Well done on completing the 8-Week Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Course.
During the course, you set aside intentional time each week to practice mindfulness, explore patterns of thinking and reactivity, and learn new ways of relating to stress, emotions, and difficult thoughts. After the course ends, many people discover that continuing the practice on their own can feel meaningful as well as challenging.
Life becomes busy again. Old habits return. Stress, anxiety, self-criticism, and emotional reactivity can reappear, especially during difficult periods. This is not a sign that the practice isn’t working or that you are not good at it. Rather, this is part of being human.
Mindfulness is not about achieving a permanent state of calm or never struggling again. It is about learning how to notice what is happening in the present moment and relating to your experience with greater awareness, freedom, curiosity, and compassion. Essentially, the practice is about being in an ongoing relationship with awareness itself.
For many participants, ongoing support, community, and periodic reconnection with the MBCT practices help mindfulness become more integrated into daily life. Whether your formal meditation practice feels strong, inconsistent, or difficult to access right now, you are always welcome to return.
Monthly MBCT & Mindfulness Drop-In Group
One of the most supportive ways to stay connected to your practice is through practicing in community.
Our monthly MBCT & Mindfulness Drop-In Group offers an opportunity to connect with mindfulness in a familiar and welcoming environment. Each session includes guided meditation, reflection, and discussion grounded in the principles of MBCT and mindfulness practice.
Many participants find that returning to practice with others helps normalize the natural ebb and flow of mindfulness. Connecting honestly about stress, distraction, emotional reactivity, or self-judgment often brings relief and a reminder that you are not alone.
The drop-in group can also serve as a steady touchpoint during stressful periods or life transitions. Rather than waiting until things feel overwhelming, regular practice and community support can help strengthen awareness, nervous system regulation, and self-compassion.
Some people attend monthly, while others return periodically when they feel the need for support or reconnection. Both are welcome.
Repeating the Online 8-Week MBCT Course
Many past participants choose to take the 8-Week MBCT Course a second time and often discover that the experience feels very different when revisiting the material at a new stage of life.
During the first time through the course attention is often focused on learning the structure and foundations of mindfulness practice while becoming aware of your patterns of thinking, reacting, and relating to life’s difficulties. Returning to the course offers an opportunity to deepen the practices and notice subtler layers of experience.
Participants share that concepts and practices they only partially understood during the first course begin to feel more embodied and accessible the second time around. Practices that once felt difficult may expand with familiarity, patience, and repetition.
Repeating the course can also help strengthen consistency, especially if your mindfulness practice feels difficult to access and/or when life circumstances feel particularly stressful or emotionally demanding.
As a way of supporting continued practice, I offer a 10% discount for returning MBCT participants who choose to retake the 8-Week Online MBCT Course.
Staying Connected Through Everyday Practice
Formal meditation practice is important, but mindfulness really lives in our everyday life moments.
After completing the MBCT Course, many people discover that some of the most meaningful shifts happen when they notice tension in the body before it escalates, recognize self-critical thinking more quickly, pause before reacting, or remember to return attention to the breath during stressful moments.
Mindfulness can continue to be supported through small, consistent practices woven throughout the day.
These might include:
pausing before responding in difficult conversations
noticing physical sensations while walking, eating, or driving
reconnecting with the breath during moments of stress
practicing self-compassion when difficult emotions arise
becoming aware of thoughts without immediately believing or following them
slowing down enough to notice what is happening internally
There may be periods when formal meditation feels nourishing and periods when even a few mindful breaths feel like enough. MBCT encourages flexibility, curiosity, and kindness toward our ever-changing experiences rather than expectations about what practice “should” look like.
Again and again, mindfulness invites us to begin where we are.
Staying Connected Through the Newsletter
Another way to remain connected to mindfulness practice is through my newsletter.
Each month, I share reflections, mindfulness practices, seasonal themes, blog posts, course updates, and invitations connected to MBCT, Buddhist psychology, and everyday mindfulness.
The free newsletter is intended to offer gentle encouragement and meaningful reminders that can help bring mindfulness back into awareness during daily life. Many readers appreciate having these monthly touchpoints that reconnect them to the practices and perspectives explored during the course.
You’ll also receive updates about upcoming MBCT courses, monthly drop-in groups, workshops, and other mindfulness offerings.
Subscribe to the newsletter, Grow Your Inner Wisdom…in the midst of it all…
Sharing MBCT With Others
If the course has been meaningful or supportive in your own life, you may know someone else who could also benefit from the work.
Many people first discover MBCT through a recommendation from a friend, family member, therapist, colleague, or past participant.
If someone in your life is struggling with stress, anxiety, overwhelm, low mood, emotional reactivity, or difficult life transitions, please share information about the 8-Week MBCT Course with them.
Staying Connected to Practice Over Time
A mindfulness practice often develops gradually, through small moments of awareness, repeated over time. As Jon Kabat-Zinn reminds us, mindfulness is about paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, with an attitude of openness and curiosity.
Please remember that whether you would like to join the monthly drop-in group, repeat the eight-week course, stay connected through the newsletter, or simply return to mindfulness in small ways throughout daily life, you are always welcome here.
Wishing you all the best as you return, again and again, to awareness in daily life…in the midst of it all.