Overview
Ready to try mindfulness or want to expand your existing practice?
Mac Mindfulness invites you to participate in a 4- session mindfulness program to help you develop a more grounded perspective on your work and personal life experiences. These sessions are guided by the Mindfulness Institute for Emerging Adults (formerly known as Koru), an evidence-based mindfulness curriculum designed originally for university-aged adults that is now being widely used across campuses and in communities.
This program is offered free to members of the McMaster community.
What will you learn?
The course will help you to better manage your stress and focus. Mindfulness participants who have completed the program have learned and applied the mindfulness-based, stress-management strategies and reported that they feel improved calmness and greater self-compassion and awareness.
When, Where, and How to register?
Dates: Throughout the year. Check back often.
Time: 75 minutes each session (4 sessions in total).
Location: Via Zoom
Cost: Free
Space is limited and capped at 15 participants per course. Commitment to the full 4-sessions is encouraged.
Contact us to discuss programming options, or if you have any questions.
What is Mindfulness?
Practicing meditation allows us to live more mindfully.
Mindfulness is paying attention with an attitude of curiosity to whatever we’re doing in the moment. It is a non-judgemental awareness that uses all our senses and can be done anytime and anywhere – drinking our coffee, doing the dishes or even brushing our teeth.
Mindfulness is learning to inhabit the moment exactly as it is and to see things as they are, without trying to control it.
Mindfulness can help us develop the internal conditions (thoughts, feelings, sensations) that lead to long-term happiness/contentment so that we’re not so vulnerable to the constantly changing external conditions of our life experiences.
Meditation is one of the ways we learn to be mindful. It is an exercise or technique that helps build our mindfulness muscle.
It’s when we set our intention to spend a period of time bringing our attention back, over and over again to an anchor or object of meditation (such as our breath). There are many ways you can meditate – such as a seated guided meditation, a visualization meditation, a walking meditation or an eating meditation.
Meditation has been shown to reduce anxiety and help improve our sleep and well-being.
Mac Mindfulness Team
Cara-Jane Dempsey
Sessions are facilitated by Cara-Jane Dempsey. Cara-Jane works with the Deputy Provost in the Office of the Provost and is responsible for the development and implementation of faculty leadership & development programs and initiatives. Cara-Jane is a certified Koru Mindfulness Teacher and runs Mindfulness classes for community groups and McMaster faculty, staff and students.
Mindfulness Research
Register
Current Programs & Sessions Being Offered
Discover the power of mindfulness with this 4-session program. Uncover a calmer, more compassionate you as you learn evidence-based stress management strategies. Register below to embark on a journey of self-discovery and personal growth.
Mac Mindfulness for New Faculty – Sessions in August, 2023
Dates (2 sessions per week):
Monday, August 21st
Thursday, August 24th
Monday, August 28th
Thursday, August 31st
Time: 11:45 am – 1 pm
Location: Via Zoom
Cost: Free
These sessions are open to faculty who are new in their roles (appointments starting in July 2021 or later).
Space is limited and capped at 15 participants. Commitment to all four sessions is encouraged. Register here
If you have any questions, please contact:
Cara-Jane Dempsey, Mac Mindfulness Coach
Faculty Leadership & Development | Office of the Provost