7-Fold Mentor Bonding Practice: Radical Self-Healing with a Caring and Trusted Ally with Fiona Brandon

Step into the imaginal theater of the Tibetan Buddhist 7-fold mentor bonding practice, and open into your vibrant, dynamic, and compassionate self. Slough off negative thought loops, distressing emotional rides, and negative self-beliefs; and cultivate a safe haven for weathering difficulty and cultivating resilience.

As mammals, we learn about who we are and the world around us in relationship with others. If our caregivers in childhood were overly stressed and not consistently emotionally available, then our perception of ourselves and the world gets distorted with the influence of these experiences. Using the healing power of imagery and a self-chosen trusted ally, we can ignite our vital self-healing talents to dissolve our limited self-view and stretch into the deeply nourishing characteristics and ways of being we see in our chosen mentor. By inviting in a relationship with a resonate ally, the 7-fold mentor bonding practice uses our innate developmental social learning equipment to rehearse and cultivate an embodied relational experience that matures a caring, confident, and compassionate self-view.

Join in on this 1.5-hour self-healing journey. All levels of meditators welcome! We will learn about the practice from Buddhist and neuropsychological perspectives. There will be time for discussion; sharing questions and insights; and how to practically integrate your experience after the class.

Benefits of the practice

+ Regulates the nervous system with healing imagery that rewires neural networks for self-compassion and prosocial engagement

+ Rehearses a positive connection and attachment with a chosen caring ally speeding up our innate ability for self-development and self-healing

+ Builds an internal safe haven where we can feel seen, held, and cared for 24/7

+ Promotes resilience against negative self-views and stress caused by challenging relationships and oppressive systems

About the Teacher

Fiona Brandon, MPS, MA, MFT, is the Director of the Nalanda Institute’s Compassion Based Resilience Training (CBRT) and core faculty member of the Embodied Psychotherapy program. As a licensed psychotherapist and clinical consultant, she integrates Buddhist psychology, depth psychology, expressive arts therapy, dream imagery, and sensorimotor psychotherapy in her work with adults and couples. Fiona is a co-editor and contributor to the 2023 anthology Advances in Contemplative Psychotherapy: Accelerating Healing and Transformation (2nd ed.) published by Routledge. She also contributed the chapter, Mindfulness: Self-healing Mechanism and Psychotherapeutic Ally to the forthcoming book Integrating Motivational Interviewing and Mindfulness: A Practitioner Guide to be published in 2024 by Oxford University Press. As a graduate of the Masters program in Counseling Psychology from the Pacifica Graduate Institute, Fiona’s research focused on the meditative practice of Authentic Movement and the use of symbols and dream imagery in psychotherapy. To learn more about Fiona visit www.fionabrandon.com.