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Welcome to this groundbreaking program developed by Dr. Chris Germer and the SC-Shame development team! In this course, we’ll take a unique, non-pathological look at shame through the eyes of self-compassion and discover how self-compassion is the antidote to shame.

• • What would happen if you were able to care for yourself when you felt shame, rather than being immobilized by fear, attacking yourself, or zoning out?
  • How would your life be different if you could meet shame with compassion and stay connected, think in a balanced way, and make wise, healthy choices?

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Join us March 23-28, 2025 for this in person offering that is an intensive version of the 8-week*, empirically-supported MSC program in beautiful Sedona, Arizona.

MSC activities include short talks, experiential exercises, meditation, group discussion, and home practices. Past intensives have been held in wellness and retreat centers around the United States with varied natural landscapes.

The emphasis of the program is on building the resources of self-compassion and mindfulness through a process of self-discovery. We begin with mindfulness, through which we turn with loving awareness toward difficult experiences (thoughts, emotions, and sensations). Next, we learn to turn that loving awareness toward ourselves. Together, mindfulness and self-compassion comprise a state of warm, connected, presence during difficult moments in our lives.

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Research shows that connection to nature can have a wide range of benefits, such as improved attention, memory, mood, social interactions, happiness and wellbeing, and reduced stress, anxiety, depression, and chronic disease. Although human beings have evolved with nature, benefit from nature, and are part of nature, modern society is increasingly alienated from the natural world and our environment is in crisis. Eco-anxiety and climate distress are having a significant impact on mental health, especially among young people.

Meditation and psychotherapy can be harnessed to improve our relationship to nature, and nature can have a positive influence on how we meditate and do clinical work. This webinar series explores the importance of nature from a variety of perspectives—scientific, therapeutic, mindfulness, and indigenous. Attendees will learn useful tools and strategies to help their patients realign with, benefit from, and support the natural world. Therapists will also have a chance to explore their own relationship to nature and environmental disruption.

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Becoming a Mindful Self-Compassion Teacher

The foundation for teaching MSC is to embody the qualities of mindfulness and self-compassion and to have an ongoing, daily practice.

In addition, you need theoretical background and practical knowledge of the various topics and components of the training.

MSC Teachers are often deeply touched during their own self-compassion training and would like to pass this on to others. Becoming an MSC teacher is a wholehearted endeavor and a rich experience for those who choose to embark on this path.

During this 6-day teacher training, you will actively engage in teaching the important self-compassion themes and exercises.

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September 1-10, 2025

Embodying the Heart of Compassion: An Intensive Mindfulness Retreat Vallecitos Mountain Refuge, near Taos, New Mexico
with Bill Morgan, Psy.D., Susan Morgan, MSN, RN, CS and Chris Germer, PhD

The point of mindfulness meditation is not simply to train the mind, but to engage the heart in all of its heart tones; lovingkindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity.

In this nine-day retreat we will explore the heart quality of compassion. Compassion is often talked about as a quality of heart that “quivers” or trembles in the face of suffering. Yet it is perhaps more accurate to say that it is a whole-body attitude of heart-mind that opens to pain or disturbance and intentionally ministers to the suffering that is present.

Bill and Susan Morgan along with their beloved colleague, friend and internationally known Mindful Self Compassion teacher, Chris Germer, will lay the foundational groundwork necessary for mindfulness practice to grow, flourish and support ease of wellbeing. We will offer ways of bringing compassion forward in order to deepen and stabilize this essential quality of heart and offer it toward ourselves, others, and the world.

This retreat provides a safe, nurturing container in which to explore these practices There will be daily mindfulness meditation instruction and three to four hours of structured practice each day, plus dharma talks most afternoons in combination with dyadic or small group discussion. The rest of the time we will observe silence, including during meals, to facilitate a deeper contemplative experience.

This is a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in an exquisite natural environment and work closely with leaders in the growing field of clinical mindfulness meditation and compassion. Every effort will be made by the teachers and staff to give each participant a delightful, meaningful retreat experience.

We will spend much time, in silence, sitting and walking through the pristine natural paradise of Vallecitos Mountain Refuge. Please join us!