Jeannette Eaton
Mindfulness | Writing | Mentoring
Please email info@jeannetteeaton.com to learn more or sign up for groups.
Meeting the current moment with creativity
Hi, I'm Jeannette. I'm a certified mindfulness and creative writing teacher and a mom practicing in the center of it all.
I stumbled into practicing mindfulness meditation in 2003 when a generous friend offered me a mindfulness book to help me through a difficult period. It took nearly a decade to build a consistent practice, but that very first book kept me pointing to and returning to practice.
During the last ten years, I have deepened my daily practice, sat silent meditation retreats, and continued to delight in learning more. I am a certified mindfulness teacher, a graduate of Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach's Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program and the Cloud Sangha Mindfulness Mentor Training program.
One of the most significant early gifts of my practice was the understanding that I can learn to be with my experience just as it is. Not with what I want things to look like, but with things as they are. I realized I could be with hard moments, with my flaws and mistakes, and the things I wish I had done well or differently. I could hold these things and know them. I could also choose how to react to them.
I learned that I could offer myself compassion, and this practice has deepened my capacity to offer compassion to others.
I lead groups because I love mindfulness practice and have seen its impact firsthand, and I want to invite others to try it out. Growing up, I had not seen myself as someone who could meditate. It didn't seem to be accessible to me, and I want to create space for others who might feel the same. I hope people can show up as they are, and I hope to honor the different backgrounds and lived experiences we bring to our practice. People of every culture, wisdom tradition, gender identity, race, age, sexual orientation, and physical ability are welcome.
Offerings
Mindfulness meditation can offer the body and mind a chance to settle. Through our practice together, we begin to create the conditions for ease, steadiness, and compassion to grow in our lives. Whether you are a long-time practitioner or want to try meditation for the first time, I would love to have you join me in practice.
I offer short info calls to learn more about the following groups and to answer any questions. Please email me at info@jeannetteeaton.com if you would like to find out more.
Mindfulness Groups
What is this moment asking of us?
So often, as we move through our lives, we bump against feeling like we are the only ones who are a certain way, or struggle with this thing, or long for this other thing. When we practice mindfulness with others and hear their questions and observations, we connect more deeply with what it means to be human.
Groups can help us deepen our individual practice. There is so much skill and wisdom inside of groups. So much we can learn in relationship to each other.
Are you looking to build skills to meet all moments in life, those we like and those don't, with more ease and balance? Would you like to make time each week to settle into stillness and quiet? I lead gently guided meditations to bring awareness to what is happening in the body and mind to create some space to pause and meet ourselves with more kindness.
Join me online or in-person.
Start the Day with Mindfulness—An Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation
Eight-Week Virtual Group
Thursdays, March 23 - May 11
8:30 - 9:30 a.m.
online
Ongoing In-Person Tuesday Group
Shelburne Falls Yoga, The Mill at Shelburne Falls, 49 Conway St. Suite 201
Tuesdays, 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.*
*On the first Tuesday of the month, I offer a 30-minute beginner session that starts at 1:30, before the weekly group begins at 2:00.
Mindful Writing Groups
Opening into creativity
Both writing and meditation increase our capacity to notice things we might otherwise speed by. Writing and mindfulness can complement each other, bringing out different aspects of practice.
Do you want to make time for stillness and creativity? Do you wish you had more time to slow down and hear your own voice? I support people to create space for deep listening so we can begin to hold ourselves and our stories with kindness and settle more fully into our lives.
You don't need to consider yourself a writer or a meditator to attend! Mindful writing groups offer short guided meditations followed by time to write. Creative prompts are provided. Bring a pen and a journal and your curiosity.
Upcoming Groups:
Sunday, March 26, 2023
10:00 - 1:00 p.m. EST
Online
Additional creative writing workshops offered at www.papertrailwriters.com.
Mentoring
Group and Individual Sessions
Mentor groups differ from mindfulness practice groups, giving more time to discussions that focus on challenges and insights from practice. So while we will do a short practice to settle into to our time together, the group is not a practice group. It is a group aimed at supporting an ongoing practice.
The members of the group, or individuals in 1:1 sessions, shape the direction of the group by bringing what is most relevant to our time together.
There is more time to talk about our meditation practice, to ask questions and get support from each other and from a mentor.
Three-month mentor group:
Every other Thursday, 10:00 - 11:30 p.m. EST
September 7 - November 30, 2023
Upcoming Groups and Workshops
About Me
My Mindfulness Journey
I am a parent who has a daily meditation practice. Family life, life with two children in the house, informs so much of my practice. I am constantly coming up against my own edges and learning to soften.
I love working with people who want to connect with their own hearts and minds and connect with others. I love to make room for things to unfold—to not know—to be engaged—to be curious—to settle in.
With my practice, I get to be curious. And playful. Mindfulness has helped me understand how to engage with my life differently—to meet life with care and openness, and love. And my practice deepened when I began to sit with and learn from others. I was hesitant to do that, nervous in groups, nervous about what it meant to practice something that seemed solitary in a group, yet working with others deepens my practice and continues to help me grow.
My practice exists because of the generosity of others. I first found my way to mindfulness through reading, and I am grateful to the many wonderful teachers who took the time to write. It was an accessible way to begin. I deeply appreciate teachers and local sanghas for offering weekly sits and dharma talks.
My practice grew and continues to grow from courses and offerings of incredible teachers, and from the other participants who show up each week and month and share their insights and their struggles. They are humble, present, vulnerable, funny, human, accepting, wise, flexible, embodied, passionate, and inspiring.
Beautiful and challenging moments happen in groups and individual sessions with a teacher. I offer these groups to pass along the teachings I have learned that show me how to meet the current moment with creativity, steadiness, and love.
Get In Touch
I would love to hear from you! Please reach out to say hello, register for an upcoming workshop, or simply have a conversation to see if working together may be a good fit for your practice.
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