Live Online Mindful Self-Compassion (LOMSC) Course

To err is human. Try as we might, we each make mistakes from time to time. We may snap at family members, make errors at work, or forget to pay a parking ticket. During these moments, when we’re faced with our perceived failures or shortcomings, many of us may beat ourselves up, believing that we don’t deserve kindness, or that somehow punishment may make us “be better” or become “good enough.”

But over the past decade of researching self-compassion, we’ve learned that we can’t berate ourselves into optimal health, happy relationships, or career success. In fact, research shows that self-compassion — responding kindly to ourselves in the face of struggle, just as we would a dear friend — is much more likely to lead to long-term wellbeing than harsh self-criticism.

Monthly Featured Meditation

Affectionate Breathing with Raphael Jay Adjani

Join this Affectionate Breathing meditation from Raphael Jay Adjani, originally recorded during Session Two of the 10-Week Live Online MSC Course. The intention of this meditation is to bring mindful awareness to the present moment by specifically focusing on the breath, while also bringing care in a compassionate way to yourself and your experience. Hopefully, this guided practice will enable you to practice awareness that can help regulate your emotions during stressful moments, allowing you to connect more warmly with yourself.

Upcoming LOMSC Courses:

March 13, 2024 Wednesdays 4:00pm PT (7:00pm ET) Register here | Time Zone

March 23, 2024 Saturdays 8:00am PT (11:00am ET) Register here | Time Zone

April 7, 2024 Sundays 9:00am PT (12:00pm ET) Register here | Time Zone

April 24, 2024 Wednesdays 11:00am PT (2:00pm ET) | Time Zone

This program has the same content as an MSC program offered in person and is taught only by Certified MSC teachers over 10 weeks. LOMSC offers a virtual classroom with additional learning materials as well as a discussion board for community engagement. LOMSC is also appropriate for those people who do not have access to MSC in their area, who have commitments or mobility issues that make it difficult to leave home to do a course, or who have already done MSC and would like a refresher.

Free Information Session! 

Free 1-hour information session here. You can receive $100 off the full registration fee of $595 for coming to the Introductory Session (when not using the Early Bird discount or the Compassionate Discount). Once your intro session has been completed you will receive a link for the reduced price to register. Please note you may take any of the intro sessions offered to receive this discount, it does not need to be with the teacher you intend to take the course with.

If you would like to learn more about our scholarships you can find more information here.

I never gave myself credit for how difficult my work is in healthcare and what it cost me personally. This course validated my own suffering which prompted me to actually make changes in my life and work from which everyone benefits.

Pediatric Oncologist

About the Course

LOMSC offers around 95% of the material from the MSC program developed by Kristin Neff, PhD and Christopher Germer, PhD. The course is run weekly for 10 consecutive weeks (there may be a break for a week to accommodate holidays and teacher availability). MSC is an opportunity to explore how we typically respond when difficulties arise in our lives and to learn tools for becoming a warm and supportive companion to ourselves.

Although MSC offers conceptual learning it is designed to be more experiential than theoretical. MSC is therapeutic, but it’s not therapy. The emphasis of the program is on enhancing emotional resources to meet emotional challenges, old and new. MSC is also not primarily a type of mindfulness training; MSC is mindfulness-based compassion training in which the quality of warmth is emphasized more than awareness itself.

LOMSC Offers:

  • Pre-course reading/viewing material
  • Live sessions once weekly
  • Post-course reading/viewing material
  • 24/7 online discussion board
  • Optional small group meetings between classes
  • Home practice suggestions
  • Email contact with the teacher (online one-to-one chats if necessary)
  • The opportunity to join online graduate groups to support ongoing practice

LOMSC Objectives:

At the completion of this activity, participants will begin to:

  • Describe the theory and research supporting mindful self-compassion
  • Develop and apply self-compassion practices to motivate themselves with encouragement rather than self-criticism
  • Assess and manage difficult situations and emotions with greater moment-to-moment acceptance
  • Develop and apply self-compassion practices to respond to feelings of failure or inadequacy with self-kindness
  • Transform difficult relationships, old and new, through self-validation
  • Utilize the art of savoring and self-appreciation to overcome negative attention bias
  • Apply core mindfulness and self-compassion practices into daily life
  • Demonstrate simple self-compassion practices to patients, students, or clients

Participants will be invited to view reading material and informational videos before each class so that our precious class time can be saved for meditations, exercises and group sharing. Classes are 2 hours long, however one session will be a 3-hour online retreat.

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