second CD is $15
Further EnquiriesFor further enquires please contact Astrid at the Redland Community Centre, on 07-3245 2117, or Email:astrid.rcc@powerup.com.au
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