Taming the Monkey Mind: A Mindfulness Approach to Managing Life's Stressors and Challenges

About the Event

Objective

Most of the time we cope reasonably well with stressful, challenging situations. We learn from these episodes and are wiser when it comes to new hurdles. However, there may be times when we have to face many obstacles at the same time, even before a previous one has been resolved. When we are overwhelmed, we tend not to think clearly, and the decisions we make may further worsen the situations. Mindfulness has been shown to be effective in helping us stay grounded, not 'all over the place'. This workshop aims to give participants some basic tools to manage themselves through steadying our thoughts and minds, our emotions, and our behaviours. Some time will be allocated for Q&A.

Preparation for Workshop

• Comfortable clothes
• Quiet, comfortable place, away from external distractions
• A few pieces of biscuits
• Think of some questions on this topic to clarify towards the last 15 minutes of the workshop

Speaker

Alan Yeo, Senior Counsellor at C-three (Counselling & Life-Coaching), believes in sharing proven life skills in managing our lives (behaviours, emotions, thoughts), so that we live and interact with others more meaningfully. Besides counselling staff and students at SUSS, Alan sees family and couples in his private practice. He is the co-editor of 'Solution Focused Practice in Asia' (Routledge, 2017). He also lectures and supervises at other counselling education institutions and agencies.

Fees

Event Highlights

With exams around the corner, it is timely for the University to run events that would center on relaxation techniques to relieve one's stress. So it was no surprise that  13 students tuned in to Zoom to experience the Mindfulness Workshop, titled, "Taming the Monkey Mind: A mindfulness approach to managing life's stressors and challenges", on the evening of 15 October.

The workshop was facilitated by Senior Counsellor, Alan Yeo, who is from C-three (Counselling & Life-Coaching) Centre in SUSS.

He started off the workshop with an outline of the following:

• What is mindfulness
• Why mindfulness is important
• How mindfulness can work for you
• Let's do it (practice session)

In the workshop, Alan defined most minds as being like a "monkey mind", in that it is mischievous, and is everywhere except where you want it to be. This is as opposed to the "tamed mind", where it would enable one to "see" situations more clearly, allowing him to consider important factors such as relationships and also how one endeavours to make better decisions so as to have lesser regrets.

However, he did inform the participants that mindfulness is not a quick fix, for religious meditation or to be considered as a replacement for medicine and therapy.

The participants were also encouraged to participate actively throughout the session, especially during the exercise segment which was conducted through a video. They were told to wear light and comfortable clothing and then relax themselves by breathing deeply in a darkened room, whilst listening to the calming online voice instructions to practise mindfulness. The calming two hour session ended with a short round of Q&A with the participants

Registration Guide

Step 1: Login to Student Portal
Step 2: Click on 'E-Services' at the side bar
Step 3: Allow pop up windows as 'E-Services' will open as a pop up
Step 4: Click on 'Event Service Online'
Step 5: Search for your event in the calendar of events. Do note that there are multiple pages. *Events are organised alphabetically. 

* Please actively search for your event to register. Events that are open for registration will be displayed. Events that are closed for registration will not be displayed.

Notes

• Event will not run if minimum sign-up is not met.
• Please be advised that filming and/or photography will be taking place at this event.
• This session will be recorded for training/ learning purposes.
• By participating in this workshop, you consent to the following:
  • To be photographed by means of film, videotape and/or other form of recording.
  • SUSS to use, re-use, publish, re-publish, and otherwise reproduce, modify and display the same, in whole or in part individually or in conjunction with other forms of recording, and any copyrighted matter, in any and all media now or hereafter known, for SUSS's promotional materials.

Terms and Conditions

• SUSS reserves the rights to use/publish any photos taken at our events on corporate marketing materials or for publicity purposes.
• Our events are highly subsidised and we have limited capacity. Failure to turn up for an event will deprive a fellow student enjoying the benefit. We greatly appreciate your participation and thank you in advance for joining us.
• Once your registration is confirmed, no cancellation or refund would be allowed.
• SUSS reserves the right to make changes to the event without prior notice.
• All information is accurate at the time of publishing.