ABSTRACT
Relational skills are key capacities within MBP teaching, and are represented by Domain 2 in the MBI:TAC. The quality of welcoming is important, which begins with a literal welcome of participants as they enter the teaching space, and expands to create a climate where it isn't possible for participants to have a 'wrong' experience whatever experience is showing up is valid and genuinely welcome. Befriending is integral to all relational levels within the people own being, within our connection with participants, and how they hold the wider space of the group. Befriending is one of three 'capacities' that make up the Inside Out Group model. At the heart of befriending ourselves is the emotional work of discovering ways of relating to difficulty. Befriending involves recognising habitual patterns of reactivity, and cultivating a gentle turning towards and opening to experience.
