Highland Mindfulness Group

Would you like to feel less stressed, more able to live with a sense of ease and cope better with life’s challenges?
Then training in mindfulness may be for you!

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course (8 weeks)
on Zoom
Thursdays 15th January to 5th March 2026 (7.30pm – 9.30pm)

The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course is based on the work of world-renowned secular mindfulness teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn. It is designed to help us explore mindfulness in our daily life and how we can use mindfulness skills to better cope with stresses that we face.
The course will be run in a small group on Zoom by 2 trained mindfulness facilitators from our charity – Liz Newstead and Stephen Wiseman. The weekly sessions include guided meditations and mindful movement, as well as breakout rooms to share experiences with other participants.
The course is largely experiential and home practice is an integral and important aspect of the course.

COURSE DATES
The course will be held on Zoom for 8 consecutive weeks on Thursday evenings from 15th January to 5th March 2026. Each session will be from 7.30pm to 9.30pm.

What’s included:

• 8 x 2-hour group sessions on Zoom with our mindfulness facilitators
• Weekly course notes via email
• Audio recordings of the guided meditations
• A certificate of completion can be given to anyone who attends at least 6 of the 8 sessions.

Feedback from previous course participants:
‘It is a course full of strategies that make everyday life easier that can be applied to multiple situations.’
‘I have found the techniques helpful in managing my stress, pain and anxiety levels.’
‘Amazing course, it has really changed my life, I have so much more energy at work, social life.’

COST
Standard rate £140 per person.
Concessions rate £70 for those on low/no income.
Deposit required on booking. We can offer a flexible payment plan by instalments.
We welcome any “pay it forward” contributions over £70 or £140 which help us to offer subsidised places to more people.
Payment to our charity can be via PayPal or bank transfer.
See full Terms & Conditions at the bottom of this page.

HOW TO BOOK
Please email Daniel (admin) on highlandmindfulness@gmail.com for a registration form and one of the facilitators will get in contact with you. Please note, the course is for over 18s only.

MBSR course outline:

Week 1:
Theme: Mindfulness vs. Autopilot
Quality: Beginner’s Mind

Week 2:
Theme: Overcoming Obstacles
Quality: Non-striving/letting be

Week 3:
Theme: Staying with the Breath / Staying present
Quality: Trust

Week 4:
Theme: Responding rather than reacting
Quality: Opening/curiosity

Week 5:
Theme: Opening to the unwanted
Quality: Allowing/Non-judging

Week 6:
Theme: Mindful communication
Quality: Patience/presence

Week 7:
Theme: Taking care of ourselves/our inner kingdom
Quality: Wise mind/Kindness

Week 8:
Theme: The ending is the beginning
Quality: Non-attachment / Letting go

Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness can bring more awareness, gratitude, kindness & compassion into our lives and can help us feel more relaxed and able to cope. It can also help to build resilience. Mindfulness is a well validated scientific approach which can help with stress, anxiety, depression, isolation and chronic pain. Teaching mindfulness in a group helps individuals to develop compassion and self compassion through shared experiences and an understanding of our common humanity.

Course participants are welcome to join in with the regular free drop-in sessions offered by the Highland Mindfulness Group to help people maintain their practice. Learning and practising mindfulness in a group helps individuals to develop compassion and self compassion through shared experiences and an understanding of our common humanity. We also offer a variety of other courses which participants can follow after they have completed the MBSR course.

COURSE FACILITATORS

Liz Newstead

Liz is the founder of Able2BeMindful which aims to share the knowledge and skills of mindfulness with as many people as she can reach to help them to flourish in their life. Liz has worked in the NHS as a mental health nurse for over 35 years, she has also been a senior lecturer in Mental Health, a Nurse Educator for NHS Education for Scotland and has worked for more than 20 years as a Community Psychiatric Nurse (CPN). Throughout her career she maintained a passion for enabling people to build emotional skills and resources, which allows them to live their life with ease as best as they are able. Liz holds a conviction that we all have a unique human capacity to cope with stress and to heal and recover from emotional distress. Liz has had a personal practice of meditation for over 20 years. Her journey to teaching mindfulness was via the NHS National Education for Scotland (NES) pathway where she trained to deliver Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). In addition, Liz followed the Mindfulness Association teacher training pathway which adds Mindfulness Based Living Course (MBLC) to the courses she can competently deliver. In addition Liz is qualified to teach and supervise those training to become mindfulness facilitators.

Stephen Wiseman

Stephen has worked in the outdoors for over 40 years and co-founded the Nature 4 Health charity in the Highlands which uses nature to support people’s holistic health through walks and other outdoor activities to learn new skills and make connections. Stephen qualified as a mindfulness teacher in 2022 and regularly leads morning online sessions for HMG, as well as the occasional course. Recently he has been developing ‘mindfulness in nature’ which brings the benefits of being outside as a catalyst alongside mindful practices.

Payment Terms & Conditions
To secure your place, we request a deposit of half of the course fee at the time of booking (or full course fee if possible). Any remaining balance should be paid no less than 7 days prior to the course start date. We can offer a flexible payment plan by instalments if needed.

Refunds
If you have paid but can no longer attend the course, a full refund will be available up to 7 days prior to the course start date. Alternatively, we can reserve a place for you on the next available course.
Once courses have begun, refunds are no longer available, but we do offer the option to transfer to the next course instead.
In the event of unforeseen circumstances which result in us having to cancel the course, a full refund will be available or the option to transfer to the next available course.

Attendance
We highly recommend that you attend at least 6 of the 8 sessions (including at least 3 of the first 4 sessions). If you miss both of the first 2 sessions, then you will be unable to start on that course and we would transfer you to the next one. A certificate of completion can be given to anyone who attends at least 6 of the 8 sessions