Dennis Johnson

Track: Inner Ecology, Collective Psyche and Social Transformation

Workshop: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion as Relational Practices

In this workshop, we will explore together the social and relational aspects of the practices of mindfulness and self-compassion. While these psychologized forms of contemplative practice are often performed in silence and with an inner attitudinal stance, they may also embody distinctly relational practices in pairs and groups through the wider relational field. In this way, individuals may explore facilitating and enhancing their resources in relational contact and there is also a fostering of a sense of cooperation, trust and social closeness on side of the collective. Guided mindfulness and self-compassion practices will be performed individually, in pairs and in the group, and there will also be open space for a concluding group enquiry.

Track: Inner Ecology, Collective Psyche and Social Transformation

Poster: Mindfulness and Self-Compassion for Social Transformation

Mindfulness and self-compassion are the main components of specific resource-building programs (MSBR, MBCT and a host of other mindfulness-based interventions) which have been developed over the last decades based on traditional contemplative traditions as well as modern psychological research and which are deeply implicated in sustained personal development and growth. Mindfulness may be broadly defined as the acceptance of present-moment experience, and its intentional cultivation counteracts the mind’s tendencies towards ruminative thought patterns and the reification which lie at the roots of a sense of immobility. Self-compassion may be defined as the cultivation of acceptance of self in the present moment, which has the potential to dissolve the self-criticism and isolation so often underlying feelings of emotional numbness. While the practices of both mindfulness and self-compassion in principle include the whole range of physical, emotional, cognitive, social and global domains, in terms of their application and goals they are often contextualized in medical, therapeutic and other contexts which usually focus mainly on the individual practitioner and his or her mental health. However, not only may an individual generate and enhanced these resources also through relational contact, but these practices may further also offer relational antidotes that foster a sense of cooperation, trust and social closeness on a collective level. Thus, this talk will investigate the full potential of these practices for empowering individuals in their quest for social transformation as they face the various challenges of the modern world. It will demonstrate the ways in which these resources assist us in turning towards and embracing our challenges individually and collectively as well as introduce some of the newly developed and distinctly relational form of practice that focus more on the social and global domains of practice.

Mag. Dennis Johnson holds a degree in Tibetan and Buddhist Studies from the University of Vienna and works as librarian, editor and translator. He is currently engaged in a preparatory training course in psychotherapy and has recently completed a basic mindfulness training course as well as a clinical research internship at the Oxford Mindfulness Centre. He is a board member on the Austrian Association of Consciousness Studies as well as the European Transpersonal Association.