Humble in the Presence of Learning and Growing: The Experience of Leading a Professional Training

Mindfulness
EarthRise
MBCT
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
Mindfulness-Based Interventions
Professional Training
Sarah Bowen
Steven Hickman
Thoughts & Ancedotes
UCSD
Zindel Segal

Earth Rise31 professionals came from as far away as Hong Kong to learn about MBCT and how it is taught, learning "from the inside out" in this amazing retreat format. Early morning movement and meditation practice and periods of silence (including several silent meals) punctuated our five days together in a way that allowed participants to ground their learning in the refuge of mindfulness. They began as students and ended as teachers, in that they first were participants in an actual MBCT group (reacting and responding to the various practices and exercises that are part of MBCT) and by the end of the training they were leading each other through sitting meditations, body scans and more.

Each time that I get to do this I experience something different, and this time what I took away was captured in the comments and questions people offered late in the week. Early in the week I was struck by the virtual collision between the typical ways in which therapists encounter patients and how an MBCT teacher meets those same individuals. Wanting to teach, fix, shift and "improve" is embedded in our training as therapists, but what we are doing here is so different. Gently guiding people to their own discoveries or awarenesses and to trust their direct moment-to-moment experience above all else feels awkward and insubstantial at first.

StairwayBut oh, those shifts that took place during the week! It was as if the largely internal process of attending non-judgmentally to all that arises and staying rooted in the fullness of the moment, began to blossom and flourish outwardly in the space between teacher and student, therapist and client. What a great honor and privilege it is to be a part of that process, in some small way, and to be reminded of the power and potential of mindfulness practice. To prevent relapse in depression, to facilitate effective psychotherapy, to bring depth and richness to life itself. There are moments when it all becomes more than words can fully express.

A deep and reverent bow to my colleagues, my students, my new friends. Thank you for the honor of your presence and your hard work.

About the Author

Steve Hickman

Dr. Steven Hickman, Executive Director of CMSC and Director of Professional Training, is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and is an Associate Clinical Professor in the UC San Diego Departments of Psychiatry and Family Medicine & Public Health. Dr. Hickman is the Founder and Executive Director of the UCSD Center for Mindfulness, a program of community building, clinical care, professional training and research. Steve has taught Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for 15 years and has trained teachers of MBSR, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and, more recently MSC as well.Having witnessed the transformation that is possible out of the practice of self-compassion, he has re-dedicated himself to the dissemination of MSC as one important way that we can relieve suffering everywhere and improve the quality of our world. He is married and has three grown children, affording him ample opportunities to practice what he teaches.