Opening up part two of our course

This week marks the beginning of part two of the Mindfulness Meditation and Education course. In this part we delve deeper into bodyfulness and mindfulness in alternating weeks.

In the first week we focus on deepening our forays into bodyfulness by discussing the work of Bessell van der Kolk on "How Trauma Lodges Itself in the Body." And we also discuss research studies that isolate the deep-physiological benefits of meditation.

In the second week we switch our focus to mindfulness by exploring cultural ideologies that in various ways have come to inform what we currently refer to as 'mindfulness meditation.' For this exploration we will employ a documentary film "Yoga: The Architecture of Peace."

Then in a third week we return to bodyfulness through an examination of the work of Marshall McLuhan, Jean Baudrillard, and Jacques Lacan.

In a fourth week, we brainstorm topics for "pop-up research" projects that we will engage in as a class.

Wrapping Up Koru Basics

This week we complete our adventures in Koru Basics by reviewing what we've learned from the book, from check-ins, and from practicing a varied array of mindfulness meditation techniques and exercises on a daily basis.

This week we also launch the second part of the course -- a four week or so timeframe that features selected content pieces, instructor presentations, and discussion on Tuesdays, and an extension of our practice-intensive Thursdays.

Week three: adding options to our repertoire

On Tuesday of this week we added two more types of mindfulness meditation to our repertoire -- Labelling Thoughts Meditation and Guided Imagery Meditation -- and on Thursday we added a form of bodyfulness meditation to our repertoire as well. Looking ahead to next week, we will add a Labelling Feelings Meditation and a Loving Kindness Meditation to complete our 'big picture' menu and draw our exploration of the Koru Mindfulness program to a fittingly open conclusion.

Then in subsequent weeks we will explore a few selected topics to deepen the 'mind' side of our mind/body work, and we will also return to and deepen selected practices on the 'body' side of the body/mind matrix.