How do we keep our head cool,
our heart warm,
and have our voice heard,
while we have our hands full?

Sky-Heart Workshops and Training

Programmes will be tailored to the different needs of different groups

For whom is the Sky-Heart programme intended?
Individuals (those who think and feel) - Teachers and Students (Education) -
Medical Professionals, Trainers and Coaches (Care) - Employers and Employees
(Companies and Organisations) - Managers and Leaders (Leadership)

What formats does it offer?
Workshops - Courses - Coaching - Weekends - Weekdays - Online

What does it bring you?
Insights - Purpose - Skills - Creativity - Wellbeing

 
 

In a time in which everyone is almost constantly under pressure - at work, at home, in relationships, and sometimes even at the leisure or sports club - it is important to find the space to be at ease, relax and be yourself without having to perform all the time.

Sky-Heart offers simple methods and means
so you can always acces your home base
wherever you are and whatever state you're in.

In the workshops the emphasis is on discovering the connection between our thinking, feeling, speaking and doing by becoming aware of our habitual patterns in dealing with ourselves and others. The goal is transformation of a state of mind that is preoccupied with its own stories and prejudices to an open state full understanding, wisdom and compassion.
 

For whom is the Sky-Heart programme intended?

Individuals - everyone with thoughts and emotions
For everyone interested in personal development, mindfulness, therapy, spirituality, meditation, and insight into the human mind and behaviour.

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Do you want to deal better with your thoughts and emotions?
Are you looking for more meaning in your life?
Have you lost touch with yourself a little bit?
Or would you like to learn to meditate?

 

Education - teachers and students
For people in education who are interested in social-emotional learning and education of both the head and the heart.


Are you in front of a class and do you find it hard to keep it up?
Do you think that students also need to be taught how to be with themselves and each other?
Do you think empathy is an important quality and do you know this can be stimulated?
Do you think it's important that students also learn how to find some peace of mind?

 

Care - medical practitioners, trainers and coaches
For people in a caring profession who are faced with stress, burn-out, and the boundaries on compassion, and who are interested in having more mental resilience.

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Always being there for the other can wear you down sometimes.
What will you do?
When your boundaries are being tested, can you stay with it?
Who cares for you,
if you have a moment when you're done with caring all the time?


And for coaches and trainers who would like to extend their skill set through learning about calming the mind, meditation, and working with emotions through love and compassion.



Companies and Organisations - employers and employees
For people in companies and organisations who want to explore their shared values and deepen ways to work together more harmoniously and effectively.

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Do you think that different people have different qualities
and when they work together the sum is more than its parts?
Did you know that if you realise how you're part of a whole,
you feel more committed to the whole?

Do you think that caring for yourself and each other
creates a good working atmosphere?

Do you think that quality in communication
shines through in the quality of your product?

 

Leadership - managers and leaders
For managers and people interested in leadership that is based on integrity, sustainability, empathy, compassion, dialogue and cooperation.

The issues outside mirror the issues inside.
The leaders’ new work is about developing an interior holding space - a space that allows them to navigate in the midst of conflicting information and interests, in the midst of institutional failure and systematic breakdowns, in the midst of confusion that makes people turn to anger, fear, and despair.
— C. Otto Scharmer: Theory U, xxix

To push a little harder for a deadline from time to time doesn't cause harm, 
but constantly pushing, threatening and forcing, creates stress and ruins the atmosphere. 
A leader in the 21st Century looks further than this and knows what goes on in his group.
 

Do you think that decisions should be made out of fear and aggression or from a calm state of mind?
Did you know that inner well-being leads to better performance and more creativity?
Do you think it's important to be mindful and aware
of what goes on in the heads your team members?
Did you know that pleasure in work gives better results?


What formats does the Sky-Heart programme take?

Sky-Heart is offering workshops and training in different contexts and settings. It can take place on location in a community center, but also in the work place, at school, in a hospital, at home or online. It can be giving in the form of weekends, weekly meetings of a day or part of a day, or we can negotiate a form that would suit the work situation best.

 
 

During the programme exercises are being offered, reflections done, exchanges take place and methods are being taught to be applied by oneself. The emphasis is on the creation of space, insight and awareness that form the basis for processes of change. We use images, sounds, body exercises, attention training, visualisation, analysis and our imagination.

What does the Sky-Heart programme bring you?

Insights and methods for dealing with difficult thoughts and emotions.
Insight in personal goals, motivation, and sense of meaning and purpose.
Recognition and transformation of unhealthy habitual patterns.
Training in attention, compassion, mental resilience, balance and stability.
More well-being and inner peace.
More mutual understanding and better communication.

By training in attention you discover inner space and you relax.
Peace of mind creates clarity in thought and emotions.
Insight in interdependence opens your heart.
Inspired by compassion you find meaning and deeper well-being.
— Bert van Baar PhD., Founder of Sky-Heart

What people are saying about the workshops and training

Iris
The exchanges were good, they avoided becoming ‘therapy’. Very nice was the calm that Bert radiated through which I could participate in the exercises without inhibition. The knowledge and experience he shared – very inspiring!

Leona
The training had a logical build up through which you were give the space to experience your own process. The supporting explanation was nice because it was clarifying. Every time the main point were repeated so the content would stick. I found it a very pleasant and accessible way of learning. It gave me practical tools how to meditate and how to continue the exercises at home. Knowledge was passed on based on scientific research that showed the positive effects of meditation on body and mind. Clear explanation of compassion, attachment and living with attention and the experience that it’s great to be involved with this again.

Monique
I’ve done meditation sessions before, but this time I’ve gotten much further. It was a rich and varied programme, very pleasant and it brought lots of insights. I’ve gotten concrete handles and can see how you can go from meditation to compassion.

More About Sky-Heart's Founder →

Froukje
The weekend took me out of my comfort zone which is necessary for me to change. I’ve learned that I’m not the only one who wants to be happy. Everybody has their baggage and their reasons to do or say what they do. I don’t need to judge them. 

Frank
Bert has an enormous amount of knowledge of and years of experience with meditation practices. He offers the participant all kinds of practices and explains them. He also offers the participant the space to choose for themselves whether they want to do something with them.

Dori
A weekend meditating like this can calm your mind profoundly. The fact that a few days later this is still the case makes me feel very rich. Thank you for this educational and very special weekend.

Laetitia
The most I learned from the philosophy behind that Bert was talking about a lot: the loving attention, how you can have a different approach to life. It did me really good and has given me a lot of energy. It was an eye-opener. Ten times better than therapy; a weekend in which everything he said was applicable to my situation.

More About Sky-Heart Activities →