Responding with Compassion Online 2026-2027
Responding with Compassion
“The practices given are lifelong tools which everyone should be aware of”
This course is a follow on from the Being Present In-depth Mindfulness training and starts with building self-compassion into basic mindfulness practice. Through compassionate imagery and mindful self-compassion, we cultivate positive emotions as a way of building up an inner resource; from which we can approach the difficulties that are part and parcel of being alive.
We then approach the self-critic: that persistent inner voice that is harsh and condemning, and always finding fault in what we do. What it would be like to cultivate an inner voice that is kind and supportive, and to live life from this place, rather than from a place of destructive self-criticism?
In the course of the journey we move from self-compassion towards compassion for others. Exploring practices which help us find balance and perspective beyond our narrow preferences.
Generating love and friendliness to our inner and outer worlds, responding appropriately to pain and suffering while also appreciating the good things in our lives, integrating compassion into all that we do. As there is a strong emphasis on the experiential nature of the course, there are home practice suggestions between the sessions that include regular compassion practice and daily life exercises.
This course takes place over three parts, with four 2.5 hour sessions in each part. Each session is on a Tuesday evening, once every two weeks. It aims to enable participants to develop their mindfulness practice by training in compassion.
The course is themed over three parts:
1-Self Compassion: In the first module, we build self-compassion into the core mindfulness practice of settling, grounding, resting and support. We contextualise this practice within the evolutionary model of compassion, that is grounded in neuroscience and psychology.
A key insight here is that we are caught in an ‘evolutionary set up’ that is not of our choosing and not our fault. We link this insight to the Mahayana Buddhist metaphor of the ‘lotus in the mud’: how true compassion grows out of the mud of our lives (the disowned, disliked and difficult parts of ourselves).
We then begin to cultivate positive emotions as a way of building up an inner resource from which to approach the difficulties that are part and parcel of being alive. We explore building our inner compassionate resource through compassionate imagery and mindful self-compassion practice.
2-Compassion for Others: In the second module, we approach the self-critic: that persistent inner voice that is harsh and condemning, and always finding fault in what we do.
First, we experience what it feels like to be on the receiving end of its repeated attacks, and then we look behind the critic to what is driving it; and in this way we begin to develop compassion for this part of ourselves. This raises the question – what would it be like to cultivate an inner voice that is kindand supportive, and to live your life from this place, rather than from a placeof destructive self- criticism?
This is thepoint where we move from self-compassion towards compassion for others. Although, self-compassion always remains as the foundation of our practice because this is what makes our practice real and allows us to understand what others go through.
In this module we begin an exploration of the four limitless qualities of equanimity, love, compassion and joy. They bring a sense of balance and perspective to our practice of compassion by helping us step outside our narrow preferences, by generating love and friendliness to our inner and outer worlds, by responding appropriately to pain and suffering, while also appreciating the good things in our lives. We will also introduce tonglen, the practice of taking and sending, through which we actively engage with and transform the suffering we encounter in our lives.
3-Compassion in Action: It is not enough to learn about compassion ordo compassion practices – the crucial thing is how to embody compassion in the way we live, work and relate.
In this module, we look at how to work skilfully with the blocks to compassion and we explore how to integrate compassion into all that we do. We also bring the threads together from the previous two modules and provide an opportunity for deepening practice supported by individual practice reviews with the tutors, during which we support each participant in their next steps after the training.
“I feel this is a journey and not an end point – the learning is so rich and experiential”
All sessions are online.
***Participants must have completed the Being Present training.
Dates:
Part 1:
Tuesday 1st September 2026 - 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 15th September 2026 - 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 29th September 2026- 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 13th October 2026 - 7pm-9.30pm
Part 2:
Tuesday 27th October 2026- 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 10th November 2026 - 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 24th November 2026 - 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 8th December 2026 - 7pm-9.30pm
Part 3:
Tuesday 12th January 2027 - 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 26th January 2027 - 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 9th February 2027 - 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 23rd February 2027 - 7pm-9.30pm
