Hi everyone! I’m Margaret Maytan, one of the co-developers of Koru with Holly, and I’ll bet you know the answer to the above question: A resounding YES!
Recently I taught two Koru couses for adults of all ages. Cindy Jones, a therapist at Duke, helped with logistics /recruitment and was also training for her own Koru certification. Cindy is currently teaching her first course.
12 registered for each course. Among those who completed at least 3/4 classes, ages ranged from 40-77 for the first and 38-66 for the second.
“the Koru model is a wonderful introduction
to mindfulness for beginners”
I did not modify the Koru model in any way for either course. The only difference between these two courses and the Duke student classes was that the older groups needed to take things a bit more slowly, especially with understanding how the logs work.
The participants in both courses responded with the same enthusiasm, willingness and openness as our Duke students, as reflected in their comments in each check-in and on their written evaluations. Their evaluations contained much of the same comments as the Duke students. They attended to their practice and their logs, read and were moved by the book, really enjoyed check-in. And they wanted more classes!
Here are some anonymous comments from the evaluations:
“Enjoyed class and discipline involved. I liked the brevity of class.”
“Appreciated experiencing with peers.”
“So glad I was able to be part of this group. It helped me in ways I never thought it would.”
“After efforts to meditate in the past (which I felt didn’t work) and giving up, I feel now I’m progressing in the practice of meditation.”
“I will continue to strive to increase the percentage of each day for which I am present and mindful. Thank you for the class. It was a great step forward.”
“Felt safe in class. Classes relaxed me.”
“I enjoyed sharing and hearing about others’ progress, problems, etc. Helped me to think outside “my” box.”
Cindy and I found that the Koru model is a wonderful introduction to mindfulness for beginners, which doesn’t demand the same level of time, cost and commitment that the longer mindfulness programs do. This likely makes it more accessible to a wide variety of folks. Cindy and I are hoping that Koru will be picked up by other organizations and she is reaching out to some of these.
It is exciting to see Koru moving into new populations, allowing a broader range of individuals to experience the benefits of mindfulness.
