Dear CMSC Community,

As we step into August, I’m holding a deep appreciation for the heart and resilience of our global self‑compassion community. July offered two vivid reminders of what happens when we meet ourselves, and each other, with kindness. International Self‑Compassion Day invited personal pauses and shared reflections around the world; soon after, our Mid‑Year Renewal Retreat gathered thousands more to breathe, reconnect, and to share in compassionate community. These moments are reminders that compassion steadies us individually and gains power in community.

Your generosity also keeps that momentum alive. Every gift to the Center for Mindful Self‑Compassion opens doors: funding scholarships, sparking new training, and extending this work to those who need it most. Whether you engage as a participant, teacher, donor, or quiet champion, thank you for helping shape a more compassionate world one moment, one breath, one heart at a time.

Below, you’ll find reflections from retreat participants. I invite you to read them, feel the resonance, and carry their encouragement into the season ahead.

"Thank you for sharing access to this crucial information at this retreat!"

"My god, so much healing I experienced—this is what happens when alliances and support make a profound difference in the world and people’s lives. I am awash with tears."

"MSC continues to change my life and my relationships for the better. Thank you all for supporting my, and all of our journeys."

"Agradezco este tipo de iniciativas, que permiten conectar con una comunidad más consciente junto con fortalecer la confianza en la compasión, para una transformación personal y por extensión de nuestras realidades cotidianas."​
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With warmth and appreciation,
​
​Elijah Zimmerman (he/they)​
​CMSC Executive Director
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Vielen Dank • Muchas Gracias • Tack så mycket • Veel dank • Merci beaucoup
非常感谢你 • ありがとうございました • Thank you very much
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From empathetic hearts to digital hands: A study of compassion and donation behavior in social media advertising

In a time of growing global need, what truly motivates people to give—especially online? This study explores how compassion and emotional connection shape our willingness to donate time and money, particularly through social media.

Using data from U.S.-based social media users, researchers examined the complex interplay between compassion, empathy, anticipated emotions, and perceived impact. One powerful insight: when people feel emotionally connected to a place, they are more likely to respond to compassionate appeals with generosity. These findings offer fresh ideas for how to design more effective, emotionally resonant fundraising campaigns in a digital world.

Meditation: Embracing Gratitude and Spreading Goodwill with Noriko Morita Harth

In this calming and nourishing 45-minute soft landing and guided meditation, Certified MSC Teacher Noriko Morita Harth invites you into a heartfelt space to reflect on the gifts of gratitude and the quiet power of goodwill. Recorded during CMSC’s 2024 Year-End Renewal Retreat, Noriko’s soothing voice gently guides you with awareness and self-compassion to support your own well-being and radiate warmth to others. Come as you are—there’s nothing to fix, only space to feel, soften, and connect.

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​Join Noriko for the upcoming workshop "Working with Difficult Emotions with MSC"
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Working with Difficult Emotions through MSC with Noriko Morita Harth

Wednesday, August 27th, 5pm-630pm PST

An experiential introduction workshop to Mindful Self-Compassion for working with anger, frustration, and emotional overwhelm.

In this 90‑minute experiential session, we’ll explore how Mindful Self‑Compassion (MSC) can turn difficult emotions into cues for care. Through guided practice, brief teaching, and reflective discussion, you’ll learn practical tools to meet anger, frustration, and overwhelm with steadiness and warmth. You’ll leave with a pocket‑sized toolkit you can use in moments of difficult emotion: pausing to notice what’s happening, grounding in the body, and offering yourself phrases of kindness that calm the nervous system and clear space for wise action. Expect a balance of concept learning, quiet practice, brief partner sharing (optional), and time for questions. Whether you’re new to MSC or refining an existing practice, this workshop offers concrete skills to navigate daily challenges with greater resilience and self‑support.

Self-Compassion for Healthcare Communities

Wednesdays, September 3 - October 22, 9:00-10:00 am PT

​Click here to view the Time Conversion Chart​

Have you ever wondered if there was a skill you as a healthcare professional could use to help you sustain genuine compassionate care for your patients in the face of competing demands like technology and documentation, time pressure, patient trauma and fatigue?

Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Communities (SCHC), also known as Self-Compassion in Action, is a 6-hour evidence-based healthcare adaptation of the Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) program co-developed by Dr. Kristin Neff (University of Texas at Austin) and Dr. Chris Germer (Harvard Medical School). This training aims to improve wellbeing and personal resilience in healthcare professionals by teaching mindful self-compassion skills to deal with distressing emotional situations as they occur at work and at home.

SCHC Objectives​
At the completion of this activity, participants will begin to:

• Describe the key components of self-compassion and mindfulness and how they can be integrated into your role as a healthcare professional.
• Explain the difference between empathy and compassion and utilize strategies to avoid emotional exhaustion.
• Practice techniques to increase self-compassion at work and everyday life.

Practice at least one skill from each session to care for yourself emotionally while caring for others who are experiencing difficulty

Mid-Year Renewal Retreat Replay: One-Year Access with Donation Made By August 15, 2025

Standing Strong, Staying Kind, Finding Joy in Uncertain Times

"I never knew that your organization provided these much-needed alliances with countries and scholarships."
​—2025 Renewal Retreat Participant

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By donating, you help CMSC continue offering free, high-impact programs like this retreat to people around the world—especially those with limited access to support. If you’ve ever wondered how important it is to pause and reconnect with self-compassion in the midst of difficult times, consider this: more than 4000 people representing 90 countries registered for CMSC’s 2025 Mid-Year Renewal Retreat on July 26—an empowering global experience to practice self-compassion, reflection, and renewal. Teachers included MSC co-founders Kristin Neff and Chris Germer, along with MSC Teachers Lisa Baylis, Natalie Bell, Mila de Koning, Angelike Dexter, Susan Gitau, and Ben Weinstein.

You can still experience the full retreat. Make a donation of $25 or more to CMSC by August 15 and receive:

• One-year access to the Mid-Year Renewal Retreat replay
• The gift of giving—your donation also provides one-year access to someone in need
• Additional thank-you gifts based on your donation level, including workshop access, up to 18 hours of online meditations, and more to support your self-compassion journey

Your generosity helps make offerings like this possible for all. Thank you.

​​Your donation of $25 or more will automatically register you for the replay.
Scroll to the bottom of the donation page to see all thank you gifts.

Live Online Mindful Self-Compassion (LOMSC)

Learn the full practices and theories of self-compassion in our 10-week, live online programs! These courses are taught by certified MSC teachers around the world and help you establish a consistent self-compassion practice founded in research and science. You'll learn how self-compassion can lessen anxiety, depression, and stress and improve your relationships, health, and resilience. Join a course today. Courses available monthly. Explore all upcoming LOMSC dates.

Register

Register

5-Day Live Online Silent Retreat: Being with the Wisdom of Self-Compassionate Embodiment with Sydney Spears and Tracy Ochester

November 14 - 19th, 2025

Being with the Wisdom of Self-Compassionate Embodiment

The theme of this silent retreat is a time for us to practice self-compassion with special attention toward deepening our mind-body awareness in life and expanding the practice of being embodied. This practice of embodiment is about mindfully “noticing and feeling” the various sensorimotor experiences that are always present within the container of our bodies. Many humans tend to give greater attention to thinking and verbal language as their primary focal points of experience. However, our bodies are continuously communicating with us through sensations, physical experiences, emotions, postures, gestures, and many other expressions of non-verbal body language. These particular somatic (bodily) expressions often contain very useful information and offer us important non-verbal messages of wisdom about our mind-body experiences, joyfulness, difficulties, needs, sense of self, relationships, and choices. Practicing self-compassion and other relevant contemplative practices can be a supportive resource when exploring the non-verbal messages of our bodies. Embodied self-compassion and compassion for others is about experiencing our precious lives beyond just paying attention to the dominant lure of constant over-thinking. It is an invitation to practice truly being with and honoring the wisdom of our bodies.

In this silent retreat, we will offer embodied practices to cultivate spaciousness, meditative experiences, exercises, movement experiences, reflective experiences, and other contemplative experiences. These practices will help us cultivate self-compassionate mind-body balance. By engaging in these practices, we can open ourselves to a gateway of uncharted awareness, truth, and expansion toward the seat of our self-compassionate innermost way of being in life.

Interested in Bringing Self-Compassion to Your Healthcare Team?

If you're a healthcare professional who’s experienced the benefits of the Self-Compassion for Healthcare Communities (SCHC) course and feel inspired to share it with your colleagues, the SCHC Facilitator Training may be your next step. Designed for those who are not trained MSC teachers, this program equips participants to facilitate the SCHC curriculum within their own workplace. Through this training, you’ll learn to teach key self-compassion concepts, differentiate empathy from compassion, avoid emotional exhaustion, and lead simple yet powerful practices that support well-being on the job and beyond. Completion of at least one SCHC course and a full MSC or LOMSC is required before enrolling, so we hope you’ll join an upcoming course this September!

Circles of Practice - Free Online Daily Meditations

Our MSC Circles of Practice program is a donation-based offering to our community and the public. CMSC offers 100 monthly free online daily practice sessions, all led by volunteer MSC teachers and supported by donations.These self-compassion meditation sessions are available on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Click on the links below to learn more and register for a session.

Join a session today:​

• MSC Graduates (7x weekly) | Register​
• General Public (2x daily, open to all) | Register​
• LGBTQI2S+ Affinity Circle (2x monthly) | Register​
• BIPOC Affinity Group (weekly) | Register​
• Hispanohablantes / Spanish speakers (weekly) | Register​
• Men’s Practice (monthly) | Register​
• SCHC Alumni Group (monthly | Register​

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The Center for Mindful Self-Compassion is an international nonprofit organization that serves over 250,000 people in our global community. We are dedicated to alleviating suffering and improving the collective well-being of the planet through scientifically researched self-compassion training and practice. Our vision is a world where each person matters and everyone belongs. Your donations allow us to share self-compassion training around the world and keep Circles of Practice free to those in need. Thank you in advance for any support you are inspired to donate.

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