Mindfulness meditation training
The Professional Development Project of the Faculty of Law, UCT, is pleased to present an eight-week mindfulness training programme for lawyers, negotiators and mediators on 29 July to 16 September 2015 - Eight two-hour sessions every Wednesday from 6pm to 8pm. Limited to 30 delegates.The aim of the course is to keep the SA legal profession abreast of international developments of mindfulness in legal training.
About the course
Neuroscience has uncovered how mindfulness meditation transforms not only the behavior, but also the structure and function, of the brain after an eight-week training program. Mindfulness practice is associated with changes of specific brain areas that are essential for attention, learning and regulation of emotion. Harvard neuroscientist Sara Lazar found that enlarged areas of the pre-frontal cortex, the area of the brain that is linked to happiness and higher executive functioning, are activated by mindfulness meditation.
Benefits of mindfulness meditation, namely increased calm, decreased stress and increased attention, have been traced to actual neural changes in the brain. For more information on this field, see De Rebus, August 2013.
Mindfulness is now taught in over 30 US Law Schools. Mindfulness is a process of gaining self-awareness, enabling us to understand ourselves and thereby develop empathy and understanding of others. Mindfulness meditation also improves emotional intelligence through developing self-awareness, self-regulation and empathy.
Who will benefit from this course?
This course will benefit anyone wanting to cultivate stability, clarity and focus, and reduce the inner stresses of working in the legal profession.
It is, in essence, training in the science of mind, looking at how the mind works, how we focus and concentrate and how we deal with our own inner-conflicts of stress, anxiety and difficult emotions.
It develops our capacity to stabilise the mind, remaining calm under pressure, thereby impacting on our emotional stability and levels of contentment. In this way, it dramatically reduces inner stress and is now recommended by the World Health Organisation as the foremost treatment for stress and depression. It also impacts our cognitive function and effectiveness with increased concentration, memory, focus and learning skills.
Course outline
At the end of the eight-week course you will have covered, and have a good understanding of, the following:
Week 1 - Introduction to mindfulness and neuroscience
Week 2 - The body as a place to stay present
Week 3 - Introducing mindfulness support
Week 4 - Working with our distraction
Week 5 - Exploring the undercurrent of thoughts
Week 6 - Working with the observer and cultivating an attitude of self acceptance
Week 7 - Our brains' emotional regulatory systems and compassion training
Week 8 - A mindfulness-based life
Course presenter
Jenny Canau, BA (Wits) LLB (Wits) LLM (RAU), is a qualified attorney, having worked at Webber Wentzel Bowens (1994/95) and Ismail Ayob Attorneys (1996). She specialised in the area of Human Rights Law and she was appointed as lecturer at RAU in 1998, and at UCT in 1999/2000. She is currently a Director of Mindfulness Africa, an association of mindfulness practitioners founded and developed by international meditation teacher Rob Nairn (former Professor of Criminology at UCT). They are currently developing mindfulness training for aspirant judges and magistrates with the South African Judicial Education Institute (SAJEI).
Registration details
Programme and venue information:
Signing in for the course will be at 5.30pm on Wednesday, 29 July 2015, unless otherwise advised.
Thereafter, each session will start at 6pm and end at approximately 8pm. Instructions regarding the programme and directions to the venue will be sent to you electronically a week prior to the start of the course.
Award of certificate:
A certificate of attendance from UCT will be awarded to those who attend all eight sessions of the course.
Closing date for registration:
One week prior to the course.
Registration and enquiries:
Please contact the Professional Development Project:
Paula Allen on 021 650 5558
Andrea Blaauw on 021 650 5413
Fax: 021 650 5513
Email: az.ca.tcu@nella.aluap/az.ca.tcu@wuaalb.aerdna/az.ca.tcu@llafressaw.aneri
OR visit our website: www.lawatwork.uct.ac.za to download the registration form.
Time: 08:00 - 20:00
Venue: Cape Town
Cost: R5,000 per delegate. The fee includes parking and course materials.
More info:
Instructions regarding the programme and directions to the venue will be sent to you electronically a week prior to the start of the course.