Cultivating a Mindful Life
About the Course
Our lives seem to be busier than ever, both at home and work. Our minds constantly buzz with worries and responsibilities. So often we find ourselves stressed and overwhelmed. Given that, how much are we truly present for life.
With the practice of mindfulness, we can bring awareness, clarity, and calm to our lives. This course will introduce you to practices and meditation techniques that cultivate mindfulness in our daily life. We will explore the benefits of mindfulness for emotional, mental, and physical well-being and interpersonal relationships. This six-week course will support you in establishing your own continuing mindfulness meditation practice.
This experiential course is a perfect way to learn about the theory and practice of mindfulness in meditation and how to apply these essential principles directly in your life. It will also serve as an excellent refresher for experienced students who wish to review this important material.
On the course, each class will consist of talks from Ann, guided meditations, periods of discussion, in depth inquiry into mindfulness and ways to practice these tools in daily life. Each week we will explore how mindfulness helps with key areas in our life including how to:
- Cultivate an embodied attention.
- Work with strong emotions.
- Manage emotional reactivity.
- Navigate thoughts and distractions in meditation.
- Develop the skill of mindful listening and mindful communication.
- Cultivate kindness and care in meditation.
Course Closed
New dates to be announced soon
Meet Ann Brand
Ann Brand is a certified mindfulness teacher through The Mindfulness Training Institute (MTI) and the International Mindfulness Teachers Association (IMTA). She is also an Associate Lecturer in the College of Education, Hospitality, Health, and Human Sciences at The University of Wisconsin-Stout and Program Specialist for Mindfulness Training for Arts Integration Menomonie (AIM). Ann holds a doctorate in psychology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill with an emphasis on child development and families.
Ann first encountered mindfulness in her study of the experience and expression of emotion in her work at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD. Exploration of the research showed mindfulness supports attention and memory, emotion regulation, stress reduction, and positive relationships among other things. Suffering from grief after her mother’s death, Ann eventually tried mindfulness practice herself, and found it brought calm, clarity, and peace to the joys and challenges of daily life.
Based on her experience with mindfulness, Ann’s professional and personal interests began to merge. She has integrated mindfulness into teacher education at UW-Stout to support teachers in being more healthy, present, effective educators. As the Program Specialist for Mindfulness with AIM, Ann teaches mindfulness practice to educators, pre-service teachers, and artists. Ann is also part of Mental Health Matters, which brings mindfulness training to middle and high school educators in Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties of Wisconsin.
Since receiving her mindfulness teacher training through MTI in 2014, Ann has introduced the practice of mindfulness to students, teachers, administrators, and educational leaders in both K-12 and higher education. Ann also works with business and health care organizations. She offers professional development for educators in Wisconsin and teaches mindfulness classes in her community at The Center in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.
You can find out more about Ann at annbrandmindfulness.com and on Facebook.
