Workshops

For information on future workshops, please check back again Winter 2017 for new workshops offered in the Spring 2017…

Please visit my Programs page for current offerings.

Previous:

Mindfulness for Managing Stress

Research demonstrates that mindfulness enhances our ability to stay calm and manage our reactions.

Rather than getting overwhelmed, avoiding or overeacting to stressful situations, mindfulness helps us to see conflict situations as opportunities for personal growth.

In this six hour introductory workshop you will gain an understanding of how mindfulness changes the brain, promotes neuroplasticity, and reduces stress.

An innovative, experiential, interactive and inquiry-based exploration to bring mindful engagement online, and re-wire mindful communication in the present moment.

For more information on this workshop, email me, or call 604-788-2804.

Focus Group: Mindfulness for Kids with Special Needs/Autism and their Parents

Current research suggests that relationships between child problem behaviours and parenting stress are “reciprocal, and a bi-directional relationship between parenting stress and child problem behaviours exists (Neece et al. 2012, as cited in Hwang et al, 2015). This confirms that “parents and children with ASD are closely interconnected in all the ups and downs of their life.” (Hwang et al, 2015).

This Focus Group is part of a larger research process that will culminate in the creation of a Mindfulness program for Kids with Special Needs/Autism, with a separate and parallel group for those kids’ parents.

In this Focus Group, I am seeking 12 parents of children with special needs/Autism Spectrum to share their experience regarding:

• How they currently manage stress
• What factors help alleviate their stress
• To what degree children’s problematic behaviour increases their parents’ stress, and to what degree parents stress in turn increases their children’s problematic behaviour
• To what degree training parents in mindfulness can assist them to manage their child’s problem behaviours.
• To what degree training parents in mindfulness can enhance overall family closeness and resilience.

For more information on this group, email me, or call 604-788-2804.

This is Your Brain on Mindfulness: The Science and Practice of Mindfulness for Optimal Health & Well Being

Powerful neuroimaging techniques have demonstrated that mindfulness strengthens neural pathways that support a balanced nervous system, attuned communication, emotional balance, flexible responses, and empathy.

In this three hour workshop, Joelle Lazar, Registered Clinical Counsellor and Yoga Therapist, will provide an overview on mindfulness including:

• The relationship between neuroplasticity and mindfulness
• Avoidance: The Antithesis of Mindfulness
• The neurobiology of mindfulness and resilience to trauma
• The 8 essential Attitudes
• Guided mindfulness practices: stillness, movement, and communication.

 

Mindfulness At Play

Mindfulness is a creative act through which we experience life as it is.

Through mindfulness we can develop a more relaxed and flexible nervous system.

Mindfulness practice brings awareness to the witness which helps us to both acknowledge and de-identify with unhelpful thoughts, beliefs, and ways of being.

In this workshop we will:

• Gain insight and a deeper understanding of the mindful brain, and how it thrives through play.
• Discover what happens when your brain gets “hijacked” by default reactions.
• Practice inquiries that support embodiment of mindfulness.
• Explore two inner voices: The Critic that challenges our ability to remain mindful, and the Experiencing Self who is wired for intuitive grounding, connection and play.
• Embody mindfulness through dialogue, relaxation, sound healing, meditation, movement, and play!

Mindfulness for Optimal Communication and Conflict Resolution

An introduction to mindfulness to improve your communication and conflict resolution skills

Research demonstrates that mindfulness helps us to better manage stress and communicate more effectively. Rather than getting overwhelmed, avoiding or overeacting to stressful situations, mindfulness helps us to see conflict situations as opportunities for personal growth.

In this six week workshop you will:

• Gain an understanding of what mindfulness is and how it promotes neuroplasticity.
• Receive simple, approachable guidance that will motivate you to practice mindfulness meditation with confidence.
• Reconnect with play and use it to support mindfulness in your daily life.
• Explore the inner voice that enhances your ability to remain mindful under stress, and use it to override unhelpful habit patterns.
• Discover the power of Non-Violent Communication, and use it to fuel more self-awareness in communication and conflict resolution.
• Explore your personal communication style and experiment with communication that enhances your well being.
• Create your Mindfulness Communication Roadmap.