Mindful HEART: Healing and Embodied Awareness to Recover from Trauma
Online Class
5-week online course
Discover a compassionate path to healing and resilience from wherever you are.
Trauma can affect us in many ways—physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially. In this program, you’ll develop practical strategies to navigate your body’s responses, such as fight, flight, freeze, or fawn.
Mindful HEART is a 5-week experiential program offered online to support individuals in the recovery stage of trauma. Through mindfulness, somatic practices, and group connection, participants will explore approaches to understand and regulate their body’s traumatic stress, process emotions, and restore a sense of ease, trust, and connection.
We’ll explore ways to process grief, cultivate self-compassion, and build resilience through mindfulness, gentle movement, and group connection. This is a supportive and non-judgmental space where you can learn at your own pace and comfort level. Our approach draws from modern research in psychology and neuroscience and traditional healing practices to provide a holistic path to recovery.
In this program, you’ll explore themes and practices designed to support healing, including:
- Understanding and soothing your body’s response to stress.
- Finding a balance between activation and sense of calm/regulation.
- Processing grief and the emotional impacts of trauma with compassion.
- Cultivating a sense of safety, ease, and pleasure.
Practices include mindfulness-based approaches for self-awareness, somatic strategies to regulate the nervous system, gentle movement and meditation, and techniques for navigating sensations, emotions, and thoughts with kindness.
Course Details
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This program is for anyone who:
• Is in the recovery stage of trauma and ready to explore mindfulness and somatic/body-based practices.
• Has experienced physical or emotional trauma, such as accidents, chronic illness, abuse, grief, significant life transitions, etc.
• Wants to strengthen their capacity for healing and self-care to complement their current support system.
If you’re currently experiencing acute trauma symptoms (like flashbacks or severe dissociation) or are in crisis, this program may not be the right fit at this time. We encourage you to speak with a healthcare provider to explore what resources are best for your needs.
1. Private Pre-Class Interview: Scheduled individually with the instructor during May 1–13, 2025. This 30-minute session provides an opportunity to ask questions, discuss personal circumstances, and share goals to ensure the program supports your well-being.
2. Five Weekly Classes: Each session includes:
- Guided mindfulness practices.
- An exploration of the week’s theme.
- Somatic and experiential exercises.
- Optional group discussion and reflection.
- Closing practice to integrate your experience.
3. Daylong Retreat: At the end of the course, we’ll come together for a unique daylong retreat to deepen and integrate everything we’ve explored.
4. Workbook and Guided Practices: You’ll receive resources to support your practice at home.
May-June Tuesday Evenings 6:00–8:30 p.m.
- Orientation: May 6, 2025
- Class 1: May 13, 2025
- Class 2: May 20, 2025
- Class 3: May 27, 2025
- Class 4: June 3, 2025
- Class 5: June 10, 2025
- Daylong Retreat: Saturday, June 14, 2025, 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Zoom details will be emailed to participants closer to the start date.
This five-week program costs $295.
The course is free for individuals who qualify for the Community Care Fund financial assistance program. Discounts are available for University of California (UC) faculty, staff, students, retirees, and UCSF MBSR Alumni.
Instructor
