Mindfulness and Compassion
Meditation Day Retreat for Women
Saturday 14th September 2024
Mindfulness & compassion, a meditation day retreat for women.
“I learned a long time ago that the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side.” Maya Angelou
How do we stay grounded, centred and rooted in self-compassion when life is busy or we are faced with everyday challenges like relationship difficulties, stress, illness, grief?
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How do we avoid running on empty, or falling into blame or shame?
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How do we care for others without losing ourselves, being overwhelmed or burning out?
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On this one day retreat you'll learn and practice techniques to:
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Create self-connection.
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Identify your needs.
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Deepen emotional understanding and regulation.
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Quieten the inner critic.
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Empower personal agency.
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Build resilience.
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Feel more joyful.
You’ll leave with practical and easily accessible tools for creating more balance, peace and happiness.
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Self-compassion and mindfulness meditation have changed my life, I'd love to share it with you!
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Read more about the power of compassion in this article, linked here.
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When & Where:​​
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September 14th 2024
9.30am - 4.45pm
The Fintry Trust retreat centre, Godalming, GU8 5UQ
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Limited to 14 participants, early booking advised.
Suitable for complete beginners.
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£75 per person, including lunch & refreshments​​​​​​​​​​
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About the practices:
​It will be a nurturing day of informative and relatable talks, guided practices, mindful movement and meaningful conversations.​​
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Bring awareness out of your head and into your body, non-judgementally.
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Use embodied mindful awareness to settle the nervous system and feel grounded, safe and steady.
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Identify places of holding and tension, so you can create more comfort and ease.
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Understand the benefits of self-compassion as the foundation of healing and transformation.
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Practice self-compassion in an embodied way.
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Explore fierce self-compassion to strengthen discernment, boundaries and positive action.
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Practice RAIN meditation to heal mental and emotional pain.
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Amplify your listening skills to hear beyond the inner critic and tune into your wise self.
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Get clearer on your unmet needs.
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Use lovingkindness meditation to return to a natural feeling of gratitude and joy.
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How to continue practicing, without it feeling like another chore.
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How to care for others, without feeling depleted or burning out.​​​​​​​
Feedback from recent Mindfulness Meditation Course participants:
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“the course has been a really positive experience… leaves me feeling much more positive about ways in which I can use mindfulness and the breath for my own benefit in the future.”
“really enjoyed the course, a good mix of practice with really insightful thoughts”.
“I've really loved the course, every week I've looked forward to meeting the others and listening to your words..”​​
More about mindfulness meditation:
In our fast paced world it’s easy to lose touch with ourselves, and what matters most. A world designed to distract us and keep us busy can leave us feeling depleted, flat, anxious, overwhelmed or cut off from ourselves, from others or from our own sense of meaning and purpose. This is compounded if we are juggling busy careers or caring responsibilities, all of which can leave us running on empty.
When we slow down and connect to the present moment we see that our lived experience is created from how we interact with the world, through our thoughts, feelings and actions. We have normalised the experience of being tugged around by the urge to keep up, the ups and downs of our emotions or the detachment from our inner guidance.
Just as we exercise our bodies, we can train our hearts and minds to experience more well-being. With mindful presence we cultivate a clear, kind attention to what’s right here. Through compassion practices we can learn how to be ok with our human messiness and struggles, how to tend to difficulty with increased skill and kindness, so we are better able to respond to life as it is.
The techniques I teach are based on Insight Meditation (or Vipassana: literally translated as ‘seeing deeply or clearly’) which is the practice of developing a calm and mindful investigation to the nature of experience, leading to wisdom, compassion and the end of suffering.
I'd love you to join me in this path towards greater peace and freedom.
About Louise
Louise has been studying and practising meditation and yoga since the early nineties, and has been teaching since 2011. She has trained to teach mindfulness meditation with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach, two well known and much loved teachers.
Her own immersion into meditation happened in 1997 when she attended her first ten day silent retreat. From that moment, she became aware of the power of practice, and realised that our thoughts are not always helpful, and certainly not who we really are.
Louise has focused most of her teaching career on supporting women through various life stages like pregnancy, motherhood and menopause. She loves to dispel myths and make the teachings accessible, relatable and enjoyable. Firmly believing in the power of community, her classes are inclusive and welcoming. She brings heart and passion to her teaching, inspiring students to find their own reasons for practice.
Louise lives in Surrey and is married with two sons and two step sons, loves good food, good company, hiking with her dog, being anywhere in nature and loves all the creative arts.
