Inner science course
12-Week online course | Starts September 21.
Join us in this twelve-week programme and learn how to systematically and sustainably explore and transform your behaviour, emotions and mindset. The inner science course combines the wisdom and meditative techniques of the ancient contemplative traditions of Buddhism and Daoism with the insights of modern psychology, neuroscience and philosophy. The course takes place within a community of practice and support.
Overview
The inner science course is a twelve-week program of deep self-exploration and transformation. It combines the wisdom and meditative techniques of the ancient contemplative traditions of Buddhism and Daoism with the insights of modern psychology, neuroscience and philosophy. The course is embedded in a community of practice and support. The goal of the course is to explore our inner worlds in order to understand ourselves better and become more mindful, compassionate and wise. To do so we look at our own awareness as a kind of laboratory and our stream of consciousness as data which we can observe, understand and ultimately transform. The course combines theory and practice and integrates the scientific method and ideals with an approach of regeneration, secular spirituality and existential philosophy.
This course is for you if you want to
- Find greater inner calm, balance and well-being
- Cultivate a mindset of self-care, self-acceptance and self-compassion
- Train your attention, mindfulness and meta-cognition
- Learn to relate healthily and authentically with yourself and others
- Establish a sustainable meditation practice
- Cultivate wholesome habits, behaviour and world-view
- Bring more awareness into all areas of your life
- Understand stress and systematically let go of it
- Learn to maintain a healthy relationship with digital devices and (social) media
- Identify personal challenges and turn them into opportunities for growth
- Learn to regulate your emotions and become more resilient
- Find a deeper sense of gratitude, meaning and joy
- Become a conscious creator of your life
The Online Course Experience
Live Interactive Sessions
Community of practice and support
The course is embedded in a community of practice and support. Join participants from around the world who are embarking on the same journey of self-discovery. You’ll have opportunities to connect to and network with like-minded people and develop a network of support to carry your inner journey forward.
Community learning platform
You will have access to a private online space to connect with the facilitator and other students through an online platform. Each week new learning materials will be uploaded to the space, including guided meditations, texts and exercises. You’ll be able to watch previously recorded sessions and stay on track with your weekly assignments.
Format
The course features various meditations and contemplations, lectures, deep listening exercises, peer coaching methods, mindful movement practices, dialogues in large and small groups and reflective writing exercises. An essential part of the course is the community, the community platform and the microsolidarity framework which will support you to support each other. To get the most benefit from the course daily practice is recommended. There will also be a weekly one-hour peer group call. The total time commitment for live-sessions, peer group call and practice at home is about 6 hours per week. The course language is English. It is suitable both for beginners with little previous meditation experience as well as experienced meditators who want to deepen their practice. All you have to bring is an open mind and some curiosity 🙂
Meet your facilitator
Nicolas Endres
Nicolas studied psychology, neuroscience and philosophy in Bristol, Madrid and Berlin and is a certified coach and mediator. He worked in academic science, university, schools, hospitals and non-profits. He worked within the ReSource Project, one of the largest longitudinal studies on the effects of meditation at the Max-Planck-Institute for Human, Cognition and Brain Sciences and designed and taught an experimental inner science university course at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain at Humboldt-University. This course formed the basis for the present inner science course. This external work has been accompanied by lots of inner work and exploration using meditation, Yoga, Qigong, Taichi, breathwork and plant medicine.
His current work focusses on integrating the wisdom of ancient contemplative traditions with the insights of modern science and technology with the ultimate goal of creating a true first-person science of consciousness and raising our collective level of awareness. He teaches courses on inner science and meditation, gives talks on psychology and philosophy, coaches individuals and teams and is currently stewarding the Mindlab Institute for Inner Science and Regeneration, an organisation focussed on consciousness research, -education and -culture.
Course Schedule
The zoom sessions will take place weekly on Wednesdays from 19:00 – 21:30 from September 21st until December 7th. The sessions usually last 2,5 hours, the first, eigth and last session last 3 hours. The sessions will be recorded so that you can rewatch them if you miss a date.
Course syllabus
- Week 1: (R)evolution is an inside job (3 hours)
- Week 2: Setting up your inner laboratory
- Week 3: Whatever the question, community is the answer
- Week 4: Ancient hypotheses
- Week 5: You are the love of your life
- Week 6: You are what you do
- Week 7: Boundaries
- Week 8: Mindfulness day (3 hours)
- Week 9: Trauma and Shadow
- Week 10: Authentic relationships
- Week 11: Taking the fruit as the path
- Week 12: Retrospective, outlook and aftercare (3 hours)
Some keywords of the course
Attention, mindfulness, meta-cognition, meditation, attention meditation, open-monitoring meditation, labelling meditation, emotional cultivation, compassion, gratitude, relaxation, neuroplasticity, perception, neuroscience of meditation, epistemology, central and autonomic nervous system, stress, evolution, revolution, psychological safety, microsolidarity, deep listening, authentic relating, peer coaching, Buddhism, Daoism, three marks of existence, four noble truths, five daily recollections, shamata, vipassana, brahmaviharas, friendliness, gentleness, tenderness, sensing, feeling, Qigong, wu wei, shaking, eight brocades, standing meditation, spontaneity, authenticity, self-care, self-acceptance, self-compassion, behaviour change, establishing a habit, mindful eating, body scan, mental hygiene, boundaries, consent, trauma and the body, polyvagal theory, co-regulation, taking the shadow as the path, trauma-release exercises, returning to wholeness, non-violent communication, transactional analysis, non-duality, emptiness, philosophical implications of modern physics, middle way, scientific method and ideals, non-doing, non-identification, non-reactivity, stillness, silence, the healing power of nature, regeneration, systematic and sustainable change, interbeing, inner smile
Some principles of the course
Psychological safety
We aim to create an environment which is psychologically safe, meaning that people feel free to express how they feel, dare to be vulnerable, give honest feedback and ask “stupid” questions without the fear of being judged. High group psychological safety has been strongly correlated with higher mental health and better outcomes. The entire course is deliberately designed to foster high levels of psychological safety.
Fun and humour
A wise person once said: ”If it is not fun it is not sustainable”. Since we are interested in sustainable change a core principle of the course is to enjoy ourselves and have a good time together. This goes hand in hand with the ideal of humour and especially not taking ourselves too seriously.
Community building
Margeret Wheatley said: ”Whatever the question, community is the answer”. The more I am in community the more I appreciate this quote. A crucial goal of the Inner Science Course and the Mindlab Institute in general is to build community around inner science, regeneration and consciousness culture. Individual transformation is much more likely within a community and a sense of belonging, participation and support. One inspiration for this kind of community is the Epicurean ideal of a garden in which friends come together to philosophise, support each other and enjoy themselves. A second inspiration comes from the Buddhist idea of a sangha, a spiritual community focussed on shared practice and mutual support to stay on the path.
Scientific method and ideals
The scientific method and ideals are precious tools on the inner science path as they enable us to grow systematically and sustainably. In science we continually go through cycles of observation, hypothesis, experimentation and evaluation. We also value the scientific ideals of validity, reliability and objectivity (even within subjectivity), as well as a healthy balance between openness and scepticism.
Inner science ideals
The basic inner science approach sees our awareness as a kind of laboratory and our content of consciousness, thoughts, emotions and mental faculties, as a stream of data which we can observe, understand and ultimately transform. We recognise the reality of psycho- and neuroplasticity and aim to use ancient and modern technology to grow more beautiful minds and brains.
Participatory action research
This course is a good example of workshop-based participatory action research, it seeks transformative change on all levels. The entire course can be seen as an experiment which will change and evolve based on findings of previous iterations. Furthermore, participants are seen as participant-researchers who are actively participating and contributing to the course, enriching it with their own ideas and research findings.
We are researcher, participant and measuring device
Inner science is distinct from all other forms of research because the phenomena in question, states of consciousness, are subjective in nature. In the case of inner science we are both participant and researcher as well as the measuring device. Each one of us has direct access only to the data of their own awareness and can thus run experiments within him- or herself and then compare the results with the findings of others.
Experiences from past participants
“It was a wonderful experience to participate in Nicki’s Inner Science Course. Nicolas is a warm, attentive and inspiring host who created a space with humour and ease where I felt safe and comfortable. I received a broad overview of various meditation techniques, traditional as well as modern scientific backgrounds and was able to learn a lot for myself. The weekly gathering in a fixed group has helped me to establish my own routine in my meditation practice. I was looking forward to the interaction with each other every week and benefited from the group exchange. I can warmly recommend anyone who wants to deal with themselves and meditation to participate in the Inner Science course of Nicki!”
Registration
To enable everybody to take part we are offering the course using a sliding scale from 290-500€, depending on your income. There are three payment tiers:
- Lower income: 290€ – for those earning less than 20.000€ per year
- Standard: 380€ – for those earning between 20.000 and 50.000€ per year
- Higher income / wealth: 500€ – for those earning more than 50.000€ per year or with other sources of wealth
If you want to participate but cannot afford 290€ send me an email and we can work something out.
Inner (R)evolution
290,00 € – 500,00 €
Additional information
| Select price/income level | High income (€500), Standard (€380), Low income (€290) |
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Get in contact
If you have any questions regarding the course write to me using the contact form below. I will get back to you as soon as possible.