mindful yoga
MOVE. STRETCH. BREATHE.
In the practice of Mindful Yoga we intentionally bring mindful awareness to the body as we move, stretch and breathe.
In this 8-week course, you will cultivate a deeper, kinder, more resilient and conscious connection with body and mind.
No pre-requisite is necessary—all are welcome!
upcoming mindful yoga courses – enrol now
A unique, trauma-sensitive program that combines:
traditional Hatha yoga
stretch therapy
mindful movement
Thanks for all the effort and care you put in to such thoughtful classes.
— Catherine, 2022 Mindful Yoga participant
Mindful yoga helps us to become more at home in our body.
What are the possible benefits?
Our Mindful Yoga students have described several positive effects including:
Reduction in physical aches and pains
Sense of emotional safety
Feeling more connected to themselves
I look forward to the class every week. — Mindful Yoga participant
Connect to the body in a kinder and more conscious manner.
all minds and bodies welcome
Participants who have taken an MBSR course will recognise this approach of mindfully attending to the body both in stillness and in movement.
However, no experience with meditation or yoga is necessary. This course is suitable for newcomers as well as those who have mobility issues.
Megan offers variations for all poses, and everything is always optional – you can choose to lie down or rest at any time.
Alternatively, if you are comfortable to do so you can always choose a deeper stretch, or a variation that feels more challenging to you.
There is a strong focus on how to work compassionately with tension, stress, pain and physical limitations.
what happens in a mindful yoga class?
Over 8 weeks (once a week for 1.5 hours) you will move, breathe and stretch.
Each class includes a short arrival practice in stillness, movement, stretches and poses which start of gently and build through the class.
Class finishes with a 10-15 minute relaxing meditation.
Each week has a different emphasis so that through the 8 week cycle the whole body, heart and mind are attended to.
Please note that registration and payment are for the entire term. We are not able to accept casual enrolments. Enrolments are typically accepted until Week 3.
The class is very welcoming. I always feel restored afterwards. — 2019 Mindful Yoga participant
What does the mindful yoga course include?
12 hours of face-to-face practice
1.5 hour class once a week for 8 weeks
Yoga and guided meditations
Physical poses and breathwork
Digital downloads of some yoga classes
Lifetime access to our members-only online library
Meet your mindful yoga teacher
Megan Layton
Director, Senior MBSR, PNT, Self-Compassion and Yoga teacher
The director of Simply Mindful, Megan Layton, will be your teacher. Megan is a trained and recognised trauma sensitive yoga teacher and therapist with extensive experience in trauma therapy and somatic movement.
She is also a mental health social worker who works with a very broad range of people, from CEOs to students. She worked for over 15 years with acute trauma (in a torture trauma rehabilitation service) and has a deep interest in helping people to heal and feel at home in their bodies and to grow in vitality and health no matter what challenges they are facing.
I really enjoyed and got a lot out of Tuesday night. We have been looking for something that suits us and have tried and/or investigated other options. We really appreciated your style, competence, presence and authenticity, together with the content.
— John, 2022 Mindful Yoga participant
Megan that was really beautiful-thank you so much! It was lovely to see you and looking forward to next week!
— 2023 Mindful Yoga participant
Mobilise your innate potential for growth and healing.
Our venue: the Gathering Place
Our programs are offered at our beautiful northside Canberra venue. We are delighted to share this beautiful place of peace, meditation, contemplation, healing, renewal and learning.
enrol now in mindful yoga
Choose a start date below. (We generally run 1-2 courses per term, so check back later if you don’t see a date that suits you.)
Answers to your questions
What kind of yoga is it?
Megan, your teacher, has trained in classical Hatha yoga, Stretch Therapy, as well as Trauma Sensitive Yoga and a wide range of mindfulness, meditation and body-mind practices and therapies. She blends these in a unique and creative way.
Do I need to have any experience with yoga?
No experience necessary! This class is suitable for absolute beginners and we also have many experienced yogis attending.
What happens in a mindful yoga class?
Each class includes a short arrival practice in stillness, movement, stretches and poses which start of gently and build through the class. Class finishes with a 10-15 minute relaxing meditation.
Each week has a different emphasis so that through the 8 week cycle the whole body, heart and mind and attended to.
What if I have an injury or physical vulnerability?
All stretches, poses and sequences are able to be adapted. Options are explained and demonstrated throughout classes and you are actively encouraged to do what feels right for you. You are also welcome to pause or rest anytime.
What if I can't make it in person?
Mindful yoga classes are offered online simultaneously, so you can join us from home or wherever you are. A Zoom link is sent to you each week with your class reminder so you can join online if you choose. Please note that classes are not typically recorded, so you do still need to join in real time.
Questions? Send us a message.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is about being fully present and aware to all of life. Presence is an innate human capacity, however this capacity is underdeveloped in most people.
Mindfulness training is a bit like ‘mental exercise’. As we practice over time, we build what’s known as the ‘mindful muscle’ – our ability to be fully present and alive to our lives more of the time.
What does the MBSR course involve?
- 2 ½ hour class once a week for 8 weeks plus one full day session (held on the weekend)
- Mindfulness meditation training, access to the online library of guided meditation recordings, and course workbook
- Learning about the effects of stress on our bodies and minds
- Exploring patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving and their relationship to stress
- Developing strategies for applying mindfulness in daily life
- Learning through brief lectures, group discussion and experiential activities
Who is MBSR for?
This is suitable for absolute beginners as well as those who’ve previously done some mindfulness training.
How can MBSR help me?
"This is the most important thing I have ever done for myself"—this quite literally is the feedback we hear from participants again and again.
If you want to learn how to work skilfully with your own mind, body and emotions and really enjoy being you and feel truly at home in your own skin, then mindfulness training is for you. It is a proven method for improving health, mental health, self-awareness and skilfulness.
Is there science to back this up? Isn’t meditation a spiritual thing?
MBSR teaches the art and science of presence.
It’s an art because everyone’s internal world is completely unique, nuanced and it’s also a creative changing space. No one else can tell you exactly how to meditate or do it for you.
It’s a science because research in neuroscience, medicine and psychology have helped us to understand how this ancient practice actually works, how it not only changes the structure of the brain, but also improves health and mental health, and even slows down the process of ageing. (see our resources for some references)
Mindfulness and MBSR is open to anyone. You don’t have to believe anything in particular to benefit from it. It’s compatible with a wide range of spiritual and religious beliefs. Anything that is important or meaningful for you in your life can be enhanced by mindfulness practice.
I have a really busy mind. I can’t sit still, how am I going to meditate?
Almost everyone in our MBSR courses complains of a busy mind!
The mind’s job is to think. In mindfulness meditation we are not trying to stop thinking, we are learning to relate differently to it.
Throughout the course you will have the opportunity to explore strategies, techniques and practical approaches for relating to your mind.
You will learn to meet your thoughts, mental and emotional habits, fears and stuck places with kindness and curiosity.
Why should I do MBSR when I can go to a local meditation centre for free?
Many people come to MBSR because they specifically want a mindfulness training that is secular and has no particular spiritual orientation or beliefs attached to the process.
As well, most “free” meditation centres rely on people’s generosity to support and sustain their work and the teachings. In order for these centres to survive, they need to be considered as supported by the people who use them.
MBSR is the world’s gold standard evidence based mindfulness training, It has been a major source of the evidence base over the last 40 years as it began in a university hospital setting, the university of Massachusetts medical school and was designed by a scientist, Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn.
Someone down the road is offering a mindfulness course cheaper. What’s the difference?
Check it out! We encourage you to be curious about the differences. It is likely that with a shorter course (ie 4 weeks of 1 hour each week) that you will get ‘mindfulness lite’, a superficial and no doubt helpful course, but not something that sticks, or substantially changes anything in your life.
For over 40 years, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has been the gold standard of teaching mindfulness in a secular setting for the relief of physical and psychological suffering. It is taught by people who have committed themselves to training, doing retreats and having a personal practice themselves, over many years.
Training takes place over a long period, is in depth and high standard. MBSR started at the University of Massachusetts Medical School over 26,000 people have participated in the research. This is a major source of the evidence base and current interest in mindfulness.
However, many people are now offering “mindfulness” courses “based on MBSR” or “based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn” with very little personal experience and immersion in mindfulness practice themselves, and little or no training in MBSR.
These courses are often shorter, perhaps 6 sessions of 1.5 hours (ie 9 hours long) or 6 sessions x 2 hours (12 hours long) for around $400. This works out as more expensive than the MBSR program which is 27 hours long, including a silent retreat day, plus email and phone contact with the teacher if you need it during the 8 weeks.