An exercise to help you notice when you are in your senses as opposed to in your mind and when you are acting to move towards what's important to you as opposed to acting to escape from difficult internal experiences. 

ACT matrix warm up

This is a version of the classic ACT mindfulness exercise, "Leaves on a Stream" originally attributable to Dr. Stephen C. Hayes.

Leaves On A Stream

Kristin Neff Body Scan

This is a brief variation on the Compassionate Self Imagery practice recorded during a training by Dr.  Dennis Tirch. Any mild background noise is just a part of the nature of this "field recording." With metta, DT

Compassionate Self - 12 Minute Variation

Compassionate Mindfulness Of Emotion

These tracks feature Dr James Kirby delivering Compassion-Focused Therapy exercises in order to help build individual's own compassionate self.

CFT - Deepening The Compassionate Self (Part II)

Three minutes breathing space

This is an imagery practice that uses our brain's ability to imagine things (and it's inability to know the difference between reality and what is imagined) to move toward soothing.

Compassionate colour

Paul Gilbert
Founder of Compassion Focused Therapy

Paul Gilbert is a pioneer of compassion-focused therapy. He’s a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Derby. In his work, he has drawn on insights from Buddhist tradition as well as evolutionary psychology. His compassion training teaches people to quieten critical or hostile inner voices in order to treat themselves more kindly. That can mean working on breath, posture and tone of voice. Learning to feel compassion towards ourselves is a skill that can be taught.

Cultivating the Compassionate Mind by Paul Gilbert

Track 3 CMT Soothing Rhythm Breathing

A conversation with  Liz Stanley.

This episode's guest is Elizabeth Stanley, a professor at Georgetown University and author of the book "Widen the Window: Training Your Brain and Body to Thrive During Stress and Recover from Trauma." Liz is a U.S. Army veteran who came to practice (in part) to help her with PTSD. In their conversation, David and Liz discuss contemporary definitions of trauma and how this relates to the current moment; the neurophysiology of trauma, including the relationship between what Liz terms the “thinking brain” and “survival brain”; and their current assessments of the impacts of COVID-19, it’s impact on social windows of tolerance, and their hopes for the path ahead.

Episode 14 | Widening the Window of Tolerance

The Irish Centre for Compassion Focused Therapy (ICCFT) is an independent practice offering individual therapy and consultation.