Specific benefits:
- Increased enjoyment of life
- Increased ability to be calm and relaxed
- Increased ability to take care of painful emotions
- Improved sleep quality
- Fewer feelings of anxiety and low mood
In the 6 sessions, you will learn how to meditate effortlessly, so you can ease painful thoughts and emotions; you will also be encouraged to use mindfulness practices to bring joy into your daily life.
“This has been a life-changing experience”
“What I have gained from the course has given me real optimism for a calmer and happier future”
Course Experience:
Mindfulness is a way of experiencing life with increased calm and happiness. It is rooted in Buddhist meditation, with effects verified by neuroscience, and as such is open to non-Buddhists and Buddhists alike. Everyone is welcome.
Recent participants have found it helpful in relation to the specific circumstances we are currently facing as a world community. We particularly welcome people struggling with stress for whom life has been difficult lately, folks from marginalised groups, and health and social care workers who offer support to others.
Be Calm, Be Happy is run by Plum Village UK, a charity created to share the mindfulness teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh (often referred to as ‘the Father of Western Mindfulness’, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr. and author of numerous best-selling books). Our Course Leaders are practitioners trained to empower you with mindfulness skills for life, which can support personal and community wellbeing.
We invite you to join this course comprising guided practices, small group discussions and practical exercises.
“Thank you so much for assisting me to further my journey in such a lovely, peaceful way”
“I’ve experienced a very real shift in my ability to be present and enjoy simple things”
Course content
The six sessions of the course explore the following themes:
- Stopping and calming
- Turning to the positive
- Loving communication
- Nourishing happiness
- Interdependence and community
- Guidelines for a happier life
Commitment
For this course to be most effective, we recommend that you commit to attending all six sessions and be aware that creating a stable and strong practice of mindfulness is a habit that needs regular, ideally daily, practice. If you know ahead of time that you cannot make a session, then please discuss with your Course Facilitator so that you can understand the content of the missed session. Please note, you will be using a computer/laptop, iPad, phone or device with internet access, and will need a functioning camera and mic. (remove bold)
Feedback from the online course – “The supportiveness of the whole group was lovely, and I was surprised to be able to feel that with an online course. I came away from each session feeling calm and happy”.
Course schedule
This ‘Be Calm, Be Happy’ course is facilitated over 6 sessions on Tuesdays at 12 noon to 2 pm, from 20th December to 24th January.
This is a live, interactive course, not recorded sessions to download.
Course Leaders
Experienced mindfulness practitioners, Ian Sneath and Rachel Butt will be leading this course.
Ian has recently returned from living in Plum Village for two years, this experience allowed him to immerse himself in Thay’s deep-wisdom mindfulness teachings.
Ian discovered Thay 12 years ago after studying various mindfulness teachers. In 2014 he attended the 21-day retreat, “What happens when we are alive, what happens when we die?” led by Thay. This was a deeply powerful, healing, and transformative teaching that made Ian stop, look deeply, and realise that he had been on the wrong entrepreneurial path for most of his life. Mindfulness has given Ian so much benefit, helping every aspect of his life (ethics, health, relationships, compassion, insight, concentration, livelihood, peace, kindness, openness, etc) and his volition is now to dedicate his life to continuing to deepen his practice, to lead a happy and joyful life and to help bring Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings to others.
Rachel Butt has a background in music, law and social justice advocacy. She discovered the practice on the edge of burn out in 2016 and has since been exploring the wonders of mindfulness, meditation + the yoga of sound as a way to help us live in greater harmony with ourselves, each other + the earth.
Rachel recently completed a long-term residency at Plum Village Mindfulness Practice Centre where she practised alongside the nuns of New Hamlet during lockdown + deepened her aspiration to share the practice with the world.
Dharma name: Serene Garden of the Heart (2016)
Ticket pricing
In offering a range of ticket prices (£30 to £200) we aim to make the course available to as many people as possible.
