The Mindful Life Program offers courses and programs that combine meditation training with practical, accessible, and universal skills that empower you to engage in your life with attention and intention. Our programs help you to experience life’s events, your thoughts, and your emotions consciously so you are able to respond with clarity and wisdom. Transform your life and cultivate inner peace, wellness, and genuine, lasting happiness.

MLP Foundations Course

The MLP Foundations Course combines the practice of meditation with the application of mindfulness in daily life. Our goal is to help you to live your life with attention and intention, cultivating the skills that empower you to make healthy choices that are in alignment with your values and that are meaningful to you. The course is designed to be practical and accessible, allowing anyone, with or without a background in mindfulness, to participate. The course is also designed to be universal so that anyone can benefit from mindfulness, regardless of cultural, economic, or spiritual background.

The Mindfulness Foundations Course is much more than a mindfulness meditation course. It is an intensive mindfulness program that integrates the four key areas of mindfulness:

Attention – Developing attention through meditation training.

Wisdom – Understanding one’s biases, labeling, projections and pre-judgments. Increasing emotional intelligence and learning to respond rather than react.

Values – Living a meaningful life. Developing healthy habits and responses that are in alignment with one’s personal values.

Open heart – Developing healthy relationships and connections. Cultivating skills of compassion, loving-kindness, empathic joy, and equanimity.

In order to live a meaningful life and develop the freedom to live consciously, the curriculum focuses on training the mind and cultivating the ability to make healthy choices that are beneficial to the life you want to live. In this way, you can live your life with attention and intention. This course consists of lectures, meditations, small group discussion, journaling, and short video presentations. Our teachers create a safe environment for participants to explore their own values and learn to apply practices to live in alignment with them.

Enrollment includes:

  • 20 hours of engaging in-person class
  • Foundations Course Companion Journal
  • A copy of “The Wisdom of a Meaningful Life” by co-founder John Bruna
  • Three month membership in the Mindful Life Community with app access
  • Access to meditation library and additional resources
  • Daily practice guide

*Continuing Professional Development (CPDs) credits may be available for social workers, therapists, and substance abuse counselors.

*Continuing Education Units (CEUs) may be available for teachers.

Please contact us to inquire about credits being offered for a particular course.

The course is offered to general audiences as well as to specific audiences such as educators, mental health professionals, recovery professionals, wellness programs, and more.

MLP Foundations Courses are offered throughout the US, in Canada and in Australia. Please see our Upcoming Events or contact us to schedule a course for your group.

 

 

28 Day Daily Practice Circle

From our own experience, we understand that it can be difficult to develop new habits, even if we know they will benefit our life. A daily mindfulness practice, once established, becomes a strong support for flourishing in your life. Because we know that it is hard to start and maintain an effective practice, this 28 Day Practice Circle was created to support you in your aspiration to explore and implement a consistent daily mindfulness practice. You are joined by a circle of Mindful Life Program™ co-founders and certified mindfulness teachers, members of our mindfulness communities, and others with similar intentions as you. It is our firm conviction that everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender, or orientation deserves to live a meaningful and happy life. This includes you – you are worth it. So together, let’s practice.  

To learn more about this course and see upcoming start dates visit the 28 Day Daily Practice Circle Course Page. 

 

 

Four Keys of Living Mindfully Online Course

With Author, Teacher and Co-founder John Bruna

Four Keys of Living Mindfully Course HeaderPractices in Attention, Values, Wisdom, and an Open Heart

The four key areas of mindfulness support and empower us to live mindfully so we can become more attentive to our thoughts, feelings, and our environment with clarity and wisdom. These keys help us to make choices and act in ways that are healthy, beneficial and in alignment with our values. When we live mindfully, we are able to cultivate more inner peace, resiliency, genuine well-being and thus to live a life we find meaningful. We can become the person we choose to be instead of being a prisoner of our habits, tendencies, and unconscious conditioning.

This online course is self-paced and available to begin anytime. To learn more about this course and to enroll, go to the  Course Page.

 

28 Day Meditation Training with Co-founder John Bruna

Establish a consistent meditation practice

Many of us struggle with maintaining a meditation practice or don’t even know where to begin to start one.  Meditation does not need to be a mystery or an arduous task to endure. Meditation can be quite simple and even enjoyable. The key is to know what you are doing, why you are doing it, and to try not to push too much.

Meditation is an important tool in life, allowing you to become free of constant ruminations, worries, fears, and frustrations that arise in a busy, distracted mind. All of us can learn to meditate, to tame our busy minds, and to be more present in our lives. We can discover the freedom of a relaxed, present, and stable mind.

We have created this 28-day meditation course to allow anyone, whether they are a complete beginner or an experienced meditator,  to be consistent and establish and sustain a meditation practice that works for them. We will primarily focus on shamatha (calm abiding) meditation, as it is designed to develop concentration and attention.

This course is offered on a donation basis. Anyone can participate; wherever you are,  offer whatever you can. No one is turned away due to a lack of funds.

You can begin this course at any time here.

 

 

Mindful Healing Course

With Author, Teacher and Co-founder Mark Molony

We are excited to be able to offer this online course at a time when the world is being challenged in a unique way by the uncertainty of a global pandemic. This course is offered by one of the co-founders of the Mindful Life Program, Mark Molony. Mark is an engaging teacher who has spent many years learning how best to support the healing of others by utilizing our inner resources and specific mindfulness practices.

To learn more about this course and to enroll, go to the Course Page. 

 

 

Mindfulness in Recovery® Online Course

We have redesigned our MIR course to meet the growing demand for the program. Beginning January 22, 2024, you can begin the course at any time. Once you begin the course, you will have 10 weeks to complete the 8-week course. To allow more flexibility you will have at least 3 different live sessions to choose from per week.

Everyone in the United States receives a copy of the Essential Guidebook to Mindfulness in Recovery and access to the private course online community platform accessible by computer, tablet, or mobile phone. You are able to interact with others in the course on that platform and in the course sessions.  We ask that you register at least a week before you would like to start so that we can mail your book to you in time. You may register at any time, and just let us know the date you would like to officially start the course. Learn more and register here.

*If you live outside of the USA, we will work with you to get you access to the guidebook. 

Questions: Email [email protected] or call (970) 633-0163.

 

MLP for Teachers

The Mindful Life Program for Teachers (MLPT) is a mindfulness training designed to support and increase the social and emotional competence (SEC) of classroom instructors. Social and emotional competence involves developing five primary skills: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making (Zins, Weissberg, Wang, & Walberg, 2004). Teachers with high SEC are able to develop supportive teacher-student relationships, effective classroom management, and successful learning environments.

Program Outline

  • Instruction and practice of mindfulness tools to cultivate attention, self and social awareness, and effective classroom management and decision-making.
  • Training in emotional skills to recognize and understand the dynamics of emotions. These skills enable the teacher to understand and constructively work with their own emotions as well as the students, enabling them to respond constructively to challenging situations.
  • Compassion and caring practices to cultivate healthy relationship skills and productive learning environments.
  • Stress reduction and personal development skills.

The Mindful Life Program for Teachers is a training comprised of lecture, direct experience, group participation, journaling, meditation, and relaxation techniques. To receive continuing education units, participants are required to sign in, attend all sessions, and engage in all of the activities.

MLP for Mental Health Professionals

Mindfulness is now the fastest-developing area in mental health. It has been demonstrated to improve the overall well-being of the therapist, improve the quality of the therapeutic relationship, and become an effective tool for clients. Research has shown that mindfulness practices offer psychotherapists a way to positively affect aspects of therapy that account for successful treatment:[i]

  • Increased empathy and compassion
  • More effective counseling skills
  • Decreased stress and anxiety
  • Counseling self-efficacy
  • Increased patience, intentionality, and gratitude

The emotional health of therapists is not just of personal importance, but appears to be a fundamental part of their professional effectiveness. A consistent correlation has been found between successful outcomes of therapy and therapist well-being and positive psychological adjustment.[ii]

Trainings include direct instruction, group exercises, discussion and meditation, with a focus on cultivation of attention, self and social awareness, and decision-making. The objective will be to provide participants with guided experience and insight into a variety of mindfulness practices and how to integrate them effectively into a therapeutic process.

Content can include the following:

  • Defining and understanding mindfulness
  • Role of meditation in the practice of mindfulness
  • Instruction and practice of mindfulness tools to cultivate attention, self and social awareness, and decision-making
  • Training in emotional skills to recognize and understand the dynamics of emotions enabling constructive responses to challenging situations
  • Compassion and caring practices to cultivate healthy relationship skills and productive learning environments
  • Stress reduction and personal development skills
  • Techniques for transforming unskillful events

While the MLP for Mental Health Professionals Course consists of an intensive 16-hour program, we can customize programs for varying lengths and audiences.

*Davis and Hayes, American

[i] Davis and Hayes, American Psychological Association, Psychotherapy 2011, Vol. 48, No. 2, 198 –208

[ii] Beutler, et al., 2004.

Mindfulness in Recovery®

For information about our Mindfulness in Recovery® offerings, see Mindfulness in Recovery page. Please contact us to ask about custom programs and retreats for recovery professionals, centers, or the recovery community.