Chris first learned mindfulness meditation at a hermitage in Sri Lanka in 1977. His interest in mindfulness was rekindled in 1985 when he joined a study group in Cambridge that became the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. Decades of conversations came together in 2005 with the publishing of a co-edited, professional text, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy (now in its 2nd edition), and Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy (2012). Mindfulness is the heart of Buddhist psychology, and interest in mindfulness-, acceptance-, and compassion-based psychotherapy has recently blossomed to become a mainstream approach to psychotherapy.

Chris’ primary interest is self-compassion—the warmhearted attitude of mindfulness when we suffer, fail, or feel inadequate. He stumbled onto self-compassion in 2005 as a solution to his decades-long struggle with public speaking anxiety.

In 2015, Chris helped to establish the Center for Mindfulness and Compassion at the Cambridge Health Alliance. He is on the faculty and serves as a senior advisor and research consultant, currently co-developing an fMRI research protocol for treating chronic pain with self-compassion.

Chris spends his professional life traveling internationally, teaching and writing about mindfulness and self-compassion, supporting MSC teachers and students, and maintaining a modest psychotherapy practice.

Learn more about Dr. Chris Gemer: https://chrisgermer.com/
Learn about the Center for Mindful Self-Compassion: https://centerformsc.org/

00:01:33 – Sean introduces Christopher Germer
00:04:46 – Opening words from Christopher Germer
00:07:38 – Christopher’s introduction to self-compassion
00:12:45 – Making room for shame
00:18:13 – The co-existence of mindfulness and compassion
00:19:17 – The difference between mindfulness and self-compassion
00:22:28 – How mindfulness and self-compassion regulate emotion
00:25:05 – The central paradox of self-compassion
00:27:10 – A life-long flu: suffering
00:28:40 – Exercise: How we treat our loved ones vs. how we treat ourselves
00:32:47 – What is self-compassion defined?
00:36:31 – Three universal expressions of compassion
00:37:55 – Exercise: Self-compassion practice
00:44:48 – Bumping up against difficult experiences during self-compassion practice
00:47:36 – Two problems with the term ‘self-compassion’
00:52:00 – The science of self-compassion and self-compassion myths
00:56:20 – The yin and yang sides of self-compassion
00:57:52 – Three components of self-compassion (followed by an exercise)
01:07:28 – How to increase self-compassion
01:16:43 – Question: How do you bring mindfulness into your work with clients when the frontal cortex is under high levels of distress?
01:22:28 – The question to ask when working with someone who has experienced trauma
01:24:19 – Question: What changes in our teachings when we teach online?
01:31:34 – Question: How do we safely help people to visualize suffering in order to work with it compassionately?
01:39:09 – Question: How do you recommend using ‘The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook’ and the book entitled ‘Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program’?
01:44:25 – Can we teach self-compassion without ever mentioning the term?
01:50:19 – Exercise: Self-Compassion Break
02:07:32 – Reflections after Self-Compassion Break