The Compassionate Writing Year
A Study of the Mind
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Testimonials
What students are saying
Régine Verougstraete
Painter, writer
"Anja is a generous teacher, compassionate, honest, clear, and selfless. In her group, I feel safe to explore, write the worst text ever written, be lost, be found, and dive again. Anja can hold space for big diverse groups of people with a calm presence. When some of us got stuck with an exercise she took the time to find gentle coaching ways to help us out."
Kimberley Healy
PhD French Literature University of Pennsylvania, teacher of writing and literature
"Once we feel safe we can be insanely creative, truly compassionate, calm in turmoil, and collaborative. Writing with Anja's group has been an experience in trust and listening unlike any other in my long academic and literary career. She provides such kindness, clear boundaries, and consistent support that I have begun to find my own voice as a writer in an entirely new and moving way. She has most gently shepherded a very diverse group of people into a collective of empowered, vulnerable, creative, and thoughtful writers. If you ever have the chance to join one of her groups, I promise you, it will change your life, and probably your writing too!"
Jonah Goger
Meditator, actor
"The power of these writing sessions cannot be captured in just a few sentences, but this much I know: as aspiring writers, we struggle with doubts and neuroses about our abilities. Fear slaps us down before we give ourselves a chance to start. It's always easier NOT to write. As a teacher, Anja may seem too good to be true, but somehow we got her. Her passion and commitment to our group is just humbling. She holds this space with a gentle and tireless dedication that invites our deepest explorations. What a rare and astonishing gift from this ever-fraught world of technology. The whole experience is a blessing, and I can't recommend it enough."
Teacher Of The Program
Anja Van Rompaey
Anja Van Rompaey is the founder of the Method in Madness Institute (MiMi), a MindX division dedicated to helping writers and meditators find joy and meaning in their practice and make steady progress, throughout the ups and downs characterizing any form of craft. MiMi provides mindful writing courses, classics in literature courses, and philosophy (East and West) seminars.
Anja is a published author and philosopher who did her PhD research at the French University of Brussels (Belgium). She is also a certified trauma-sensitive mindfulness teacher, trained to teach meditation programs such as Jon Kabat-Zinn’s MBSR, Jack Kornfield and Tara Brach’s Power of Awareness, Mark Williams’ Mindfulness, and David Treleaven’s Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness program. She is currently an enthusiastic student of Mingyur Rinpoche (a Tibetan Kagyu and Nyingma teacher, in the lineage of Trungpa Rinpoche).
After having led the EU Writing Down the Bones writing practice community for almost five years, with four writing sessions a week, she developed The Compassionate Writing Year, a comprehensive course based on her experience as a writer, meditation teacher and a tireless advocate for reading the classics in world literature. She is convinced that anyone can learn to appreciate them, especially when combined with meditation and writing practice, and as such reap the profound and lasting benefits that she herself has experienced time and again.
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