A free 8-week Self-Compassion Course to create more self-understanding and less self-judgment.

 Designed for young adults ~18-35.

Register for free here. Course starts October 12th.

Our next free course starts on October 12th, 2023! 7:00 - 8:30 pm EST. Register here, and keep reading for all the details.


  • Reflect on your beliefs and thought patterns to help transform what no longer serves your growth and well-being.
  • Identify obstacles that stand in the way of living the life you want, and be supported to create a path forward.
  • Grow your capacity to be with the present moment through Mindfulness practice.
  • Learn practical skills to navigate complex emotions and develop better nervous system regulation.
  • Understand how compassion begins with ourselves and then spreads out to nurture the world we want to inhabit.

Our free online 8-week course is created for young adults looking for inner balance while riding the waves of life. This course includes weekly classes with practical instruction in community, Q+A, and a detailed resource package.

This foundational course is suitable for any level of mindfulness experience.


Live or Replay?


This course is hosted on Zoom.

Replays/recordings will be sent to all registrants.

Attending live (when you can) is always best for Q+A and being in the energy of a practice group. But as long as you're committed to participating live or catching up on the replay, we're confident you'll get a lot from this course.

More about the free course:

A blend of Mindfulness and Compassion Skills.

How does compassion work? And why is self-compassion so difficult?

In this course, we use Mindfulness practice to help build a foundation for exploring compassion. We learn to sit, pause, and create curiosity in our bodies and minds to practice self-inquiry over self-judgement.

Mindfulness practice helps us to be less critical and more accepting of whatever is showing up in our lives. From learning to be with what is happening, we can begin to take the steps towards being active creators of change for our wellbeing.

Compassion is an open, kind space to be with our anxiety, depression, racing minds, unhealthy patterns, and challenges that our lives naturally kick up.

None of these states are 'wrong' or 'bad'; they are human. However, some of our patterns are not helpful and can lead us to distraction, avoidance, and other addictive ways of escaping difficult feelings.

Our Compassion Training Does Both:


  • It brings us more ease and acceptance of what is.

    And,

  • With greater sensitivity and concern for ourselves, we have more inner fire to transform old and long-standing habits that thwart our joy and close us off from others.
    .

The Yana Self-Compassion Course is made possible because of the generous contribution from the Lang Family Foundation.

The Lang Family Foundation supports Yana initiatives out of an interest in supporting mental and emotional health tools for young adults.

Need a little more of an introduction to us?

Check out our YouTube meditations with (Rev) Andrew Blake, one of our faculty members and co-founder of Sarana Institute. The ones listed below were specifically designed with young adults in mind.

FAQ

What is Yana?

Yana is Sarana Institute's young adult-focused program serving those aged 18-35. For us, it stands for 'Young Adult Nature Awareness,' and yāna is also a Buddhist term meaning 'vehicle.' We intend to provide a “vehicle” through the skills of mindfulness, compassion and nature connection to ride through life with inner and outer awareness.

The Yana program offers online mindfulness and compassion courses, workshops, day-long land-based retreats, resources, and our annual August Yana Retreat.

When is the course?

The course begins Thursday, October 12th and runs until December 7th (8 weeks). We go from 7:00 - 8:30 pm EST. Replays will be provided to registrants! We have one week off halfway through our course.

Why is this course free?

Yana 8-Week Online Courses are free because of the generous support of The Lang Family Foundation. We also encourage and invite you to donate to the Sarana Institute’s Yana fund to help us build this program and support the community as we grow.

How should I prepare?

All you need is a device to join us with, internet access, and Zoom - we'll send you the details by email leading up to the course date. Give yourself 5 - 10 minutes to 'arrive' and settle into the class before we begin at 7.

Who is Sarana Institute?

Yana events are hosted by Sarana Institute, a mindfulness-based registered Canadian charity offering mindfulness training that awakens compassion in caring for ourselves, others and the earth. We have two specialized areas of focus: Yana (serving our young adult population), and M+C for Health Care and Caregivers. We also host retreats, workshops, and practice groups for the general public, both online and at Sarana Springs, a 171-acre nature refuge 2.5 North of Toronto.

Who iss Teaching the Course?

Your teachers are Andrew Blake and Maxine Iharosy.

Andrew is one of Sarana Institute's Co-founders and our lead teacher. His guidance has a foundation in his work as a Psychotherapist, Buddhist Chaplain and experienced Mindfulness Practitioner and Educator. Along with lots of lived experience, Andrew brings down-to-earth relatability to complex concepts like the neuroscience of compassion.

Maxine is our Yana Director at Sarana Institute and a Yana faculty member. She draws on her background of Somatic Experiencing, Embodiment, and Nature Education in guiding others into a more compassionate relationship with their bodies, minds, and the world around them.