The Center for Mindful Self-Compassion  (CMSC) offers MSC in a live session online format.  LOMSC (Live-Online MSC) is the most comprehensive MSC training you can take at this time and is only offered through CMSC. This program has the same content as an MSC program offered in person and is taught soley by Certified MSC teachers over 10 weeks. LOMSC offers a virtual classroom with additional learning materials as well as a community discussion board for enhanced 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.

LOMSC schedule of classes

• Thursdays, starts October 1, 9:00 – 11:00 pm UTC (5:00 pm EST) – Convert time zone here – Register!
• Wednesdays, starts October 7, 3:00 pm UTC (11:00 am EST) – Convert time zone here – Register! (Spanish!)
• Sundays, starts October 25, 3:00 pm UTC (11:00 am EST) – Convert time zone here – Register
• Saturdays, starts October 31, 11:30 am UTC (7:30 am EST) – Convert time zone here – Register

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Class Fees

You may wish to sign up for a Free 1-hour information session here. To help you get there, you can receive $100 off the full registration fee of  $575 for coming to the Introductory Session (when not using the Early Bird discount or the Compassionate Discount). To register for the class just choose the “General Registration + Intro Session” option.  Please note you can register for the class before attending the intro session.
We offer a different rate for participants living in certain countries taking into account Local Purchasing Power. Participants in the following countries can register for US $350:

• Central & South America & The Caribbean (excluding Chile)
• South East Asia (excluding Singapore and Malaysia)
• Eastern Europe • Pakistan, Iran, Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal
• Africa (excluding South Africa)

Scholarships

A limited number of scholarships are available. You can apply for a scholarship using this form LOMSC Scholarship Application. Places will be offered in the order application forms are received, we receive hundreds of applications so we are not able to help everyone. We appreciate your patience and understanding in advance. Places are confirmed once payment is received. (Please note that scholarships are based on personal financial need, separate from being financially over-extended or over-committed.)

Class Size

Classes are small to allow plenty of time with the teacher, and so that everyone in the group has an opportunity to feel seen and heard throughout the course. There are usually around 15-25 participants at a live session.

LOMSC as Pre-requisite for MSC TT

Please note: LOMSC usually does not satisfy the training prerequisite for MSC Teacher Training but during Covid, we will accept LOMSC as the pre-requisite for any future MSC Teacher Trainings as long as students attend all classes live. There is no need to complete any exemption form at the moment you can go ahead and register directly.

Content and Format

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 Objecitves:

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.

Please Note: LOMSC is offered for those over the age of 20. We strongly recommend that individuals younger than 20 seek out the teen version of MSC called “Making Friends With Yourself” in their area. For more information, consult the program’s page on this website.

Platforms

LOMSC’s home is an online Learning Management System called PowerSchool Learning, and we use a web conferencing platform called Zoom. After you register, we will support you in gaining access to both these tools.

Continuing Education

Psychologists: Continuing Education Credit for this program is provided by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness maintains responsibility for this program and its content. This course offers 23.0 CE credit.

California licensed MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, LCSWs: Continuing Education Credit for this program is provided by UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. 23.0 CE credit may be applied to your license renewal through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. For those licensed outside California, please check with your local licensing board to determine if CE credit is accepted.

Nurses: UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing, Provider Number CEP16351, for 27.5 CE credit.

Fees for CE credit: $75  (Submit when registering). *Must attend all classes live to receive credits.  Only valid in United States.

Prerequisites

There are no prerequisites for LOMSC, however, we will ask you to complete an application form so that we can start to get to know you.

Cancellation Policy

Course registration fees will be refunded or transferred to future LOMSC dates if a cancellation occurs up to 2 weeks before a course begins. A 50% refund or the option to transfer to a future LOMSC will be offered if cancelling up to a week before a course begins. No refunds can be offered if cancelling later than a week before a course begins (except on compassionate grounds for extenuating circumstances). To process any refund there will be a fee charged by the system: $45 for general admission and developing countries and $25 for scholarships refunds. The refund will only be for tuition fees, and any miscellaneous expenses incurred related to this course will not be refunded.

If you have any questions about the program, please contact Maria at Maria@centerformsc.org.

We hope to see you online soon, and we also hope that whatever your practice is, it leads to more mindfulness and more self-compassion in your day!

Teachers

Natalie Bell is the Director of Online Programs for CMSC. She is a Certified MSC Teacher and a member of the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, Mindfulness-Based Professional Training Institute. Natalie has been practicing mindful awareness and meditation since 1985 and spent a year living in an ashram dedicating herself to intensive practice of meditation and compassion. After studying neuropsychology, she became a Physical Therapist, working for 17 years as a hospital clinician, Director of Rehabilitation, and a clinical specialist for medical devices in rehabilitation.

Natalie founded Mindful Wellness to bring mindfulness training and coaching to individuals and corporations with a focus on self-compassion for greater ease and well being. She works with physicians, health care teams, corporate groups and teachers, bringing awareness practices for self-regulation, greater balance, and self-acceptance. Natalie offers in person and online programs, keynotes, workshops, retreats, and hourly consultation.

Natalie is a certified mindfulness instructor for the UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) teaching their signature Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) classes. She teaches MSC at the Center for Mindful Living in Los Angeles and online LOMSC. Natalie works with Kristin Neff and Chris Germer on the Healthcare Advisory Committee and as Director of the SCHC program in healthcare, and is a mentor in their Sounds True Power of Self Compassion program. She is the Director and developer of Corporate Programs at Unplug Meditation studio in L.A and speaks nationally on the power of mindfulness and compassion. Natalie believes deeply that through cultivating compassionate awareness we have the capacity to renew our mind, body and spirit. For more information please visit her website, www.nataliebell.com.

Marta Alonso DClin Psy. ( http://www.globalc.es ),is a psychologist collegiate and specialist in clinical psychology with the Ministry of Education and Science in Spain. She is the first Certified Teacher and Teacher Trainer in Spanish language and pioneer introducing compassion programs in Spain. Since 2012 has delivered more than 26 MSC courses in her country. She practices meditation since the last 27 years. She is a founding member and the current President of AEMind (Asociación Española de Mindfulness y Compasión) www.aemind.es. She holds the recognition as European Expert in Psychoterapy by the EFPA. Marta is co-author, along with Vicente Simon and others, of the book “Mindfulness en la Práctica Clinica” and both created the triple Cd with a booklet with 209 minutes of Mindfulness and Self Compassion audios and practices in Spanish with a booklet available in Amazon.

Noriko Morita is a Certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Instructor, a Certified Mindful Self-Compassion Instructor and a Managing Director at UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness.

Born in Japan, she moved to the States in 1985. Noriko feels that her life transforming journey of discovering and exploring mindfulness and self-compassion practices has allowed a more balanced life and identity between these two cultures. Noriko strongly believes practicing mindfulness and self-compassion, and bringing its principles into her life has and continues to help her grow as a person. She feels passionate about bringing these practices to other people’s lives. It is her mission to share what she has learned, what she continues to learn, to our community.

In addition, Noriko sees an opportunity, based on her own integration experiences, to introduce mindfulness-based programs to the Japanese communities in the world and to the Japanese people in Japan.

Sydney Spears, Ph.D., LCSW, LSCSW, TCTSY-F is a certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher. She is also a  licensed clinical social worker, trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator, mindfulness instructor and adjunct professor of Social Work. Her areas of interest, teaching and research have included trauma-sensitive care, somatic approaches to trauma, mind-body therapeutic movement, mindfulness-based practices, diversity, equity and inclusion.  She has taught academic courses such as cultural diversity, social justice, social oppression and clinical social work practice for 20 years.

Sydney offers classes, trainings, workshops and programs in diversity, equity, and inclusion, somatically-centered trauma treatment, trauma-sensitive mindfulness, meditation, Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), i-rest Yoga Nidra, and trauma-sensitive yoga. These offerings are provided through Midwest Alliance in Mindfulness, www.mindfulness-alliance.org, which focuses on providing mindfulness-based practices and community outreach efforts for organizations and at-risk populations. Additionally, she works as a trauma-sensitive yoga (TCTSY) facilitator, consultant and certification supervisor for the Center for Trauma and Embodiment in Boston, Massachusetts Center.  Sydney has been providing this type of adaptive yoga at the Kansas City, Missouri VA for veterans who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, those with spinal cord injuries and for individual community survivors. Sydney has a passion for providing trauma sensitive mindfulness practices for other at-risk groups such as men who are incarcerated to support their preparation and transition for re-entry into the community. In addition she has been providing diversity-based affinity groups for people of color (BIPOC+), people with ability challenges, and Black women. She is committed to advancing social justice efforts and providing a non-oppressive, trauma-sensitive and culturally-responsive private practice for psychotherapy clients.

Kristy Arbon, BA, BSW, has been working with the developers of the MSC program, Chris Germer and Kristin Neff, since the inception of CMSC in 2012. She adapted MSC for the online environment and created LOMSC in 2015. She teaches self-compassion courses online and in person in the US, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, Singapore and BhutanKristy is very passionate about self-compassion study and practice. She writes about her experiences of mindfulness and self-compassion practice on her website, www.kristyarbon.com. She runs a number of online self-compassion study and practice support programs for the general public and for professionals.She is delighted to have this opportunity to connect around self-compassion practice with people who may otherwise not be able to access an MSC group. You can email Kristy at kristy@centerformsc.org

Martin Thomson-Jones first encountered loving-kindness meditation, one of the core elements of MSC, when he took the eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2010, and from there he gradually found his way to Kristin Neff’s and Christopher Germer’s work. He took MSC from Chris and Kristin as a five-day intensive at Esalen, in California, in January 2013, and then took part in the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion’s first teacher-training course—led by Chris, Kristin, and Michelle Becker and Steven Hickman of the UCSD Center for Mindfulness—in Barre, Massachussetts in March 2014. He co-taught the five-day intensive version of MSC with Kristy Arbon in St. Louis in August 2014, and has been teaching the eight-week version in Oberlin and the Cleveland area since then. In 2017 he co-taught, with Joel Grow, the first run of the full MSC course for men, live and online.

He is Professor of Philosophy at Oberlin College, and has also taught philosophy at Princeton University and U.C. Berkeley. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy from Stanford University, and a B.A. (Joint Hons.) in physics and philosophy from Oxford University. His research is primarily in the philosophy of science.

Joel Grow, Ph.D is a clinical psychologist at the Seattle Mindfulness Center. He was part of the development team for the Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) program, and he continues to lead MBRP groups and professional workshops. He is also a trained teacher in Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC), and continues to lead MSC groups several times per year. Along with Martin Thomson-Jones, he helped pioneer online MSC groups for men. His background includes providing behavioral health care and trainings/workshops in community agencies, VA and private hospitals, specialized medical settings, corporations, and government agencies.  Before graduate school, Joel spent 6 years as a software engineer and in-house trainer/instructor at Amazon.com. He also co-developed and was lead instructor for a 9-month University of WA certificate program for 9 years, and was awarded the UW “Award of teaching excellence”.

Christine Grace McMulkin, MSW RSW, MSc is a Certified Teacher of Mindful Self Compassion and is grateful to join the LOMSC Faculty and to have been trained by the founders of the approach, Kristen Neff and Christopher Germer. Christine is also a member of the Faculty of the Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto and teaches the full Mindful Self Compassion program through the Centre, as well as within her role as a Mental Health Counsellor within a Medical Centre Family Health Team. She is also a Trained Facilitator of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. Christine founded Christine Grace and Community in 2000 and her offerings include Mindfulness, Self Care and Self Compassion conversations and sessions. She is deeply invested in her own practice and has been engaged in meditation and mindfulness for many years.  Christine has developed and delivered web-based courses and appreciates the ease of access that the online platform can offer. Christine delights in connecting with participants around the globe.

Helle Laursen is a Certified MSC Teacher, a Heartfulness meditation Trainer, and has a private practice in Silkeborg, Denmark, with 15 + years of experience in supporting people on sick leave due to mental health issues. For more than 20 years she has been a dedicated stuent of Heartfulness meditation and enjoys regular visits to Ashrams, to deepen her own practice and understanding.

After completing her M.A., she became a ICF certified coach, and had a position of Leading Mentor Coach in the largest Coch Training Institue in Denmark, for 10 + years, as well as holding a position of Head of Project for a regional based 12 week program for those of sick leave from jobs due to mental health issues like stress, depression and/or anxiety. In her private practice, she uses mindfulness and compassion based approaches, and specializes in caregivers, in building resilience in general, and in navigating in life transitions.

Helle works with varied groups, but primarily with social workers, teachers, psychologists, therapists, nurses and other industries who work in and with relations to clients, citizens, students. She offers individual and corporate compassion programs, classes, workshops, retreats and hourly consultations.

Helle is committed to bringing compassionate awareness into everyday life, so that life can be even more enjoyable and rich and meaningful. For more information about Helle, please visit her website, nordic-compassion.dk.

Jamie Lynn Tatera has been practicing mindful awareness and meditation for the past twenty years, and she has been teaching mindfulness to others since 2008. Her self-compassion journey began when she discovered that her daughter, who had exceptional needs, needed tenderness more than mindfulness. Jamie Lynn teaches self-compassion to caregivers because experience has taught her that when we treat ourselves with kindness, we have more to offer the people we care about most.

Jamie Lynn is a former elementary school teacher, and she has taught mindfulness and self-compassion to educators and children, at universities, and in her private work with families. She is both an author as well as the founder of Wholly Mindful, an organization that offers mindfulness, communication, and self-compassion training to individuals and families. You can read her mindfulness related blogs or view her self-compassion videos at www.whollymindful.com. Jamie Lynn is a certified Mindful Self-Compassion teacher, and she enjoys teaching Mindful Self-Compassion both in person as well as live-online. In addition to teaching the traditional Mindful Self-Compassion program and the Self-Compassion program for healthcare providers, Jamie Lynn also teaches Mindful Self-Compassion for teens (Making Friends with Yourself). Jamie Lynn is forever growing both as a student and a teacher, and she delights in sharing the journey of self-compassion and self-discovery with others.

Dr. Caroline Hoffman OAM, PhD, RN, BSW grew up in Australia and holds a lifelong passion for living a happy and awakened life, starting her own practice of yoga and meditation in earnest in 1975 after a seriously illness. Caroline started practicing mindfulness in 1992 and trained to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts in 2004 and Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) in 2016. She became a certified MSC teacher early in 2019.

Caroline is Clinical and Research Director for the UK charity Breast Cancer Haven, and offers additional mindfulness training to individuals and corporates. She has a degree in Social Work from the University of Melbourne, is a registered intensive care nurse. She published her PhD research evaluating MBSR in women affected by breast cancer in The Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2012.  In 2016, Caroline completed additional training courses in Mindfulness Approaches Teacher Supervision and supervises mindfulness teachers. Caroline has been a pioneer in practicing, teaching and researching integrative medicine since the late 1980s and is trained to a professional level in a number of complementary therapies including acupuncture. She has published extensively in peer reviewed journals. Caroline loves spending time in, on or by the sea or any other form of nature.  She holds the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for services to breast cancer.

Oori Silberstein has been a life long student of what makes us happier and more at ease. He discovered Yoga in high school and Tai Chi in college, and forgot the lessons they taught him for many years. The anxiety he experienced in the business world led him to Buddhist practice and Mindfulness in 1999 which changed his life. He quit the business world ten years ago and committed himself to supporting and teaching others. Oori teaches meditation, mindfulness and self-kindness to adults and teenagers. His style is light and playful, and is informed by the belief that we are all whole and have the innate capacity for deep contentment and happiness, but we sometimes need some support accessing it. He has a background in trauma support and grief support and has worked and taught in schools and hospitals. He is trained as a Chaplain and is an ordained Buddhist minister. Oori is also interested in sharing mindfulness, self-compassion and meditation to populations that do not currently have easy access to such trainings, by supporting those communities and their members in their own move towards self reliance and empowerment.

Megan Prager is Co-Founder of Mindful Labs and Compassion Programs Director at UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness.

Megan is a Certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Instructor (MBSR), a Certified Mindful Self-Compassion Instructor (MSC), a Certified Compassion Cultivation Instructor (CCT), an Adjunct Faculty member at San Diego State University, and a Lecturer at UC San Diego Rady Business School. She is also a Teacher Trainer and Mentor for the UC San Diego Mindfulness Based Professional Training Institute as well as a Mentor and Practicum Teacher Trainer for the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion. In addition to teaching Mindfulness-based programs, Megan specializes in developing and delivering mindfulness trainings for Fortune 500 companies as well as for educational, healthcare, and academic settings. She is currently collaborating with Universities to establish and instruct Mindfulness and Compassion courses at the collegiate level. In all her ventures, Megan’s passion and mission are the same: to empower individuals with an understanding of the important role they play in shaping their lives and well being. Megan believes through compassionate awareness individuals are able to utilize one of the best resources they have: themselves.

Luis Gregoris de la Fuente works as psychologist and is teaching groups of mindfulness practice in different settings since 2008 in Global-C (www.globalc.es ); every year he usually teaches 6 fortnightly groups (21 sessions) about the practice of mindfulness and compassion. Furthermore, He is promoting Mindfulness and Compassion practices within the workplace (www.meetmindfulness.es ). Besides, since 2012 he is teaching Mindfulness within the “Emotional Intelligence Master” (online edition) of the University of Valencia. Now he is collaborating with CMSC and Marta Alonso translating the Spanish resources for MSC teachers and helping in the Spanish Teacher Training organization http://msc.mindfulness.global/msc-tt-2019-madrid/

He has been working together with M. Alonso and V. Simon (pioneers of MSC in Spain) since the early steps of the MSC Spanish version, translating the MSC teachings, and helping with the website www.mindfulnessyautocompasion.com in which he is answering all the questions of the web visitors. His commitment with the MSC has been growing since 2012, so he is sharing his own self-compassion practicing experience, in order to spread the benefits of these amazing teachings to all the people who are suffering nowadays: www.sertumejoramigo.com

Mariela de La Fuente Physician from the department of cognitive neurology (Neurology Service, Sanatorio Allende, Nueva Córdoba). Formed by UNESCO in clinical and social Bioethics. Certified MSC teacher. Pioneer in introducing the MSC program in Argentina. Professor of the SCHC program (Self-Compassion Training for health Communities). Specialist in Mindfulness and Mindfulness Education. Specialist in Personal Development and Mindfulness, both degrees awarded by the University of Almería, Spain. Mindfulness instructor with training in BMIT at the Quietud Mindfulness Center and the University of Zaragoza. Trained in the first University Course on Mindfulness and its applications for health, a title awarded by the Favaloro University.