Mindfulness Course Creating the Container for Exploration

Date: 18 September, 25 September, 2 October 2025

Time: 6:30pm - 8pm

Online Webinar: Zoom

Blurb

Over this three-part series we are exploring our own internal landscape. We are using the tools of Mindfulness to turn our attention inwards. In the world we live in our attention is drawn outside of ourselves on a moment-to-moment basis via busyness, work, distraction, food, social media. Really, we don’t live in a world that encourages internal knowing. We have grown up believing that our answers are outside of ourselves or that someone or something has the answers. So, to be able to cultivate this internal awareness we are learning how to listen deeply to our own selves with compassion, kindness and curiosity. The benefits of creating this pause, listening, and allowing means that the more we are able to attend to ourselves in this way it naturally filters out into our world, relationships, work. The ability to listen and take care of ourselves means that we learn to pause so as that we can begin to change our normal reactivity to the ability to Pause and respond in ways that better serve us.

Each session we will explore a different theme and really create our connection back to these parts.

Session 1 - Thursday 18th September 2025

The Body – We start here as our body is the first place where we will start to notice discomfort, stress, tightness, headaches, sore back, numbness these are all bells from our bodies to pay attention. The Breath – The breath is constant it is with us everywhere and it is a great tool to be able to always come back to, to create a focus so we can notice how we are. It has many benefits of just creating a pause and slowing the breath down creating a possibility to respond to our environment differently. Thinking – Looking deeply at our thoughts in a curious way, releasing judgement around how they are or what they are, but instead getting to know then, noticing the repetitions, the patterns, noticing if they are as solid as we may think?

Session 2 - Thursday 25th September 2025

Emotions – We look at the eight primary emotions and start to match feelings to the root emotion. We may find ourselves angry at a situation but when we listen and look deeply we may see its linked actually to sadness, this understanding allows us to take care of ourselves and helps our interaction with the experience. Loving Kindness – Being able to give loving kindness and compassion to ourselves is really a superpower. We have culturally quite a strong internal negative critic, being able to offer care to this painful self-talk really allows healing and transformation to come into our lives.

Session 3 - Thursday 2nd October 2025

RAIN – Recognise/Allow/Investigate/Nurture. This acronym allows us to deal with difficult situations, giving us the skill to be able to understand painful experiences or relationships.

Joy – The ability to be able to see and appreciate the natural Joy that is within us and around us. Being able to know how Joy feels within our bodies and understand that it is from us that it lives. Non-Attachment – This understanding that all things are changing, including our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, that letting go and allowing life to be as it can bring a sense of ease and relief from anxiety. It’s not about not doing or not participating, it is to fully participate in life but releasing the attachment to our expectations of how things should be.

Learning Outcomes:

• Learning Outcome 1 - Mindful Agreements - Creating the container for safe effective communication.
• Learning Outcome 2 - Self Awareness Becoming aware of how we communicate and its impact on our environment.
• Learning Outcome 3 - Dealing with difficulty and challenging conversations - Learning how to establish the ways so as people can speak truthfully skilfully v's speaking polite untruths.
• Learning Outcome 4 - Becoming aware of the culture and it’s impacting the learnings back into the team.

Bio

I am a qualified and professional Meditation and Mindfulness teacher. I use the vehicle of Mindfulness to help individuals, teams, and managers to bring self-awareness to their own belief systems that maybe limiting them and creating conflict and stress within their relationships both personally and in work. I work with companies to build inclusion and psychological safety so as that people can show up authentically and be able to communicate and participate skilfully without fear of negative impacts. Creating these environments individually and collectively in teams and companies means that people
work with greater collaboration increasing productivity, creativity, and overall wellness My name is Aileen Slein and I have spent two decades exploring and learning in this area of Self Awareness and Mindfulness. I lived for three years in India where I studied with some of the leading teachers of Advaita Philosophy, most notably Ramesh Balsekar, student of Nisgardatha Maharaj. I have trained with Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach and completed their Mindfulness Teacher training with Berkley University. Compassionate Self Awareness is a constant learning of being in the world with skilful responses as opposed to blind painful reactivity.

This webinar is hosted by Carrick-on-Shannon Education Support Centre. The information you provide when registering will be shared with the host centre and the centre through which you booked and can be used and shared by them in accordance with their Terms and Privacy Policy, which is available on their website.