WELL 14 — Playful Mindfulness: A Journey to Everyday Confidence, Calm, and Connection
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Ted DesMaisons, Jeanne Lambin
Date(s): Jun 29—Jun 30
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Saturday and Sunday
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 10:00 am—5:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $445
Refund Deadline: Jun 22
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 30
Status: Registration opens May 20, 8:30 am (PT)
Quarter: Summer
Day: Saturday and Sunday
Duration: 2 days
Time: 10:00 am—5:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Jun 29—Jun 30
Unit(s): 1
Tuition: $445
Refund Deadline: Jun 22
Instructor(s): Ted DesMaisons, Jeanne Lambin
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Enrollment Limit: 30
Recording Available: No
Status: Registration opens May 20, 8:30 am (PT)
Our current world and all our relationships in it often leave us breathless and frustrated. Mindfulness—paying attention to the present moment with curiosity and kindness—helps us slow down, take a breath, and befriend the inner resources that lead to discovery, delight, and a life well-lived. Integrating insights and exercises from mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) with those from improvisational theater, this immersive, experiential course will help you forge new neural pathways and develop a more connected personal presence. While mindfulness training sometimes takes on a somber or even pious tone (This is serious stuff!), in this course we choose a different track, learning to “play attention” through traditional methods and through humor, games, and exercises drawn from the wisdom of applied improvisation. Our topics will include relationship to failure, paying attention, cultivating curiosity and kindness, the mind as storyteller, moving from reactivity to response, and mindfulness in motion. Learning modes will include formal mindfulness practices, informal activities that integrate the skills we are learning into daily life, and shared inquiry using safe small- and large-group discussions to draw wisdom from the whole group.
No previous improv or mindfulness experience is necessary. We make a conscious effort to create a welcoming learning space for everyone.
TED DESMAISONS
Founder and Principal, ANIMA Learning
Ted DesMaisons is a trained mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) instructor and has studied, performed, and taught improvisation internationally. He has studied intensively with voice and presence coach Patsy Rodenburg and earned recognition as a Patsy Rodenburg Associate. He co-hosts the Monster Baby Podcast on improvisation and mindfulness and is the author of Playful Mindfulness. DesMaisons received an MBA from Stanford and an MTh from Harvard. JEANNE LAMBIN
Certified Designing Your Life Coach
Jeanne Lambin is a seasoned facilitator, designer, coach, and speaker with a background spanning archaeology, nonprofits, higher education, historic preservation, and the arts. Her passion is crafting unique training experiences that aren’t just about learning but about sparking inspiration and fostering positive change. She uses applied improvisation, storytelling, and other creative interventions to shape immersive experiences that captivate and empower. Lambin received a BS in anthropology from Loyola University Chicago and an MS in historic preservation from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Ted DesMaisons, Playful Mindfulness: a joyful journey to everyday confidence, calm, and connection (ISBN 978-1950373000)
(Required) Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World (ISBN 978-1609618957)
(Recommended) Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up (ISBN 978-1400081882 )
(Required) Mark Williams and Danny Penman, Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World (ISBN 978-1609618957)
(Recommended) Patricia Ryan Madson, Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up (ISBN 978-1400081882 )