Training
Another Day of Downtime
- Date
- Wednesday 28 August 2024
- Time
- Address
-
Old Observatory
Sterrenwachtlaan 11
2311 GW Leiden - Room
- A0.006
Downtime: A Mini-Course on Mindfulness (for Academic Staff)
Would you like (the world) to slow down sometimes, but have no idea where to start? This one day retreat picks up on the suggestion of the CvB to “build in moments of downtime” (slentertijd) into our daily (working) lives. Our environment is often busy and for many stressful: our system is always on. This one-day retreat invites you to cultivate a different kind of attitude in your daily activities, in the office, the classroom and beyond. Like much of our academic education, building in moments of downtime is a skill that requires both training and practice. Loosely based on the MBSR training and rooted in Buddhist philosophy, this retreat is tailormade for academics, offering a series of steppingstones that will help address and train the practice of slowing down, dealing with stressful situations and hectic everyday life. The aim of the retreat is not to achieve anything, nor to increase your productivity or work towards a better work-life balance (though these things may happen). Instead, we will use our time to practice down-timing together while familiarizing ourselves with some of the basics of mindfulness and meditation.
The retreat (purposefully) takes place during office hours and is open to academic staff interested in cultivating moments of piece and quite as part of their working routine. Participants are encouraged to commit to the full session. Prior experience with mindfulness, meditation or slowing down is not needed.
Practicalities
This retreat will take place on Wednesdag 28 August from 10:00 - 16:00 in the Old Observatory (Oude Sterrewacht), room A0.006. Unless the whole group speaks Dutch, it will be held in English
Testimonial of an earlier participant:
'This downtime session was very valuable. It was a great way to step away from the work stress. To stop and to become aware of the now. It was amazing to ‘use’ the luxury that we have so close but what I rarely use – the walk in nature, in the Hortus, with its amazing scents and sounds of the insects and the frogs. A calm mind is a great mind.
In my everyday work, I experience regularly the pressure to work faster, make deadlines, switch amongst various tasks in no time. This workshop, with the idea of creating the ‘dowtime’ within my worktime and environment, helps me tremendously to slow down and re-attune myself. I think it brings value to the productivity and well-being of myself, and on top of this, it allows me to participate in an academic community that shares similar wishes and visions about individual and staff health and well-being.
I feel the university is setting a solid example of how to put respect for our work-life balance into practice by backing initiatives such as the Downtime-Day. The university needs to systematically integrate these practices into their policy. So: this was a step in the right direction!'
