COURSES

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Connection & Shared Humanity

Connection & Shared Humanity

Connection (noun)

  1. a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else

Did you know that around one-third of Australian adults are not involved in any social or community groups? This is an eye-opening statistic when we know that being part of a community can have a hugely positive effect on mental health and emotional wellbeing. Community involvement provides a sense of belonging and social connectedness. It can also offer extra meaning and purpose to everyday life. Also known to lower levels of anxiety and depression, and raise self-esteem, the feeling of community can help us have a healthier mindset, improved self-worth, and greater enjoyment of life.

Lost Connections

In fact, in the book Lost Connections, author Johann Hari takes this knowing one step further, as he explores the cutting-edge science of curing people suffering from mental illness without the primary focus on medication. He uncovers the truth that many of these conditions are a result of environmental and psychological ailments. His well-researched argument is that the key to treating many of these mental health conditions is in re-establishing lost connections in our lives and that social prescriptions are a great way to help people by making them feel valued and connected.

Rather than turning to medication as the first and only port of call, Hari tells us that doctors are starting to realize the value of connection. They help people reconnect with others around them, have meaningful work, meaningful values, and give a chance for people to overcome trauma from their past.

In effect, social prescriptions reconnect the lost connections. 

Coming Home

At Cool Karma Collected, community is everything. We have seen time and time again the magic that unfolds throughout an eight-week journey with a group of strangers when holding space for each other. When giving each other permission to be whole-heartedly, exactly who they are. Coming together for just 2.5hrs each week over the course of eight weeks facilitates something truly remarkable, it fosters connection, community and shared humanity all in a safe and supportive space. Connecting to a  group of strangers, in a way we don’t often have the opportunity to – can ultimately feel like coming home. A deeply nourishing and enriching experience for everyone involved. 
 

Interested in learning more? Get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

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The Magic Ingredient

The Magic Ingredient

Sitting in a stranger-filled room, attempting to pay attention to sensations, thoughts, emotions, and breath… perhaps feeling hot, fidgety and frustrated thinking “and I’m supposed to endure this every day, for the next eight weeks…?!” To most, this may seem like a mild form of torture…

The truth is that whilst we have heard the above many times, what we also know is that our eight-week mindfulness program also offers the potential for something most of us in this crazy-busy world are craving right now; a little more ease, freedom, and a lot less stress.

And it has been proven.
Time and time again.

In fact, over the past forty years, it has been favored by almost all scientists who are interested in studying the effects of meditation on our health and happiness. The program was originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 for chronically ill people for whom conventional medicine had done all it could. In the last few years alone, hundreds of scientific studies showing its benefits have been published leading to the significant increase in awareness of Mindfulness that we have all probably been privy to. 

Why me? Why now?

Though the program started for patients with chronic pain, the scope of who it can benefit has widened to almost anyone and everyone.  We see people sign up for a number of reasons – they might be suffering from chronic stress, pain, insomnia, or simply wanting a little more presence and purpose in their lives. Whether it is executives, athletes, business owners, mums and dads,  doctors, psychologists, yogis or students, One thing they all have in common, is that each commits to show up for 2.5 hours each week, to 45 minutes of formal meditation practice each day, and to a day-long retreat held in full silence. This is no small feat for anyone, but rarely does anyone drop out. 

Whilst this may initially seem like a big commitment, the potential payout is also big. Participants of MBSR report everything from improvement in relationships, to greater stress resilience, relief from anxiety, depression, and chronic pain. 

So what is the magic ingredient?

The magic ingredient? Well… it’s the sheer number of practices in the program that makes drilling down to find the key ingredient so difficult. Is it the meditation? Is it the everyday mindfulness? Is the mindful movement? Is it the content and gentle inquiry that is delivered by the teacher? The safe and supportive environment? Or is it simply the very fact that each week people feel more and more connected with one another as they realise just how similar the inner workings of their minds really are?  

So really, it’s not just one thing. It’s a multitude of reasons that make this program so profound. Especially when it’s offered in a way that is so contextually relevant and with the potential over the eight weeks to really embed these practices into your life. 

Got questions or would like to chat more about MBSR? We would love to hear from you.

For an extensive reading list of MBSR research see here.

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BLOG, Corporate Wellness, COURSES, MINDFULNESS

Top 5 reasons I go on Silent Retreats

Top 5 reasons I go on Silent Retreats

Today I’m headed to Perth to undertake another 10 day silent retreat. I don’t know how I feel about it. There is anticipation, trepidation, excitement and doubt, along with numerous other emotions. As my grandmother used to say I feel like I’ve got the whole ‘kit and caboodle’ going on inside of me this morning thinking about 10 long days of sitting, mostly without guidance, completely in silence.

Whenever I tell people what I’m doing, that I’ll be handing over my phone and stopping all contact with the external world I get this shocked look. Almost everyone says “I don’t know how you do it!?! I couldn’t possibly not talk, not read, not write, not listen to music, not smile at people; you are crazy!! ”

I do think I’m crazy, my husband absolutely thinks I’m crazy- but this, this is not crazy. It’s just incredibly bloody difficult. So in case you are interested here is the top five reasons why I do this kind of thing on a regular basis

Fact #1 It’s not easy to sit in silence with your mind, in fact at times it’s down right unpleasant. But isn’t that the case with our minds most of the time anyway? In the case of a retreat it’s like the volume is turned up on high but instead of trying to find 100 different ways to avoid it or make it go away we listen. Incredible things happen when you listen deeply without trying to make something different.

Fact #2 it’s not supposed to be relaxing. I am sure I’m going to have moments of deep calm and quiet, but I will almost certainly have moments where I feel like screaming at the top of my lungs and stabbing a person next to me for breathing too loudly ? But again isn’t that the case with our lives most of the time anyway? We have moments of good and moments of bad it’s just that in silence and without anything to distract us we get to watch these  with a little more curiosity without trying to avoid the unpleasant or desperately cling to the nice stuff. We just watch and listen without trying to make it different.

Fact #3 Not talking and not having a phone is totally the easy part! Believe me, when everyone else is doing it too it doesn’t feel hard, in fact you get a very good understanding on retreat about just how much energy you expend each day on being polite, conscientious, friendly, happy, successful, on point, essentially good… the list goes on. I’m not saying any of these things are bad or that I don’t want to do them, but having a greater awareness of all the time and energy spent on it is powerful. There is greater discernment with awareness, which gives us choice. Yay for choice.

Fact #4 “Shit happens, things change, don’t take it so personally”. Pain is definitely going to show up over the course of the retreat, but the aim of to investigate the sensations rather than reacting to them. This goes for painful/ unpleasant mind states too. This seems counter intuitive but it really is amazing as the more I do this the less affect these states/pains seem to have over me… again this is an incredibly useful tool to develop for life. These retreats make me feel so much more equipped to meet adversity. There is less fear and a much deeper understanding of my impermanent

Fact #5 If Melbourne floods this weekend I will not know about it until December 11th. If Trump does something more stupid, if that’s possible, I will not know about it. If a volcano goes off in Bali I will not know about it. It’s actually kind of blissful. Life can feel very nice without the incessant knowing of things, and it’s will be exactly the same whether I read about it or not. So for now I am just going to sit. And as David Henry Thoreau wrote “I love a broad margin to my life” so for now I’m going to take an incredibly broad margin… I’ll see you all on the flip side.

M xo

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Corporate Wellness, COURSES, MINDFULNESS

Hey Stress, I think it’s time we redefined this relationship….

Hey Stress,
Don’t worry… we don’t need to break up, but I definitely think it’s time we redefined this relationship….

I know this might be tough to hear because you have helped me and my ancestors survive allsorts of treacherous environments, and I love you for that, but this is an important step that I need to take.

This may be confusing as I have relied on you for as long as I can remember, thinking that you were helping me to be more productive and focused. But what I am learning is this isn’t really true, when I thought you were helping me get through my busy day, you were really keeping me from being healthy. In fact, over time, all you have done is make me more anxious.

So, from today, I’m going to commit to making more space for myself, which means I am actually going to learn how to get more discerning about listening to you and what you think is a threat to me.

I am also going to learn how I can stop feeding you needless worries. There is nothing that upsets me more than seeing how much you thrive when I slip into an endless cycle of rehashing the same concerns, going over the same conversations, reliving the same painful events. This process leaves me trapped, leaves me exhausted, leaves me sleepless and does absolutely nothing to help me find solutions.

I know that you are not going to take this very well. I know you are going to continue to show me all the times that you think I need you. I know you will stalk me when I am running late or at work, or in traffic, I am sure you will show up and gloat when I am not sure of what to do next. But when this happens, I am going to be armed with and prepared to employ a whole bunch of tools I have learned. Not only will I remind myself to breathe throughout the day, but I am learning how to breathe consciously. Any time I feel you start to creep up, I will come back to the present moment like I have learned and, like it or not, if I keep doing this, you are going to have to back down.

So stress, while our relationship has been something we have both contributed to, I recognise now that it is no longer healthy, and whether you like it or not I am going to learn to get a much better handle on you. 

Sincerely,

Marijke

Want to get a handle on stress too?

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction is a world renowned, scientifically proven program that helps you to redefine your relationship with stress. In doing so you can begin to live a life with much greater ease, health and happiness. Want to learn more? Join us on a life altering 8 week course starting Thursday September 7th at Madam Heap.  

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