Why attend the OMC Summer School? Education, Community, Inspiration.

Why attend the OMC Summer School? Education, Community, Inspiration.

The University of Oxford’s Mindfulness Centre has been at the forefront of mindfulness research and training since 2008 and bases its annual Summer School in the heart of historic Oxford, where people have converged for centuries to teach, learn, share and discuss their research.

The OMC Summer School is a space where anyone who is working in or generally interested in mindfulness can come each year to hear what experts in the field are discovering, and meet people from all over the world who also wish to update their skills, knowledge and practice.

Participants, from those who have completed an 8 week MBCT course to experienced teachers and practitioners, value the Summer School for a wide variety of reasons. These include personal and professional development, hearing about the latest developments in the science of MBCT from its founders, to deepen their knowledge and understanding, meet like-minded people, continue their own personal journey, refresh or deepen their practice in a wonderful setting and to find inspiration for further training or implementation.

The Summer Schools are thematic; the first in 2015 introduced the idea of mindfulness as steeped in foundational wisdom traditions as well as modern science, the second in 2016 brought together the founders of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale) to explore how MBCT has evolved and where it is heading.

The third Summer School in 2017 will examine how mindfulness-based programmes help people work with vulnerability, bringing together leading mindfulness practitioners and researchers to explore how mindfulness can influence the mind’s ability to create great joy and also great distress.

Here’s what previous participants have said about why they came to our Summer Schools, and what they left with:

It was a wonderful and deeply satisfying week on many levels, the presentations were rich and the discussions excellent. I liked the fact that there were people from all over the world and from different cultures.”

I felt both deeply impressed by the commitment of the teachers and their humility in sharing their so far acquired knowledge, understanding and experience.”

The combination of intellectual rigor and practical embodiment was perfect.”

It was very valuable to be able to talk to the presenters, to practice with them and learn the way forward.

It was one of the most emotionally and intellectually nourishing experiences I have had in a long time.”

The speakers were exceptional, they were able to make difficult and complex ideas, theories and research accessible and entertaining. They were humble in their delivery. Inspirational.

Read more about the experiences of Summer School participants last year:

Marianna Piskovszky, mindfulness teacher and CBT group facilitator

Fiona O’Donnell, The Mindfulness Centre in Dublin, Ireland

Lizzie Cambray, Ridgeway Mindful Psychology

Graham Williams, NHS Trust, Manchester

Nicky Mouat, Mental Health Nurse and Mindfulness teacher

Pamela Jacobsen, NIHR Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Psychology, King’s College London

Heena Kamble, PhD Research Scholar at the Department of Applied Psychology and Counselling Centre, University of Mumbai

Book your place or see the full programme.