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A mindful exploration of our many relationships in the world
Center for Courageous Living is committed to promoting the inherent goodness of individuals and groups by uncovering their basic health and well-being.
These qualities are revealed through a mindful exploration of our many relationships in the world: to self, to individuals, and to community. Through this exploration natural wisdom arises which guides one to an awareness of the myriad ways of participating in a healthy, sane, and caring society.
ABOUT
Janet Solyntjes, MA, is a Certified Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher offering courses in Colorado since 2000 and has been leading mindfulness meditation retreats in the US and internationally for over 25 years.
Janet supports mindfulness practitioners and teachers-in-training through online study groups and individual mentoring as well as silent retreats. She has served on the faculty of Naropa University, the Center for Mindfulness, the Engaged Mindfulness Institute, and Mindful Leader.
Janet is on the faculty of the annual Leading with Genuine Care leadership retreat for entrepreneurs and supports business leaders and teams in the integration of mindfulness into business settings.
Contact Janet janet@nullthecenterforcourageousliving.com or (303) 415-2766, ext. 1
Jeff Price, MA, LPC, LAC, CGP, is a graduate of the Naropa University Contemplative Psychotherapy program and has been in private practice for over twenty-five years. Jeff specializes in group work, particularly with substance abusers.
Jeff served as an Adjunct Faculty member at Naropa University for many years, is a Fellow of the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA), and Past-President of the Colorado Group Psychotherapy Society.
Contact Jeff jeff@nullthecenterforcourageousliving.com or (303) 415-2766, ext. 2
MINDFULNESS
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) began in 1979 as the Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. The program was featured in the Bill Moyer’s PBS documentary Healing and the Mind and is the subject of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s best selling book, Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of the Body and Mind to Face Stress.
“if you’re breathing there is more right about you than there is wrong, no matter how ill or how hopeless you feel” (Kabat-Zinn)
During times of transition, personal loss, intense emotional or physical pain, or any of the numerous circumstances that send our life out of balance, it can be helpful to have support on the journey towards greater calm and a deeper sense of well-being.
MBSR has been shown to:
– reduce depression and anxiety
– increase focus and mental clarity
– enhance and improve personal health
– improve communication with others
– calm the wildness of the “monkey mind”
– foster courage in difficult situations
– bring unconditional joy to daily life
The MBSR foundation course includes 8 weekly sessions and a one-day silent retreat. Various mindfulness tools are learned and practiced in a group context with an emphasis on personal journey.
Please see specific Courses and Retreats for more information.
WATCH: What is Mindfulness?
An overview of what Mindfulness is – including its history, rationale and scientific benefits – from the founders at the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts, US
Mindfulness Communities
From the earliest times of great explorers of the mind to the present day mindfulness movement, the support of spending time with other mindfulness practitioners has been considered a jewel which ornaments our personal path. Friendship and community based on a shared mindfulness practice is analogous to a string of pearls. Each pearl, having been shaped by the natural irritant of life’s stresses and challenges, glistens with natural beauty. The thread that connects us is the heart’s joy and tenderness about human existence.
As humans we rely on communities. For the mindfulness practitioner who has completed a course or attended a retreat, the question of how and where to make a connection to a community of other practitioners commonly arises.
The Center for Courageous Living offers several ways to gather in community ~
Wisdom Circles are groups of 6-8 people who commit to a minimum of one 5-session series that includes guided meditation, personal sharing, facilitated discussion (often based on a book), and teachings. In general, these groups continue over the course of a year and can extend to a multi-year community.
Weekly Sangha* meets for an hour on one morning or evening and runs from September – June. The format is simple and includes a guided meditation, short wisdom talk, and community discussion. A minimum of one-month commitment is required.
*The word “sangha” refers to a community of spiritual practitioners. No need to be affiliated with any particular tradition!
See Courses and Retreats for upcoming offerings!
Mindfulness Coaching
MB-Well is a 1:1 session of mentoring and coaching using the tools of MBSR as the inspiration and foundation for dialogue and guidance. MB-Well sessions can help you tap into inner resources that allow for a genuine, artful and fearless approach to life.
The MB-Well journey can be limited to a single session or can be ongoing.
In-person in Broomfield, CO or online with Zoom.
Cost: $150 per session / $400 for a 3-session series
(all sessions are an hour in length – sliding scale available)
COURSES AND RETREATS
2021 OFFERINGS:
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
with Janet Solyntjes, MA, Certified MBSR Teacher
SHYFT at Mile High
Wednesdays, 6-8:30 p.m.
September 15 – November 3
Silent Retreat Day: Saturday, October 23
For more information and to register: SHYFT
Retreats
Shambhala Mountain Center
5-day Meditation Retreat: Sitting in Beauty
with Janet Solyntjes
August 10-15, 2021 (In-person)
More information and to register: SMC
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Intro to MBSR weekend
October 1-3, 2021
More information coming soon!
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Leading with Genuine Care Retreat
October 3-7, 2021 (In-person)
For more information and to register: LEADERSHIP RETREAT
7-day Silent Mindfulness Meditation Retreat
with Janet Solyntjes and Jon Aaron
December 10-17, 2021
More information coming soon!
PSYCHOTHERAPY
Individual, Couples and Group
Contemplative psychotherapy is based on the belief that as a person grows, he or she will grow towards health and compassion. The mode is talk therapy that uses the “here-and-now” experience to gain greater awareness of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Encouraging spontaneity with liberal doses of humor, the client and therapist together explore obstacles and hindrances to good health.
Couples can work at varying times with each other and individually depending on the issues being dealt with and the inclinations of the participants. Since the relationship is composed of two individuals, each with his or her own set of needs and skills, the health and well-being of the individuals takes precedence over the relationship itself. When this takes place in a group setting, the relationships in the group provide a more social context for further indicators of one’s personal unconscious patterns, as a group more closely resembles a person’s most common interactions in life outside the therapy room.
The dynamics of group process serve to highlight possible habits and ways of relating that one may be unaware of. It takes great willingness and courage to immerse oneself in a group process that is a lot more public than one would find in individual sessions. Typically, individuals, couples and groups meet once a week, but other schedules can be arranged.
Please contact Jeff with questions you have or to schedule your initial session.
(include photo of Jeff)
Addiction Counseling
Addiction Counseling is offered through the Center for Courageous Living for those wishing to explore their relationship to habitual and problematic behaviors or ways of thinking and relating. We also are aware that addictions are a family matter and therefore also serve family members whose lives are affected by addiction. Addiction counseling is not limited to alcohol abuse, alcoholism or the many forms of substance abuse (including nicotine and prescription drug abuse).
It could also mean looking at troubling relationships to food, work, relationships, sex, love, gambling, the internet, or a wide variety of other habitual behaviors that might be having a negative impact on one’s well-being. Recovery from abuse and addictions takes great fortitude, stamina, focus, support and patience. Two things that we pay close attention to in Addiction Counseling are denial and relapse. “Denial” is a well-known obstacle to working with abuse or addictions. Denial is a process, typically unconscious, that is honed over time into an effective way of fending off threats to the addiction, allowing it to continue on its progressively ruinous path.
“Relapse” is also a process, also typically unconscious, that takes place during a period of abstinence. It can happen very quickly or over a long period of time, but the end result is a “picking up” of the addictive substance or behavior. Both denial and relapse are inherent parts of the addictive cycle that can be expected to arise as issues in a person’s recovery.
If you have recently gotten involved with the legal system for an alcohol-related event, you can connect with Jeff at the Boulder Alcohol Education Center (www.boulderalcohol.com) in Boulder, Colorado He does contract work at BAEC where he leads court-ordered groups as well as individual sessions.
Please contact Jeff with questions or to schedule an individual session. He can be reached via email or at (303) 817-7565.
Clinical Supervision
Jeff offers clinical supervision to practicing therapists who are already licensed or who need supervision hours for licensure (LPC and LAC). This supervision can take place in a group (twice a month) and/or individual sessions (twice a month or as needed). Various forms of virtual meetings are available for these sessions.
Please contact Jeff with questions or to schedule an individual session. He can be reached via email or at (303) 817-7565.
WORKPLACE WELLNESS
Mindful Work Environments
Mindfulness and Awareness
Through the discipline of mindfulness one grows more familiar with one’s mind, the messages of the body, and the effects of one’s behavior. Reactive patterns of thought, speech and behavior yield to the vibrancy and freshness of the present-moment. With greater awareness and confidence in entering unknown territory, the release of habitual patterns reduces personal stress and allows the workplace environment to become dynamic and creative.
Intensive training in mindfulness and awareness cultivates mental clarity, stability, resiliency, flexibility, creativity, strength and intuition within individuals, teams, and within the organization as a whole. Inner qualities of courage, curiosity, empathy, wisdom and sense of humor bring greater joy and satisfaction in life.
Mindful Work Environments offerings can be designed to suit the needs of a variety of workplace settings. The full course is an eight-session training program in Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction with a special focus on developing confidence and communication skills. Participants will learn a variety of mindfulness tools including the sitting and walking meditation and mindful yoga. Further exploration of mindfulness and its application to daily life is encouraged between sessions.
See our menu for a variety of offerings and fees:
Mindful Work Environments MENU
Potential Benefits
Workplace stress-reduction programs have been researched extensively. Stress-reduction programs have been shown to cut down on absenteeism and accidents, improve job performance, and alleviate stress-related problems such as insomnia, depression, and high blood pressure.
See also:
MBSR Study – Alterations in Brain and Immune System
MBSR for the Changing Work Environment
Mindfulness in the Workplace research (multiple articles)
Six Proven Benefits of Mindfulness in the Workplace
Past Clients
Mind and Life Institute
VisiTech PR
Stonebridge Companies
Faith Lutheran
HOPE Longmont
Family Worker Training + Development Programme Inc
City of Aurora Police Department
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Naropa University
YPO Forum
Boettcher Foundation
ADA-ES
The Zayo Group
Convercent
Pinnacol Assurance
Sovrn
Peer Assistance Services
Neon, Inc.
Rose Medical Center
University of Colorado, College of Nursing
Denver Children’s Advocacy Center
Alaya Preschool
Saint Joseph Hospital Family Medicine Residency
Four Corners School of Outdoor Education
Bright Horizons
Montessori Education Center of the Rockies
Impact Forum Leadership
UC Health
LC Real Estate Group
Adams 12 County School Counselors
Children’s Hospital
Colorado Department of Human Services
Seattle Genetics
JumpCloud
Noble Business Solutions
Mastermind
BLOG
I would like to upload articles from past monthly newsletters. Can we also have a “newsletter sign-up” link?
LISTEN
Here is a link to my guided meditations on Dropbox.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qfy800y0h0fegox/AAD_qIcH2tEXO_I3VokZXfNAa?dl=0