‘Have a Go’ at Tai Chi, QiGong, Hatha yoga, mindful walking and meditation. 4 week mindfulness courses for adults, seniors and teenagers.
Having opened up the Hall for regular Wednesday mindfulness classes for the first time last autumn, Robert and Charlotte Brackenbury are delighted to announce a programme of outdoor summer wellbeing and resilience events in the grounds of Holme Pierrepont Hall Full details, dates & bookings now online
Delivered by university lecturer and registered mindfulness teacher Paulo Karat, the mindfulness programmes at Holme Pierrepont Hall have received fantastic feedback, with many guests now treating mindfulness classes in the same way people might go to a regular Tai Chi or yoga class every week.
“It’s just a great place for what I’m doing – the moment people arrive, they begin to switch off from their day-to-day stresses and begin to ground themselves back in the here and now, surrounded by elegance and beauty everywhere”.
He’s also been asked to put together programmes for specific groups of people, such as teenagers: “One guest came up to me at the end of a class and said she’d really like her daughter to try this, and would I ever teach teenagers? I teach mindfulness to undergraduates at Nottingham Trent University so I thought ‘absolutely’, this would be a logical next step”.
His 4-Week Course for teenagers focuses on building skills and insight to help with issues like low mood, anxiety, stress (including exam stress) and self-esteem.
Paulo also noticed that simply being retired was no guarantee of a calm, peaceful mind in later life:
“I had a retired lady come to my class and said that she really struggled with her busy mind, but that having done my 4 Week Course she is now better at being ‘present’ and feeling less guilty about her downtime.
“I suppose I wasn’t expecting this to be a problem in retirement, but people are people so it makes perfect sense”.
As well as a ‘standard’ 4 Week Course for adults, Paulo is offering a tailored morning course for seniors, which includes space for a cup of tea and a walk around the grounds.
Paulo wants to make mindfulness fun and accessible. “I do think mindfulness has a bit of an image problem at times – the idea of sitting still, meditating for 30 minutes or more just isn’t everyone’s idea of a good time, so I try to introduce lots of variety into my teaching.
That’s one reason I’ve put together my ‘Have a Go’ sessions giving people a taster of how Tai Chi, QiGong, yoga and walking can all be used for mindfulness practice, not just meditation”. These sessions can also be experienced as a full-day Wellbeing Retreat (the first on Saturday 9 July) for those who want a more immersive experience.
Paulo admits to “having been a sceptic” about mindfulness before a severe, stress-induced breakdown in 2016 caused a reappraisal.
Prompted by his counsellor, Paulo came to mindfulness with some resistance: “Initially, I just couldn’t sit and meditate – it was impossible for me.
I’m energetic, busy and restless by nature so I’m trying to show people that they can find ‘their own’ type of mindfulness whether it’s stillness or movement, formal mindfulness practice or informal mindfulness in everyday life”.
Paulo’s own practice has become an integral part of his wellbeing: “I know it works for me because I know how I feel when I do it and how I feel when I don’t. It impacts on how I respond to situations, challenges, stress triggers and how I am with the people around me. I’m excited by my Summer Programme – it offers something for everyone, so they can explore how mindfulness can help them too.”
Email: paulo@karat.co.uk
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