In the following course sessions (lessons and activities), please watch the videos first. For each module there are lessons and articles which are an important part of the program. After you watch the videos, please move on to reading the course lessons and articles and completing the online activities. You can print the handouts to read and print the worksheets to record your progress with applying the skills. Finally, please put the skills into practice and journal about the experience of practically applying your skills in everyday life.
Daily Practices This part of the course begins your daily Formal Practice. You’ll watch at least one video, complete one lesson, read one article, or engage in one activity in your daily routine, for which you’ll need a quiet, private, and comfortable place to learn and practice.
After each lesson and before the next lesson, I am inviting you to do one or more of the following DBT skills training activities and practices every day:
Wise Mind
Meditation
Mindfulness
What Skills:
Observe
Describe
Participate
How Skills:
non-judgmentally,
one-mindfully
effectively
The guidance and instruction for the formal practices are available by clicking on the link when you hover over the term in the table above, in the navigation menus, and throughout the content pages.
For the informal practice each week, it is suggested that you bring mindful awareness to some otherwise routine or mundane activity such as driving, walking, shopping, cleaning, washing the dishes, and/or eating a meal. At the end of each day, write an entry in the reflection journal and daily diary card. Take just five minutes or so every day to see if you can recall a daily activity which you brought awareness to that day.
Positive Revolution Films These days, discussions of meditation and mindfulness appear everywhere from business and medical journals, to addiction and trauma recovery groups, to education conferences. Mindfulness is the secret of living in the present moment. A life lived mindfully is a life lived full of peace, tranquility, joy, bliss, ecstasy and compassion. The simple practice of mindfulness has been around for thousands of years but today mindfulness requires a deliberate practice. In this documentary world’s leading experts delve deeper into the mindfulness practice.
Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator
TED Talk Tim Urban knows that procrastination doesn’t make sense, but he’s never been able to shake his habit of waiting until the last minute to get things done. In this hilarious and insightful talk, Urban takes us on a journey through YouTube binges, Wikipedia rabbit holes and bouts of staring out the window — and encourages us to think harder about what we’re really procrastinating on, before we run out of time.
TEDx Talk How do we change? In this pioneering talk, Dr. Shauna Shapiro draws on modern neuroscience and ancient wisdom to demonstrate how mindfulness can help us make positive changes in our brains and our lives. Dr. Shapiro lectures and leads mindfulness programs internationally, serves on the Advisory Board of Axialent a leader on Conscious Business, and has brought mindfulness to pioneering companies including Cisco Systems and Google. She has published over 150 articles and book chapters and is co-author of The Art and Science of Mindfulness and Mindful Discipline: A loving approach to raising an emotionally intelligent child.
TEDx Talk Mindful Awareness Trainer Daron Larson says although mindfulness has been shown to help decrease stress and increase contentment, many who try it give up convinced they’re doing it wrong. Drawing from his daily practice since 2002, he helps people break through common obstacles and devises ways to address attention-related challenges everyone faces. Daron compares mindfulness practice to physical fitness to help distinguish the benefits from the exercises required to experience them. Just as regular exercise can improve your physical well-being, he argues that training your attention can transform the way you navigate the challenges of everyday life.
Self-Transformation Through Mindfulness | Dr. David Vago
TEDx Talk How is the Self represented in the brain and how is it sculpted through our everyday moment-to-moment perceptions, emotions, and thoughts? Cognitive Neuroscientist, David Vago demonstrates that a systematic form of mental training involving meditation and mindful awareness has the potential to transform our self and our mental habits in a positive way. Learn more about how every moment is an opportunity to change our brain and strongly influence our health & longevity at both conscious and non-conscious levels.
How Meditation Can Reshape Our Brains | Sara Lazar
TEDx Talk Neuroscientist Sara Lazar’s amazing brain scans show meditation can actually change the size of key regions of our brain, improving our memory and making us more empathetic, compassionate, and resilient under stress.
Vipassana Meditation and Body Sensation | Eilona Ariel
TEDx Talk Eilona Ariel is a documentary filmmaker whose work was deeply inspired by her life in Asia and her practice of the ancient meditation technique called Vipassana. She moved to New York City in 1978 and spent nine years studying and working as a musician and a photographer. In 1980, she received a diploma from the Germain School of Photography. She left the USA in 1987 to spend several years living in Asia. In 1995 she returned to Israel and established the Karuna Films Production Company together with Ayelet Menahemi.
All it takes is 10 mindful minutes | Andy Puddicombe
TEDx Talk When is the last time you did absolutely nothing for 10 whole minutes? Not texting, talking or even thinking? Mindfulness expert Andy Puddicombe describes the transformative power of doing just that: Refreshing your mind for 10 minutes a day, simply by being mindful and experiencing the present moment. (No need for incense or sitting in strange positions.)
Jon Kabat-Zinn, a pioneer in the field of mind-body medicine, has played a pivotal role in integrating mindfulness practices into the Western medical and psychological community. Born on June 5, 1944, Kabat-Zinn’s journey into mindfulness began with his studies at Haverford College and later at MIT, where he earned a Ph.D. in molecular biology in 1971 under the Nobel Laureate, Salvador Luria. His profound interest in meditation and yoga, combined with his scientific background, led him to develop the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This groundbreaking program, which combines mindfulness meditation and yoga, was designed to assist people in managing stress, pain, and illness by using moment-to-moment awareness.
Jon Kabat-Zinn – The Heart of Mindfulness | Mind & Life Institute
This episode features renowned meditation teacher, author, and creator of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Jon Kabat-Zinn. This spacious and personal conversation is full of insights on a wide range of topics
Jon Kabat-Zinn, a prominent figure in the field of mindfulness and the founder of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, identifies nine core attitudes that are essential for cultivating mindfulness. These attitudes form the foundation for effective mindfulness practice, helping individuals to engage more fully with the present moment and develop a deeper sense of awareness and acceptance.
Here’s a summary of each: Non-Judging: This attitude involves observing experiences without labeling them as good or bad. It’s about becoming an impartial witness to your own experience. Patience: Patience is a form of wisdom that allows us to give ourselves and others the time and space to be as they are. It reflects an understanding that things unfold in their own time. Beginner’s Mind: This attitude encourages us to see the world with fresh eyes, remaining open to new experiences and free from preconceptions about how things ‘should’ be. Trust: Trusting in oneself and one’s feelings is crucial for mindfulness practice. It’s about cultivating a deep trust in the authority of your own experiences. Non-Striving: Non-striving is about not trying to get anywhere other than where you are. It emphasizes being with your experience, rather than doing something about it. Acceptance: Acceptance means seeing things as they actually are in the present. It doesn’t mean passive resignation, but rather a willingness to see things without denial or resistance. Letting Go: This is the ability to release thoughts and sensations, letting them come and go without getting entangled in them. Gratitude and Generosity: These qualities complement mindfulness by fostering a sense of appreciation for the present and a willingness to share that with others. Compassion: This involves a caring awareness of one’s own and others’ suffering and a desire to alleviate it. Compassion is central to a mindful way of being.
These attitudes are not only fundamental to mindfulness practice but are also inherently interconnected. By cultivating these attitudes, individuals can deepen their mindfulness practice and enhance their ability to cope with the stresses of daily life.
Greater Good Science Center Psychologist, researcher, and mindfulness teacher Shauna Shapiro talks about the encouraging research behind meditation and its potential to change the makeup of our brains and our level of happiness.
This video is included in Week 2 of the free online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course (MBSR) by Palouse Mindfulness (http://palousemindfulness.com). This video is a shortened version of Mindfulness, the Mind, and Addictive Behavior, which was created and is copyrighted by University of Massachusetts Medical School.
Neurologist Richard Davidson | Pioneers Ep. 10 | Huffington Post
Richard Davidson is a world-renowned neuroscientist who, with an assist from the Dalai Lama, is leading the way to a deeper understanding of everything from memories to happiness.
Cultivating Well-Being: Brain Science with Richard Davidson
In this video, renowned neuroscientist Richard Davidson shares the story of how his early experiences with meditation and encounters with the Dalai Lama lead him to use the tools of modern science to study the effects of contemplative practices like meditation on the brain and on human well-being and flourishing. To learn more about the secular meditation program Dr. Davidson mentions, The Joy of Living, developed by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, please visit https://bit.ly/3im9v8J This video is an excerpt from the talk “Meditation and the Science of Human Flourishing,” given June 11, 2016, at Stanford University, co-sponsored by Tergar International and the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education.
What we’re getting wrong with meditation. Dr. R. Davidson | Mayim Bialik
Dr. Richard Davidson (Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Founder & Director of the Center for Healthy Minds) shows us what it truly means to be well in your emotional self by harnessing our trauma mechanisms into well-being! He breaks down the scientific data he’s gathered on long-term meditators (including monks!) to show the efficacy of meditation, the parts of the brain most affected by meditation, and what all of that means for how we self-regulate and cope with trauma. Dr. Davidson explains how meditation can help parenting, how our expectations and narratives influence our perception of the world, and what our “emotional fingerprints” are. He and Mayim discuss how his framework of awareness, connection, insight, and purpose lead us to understand the science of well-being, the notion that love and kindness are innate and hate is learned, and the importance of teaching forms of meditation to our kids.
Guided Meditation: The practice of RAIN | Tara Brach
Tara Brach leads a guided meditation ~ The Practice of RAIN The acronym RAIN – Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture – guides us in bringing mindfulness and compassion to difficult emotions. With practice, we can find our way home to open-hearted presence in the midst of whatever arises.
What to do if your inner voice is cruel | Ethan Kross
Big Think Half our day is spent not living in the moment. Here’s how to change that. Your inner voice isn’t always very nice or helpful. When we turn our attention inward, we tend to focus on problems rather than solutions. This causes us to worry, ruminate, and catastrophize, which traps us in a negative thought cycle. The good news is that there is a science-based toolkit that can help you regain control of your inner voice. Ethan Kross is one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind. An award-winning professor and bestselling author in the University of Michigan’s top ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships.
Huberman Lab Podcast
This content creator freely shares science based information to the general public and relies on sponsors for financial compensation. He shares knowledge, information, data, and research from exciting emerging fields of science. Watching the videos will require a substantial time commitment from you, they are lengthy and comprehensive. You are welcome to skip over this section of the content and move on to the course content listed below. You may opt to come back to Dr. Huberman’s videos anytime.
This is a brief introduction to dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills training from the perspective of a peer in phase 3 of DBT. The presentation may be useful to anyone who is interested learning about DBT skills training.
DBT Skills Training – Introduction to Paced Breathing
This is an introduction to mindfulness tasks according to dialectical behavior therapy. The video covers breath training and provides a guided exercise in paced breathing.
This is an introductory video for people who are just starting out with dialectical behavior therapy skills training. Concepts covered include the biosocial model for emotion dysregulation, wise mind, dialectical thinking and TIP crisis survival skills. If you are unfamiliar with the DBT Peer Connections training videos, this is a good starting point for you.
In this skills training video, you will learn the what the 6 levels of Validation are according to dialectical behavior therapy. You will learn how to define, identify, and apply the various levels of validation to yourself and others.
This dialectical behavior therapy skills training video defines SMART Goals, which are Specific, Meaningful, Achievable, Recordable, and timeline-based. VITALS to success skills help make the process of working toward SMART goals more effective.
In the first video viewers are oriented to DBT. It is an introduction to DBT as a whole. In this first official episode. The viewer learns about mindfulness as it relates to skills and dialectical behavior therapy. These are the first skills taught in DBT skills trainings groups and are essential to building DBT skills mastery.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy Skills Training teaches four sets of skills for life enhancement. This is the third video installment in a series in progress that aims to teach DBT’s valuable skills from a peer perspective and to make such learning easily accessible and without the burden of excessive costs. In this episode, the skills that are taught relate to Reality acceptance and fit within the core mindfulness module. Specifically, the skills you learn in this video are Loving Kindness, Radical Acceptance, Willingness, Turn the Mind, and Half-smile
This is a guided mindfulness practice that incorporates the dialectical behavior therapy core mindfulness “what” skill “observe” and the core mindfulness “how” skill “non-judgmentally” into mindful breathing.
