We are pleased to invite you to attend the first regional Mindfulness Summit Adria, which will be held on April 30 and May 1, 2021.
The Summit will be an exciting and innovative online event where prominent personalities who practice and teach Mindfulness will gather and share their experiences and practices. The event is designed to provide knowledge, experience, learning techniques of Mindfulness and is intended for all interested individuals who practice Mindfulness, as well as those who have not had the opportunity to get acquainted with Mindfulness.
We look forward to having you attend the Mindfulness Summit Adria, free educational event to develop and enrich your personal and professional life through Mindfulness.
Agenda - Mindfulness Summit Adria
| Time | I day of Summit |
|---|---|
| 5:15 PM – 5:30 PM | Preparation for Summit |
| 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM | Mindfulness: Develop a clear mind and a strong heart - Oren Jay Sofer (Q&A) Moderator: Srđan Vukčević |
| 6:30 PM – 6:35 PM | Break |
| 6:35 PM – 7:25 PM | Panel: My personal growth through Mindfulness (Ivana Burić, Saša Radović i Srđan Vukčević) (Q&A) |
| 7:25 PM – 7:30 PM | Break |
| 7:30 PM – 8:20 PM | Mindfulness as a practice and profession - Lot Heijke (Q&A) Moderator: Saša Radović |
| 8:20 PM – 8:30 PM | End of the I day |
| Time | II day of Summit |
|---|---|
| 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM | Panel: Mindfulness in the region (Vesna Kostić, Spomenka Brašić, Ivana Burić, Saša Radović and Srđan Vukčević) (Q&A) |
| 10:45 AM - 10:50 AM | Break |
| 10:50 AM - 11:50 AM | Block of three guided meditations (each block 20 min) |
| 11:50 AM- 12:35 AM | Everything you wanted to know about Mindfulness - Dr. Miguel Farias (Q&A) Moderator: Ivana Burić |
| 12:35 AM - 12:40 AM | Break |
| 12:40 AM - 13:20 AM | Block of two meditations (each block 20 min) |
| 13:20 AM - 13:30 AM | The Summit closing |
What is Mindfulness?
„Mindfulness is awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally,“ – Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School
In scientific descriptions of Mindfulness, two aspects are typically emphasized. One is present moment awareness. Present awareness can be considered as a combination of stability, clarity and vigilance. But present awareness is only one half of the picture. Mindfulness is present awareness plus calmness. Calmness can be defined as a feeling of cognitive-emotional balance where there is no compulsion to act according to our preferences. It has numerous connotations: lightness, non-reactivity, non-manipulation of experience and tolerance of occurrence, intensification, weakening and disappearance of subjective experiences.
What are the benefits of mindfulness practice?
How we regulate our emotions is important: our well-being is inextricably linked to our emotions. A number of pieces of evidence – psychological, behavioral and neurobiological – support the claim that Mindfulness improves emotional regulation.
In practicing Mindfulness, we learn to choose an object of attention, maintain a connection with that object, detach ourselves from competing stimulus, and regain attention when we notice that we have become ‘cognitively connected’ to competing stimulus.
Mindfulness can bring benefits through the development of self-awareness skills. Self-awareness involves awareness of the present moment of somatic and emotional signs. This also refers to the reduction of self-referential thinking and greater flexibility in the ideas we have about ourselves.
Organizers
Srđan Vukčević
Founder and CEO of the company Blue Coach, which deals with coaching, education and HR consulting. He is a certified Mindfulness teacher.
Srđan comes into this area with over 20 years of formal and intensive leadership and coaching training and a background in teaching and education. Through practicing Kendo and Aikido for more than 20 years he also had extensive Zen meditation practice. For the last 15 years he has been working with executives, business owners and their teams to measurably improve their leadership and organizational effectiveness through various Mindfulness based interventions and coaching. He has trained and coached various adolescent groups, sports coaches and professional players, executives and senior managers.
Ivana Burić
Dr. Ivana Burić is an interdisciplinary scientist and mindfulness instructor. She holds a PhD from Coventry University (England) and Radboud University (Netherlands). In her scientific work she focuses on the influence of mindfulness on human psychology and biology. She founded and runs the Mindfulness Center Split in Croatia.
In her work, she applies techniques from psychology, molecular biology and neuroscience in researching the effect of mindfulness and related techniques on human mental and physical health.
Saša Radović
Saša (Sasha) Radović is a certified teacher of MBSR (Institute for Mindfulness-Based Approaches – IMA) from Podgorica, with over 25 years of personal experience of mindfulness practice and participation in numerous intensive multi-month retreat programs. He has international professional experience working with leading professional and educational institutions in the UK. He is the founder of the Mindfulness Montenegro initiative, which represents Montenegro in the European Association of Mindfulness-Based Approaches (EAMBA).
Keynote speakers
Oren Jay Sofer
Oren Jay Sofer teaches Buddhist meditation, mindfulness and Nonviolent Communication nationally. A member of the Spirit Rock Teachers Council, he holds a degree in Comparative Religion from Columbia University, is the author of Say What You Mean: A Mindful Approach to Nonviolent Communication, and co-author of Teaching Mindfulness to Empower Adolescents. Oren is co-founder of Mindful Healthcare and the founder of Next Step Dharma, an innovative online program that helps meditators integrate their retreat experiences into daily life.
Lot Heijke
Lot Heijke Mindfulness teacher, certified with CFM (Center for Mindfulness, Massachusetts, USA). Meditation teacher, trained as a yoga teacher, and a certified supervisor. Lot has been teaching yoga and mindfulness since 2004, and regularly teaches meditation retreats and teacher-training programs internationally.
Lot served on the board of the Mindfulness Association of the Netherlands (VMBN) for many years. She is a member of the Working party of the global IMI Network for quality of mindfulness teaching and training, and the co-founder and president of the European Associatons for Mindfulness-Based Approaches EAMBA
Miguel Farias
Dr. Miguel Farias is an academic and author that leads a research group (Brain, Belief and Behaviour group) at Coventry University, and has a doctorate from Oxford University. In his work, he primarily deals with the study of mindfulness and various types of meditation, with an emphasis on the possible negative consequences of meditation that occur in some situations. He is the author of “The Buddha Pill” and the editor of the “Oxford Handbook of Meditation”.
Guest lecturers
Vesna Kostić
Vesna Kostić is the founder of the Mindfulness Center Belgrade, as well as the Bg Yoga Center. She has been a certified Mindfulness instructor since 2014. Vesna is also the only certified trainer of the Search Inside Yourself program in Serbia. Vesna is also a licensed yoga instructor. In her work, she especially researched and used various yoga techniques (breathing and relaxation) in stress control. During the past period, she has led numerous programs in the field of Mindfulness, development of Emotional Intelligence and yoga for individuals, companies and institutions. He is a member of IMTA (International Mindfulness Federation) as well as IMMA (International Mindfulness and Meditation Alliance).
Spomenka Brašić
Spomenka Brašić, publicist journalist, professor of Slavic studies at the University of Ghent in Belgium. Mindfulness teacher, student of Dr. Edel Maex, one of the pioneers of Mindfulness in Europe and the world. She attended trainings at the Stress Clinic in Antwerp, Belgium.
Promoter and researcher in the field of Mindfulness, founder of the Mindfulness Center Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Specialties: Mindfulness as a prevention of burn-out and depression, Mindfulness communication, Mindfulness art.