Mindfulness

HSMC’s Department of Psychology brings you an introduction to mind-body health and wellbeing through a short, taster course on mindfulness practices and meditation skills.

It is a natural capacity we all have to pay attention without judgment to the present moment. Regular meditation practices help us learn skills to consistently bring attention to our moment-by-moment experience, while holding attitudes of interest and curiosity, openness, acceptance and kindness. In doing so, we strengthen our ability to recognize mind wandering and automatic patterns of reactivity, and increase our capacity to choose more skillful responses to the stresses of daily life.

Introduction to Mindfulness: Practical Skills for Enhanced Focus, Perspective, and Wise Mind Responding
- 1 hour
- 3 weeks
- 5:00 – 6:00 pm
Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World
- 90 minutes
- 8 weeks
- 4:00 – 5:30 pm

In this 3-week taster program, each one-hour session explores a core theme:

Understanding the mind’s natural tendency to be scattered and to wander; how we can train attention to create choices about where and how we place attention, and how this can fundamentally shape our experience.
Exploring different ways of being and knowing; recognizing how much of our experience is shaped by thought; that other more experiential and observing modes are also available to us, and how we can learn to use them to help us flourish over time.
Recognizing the difference between reacting and responding; developing ways to create the space to make choices between them, and exploring how this understanding can shape our experience and the quality of our lives.

Sessions are group-based, and involve a combination of teaching, experiential mindfulness practices, discussion, and trying out what is learned in everyday life. Each session builds on learning and experience from the previous session.

3 Consecutive Weeks: 13th, 20th and 27th February, 2025.
Class Timings: Thursdays from 5-6 PM. Class will start promptly on time.
Class Size: Limited Seats.
Location and Facilities: HSMC Auditorium, Villa A30, Marina Village, Abu Dhabi.
Course Cost: 500 AED

A structured course in mindfulness skills for daily life brought to you by a trained and experienced teacher providing an engaging and practical introduction to mindfulness practices and meditation skills. This course is based on the bestselling book, “Finding Peace in a Frantic World” by Professor Mark Williams and Dr. Danny Penman.

This 8-week program has been designed for adults from a wide range of backgrounds, specifically for those new to mindfulness, interested in a refresher course, or short on time. It asks for a lower time investment and less intensive home practice than the Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) course from which it was developed, while maintaining core concepts and practices to support your development of mindfulness skills to improve your well-being and resilience to stress.

How to recognize mind-wandering and going into “autopilot”, and how to bring attention back to where we want it to be – with interest, patience, and care.
How to recognize our patterns of reactivity and what keeps us stuck.
How to bring a sense of care and kindness to ourselves in those moments of reactivity.
Using mindfulness to respond skillfully to distress, in contrast to reacting, in ways that support our wellbeing.

8 Consecutive Weeks: March 6th to May 1st, 2025 (break on April 3rd for Eid Al Fitr)
Class Timings: Thursdays from 4:00 – 5:30 PM. Class will start promptly on time.
Class Size: Limited Seats.
Location and Facilities: HSMC Auditorium, Villa A30, Marina Village, Abu Dhabi.
Course Cost: 1500 AED