Clarity
6 Week Elective Course
This course was amazing! The information was so well presented and the community aspect of coming together each week to meditate and share experience was invaluable. I noticed such a dramatic difference in how I responded to emotions and challenges in only 6 short weeks.
– Meghan, Course Participant
Course Schedule
To receive an email when the next Clarity dates are posted, please click the button below.
Instructor
Ryan Kenny, LCSW
Mental Health Professional
Ryan is a clinical social worker, mental health therapist and qualified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor with over twelve years of meditation experience. He holds a masters degree of social work with a focus in mental health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He studied neuroscience at the Center For Healthy Minds and trained with the Center for Mindfulness at the UMASS medical school. He has brought mindful awareness into schools, hospitals, nonprofits, and corporate settings as well as to adolescents, seniors, leaders, teachers, veterans, and health professionals in the US.
Welcome to Clarity
In the Focus + Calm course, we learned the foundations of mindfulness practice and how to begin focusing attention and awareness. In this Clarity course, you will continue to deepen your practice and hone your focus as you build a new relationship with your thoughts and emotions.
We will explore in-depth the practice of “unhooking” from negative or anxious thoughts, which opens up a tremendous amount of potential in your ability to live with more ease. You will learn how to skillfully see the bigger picture in numerous situations and gain more clarity about your day-to-day experiences and what is most important to you.
You will also learn the radical difference between "doing" mode and "being" mode, which directly impacts how you solve problems in your life. This process can free up a great reservoir of energy and is evidenced in helping people manage overwhelm, depression, and anxiety.
Course Overview
In this six week intermediate course, you will:
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Deepen your meditation practice.
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Learn how to shift mental gears to free yourself from cycles of rumination, worry, stress, exhaustion, and even depression.
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Begin to see your thought patterns with greater clarity and how they connect to your experience of stress.
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Learn practices to navigate difficult experiences and emotions with greater resilience.
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Explore new techniques to weave mindfulness into your daily routine.
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Develop the skills to move on to Connection.
Who Can Attend This Course?
This course is open to meditators who have taken either the Focus + Calm 4-week course or the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction 8-week course, OR those who have been meditating for at least one year.
Pause Studio, Downtown PDX
Clarity
Discover mental patterns that cause you to feel stuck or unhappy
Wisdom
Reconnect to the wisdom of the whole mind-body
Emotional
Intelligence
Transform emotional turbulence into inner strength
Resilience
Release past regrets and worries about the future
Intention
Wake up from autopilot habits and live with greater purpose
How This Course Can Change Your Life
Who Will Benefit From This Course
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People who are beginning to notice changes in their life due to meditation and want to deepen their understanding and practice.
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People who are struggling with difficult thoughts and emotions and want to find greater ease.
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People who are seeking structure and accountability to support them in their practice.
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Suitable for ages 18 and older.
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People of all backgrounds (this course is accessible and understandable to everyone and applicable to any belief system).
Through simple daily practices, you will begin to cultivate the following qualities within yourself:
Excellent Value
6 educational and experiential 90 minute classes
44 days of ongoing, supported meditation + mindfulness practice
Expert meditation instruction from mental health professional
Half-day guided retreat for deepening your practice
Custom guided recordings for weekly home practice
Digital workbook of readings and exercises
Ongoing mindfulness coaching + feedback
Community interaction, accountability, and support
You'll Also Receive These Special Bonuses
Total additional value of $140!
BONUS #1
PAUSE STUDIO UNLIMITED MEMBERSHIP FOR TWO MONTHS
Value of $98
BONUS #2
Meditation is better with pals! Bring up to 3 guests to Pause drop-in classes.
3 GUEST PASSES
Value of $42
Course Curriculum
The Clarity curriculum is science-based and developed by a mental health professional.
WEEK 1:
Waking Up to Autopilot
WEEK 1
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Mindfulness of Breath + Open Awareness Meditation
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Shift out of autopilot into conscious living
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Stabilize the mind and reconnect to your senses
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Build the foundations for skillful responding
Reconnecting With BEING
WEEK 2
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Open Awareness + Body Sensations
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Move from relating to experience through thinking to directly sensing
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Explore the difference between “thinking mind” and “sensing mind”
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Train the mind to focus on direct experience without judging or analyzing
Gathering the Scattered Mind
WEEK 3
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Form Meditation + Breathing Space
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Move beyond dwelling in the past and future to living fully in the present
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Integrate mind and body through mindful movement practices
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Discover the body’s reactions to mental busyness and over-striving
Realizing Thoughts Are Not Facts
WEEK 4
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Sounds and Thoughts Meditation
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Experience thoughts as passing phenomenon that come and go like sounds
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Move from seeing thoughts as true and real to seeing them as mental events that may not correspond to reality
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Approach unpleasant experiences rather than being driven to avoid or get rid of them
Skillfully Navigating Difficulty
WEEK 5
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R.A.I.N. Meditation
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Move from needing things to be different to allowing them to be just as they already are
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Develop the capacity to face difficulties in your life with courage
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Allow thoughts and feelings to come and go through the space of awareness
Transforming the Mind Into An Ally
WEEK 6
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Cultivating Kindness Meditation
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Explore the relationship between daily routines, activities, and moods
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Experience the power of loving-kindness and self-compassion directed towards personal “flaws”
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Cultivate positive emotions through acts of generosity
"Clarity and decisiveness come from the willingness to slow down, to listen, and to truly look at what's happening.”
- Pema Chödrön
Clarity: The Science
Mindfulness Training Alters Neural Response to Sad Mood Provocation in a Mixed Clinical Sample
Recovery from emotional challenge and increased tolerance of negative affect are both hallmarks of mental health. Mindfulness training (MT) has been shown to facilitate these outcomes, yet little is known about its mechanisms of action. The present study employed functional MRI (fMRI) to compare neural reactivity to sadness provocation in participants completing 8 weeks of MT
Metacognitive Awareness and Prevention of Relapse in Depression: Empirical Evidence
Metacognitive awareness is a cognitive set in which negative thoughts/feelings are experienced as mental events, rather than as the self. This study reveals evidence that mindfulness-based interventions would reduce depressive relapse by increasing metacognitive awareness
Mindfulness Training Reveals Dissociable Neural Modes of Self-Reference
This study suggests a fundamental neural dissociation between two distinct forms of self-awareness that are habitually integrated but can be dissociated through attentional mindfulness training: the self across time and in the present moment.
Join the Course Today
Upcoming Course
To receive an email when the next Clarity dates are posted, please click the button below.
Questions?
We'd love to talk with you.
Email: connect@pausemeditation.org
Phone: 503.343.4831