UCLA - Mindful Awareness Practices I

MAPs I for Daily Living

The MAPs I course is an excellent introduction to mindfulness for beginners. MAPs I provides insight into the basics of mindfulness, how to develop a mindfulness meditation practice, and how mindfulness can be applied in daily life. It is also appropriate for experienced practitioners who wish to revitalize their practice.

MAPs I Overview

MAPs classes meets weekly for two hours per week for six weeks. Students are encouraged to complete some daily meditation practice starting at five minutes a day and working up to 20 minutes daily by the end of the course.

There is a free app "UCLA Mindful" with guided meditations.

Students will learn Mindful concepts that include:

• Overview of Mindfulness
• Mindfulness of the Body
• Obstacles to Mindfulness
• Mindfulness to help with Physical Pain
• Working with Difficult Emotions
• Cultivating Positive Emotions
• Working with Difficult Thoughts
• Mindful Interactions

Students will also learn a variety of mindfulness practices so that the student can discover which practice is useful to them. Practices taught include:

• Sitting meditation
• Eating meditation
• Daily life meditations
• Relational mindfulness
• Walking meditation
• Standing meditation
• Movement meditation
• Practices to develop positive emotions

Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs I)  Course Objectives:

1. To expose participants to a basic mindful awareness practices and allow for a first-hand experience with them. These basic self-care techniques can teach practitioners to reduce stress, regulate attention and emotions, reduce reactivity, and cultivate healthier dyadic relationships. The foundation of using mindfulness in a client-based system is one's own personal practice. MAPs addresses this need.

2. To provide an overview of principles needed to establish mindfulness practice at home and in daily life and problem-solve difficulties in maintaining regular practice. Once participants learn the principles of mindfulness, they will then find ways to incorporate into their lives techniques and practices, which help reduce stress and create a greater sense of well-being. This is crucial for care-providers so that they are equipped to deal with the stresses of their client base.

3. To provide practical tools for incorporating mindful awareness into one’s professional activities. Since mindfulness is shown to be so effective in reducing stress and increasing emotional regulation, the simple tools taught in MAPs classes can easily be implemented with clients in both health care and psychotherapeutic contexts. When the participant finishes their MAPs program, they will have the basics for continuing with their own practice and sharing their knowledge and experience on a basic level with clients and patients.

4. To introduce the science of mindfulness: research on its health benefits; research on its impact for learning and self-regulation; research on its impact in education. Each participant will receive knowledge of the science of mindfulness and in particular, how it can be helpful in both clinical and health settings. Many research studies compare and contrast mindfulness based programs, such as the use of traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) v. Mindfulness Based-CBT. MB-CBT is shown to be more effective. As the participant learns the science behind this, they can make choices of how to incorporate such knowledge into their client dealings.

5. The class meets once a week for 2 hours each week for 6 weeks (6 classes).