Session 1:

This foundational session introduces the key ideas behind SMPSA—particularly the role of affect, valence, and arousal in shaping our moment-to-moment experience. Participants will also be separately introduced to the 6 SMPSA Techniques, which interrupt physical stress signals and generate shifts in internal state. The six techniques are:

  1. Internalization – Shifting attention inward to bodily sensations and awareness.

  2. Posture – Establishing upright, composed physical structure to influence cognitive tone.

  3. Restful Recovery – Entering a still, non-doing state that allows the nervous system to recalibrate.

  4. Relaxation – Releasing muscular tension with awareness.

  5. Steady Breath – Developing a rhythmic, gentle, balanced breathing cycle.

  6. Breathe Less – Reducing breath volume and frequency to stimulate calm via CO₂ sensitivity.

These techniques are tools to help cultivate and sustain the most personally accessible state of calm. The core skill is noticing subtle changes in the body and gently holding the most easeful state possible.

Session Goal:
Gain a firm understanding of the foundational concepts and a general, felt sense of each technique—what it does, how it works, and the benefit it can offer

Session 2:

This session provides an immersive experience of all six techniques used together, allowing participants to feel how each contributes to overall calm.
Participants will also reflect on the immediate internal "rewards" of practice—like spaciousness, wakefulness, recovery, relaxation, calm, and quiet. These rewards become indicators of success and motivators for continued meditation. The session concludes by determining Baseline Meditation Time to discover how long you can currently sit with ease and presence.

Session Goal:
Understand what meditation feels like, beyond the idea of "clearing the mind” or “becoming present.” Begin building trust in the physical ability to calm, relax, and slow down physical systems to ease the intensity of stress and anxiety.

Session 3:

We now break down the first three techniques in depth:

  • Internalization: Sensing inwardly and establishing internal attention and focus

  • Posture: Using upright and open posture to foster mental stability

  • Restful Recovery: Conserve physical energy by entering prolonged, pleasant physiological stillness

These three techniques are "external-static" in that they can be observed externally and, once established, are easy to sustain. Together, they provide the outer container for inner calm.

Session Goal:
Understand that meditation is a learned skill—it demands patience, focus, and repetition. It is not easy at first, but it becomes more rewarding over time

Session 4:

This session focuses on muscular tension, how it relates to mental and emotional tension, how to engage it for therapeutic benefit, and how to effectively release it. The session includes:

  • Contraction exercises to observe the stress-relax cycle

  • Techniques to “soften” effort in the body and notice what deep relaxation actually feels

  • A guided progressive relaxation practice

  • Continued meditation time extension

Session Goal:
Experience how good it can feel to meditate. Learn to identify and release holding patterns in the body to improve ease and deepen calm.

Session 5:

This session offers the most concrete, transformative skillset for nervous system self-regulation, breath control. The session includes

  • 7 Directions of Diaphragmatic and parasympathetic breathing

  • The 4-Part Breath and How to feel you natural breath rhythm

  • The practice of "Breathe Less", which reduces breath rate/volume for enhanced calm and nervous system regulation

Session Goal:
Take the most calming, efficient breaths of your life. Gain a new sense of physical control and confidence through breath awareness and breath retraining.

Session 6

This transitional session reflects on the progress so far. Participants revisit all six techniques in a fluid sequence and are guided into a new, extended baseline meditation. We’ll also briefly introduce the cognitive aspect of the SMPSA model—attention, intellect, and memory—as a preview of what’s to come in Session 9. Journaling prompts or group reflection will support internalization.

Session Goal:
Feel how the techniques come together as a single practice. Identify personal growth and refine your meditation endurance.

Session 7

This is the first long meditation challenge. Before sitting, participants will:

  • Identify their personal "anchor" (technique or feeling tone they trust most)

  • Strategize how to apply techniques when discomfort arises

  • Set an intention for the practice

A short debrief follows to process what was experienced—physically, emotionally, and mentally.

Session Goal:
Build confidence in staying present for longer periods, and begin to understand your own meditative process under pressure.

Session 8

This extended meditation offers time to deepen and stabilize calm. The post-meditation portion focuses on tracking emotional and cognitive states throughout the sit:

  • What feelings emerged?

  • What helped you stay calm or come back?

  • How did your relationship to discomfort evolve?

Session Goal:
Recognize that equanimity isn’t about avoiding difficulty—it’s about how we meet it. Begin to sense mastery over internal reactions.

Session 9

This session introduces the three-fold model of the mind:

  • Attention – Where and how your awareness is placed

  • Intellect – The internal voice of analysis, logic, doubt, or direction

  • Memory – The emotional and sensory echoes of past experience

You’ll learn how to observe each function without being overwhelmed by it, and how SMPSA techniques can stabilize the mind as thoughts arise.

Session Goal:
Understand your mind not as a problem, but as something you can relate to wisely. Learn to interact with thoughts skillfully instead of reacting impulsively.

Session 10

This final session is your personal milestone: a sustained deep meditation using all tools learned throughout the program. It is an opportunity to:

  • Discover what works best for you

  • Sit with full presence and minimal effort

  • Observe your own process of calming, concentration, and release

Post-sit reflection helps each participant define how SMPSA techniques apply to their life—and how they’ll continue their practice beyond the program.

Session Goal:
Establish self-trust. Walk away with clarity on how to apply SMPSA techniques in daily life, and recognize your capacity to generate stillness, awareness, and emotional strength.

 

*Select sessions will include structured assessments and self-report measures to support progress tracking and personalized care.