An Introduction to Mindful Compassionate Dialogue – 4 Week Foundation Course
Empowering you with the skills and capacity to create compassionate, skilful and thriving relationships with yourself and others. Relate to yourself and others from authenticity and compassion.
Take the pain, misunderstanding and disconnection out of your relationships and feel connected and like a team again.
Are you ready to shift from conflict and discord to clarity and connection?
We all want to feel connected to the ones we love and care for, be deeply seen and heard for the experiences we’re having and for the values we hold dear as well as to communicate and relate with others in a way that creates understanding, meaningful contribution and ease.
Instead, so many of us feel frustrated and overwhelmed as we experience painful cycles of misunderstanding, arguments, defensiveness, criticism, blame and disconnection.
This is not your fault. You simply have not been taught the skills to do so.
This course is for you if you answer yes to any of the following:
- Do you feel unseen, unheard or disconnected in your relationships?
- Are you struggling to speak your truth or make requests to meet your needs?
- Do you feel isolated and disconnected from those you care about?
- Are you ready to shift from conflict to connection?
Is this you?
You want better communication skills and more fulfilling relationships. You want to create more connection in your personal relationships and have the confidence that you can handle conflict. You want to bring relationship skills to the people you care for that embody your values.
You are dedicated to living an authentic life with compassion for yourself and others. You understand that creating healthy relationships and relating to yourself and others from authenticity and compassion requires mindfulness and practical skills.
You are ready and willing to practice mindfulness and concrete skills in a safe environment that includes vulnerability and self-reflection.
For the Individual:
- You want to be masterful in your understanding of how relationships work and masterful in communication.
- You want to be a contribution and inspiration to others.
- You speak to yourself in harsh ways… “What’s wrong with me?” “I’m such an idiot.” “I should have known better.” “I’m a failure." "I’m too reactive.”
- You’re exhausted from self-criticism and ready to transform your internal dialogue.
- You see the impact you have on others. You know there is a way to find compassion for yourself, hear others, and express yourself clearly.
- You are ready for tools to manage reactivity and find an honest and compassionate way through challenging interactions.
For the Couple:
- You are committed to honest and respectful communication.
- You want to build a strong foundation for a lasting relationship.
- You want to be able to meet reactivity and hardship with the compassion and skills that allow you to stay true to yourself and connected in your relationship.
- You know that the depth of trust and safety in your relationship increases each time you bring mindfulness and skills to difficult interactions.
- Your relationship too often seems like a courtroom in which you are each trying to prove your case. You stalemate and nothing moves. You dig in. You tighten. You want to be right. You either get angry and say hurtful things or you disappear and shut down.
- You need new tools to express honestly while staying in a heart connection.
If any of this has you nodding your head, then join us for the upcoming Mindful Compassionate Dialogue foundation course.
What is it all about?
About Mindful Compassionate
Mindful Compassionate Dialogue (MCD) founded by Wise Heart empowers you to create compassionate, skilful and thriving relationships with yourself and others.
MCD is a comprehensive system and map that describes the process and skills necessary for cultivating thriving relationships with yourself and others. It is a system meant to provide access to agency, compassion, mindfulness (mindful engagement) and wisdom (wise discernment). Personal transformation is achieved through practice with the 12 Relationship Competencies and nine Foundations of Selfhood, which arise from a central, life-serving intention.
It naturally supports you in creating the relationships you want by integrating the wisdom and skills of three powerful modalities: Hakomi (body-centred therapy and psychotherapy), Nonviolent Communication (NVC), and Mindfulness (various mindfulness practices that adds the stable attention and clear focus needed to continuously refine your understanding and skills).
Each modality contributes something unique to the process. The result is relational competencies, communication skills and emotional capacity that empowers you to create compassionate, skilful and thriving relationships with yourself and others.
When and How?
The course runs over four weeks, one two-hour class per week.
You will be provided with a course book containing all the material and exercises, perfect for you to review and work through during and after the course.
You will also have access to a private peer-to-peer WhatsApp and Facebook community to continue practising with fellow participants and discuss questions and challenges that arise.
While you are taking the course, you also have access to discounted 1:1 coaching sessions with me.
● Contribution for the four-week course: €200 or R2000 for those living and earning in South Africa/ZAR.
● Early bird 15% discount (€170 / R1700): For all registrations by 28 October 2024. Use coupon code: EBOCT15OFF
● Start date: The next course begins and runs on Wednesdays, November 13th, 20th, 27th and December 4th.
● Time: 7:00 pm SAST / 6:00 pm CET / 5:00 pm GMT / 9:00 am PST
● P.S.: If you'd like to join but the weekdays and times don't work for you, email me to enquire about a potential weekend offering.
● Method: Live Zoom calls. Calls will be recorded and available for 2 months from the start of the course, should you miss any live calls.
For any questions email coach@ceferinocenizo.com.
Thank you so much for your participation and dedicating your time and energy to this important work.
Meet your Facilitator
Ceferino Cenizo is a Self-Mastery and Relationship Coach who partners with individuals and couples to access their highest potentials. He’s passionate about empowering others to create thriving relationships and transform in the direction of the person they choose to be.
Through his work with others, personal experience and observation, he has come to realise relationships to be the most effective and potent catalyst (and obstacle) for personal transformation and living a joyful, connected and fulfilling life.
He’s an ICF-certified Life and Consciousness Coach ®, Trauma and Tension Release Provider (TRE ®) and Regenerative Farmer.
What Others Are Saying About Mindful Compassionate Dialogue
Ceferino's Introduction to Mindful Compassionate Dialogue Foundations course was truly transformative. Over just 4 weeks, Ceferino skillfully guided us through the core principles and practices of MCD with warmth, wisdom and patience.
His teaching style seamlessly blended clear explanations, engaging exercises, and opportunities for real-world application. I was consistently impressed by Ceferino's ability to create a safe, nurturing and intimate space for vulnerability and growth within our group.
The course gave me practical tools for self-empathy, honest expression, and deeper connection that I've already seen make a difference in my relationships. Ceferino's passion for this work is palpable, and his embodiment of the MCD principles was inspiring.
I left each session feeling more grounded, self-aware, and optimistic about my ability to communicate with compassion. This course was a gift, and I'm deeply grateful to Ceferino for sharing his expertise and heart. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone seeking more authentic, empathetic connections in their lives.
Guin White
Highly recommended, enjoyable and empowering!! I was looking forward to Ceferino’s MCD course from the moment I knew it was happening.
As someone brought up in a family where dialogue was mostly non-existent around important matters let alone mindful and compassionate, I knew I could benefit from such a course. Plus as a coach, my need for communication, learning and growth is always leading me to encounter new information in areas such as this.
Ceferino effortlessly creates a warm, safe, loving and inclusive environment - an atmosphere where it is easy to take in new information. He shares what he knows generously - you’ll be connected to something wonderfully nurturing that can be built upon and then shared in your world where YOU can then impact the lives of others in a positive way.
Marimba Arihi
In my first encounter with Ceferino, I watched him walk his talk. I had exploded with rage at the suggestion of animal cruelty on a WhatsApp group in a decidedly judgmental way. His constructive intent, peace-making skills and comprehensive knowledge base from which to suggest alternatives and offer new avenues of thought were each quite remarkable, but together in one package, and so timeous as well, made him, in my book, quite phenomenal.
So when I saw him offering a course teaching communication skills I knew I would be learning from a master. I was right. I have learnt skills to enable better listening, more kindness -- especially self-kindness -- and the results are more joy and more courage in my daily life and interactions. And this was only the course's first flight.
Wow. Power to you, Ceferino! Another thing I loved, and treasure so much: the shining people who came into my life as a result of doing this course. In every respect this was an uplifting and enriching experience.
Alison Stent
Ceferino is an amazing loving soul, he knows what he is talking about and shares examples of how we can use mindful compassionate communication to better our relationships. This course has given me tools to use, and practice, allowing me to express myself with more clarity and align with a more authentic way of communicating.
I appreciated the course and the lovely souls that were present. I highly recommend anyone to take this course and work with Ceferino.
Annabelle Ivaya
I have been in MCD Circles and many Empathy Rounds with Ceferino and I am always left with a sense of connection, community and joy.
Ceferino is an experienced facilitator who I would follow with any endeavour. The level of trust, safety and consideration is felt in every encounter.
Lou Ann Bennett
Wow, MCD has been an absolute game-changer for me and my relationship with my partner! Finally, we are able to broach and navigate challenging topics and discussions without it ending up in an argument or blowup.
These are must-have communication skills and tools for anyone in any type of relationship, particularly intimate romantic relationships.
Matt Roberts
I experience Ceferino as a capable and efficient leader and facilitator. He has a unique ability to care with confidence and awareness to bring a circle together so everyone thrives.
I experience the balance of Ceferino’s facilitation and willingness to share vulnerability which creates a power-with scenario I truly value and respect.
Pat Wasp
Topics for the Course:
MCD is a system of 12 relationship competencies and nine foundations. For our introductory course, you will be introduced to and have an opportunity to practice with an element of each of the first six competencies. The foundations will be weaved into material throughout the series. Here are the relationship competencies you will begin to learn:
Appreciation is about noticing what’s working well, and saying that aloud more often than expressing what’s not working. Appreciation practice lays a foundation for a vibrant relationship, and the ability to meet challenges with skill and grace. It contributes to resilience by creating a sense of confidence that each person is seen for their good intentions. Appreciation is actually a form of positive feedback: it is about knowing what works in clear and specific terms. This level of clarity and sharing makes collaboration easy.
There are so many benefits of cultivating empathy in your relationships. When you can give and receive empathy, each person has a deep sense of being heard. Knowing you can be heard, means a relaxing of defensiveness and the impulse to convince another of your point of view. Empathy contributes to healthy differentiation, as well as a secure emotional bond. With empathy, you can truly be a companion and support for another without taking on their struggles as your own.
Empathy is a heart-based response to a heart-based expression of another. Empathy means giving your compassionate curiosity to another’s experience without having an agenda. It often involves verbally guessing another’s feelings and needs. For example, when someone shares about a difficulty at work, instead of trying to problem solve you can make an empathy guess like, “Are you feeling discouraged because you need support?” In this way, empathy makes space for being present with feelings and needs so that the door to wisdom and compassion opens naturally.
Honest expression is a rich and subtle practice that empowers you to live in alignment with your deepest values. It often feels vulnerable, as it requires awareness and direct expression of your needs and explicit acknowledgement of interdependence through specific and doable requests, and negotiation with others. It helps you to truly collaborate with others while fully maintaining autonomy and self-responsibility.
Honest expression includes the following:
● Awareness of your intention when you express
● Awareness of the quality of connection in a given moment, both with yourself and another
● Taking responsibility for reactivity by learning to recognize it and then name it aloud and/or taking time to get grounded before continuing to engage in dialogue
● Expressing feelings and needs with full self-responsibility by making specific and doable requests of yourself and/or another
● Taking responsibility for thoughts, speech, and reactivity by discerning the difference between what you actually observed and the interpretations you made
● Knowing the difference between universal needs and related preferences and strategies for how needs are met
● Communicating specific and doable requests as the starting point of collaboration
Self-empathy is an essential ingredient in a thriving relationship. To have a loving and conscious relationship with another, you also need to have a loving and conscious relationship with yourself.
In addition, self-empathy gives you relief from internal conflict, criticism, and doubt. You can learn to greet each part of your experience with compassion and acceptance, which gives you access to wise discernment and effective action.
Self-empathy means taking responsibility for your experience by gaining the skills to identify observations, thoughts, feelings, needs, and requests with compassion for yourself. Being able to identify your experience in this way opens the door to staying true to yourself and honest with another.
Recognizing reactivity means freedom. The moment you can recognize reactivity arising, you can be free from its grip on you. In addition, when you learn to track reactivity in yourself, you can more easily recognize it in others. This means you can take effective action to prevent escalating arguments.
Reactivity is defined as the misperception of threat to one or more needs. It can be recognized by at least three main characteristics:
1) A change in physiology, such as heart rate or breathing
2) A stuckness or narrowing of view
3) A loss of access to creativity, skills, broad perspective, wisdom, and compassion
Recognizing reactivity means becoming familiar with the many signs and symptoms that it is arising. When you fully know reactivity, it can’t take over.
You get to choose speech and actions that truly serve you and others.
When you learn to manage reactivity effectively, a whole world of possibility opens up for you and your relationship. You find it is safe to be yourself in your relationship. Reactivity can come and go without causing major ruptures in connection. You see it as normal and trust that it can be met. Lastly, when you are not walking on eggshells because of reactivity, your relationship has space to grow and evolve in whole new ways.
Once you learn to recognize reactivity, it becomes your cue to engage the skills you have for managing it. Managing reactivity includes skills such as regulation strategies, interpersonal de-escalation strategies, self-empathy, naming, recognizing blame, working with tender needs, and engaging healing work.
Enrol Now, Limited Spaces Available!
*For those living and earning in ZAR/SA.
