4. Deepening Practice
Have you completed your first mindfulness-based program and feel drawn to continue? There are several paths you can take to deepen your practice.
A) Follow-up Programs for Graduates of Mindfulness-Based Programs
Mindfulness: Taking it Further
This program, created by the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation, is intended for graduates of 8-week mindfulness-based programs. Its aims are:
- Strengthening and deepening the mindfulness practice of graduates.
- Deepening and expanding knowledge from the key topics of the eight-week curriculum.
- Supporting and guiding participants to apply everything they have learned into their lives.
- Providing a community with whom they can share their experience with practice.
- Developing participants' capacity, competence, and confidence to independently deepen and expand their mindfulness practice.
The program includes twelve topics and is offered in several different formats (weekly for 12 weeks, in smaller blocks like 2 weekly for 6 weeks, once a month for a whole year, or in block format as part of residential retreats).
Currently, this program is available in English, mostly online. More information, including registration options, is available on the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation website: Oxford Mindfulness Foundation: Taking it Further.
Deeper Mindfulness
Deeper Mindfulness is an 8-week course developed by Professor Mark Williams and his colleagues, designed for those who have already completed a mindfulness-based program and wish to explore mindfulness more deeply.
The course is inspired by recent psychological findings that reveal our understanding of the world in each waking moment is influenced by our perceptions of how we can act within it. This process is colored (and sometimes distorted) by what is sometimes called the "feeling tone". The feeling tone is the immediate perception and sensation of every experience and stimulus as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. Based on this immediate evaluation, our body uses its energy resources and prepares us for real or imaginary action. Often, this process allows us to act quickly and efficiently, but if we are unaware of it, the same process can get out of control and lead (often unconsciously) to overall exhaustion.
During the eight weekly sessions, you will learn meditations that help you tune into the feeling tone, step by step. This will help you see more clearly how stress and suffering arise in your life and how to influence these processes to experience and enjoy a sense of freedom in your life again.
Currently, this program is available in English, mostly online. More information, including registration options, is available on the Oxford Mindfulness Foundation website: Oxford Mindfulness Foundation: Deeper Mindfulness.
Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL)
MBCL is another potential follow-up program for graduates of mindfulness-based programs. It was developed by Erik van den Brink and Frits Koster in the Netherlands. MBCL focuses not only on deepening mindfulness practice but also on actively cultivating compassion. Compassion involves being sensitive to pain and suffering (both our own and that of others) and includes the inner intention and motivation to alleviate and prevent it. It’s not about being overly immersed in the problems of others at the expense of ourselves, nor is it about self-pity. It's about finding a way to wisely and balancedly care for ourselves and others. Compassion is a natural human ability present in all of us. However, not everyone has had the opportunity to develop it. In modern psychology, compassion is seen as one of the most crucial mechanisms for positive change and healing our wounds. MBCL provides systematic training in developing and integrating compassion into one's life.
For more information about the program, visit the MBCL International website: MBCL International.
B) Mindfulness retreats
Mindfulness retreats are multi-day stays with a group of meditators and a teacher, dedicated exclusively to mindfulness practice. During these retreats, we temporarily set aside our daily responsibilities and devote our time fully to mindfulness practice. They provide a unique opportunity to gain new energy and inspiration. Standard retreats are conducted in silence, under the guidance of an experienced teacher. The silence and inner peace allow us to tune into ourselves more deeply and understand our experiences and minds better.
In the Czech Republic, mindfulness retreats (led in Czech language) are regularly offered by mindfulness teachers Šimon Grimmich and Michal Dvořák. More information can be found on the "Vnitřní prostor" website.
For those interested in retreats in English led by experienced teachers, we recommend visiting the websites of the Mindfulness Network UK or GaiaHouse, which regularly offer both in-person retreats in the UK and online retreats via Zoom.
C) Individual Counseling
Mindfulness Practice Mentoring
The aim of mindfulness mentoring is to support an already developed personal mindfulness practice through individual sessions with an experienced mindfulness teacher. It provides a dedicated space to explore and develop your practice according to your individual needs. Mentoring can be beneficial if, for example, you want to consolidate your practice after completing a course or adapt it to integrate more fully into your life. It encourages and refreshes the practice, which can be particularly helpful when motivation wanes. It is very useful if you feel stuck in your practice or if you are struggling to manage difficulties that arise in it (and/or in your life).
For those interested in consulting with a mindfulness mentor (available in English, online), we can recommend the relevant section on the Mindfulness Network UK website.
Psychotherapy
Another useful path for self-discovery can be the combination of mindfulness practice with psychotherapy. While mindfulness teaches us the basic skills of understanding and caring for our minds, psychotherapy focuses more on our individual and unique life situation. If we have experienced significant suffering in life and feel completely exhausted, it can be challenging to find the strength and motivation to develop our mindfulness practice, which requires some effort and time. Or it may happen that our mindfulness practice reveals such significant distress that we are no longer able to manage it. This does not mean that mindfulness has "failed" us. On the contrary, it has played a key role in uncovering what would otherwise remain repressed in our subconscious. If left hidden, it could cause a nonspecific feeling of dissatisfaction that would follow us for years. These are the moments when it is very wise to seek the professional and individual approach that psychotherapy offers.
The good news is that if mindfulness is dear to us, entering psychotherapy does not mean that we stop mindfulness and start doing something completely different from scratch. Many psychotherapeutic approaches are very close to mindfulness and actively use it. An example is Gestalt therapy, which is widespread in the Czech Republic. A list of qualified therapists can be found on the official website of the Czech Society for Gestalt Therapy. Another piece of good news is that mindfulness is a very important skill in the psychotherapeutic process, so if we are close to it and have experience with it, it will be a very useful support on our therapeutic journey.
At this stage of our mindfulness practice, we are already heading out to the ocean, like on our own windsurfing board. We already have a solid foundation in how to surf the waves, how to adapt the sailing to the weather, and also where we actually want to go in that wide ocean. Sometimes sailing will be a joy and everything will go smoothly, other times we will encounter stormier seas that may even throw us off the board into the water. The important thing is that we already know how to get back on and resume the journey. And if we encounter very challenging weather or rocks, we remember that we are not alone and we know how to ask for help. We wish you lots of luck on your voyage!
