Copper Beech Institute

You're invited to join us on retreat by the sea! This special retreat is designed to help you tap into your inner strength and your bliss body to face the challenges of our world. We still have a few spots left! The Hemera application deadline for this retreat is Wednesday, November 20th midnight EST. Registration deadline is Friday, November 22nd at noon EST. Learn more and book your restorative getaway here:? https://lnkd.in/e2P2pESk #wearecopperbeech #mindfulness #community #nature #retreat

This January 17th-19th, join Vamsi Koneru (pictured) and Sandrine Harris for their annual mindfulness retreat, Understanding and Healing Trauma through Mindfulness, Embodiment and Connection. We will engage in experiential practices, sharing and discussion, and engaged learning to enrich the compassion-filled work of healing and deepen our understanding of trauma. To learn more and register, please visit: https://lnkd.in/edVXyKiW *This retreat is eligible for a Hemera Scholarship.

On the road paying a visit to some of our partner agencies and programs who are vital to helping us create strategic impact in our focus areas of Education, Financial Stability, and Basic Needs. Thank you to the countless hours committed by our Community Impact Council Volunteers and Board of Directors who approve investments such as this one, to help provide mindfulness training to local youth and educators through Copper Beech Institute. In a 2024 survey: 85% of students said practicing Mindfulness has helped them learn new ways of problem solving. 83% said practicing Mindfulness has taught them new ways to help themselves when faced with a challenging situation. 83% said practicing Mindfulness has helped them to be more understanding/kind. 75% have used Mindfulness to work through strong feelings and emotions. Jered Bruzas Kay (Karen) Mello Yarixa Lopez Logan Smith Linda Zukauskas Rebecca Williams Susan Fournier Kristen Jacoby Mark Casey Adrienne Parkmond

Our rebrand is officially live across all platforms, with a polished new website ready for you to explore! We're thrilled to introduce our renamed blog and newsletter, embodying our core values of connection and evolving in community. "Seeds of Change: Mindfulness in the Modern World" (formerly Everyday Awakening) will share inspiring stories, practical insights, and updates on our community's journey. Our newsletter, now "Roots & Branches" (R&B), highlights our intention to remain connected to our roots while extending our reach to a broader community. This rebrand, years in the making, reflects our deepened commitment to being with and learning from nature. It took the dedication of our entire team, and we welcome your support during this inward time of rebirth. Every donation, regardless of size, is a vote of confidence in our direction and strengthens our vital work. The Seeds of Change Blog and Roots & Branches Newsletter represent our shared commitments and ongoing learning. We invite you to engage with our content, share your thoughts, and be part of our vibrant community. Together, we can nurture seeds of change and extend our roots and branches to create a more mindful and just world. Explore our new website, subscribe to Roots & Branches, visit Seeds of Change, and let's grow together! We revealed the rebrand on Juneteenth, setting the stage for a Fourth that's both reflective and festive—cheers to freedom in all its vibrant forms! ?In gratitude, All of Us at CBI #Rebrand #Mindfulness #CommunityGrowth #SeedsOfChange #RootsAndBranches #Juneteenth?

Welcome to Day 6 of our?CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge!? ? To date, we've empowered youth, supported educators, cared for the community with our toolkit, and explored the power of giving and receiving. Today, we unveil?our short film?about our Leadership in the Community initiative via our?Mindfulness Facilitator Certification (MFC). Imagine a leadership program that builds on each participant's expertise, training them to view their field and community through a mindfulness lens. Picture a program that equips participants with mindfulness practices and facilitation skills to effectively introduce mindfulness to newcomers, while promoting an understanding of social justice, inclusion, and living/teaching in a digital age.?That is our MFC program!? Mindfulness Facilitator Certification (MFC) is an immersive community learning experience that introduces participants to a transformative new way of living and teaching mindfulness, informed and responsive to our ever-changing physical and digital world.?We guide participants in deepening their personal practice while leveraging their unique expertise through a new mindful lens & framework.?You're invited to?join us?on July 12th at 12:15pm?for our first Info Session leading up to our 2025 training. Learn how CBI is redefining what it means to be a facilitator, embracing a holistic vision of mindfulness that extends beyond individual progress to encompass the well-being of all.? Through MFC, Copper Beech Institute promotes healing across connected communities.? Building on our partnership with the City of Hartford, we've expanded our reach this year. We've trained public sector leaders alongside dedicated community members, all driven by their personal connections to mindfulness.?The result? A powerful cohort ready to weave mindfulness into the community's fabric in innovative and meaningful ways.?See what they have to say. Our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge continues, offering you the chance to win a weekend retreat with our Executive Director, Danae (a $959 value). Here's how it works:? -Each day, we share themed content with a specific engagement prompt? -Every engagement earns you one raffle entry? -More participation means more chances to win? -One winner will be selected at the end of the challenge and announced in our August Newsletter? We invite you to?watch our short film?on our Mindfulness Facilitator Certification (MFC). To enter today's raffle challenge, simply comment on the video (on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram) with a line or phrase that resonates with you. Remember, each day you participate increases your chances of winning the retreat!? Your support of CBI makes all of this possible, and we're deeply grateful for your engagement and?donations?to our community. https://lnkd.in/eswsU4G5

"Is sorrow the true wild? And if it is—and if we join them—your wild to mine—what's that? For joining, too, is a kind of annihilation. What if we joined our sorrows, I'm saying. I'm saying: What if that is joy? ~ Ross Gay" Welcome to Day 5 of our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge! Poet Ross Gay suggests that by sharing our sorrows and struggles (our "wild"), we create a connection that transforms our individual experiences into a shared joy. This idea resonates deeply with our community's ethos of support and interconnection. Our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge continues, offering you the chance to win a weekend retreat with our Executive Director, Danae (a $959 value). Here's how it works: -Each day, we share themed content with a specific engagement prompt -Every engagement earns you one raffle entry -More participation increases your chances of winning -One winner will be selected at the end of the challenge and announced in our August Newsletter To enter today's raffle, we invite you to reflect on Ross Gay's quote and share what joy means to you. Comment on this post with a single word that represents joy for you, prefaced with "#Joyis". For example, "#Joyisconnection" or "#Joyisresilience". Your response not only enters you into the raffle but also contributes to our collective understanding and feeling of joy. Today's Topic:?Our Community Canopy Many of you who've been part of the Copper Beech community over the last decade are familiar with our "Boundless Heart" scholarship fund. As we continue our rebrand, we're excited to introduce its new name: Our Community Canopy (OCC). Our Community Canopy draws inspiration from the expansive canopy of the copper beech tree. Just as a tree's canopy offers shade and shelter to all beneath it, our fund aims to create an inclusive space where everyone, regardless of financial means, can access mindfulness practices. We firmly believe that financial constraints shouldn't limit access to mindfulness. Our Community Canopy embodies our commitment to interdependence and generosity. Through the support of our community, we're able to offer a range of low and no-cost options, striving to make the benefits of mindfulness practice available to those who seek them. In that spirit, we?are excited to introduce a Donation-Based Summer Meditation and Movement Series supporting Our Community Canopy. We invite you to join us on campus to Give and Receive well-being and community generosity.? Your ongoing support and engagement make our work possible. We're deeply appreciative of your participation and contributions to our community. With gratitude, All of Us at Copper Beech?

Welcome to Day 4 of our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge! Today, we're exploring the interconnected power of Giving + Receiving, and how, through the lens of mindfulness, these acts become a beautiful cycle of mutual benefit. Our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge continues, with the chance to win a weekend retreat with our Executive Director, Danae (a $959 value). Here's a reminder of how it works: Daily themed content with specific engagement prompts? Each engagement earns one raffle entry? More participation increases your chances of winning? One winner will be announced in our August Newsletter Today's theme is Giving + Receiving. Giving as Receiving: Metta illustrates the neurological benefits of giving. Our brains are wired for connection, and when we practice generosity - through words, acts, thoughts, or donations - we're not just benefiting the recipients. The ancient wisdom of mindfulness teaches us that cultivating generosity reverberates through our entire being, amplifying this quality while reducing attention towards other qualities (such as scarcity for example). To all who give, we extend our heartfelt gratitude. Receiving as Giving: While we'll delve deeper into our scholarship fund in the coming days, it's worth noting that our community members who allow themselves to receive, give us the opportunity to amplify generosity within ourselves. To all who receive, we are profoundly thankful. At Copper Beech Institute, Giving + Receiving is intricately woven into our work through diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Social justice is about the ways systems manage resources, and about restructuring those systems. By providing access to wellness through grant funding and individual donations, we're committed to breaking down barriers for those who are marginalized and often excluded from self-care opportunities, shifting wellness from a luxury to a benefit available for all. We're here together, in community. We invite you to visit our Give + Receive website page to find your button for today — I am abundant, I give or I am supported, I receive. To enter today's raffle challenge, simply comment "Give + Receive" on the Day 4 post (Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn). Remember, each day you participate increases your chances of winning the retreat! Remember, each day you participate in the CBI Challenge increases your chances of winning the retreat, and each moment you engage in metta practice replaces negative thought patterns with positive care.? With gratitude,? All of Us at CBI

"Mindfulness makes it possible to re-center as long as we give ourselves the opportunity to do it. A lot of our work is about shifting the culture so that leaders are practicing with the team in general, and so that there's the introduction of the pause — the encouragement of that. That shift — so that people know it's a tool, and then turn to the tool — that is really key." ~ Danae Laura, ED Welcome to Day 3 of our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge! After exploring Youth Empowerment and Educator Support, today we're diving into our workforce training Self-Care Toolkit, highlighting our people-first approach to workplace culture. We're deeply grateful for our partner organizations who trust us to address their specific needs and foster transformation within their teams and workspaces. At CBI, we believe that communities and leaders shape workplace culture, and it's possible to redefine productivity by incorporating metrics and values related to team wellness and connectivity. We view work teams as clusters of interacting nervous systems, and mindfulness as a powerful tool for optimizing this dynamic for positive outcomes. Our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge continues, offering you the chance to win a weekend retreat with our ED, Danae (a $959 value). Here's how it works: Each day, we share themed content with a specific engagement prompt? Every engagement earns you one raffle entry? More participation means more chances to win? One winner will be selected at the end of the challenge and announced in our August Newsletter Today's theme is Our Self-Care Toolkit.? Over the past year in our pilot cohorts, we trained 100+ Hartford City Employees in the Health and Human Services, Youth and Recreation, Library, Police, and Fire departments — bringing mindfulness into the public sector.? Our 8-week program delivers practices that ease tension and connect participants to what makes them feel "most alive". As our lead facilitator Brian Thompson shares, we focus on accessing "things that stimulate us, that make us feel alive, that leave us feeling energetic or good in our body and good in our mind -- then we have this potential, that space to lean in." Our program instills practitioner trust in themselves, helping each individual find the mindfulness practice that works best for them. We invite you to watch our short film on our Self-Care Toolkit. To enter today's raffle challenge, simply comment on the video (on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram) with a line or phrase that resonates with you. Remember, each day you participate increases your chances of winning the retreat! Your support and engagement make all of this possible, and we're deeply grateful for your contributions to our community, and donations to our community.?? With gratitude,? All of Us at Copper Beech ? https://lnkd.in/ey5DbUUi

Do you agree that teaching adults to access calm in stressful situations is perhaps as valuable, or even more, than classroom management skills that may seek to force calm and stillness in youth? #breathe #mindfulleader

"The thing is that we're not going to be perfect, right? We're just going to make our way in the world, and do our best. Our relationships matter. Our choices and words matter. So when we do misstep what does that mean for our practice? What is our relationship with ourselves that allows us to interact with a moment of a mistake, or a moment of imperfection so that we feel at ease enough with having been imperfect to go back and address it." ~ Danae Laura, ED If you missed yesterday's youth short film, don't worry - there's still time to watch and enter our exciting raffle! Today, we're shifting our focus to another crucial aspect of our work. We believe that by introducing mindfulness to educators, administrators, and parents, we create an environment where youth are encouraged to pause, breathe, and connect with their inner world. This cultivation of mindfulness empowers both adults and young people to access the power of choice. Our CBI Rebrand Daily Challenge continues, offering you the chance to win a weekend retreat with our Executive Director, Danae Laura (a $959 value). Here's how it works: each day of the challenge, we'll share themed content with a specific engagement prompt. Every time you engage with a daily prompt, you earn one entry into the raffle. The more days you participate, the more chances you have to win! One lucky winner will be selected at the end of the challenge and announced in our August Newsletter. Today's theme is Educator Support. Over the past year, we've trained nearly 200 educators, bringing mindfulness into schools and community-based organizations (CBOs). Our approach is unique: we emphasize the importance of educators tending to their own nervous systems as the most effective way to impact youth environments. As our lead facilitator, Brian Thompson, explains, "We help educators locate mindfulness tools, and understand how much power they have in modeling behaviors—instead of attempting to 'control' kids or 'force' them to do anything." We encourage trainees to approach teaching with "gentleness, curiosity, and a willingness to explore." We invite you to watch our short film on Educator Support. To enter today's raffle challenge, simply comment on the video (on YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram) with a line or phrase that resonates with you. Remember, each day you participate increases your chances of winning the retreat! Your support of CBI makes all of this possible, and we're deeply grateful for your engagement, and donations to our community. With gratitude,? All of Us at Copper Beech https://lnkd.in/eBR5Uu2s