Path of Freedom
Course Syllabus

Intro to the Path of FreedomTM
Course Syllabus
* For the intro online course, two modules are covered each week.
 

Session One: Training the Mind

Learning Goals

• Increased self-awareness & witnessing capacity

• Increases attention control and stabilization

• Increased proficiency in mindfulness meditation practices

• ­Increased capacity for self-management

 

Objectives

• Answer the question:  Why practice mindfulness meditation?  Clarify the potential benefits of mindfulness and meditation practice.

• Demystify and universalize mindfulness and meditation as secular methodologies and practices for training the mind and improving life outcomes.

• Introduce participants to the practice and techniques of mindfulness meditation and familiarize them with the cognitive-behavioral patterns of thoughts, attitudes, feelings, emotions, impulses, values, behaviors, impact and consequences.

• Introduce various meditative techniques as resources.

 

Session Two: Who Am I?

 

Objectives:

• Introduce participants to the power of self-identity, roles and core beliefs.

• Facilitate identifying and transforming negative or limiting core beliefs.

• Introduce basic okay-ness (basic goodness) as a positive core belief.

 

Learning Goals

• Increased self-awareness

• Increased capacity for self-management & self-acceptance

• Increased openness to multiple perspectives and ability to hold ambiguity
   

Session Three: Changing Habits

Objectives

 

• Clarifying motivations for change and envisioning positive change in one’s life

• Understanding change from Inside-Out, based on cultivating positive core beliefs

• Understanding Change from Outside-In, based on practicing mindfulness and new behaviors

• Recognizing obstacles to change and reframing obstacles as opportunities for transformation

• Understanding the role of mindfulness and awareness in motivating and creating change

 

 

Learning Goals

• Increased skills and capacity in mindfulness practice and applying mindfulness to daily activities

• Increased skills and capacity for self-awareness and self-management

• Increased confidence in one’s own and others basic goodness (basic okay-ness)

• Increased ability to recognize and act on the “moment of freedom” between impulses and behaviors

• Increased confidence in the ability to change habits & conditioning through exercising conscious choices
   

Session Four: Holding Your Seat

Objectives:

• Familiarize participants with basic feelings & emotional states.

• Familiarize participants with the concept of emotional triggers.

• Introduce the idea of “holding your seat” (resilience) in meditation and daily living.

• Introduce methods for downregulating and state-shifting when emotionally triggered.

• Introduce new meditative techniques to support state shifting and emotion regulation.

 

Learning Goals:

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• Increased self-awareness and witnessing capacity

• Increased capacity for self-management

• Increased proficiency in mindfulness meditation practices

• Increased resiliency and capacity for emotion regulation.

Session Five: Transforming Pain & Anxiety

Objectives:

­       

• Introduce mindfulness as a tool for working with pain

• Introduce types of pain: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual

• Introduce the distinction between pain and suffering.

• Introduce meditations for working with pain

 

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Learning Goals:

• Increased self-awareness and capacity for self-management

• Increased capacity for managing and/or transforming pain

• Increased capacity for creatively dealing with challenges

 

Session Six: Drama Triangle

Objectives:

• Introduce Karpman’s Drama Triangle[1]: Victim, Persecutor and Rescuer.

• Introduce skills for getting off the Drama Triangle and out of the victim cycle.

• Introduce strategies for staying off the Drama Triangle.

• Continue building mindfulness skills.

 

Learning Goals:

• Increased self-awareness and capacity for self-management.

• Increased social awareness and capacity for relationship management

• Increased awareness of participation in negative dramas.

• Increased awareness of “victim thinking.”

• Increased capacity for drama-free problem-solving & conflict management.

Session Seven: Empowerment

Objectives:

• ­Introduce the Empowerment Triangle: Creative, Challenger & Coach

• Explore the nature of self-empowerment: power vs. powerlessness and power with vs. power over or power under

• Review 12 Choices of an Empowered Person.

• Reinforce the Power of Choice.

 

  Learning Goals:

• Increased social awareness and capacity for relationship management

• Increased capacity for drama-free problem-solving

• Increased self-empowerment and appreciation for healthy use of personal power

Session Eight: The Art of Communication

Objectives:

 

•  ­Introduce the importance of listening

•  Introduce the skill of identifying feeling states

•  Introduce the distinction between thoughts and feelings

•  Introduce the skill of identifying needs

•  Introduce the distinction between needs and strategies

•  Introduce the skill of empathic listening

 

Learning Goals:

 

• Increased social awareness and capacity for relationship management

•  Increased ability to deeply listen beyond storylines

• Increased literacy with feelings and needs

•  Increased capacity for self-empathy and empathic connection with others

 

Session Nine: Transforming Conflict 

Objectives

• Introduce somatic awareness of conflict cues (in the body) through mindfulness and awareness

• Introduce mindfulness and somatic awareness as means for diffusing conflict

• Introduce the Ladder of Inference as a framework for understanding and resolving or transforming conflict

• Introduce the Four Agreements as a prescriptive practice for avoiding unnecessary conflict and drama

• Introduce the “Compassion Meditation” to build empathy skills.

• Summarize skills introduced thus far in the program which support effective conflict management

 

Learning Goals

 

• Increased social awareness and capacity for relationship management

• Increased ability to manage, resolve and/or transform conflicts

• Increased empathy and compassion for others

 

 

 

Session Ten: The Power of Forgiveness

Objectives:

­       

• Introduce the power of forgiving oneself and others as a means for letting go and moving forward in life.

• Introduce obstacles to forgiveness: blame game, grievance stories, and unenforceable rules.

• Introduce the skill of reframing.

• Reinforce the development of positive intentions.

• Introduce meditations for working with forgiveness.

­       

Learning Goals:

 

• Increased social awareness and capacity for relationship management

• Increased ability to choose forgiveness over resentment and blame

• Increased empathy and capacity for forgiveness

 

Conclusion: Mindful Living

 

 

 

Specific Learning Outcomes for Path of Freedom

Participants will be able to:

1) Practice basic mindfulness meditation and integrate mindfulness into your work with clients, in the form of increased capacity for presence, focus, listening, insight, and compassion.

2) Develop more understanding of how mindfulness-based skills and practices support self-regulation and stress management.

3) Identify negative habits and limiting core beliefs that hinder positive change.

4) Develop an understanding about a) emotional literacy, b) how to identify and avoid emotional triggers, c) methods for emotion regulation.

5) Understand Karpman’s Drama Triangle (Victim, Persecutor, and Rescuer) and strategies for staying off the Drama Triangle and preventing and managing negative drama.

6) Comprehend how mindfulness and somatic awareness can be used as a means for avoiding and/or diffusing conflict.

7) Understand the transformative power of listening in relationships, and learn simple tools for skillful and empathic communication.

8) Define obstacles to forgiveness — blame, grievance stories, unrealistic expectations — and realize the value of letting go past grievances.

9) Comprehend strategies for integrating mindfulness into daily life activities.

 

 

Contact us for more information on training in the POF methodology.