The simple mention of mindful movement often generates a feeling tone: liking or disliking, rarely neither.
For many teachers, it is their least preferred core practice to guide. Questions often arise about its purpose and place within the eight-week course.

What is covered?

Chris Barker will guide you through a variety of approaches to mindful movement. This will help you find movements that resonate with you and feel authentic, enabling you to find your own voice when you are guiding practices.
We will also explore the purpose and position of mindful movement within the eight-week course. The mind and body are more closely connected than we may initially think. Mindful movement provides an access point to begin to see personal patterns of reactivity. It exposes our relationship with ourselves, how we approach life, as well identifying moods and emotions that colour our beliefs and interpretations, in the moment.

Who is this for?
This masterclass is for both experienced and aspiring mindfulness teachers who can benefit from Chris’s knowledge and insights of mindful movement. Chris takes a fresh look at this topic based on his experience of teaching mindful movement for over twenty years. Chris draws on his own experience of teaching a variety of mindful based programmes to a wide range of people, as well as bringing a grounded theoretical understanding.

The facilitator – Chris Barker
Chris Barker’s path into mindfulness was as a stressed Head of Physical Education in a large secondary school. Despite his initial reservations that it was just “yoga and meditation, that I couldn’t see myself doing” he was persuaded by colleagues to give it a try. It changed his life. Not overnight, but by allowing every drop of mindfulness, squeezed into every frantic day, to permeate through his previously sceptical being!

Chris predominantly shares mindfulness with cancer groups and leads on this both for the National Centre of Integrative Medicine (NCIM) as well as supporting fellow teachers. A qualified supervisor, Chris also teaches Mindfulness for Life for the Sussex Mindfulness Centre, NCIM and various counselling charities in the South-West of England, where he lives.

Practicalities
A significant section of the morning will be engaging in mindful movement. To facilitate this, it is helpful to have sufficient space to extend your arms in all directions while standing, sitting or in floor movements. Loose clothes are always helpful as well as sufficient layers to retain body heat. As always, clear guidance will be offered around tailoring the movements to meet the needs of your body. Finally, as I say to all my participants ‘as long as you can hear me you don’t need to be able to see me’. This means you have the option to move away from the screen.

Certificates
This is valid for ongoing personal development in mindfulness or as part of the Sussex Mindfulness Centre teacher training pathway. Certificates of attendance can be supplied on completion of the day’s training, if requested.