Compassion and the Brain – Shifting from surviving to thriving - Episode 2 - Season 2

Our mindful compassion season continues with an exploration of how the evolutionary development of our brain can mean we are actually wired for surviving rather than thriving and how mindful compassion can help us redress that. We consider our 3 emotion regulation systems & how, because of both evolutionary design and modern culture, the threat and drive systems can become overactive resulting in stress-related health issues. I share some in the moment mindfulness practices to restore balance through breath work, self-compassion gestures and gratitude & appreciation. We close the episode with a Safe Place guided meditation which helps us put some of these ideas into practice and invites our soothing system online, helping to bring our regulation systems into balance and promote a sense of calm and well-being. I hope you find today’s episode helpful and that you can join us next episode when we explore self-compassion in more detail and talk about the phenomenon of backdraft – the different ways we may encounter resistance as we begin to practice compassion.

About Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living

Compassion can be described as an awareness of pain and suffering -ours and others- coupled with a motivation to take action to alleviate it. Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) is a science backed course designed to enhance our physical, emotional and relational well-being though deepening meditation practice, growing self-compassion, and learning ways to balance kindness and compassion for others with care for ourselves.

The course was developed in 2007 by Dutch Psychotherapist Dr Erik van den Brink and Meditation Teacher and Psychiatric Nurse Frits Koster as a follow-on to foundational mindfulness programs. If you would like to read more about MBCL you can find out more at my website or the links below.

About your Host

Kate is a qualified BAMBA registered mindfulness teacher offering over 25 years of coaching expertise. She has trained with Erik van den Brink and Frits Koster, the developers of MBCL. Having experienced the transformative power of mindful compassion in her own life, she is passionate about sharing that with others in a way that is accessible, professional and infused with her own unique brand of gentle kindness.

You can follow Realise on:

https://www.realisemindfulness.com/

https://www.facebook.com/realisemindfulness

https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-ensor-a4b4a62a/

https://www.instagram.com/realisemindfulness/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiUm0kgeEX-uU6_PPTc2Zaw

Find out more about MBCL:

www.mbcl.org (Erik van den Brink)https://fritskoster.com/ (Frits Koster)www.mbcl-international international.net (MBCL International)

You can also buy the MBCL course Workbook from the publisher Routledge and all good booksellers: https://www.routledge.com/A-Practical-Guide-to-Mindfulness-Based-Compassionate-Living-Living-with/Brink-Koster-Norton/p/book/9781138228931

A quick disclaimer:

This podcast is intended as an ongoing support resource to anyone who has attended a foundational mindfulness course such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and is interested in deepening their practice in mindful compassion.

The MBCL course is rich and deep & this podcast is in no way a replacement for attending an 8-week course. Rather, it is intended as either an introduction, a companion or a refresher for the course. If you are interested in finding out more, or working with me one-to-one, you can find some helpful links above.

And remember any information you hear on this podcast and my media sites is for information purposes only and should never be a substitute for advice from a doctor, psychiatrist or any other health professional.