MLO 403: Improving Mental Health
Building Inner Skills and Qualities for Healthier Happier Relationship with Oneself and Others
Instructor: Dr. Manijeh Motaghy
Understanding my mental patterns and expectations has expanded my horizon, from hopelessness to hopefulness. Watching the real me emerge, I am encouraged to expand out of my comfort zone, blossoming into living life fully.
~ Bonnie Janofsky, Composer
Course Overview:
This course helps participants understand and heal their inner struggles, develop sustainable emotional health, and cultivate wisdom, compassion, and ethical clarity. Blending MLO’s Human Software Optimization with timeless principles of the Eightfold Path and modern psychology, participants will engage in deep self-inquiry, experiential practices, and community dialogue.
About the Instructor
Achieving mental health is one of Dr. Manijeh Motaghy’s specialties, helping women, men, and people of all colors, genders, and backgrounds become free of their inner tyrants and unhealthy attachments.
Dr. Motaghy’s book, It’s Not Easy to Be Human, is one of a kind amongst self-healing, human development, and systemic change.
Dr. Motaghy is an Organizational Psychologist and UCLA Authorized Mindfulness teacher. She is certified by NYU InnerMBA in creating Conscious Teams and Leaders. She has trained teams and executives at Fortune 500 companies such as Disney, Health Net, and Kaiser. She has designed and implemented hundreds of courses and retreats, taught thousands of people, published hundreds of blogs, and spoken at numerous universities, global conferences, and summits.
Most importantly, Manijeh shares how she learned to heal herself and her own childhood traumas and gained optimal inner peace and joy through numerous long silent retreats and meditation practices, examining the causes and conditions of suffering and learning how to end them. To live with a sense of healthy and secure attachment to herself, her relationships, and to the world.
Manijeh’s ongoing personal practice, development, and Mindful Life Optimization Methodology (MLO) continue to have a real positive impact on her students, clients, and the global community.
She is an AI Enthusiast and a contributor on the Planet Positive 2030 project for Stanford Advanced Technology for a Sustainable Planet, offering recommendations on how to address human transformation to resolve systemic and climate-related concerns.
What Makes This Course Unique?
MLO 403 stands apart from typical mental health or mindfulness courses by integrating deep psychological insight, modern neuroscience, ancient wisdom, and real-world systems thinking—all grounded in the Mindful Life Optimization (MLO) methodology developed by Dr. Manijeh Motaghy.
Unlike conventional approaches that address symptoms in isolation, MLO 403 provides lessons and practices to help students reprogram their “learned suffering.” The course uses Dr. Motaghy’s Five-Stage Human Software Optimization model to untangle core belief systems and behavioral patterns that undermine mental clarity, purpose, and resilience.
Through a structured yet heart-centered process, participants cultivate Superior Heart Intelligence (SHQ), self-awareness, and ethical discernment—qualities rarely taught in traditional mental health systems.
Student Testimonials Say It Best:
“This was more than a class—it gave me back my sense of self and showed me how to move through the world with compassion and clarity.”
“I’ve done therapy for years, but this course helped me understand myself in ways no therapist ever explained.”
“I finally feel like I have tools to navigate this noisy, demanding world without losing myself.”
Course Modules
Session 1: Understanding the Roots of Mental Distress
Theme: Why It’s Not Easy to Be Human
Focus: How MLO can improve mental health in modern society
The Noble Eightfold Path: Right View
- Explore emotional, cultural, and systemic causes of distress
- The unique methodology to healing
- Guided reflection on natural laws that govern our lives
- Guided practices to get in touch with these principles
Session 2: Clarifying Intention and Inner Direction
Theme: From Reaction to Wise Aspiration
Eightfold Path: Right Intention
- The impact of unconscious intentions and distorted wants
- Exploring goals that create inner peace and collective care
- Intention-setting practices
- Guided reflection questions
Session 3: Healing Through Compassionate Communication
Theme: The Psychology & Emotional Pain and Expression
Eightfold Path 3: Right Speech
- Addressing harmful communication habits (self-talk and with others)
- Mindful speaking, listening, and authenticity with care
- MLO-based emotional articulation and boundary setting practice
- Guided reflections questions
- Actions for long-term fulfillment
- Actions nourish mental energy
- Guided reflections
- Guided practices to designing a personal mental health ethic
Session 4: Healing Through Meaningful Action
Theme: Mental Health Through Ethical Living
Eightfold Path 4 & 5: Right Action & Right Livelihood
Session 5: Cultivating Discernment and Focus
Theme: Mind Mastery Without Suppression
Eightfold Path 6: Right Effort & Right Mindfulness
- How to tame the mind and develop presence
- How to live in the body for better mental health
- Guided reflection and meditation
- Guided practices for increased well-being
Session 6: Whole Person Wellness
Theme: Body, mind, heart, and action refinement
Eightfold Path 8: Right Concentration
- Evaluating inner well-being through the Eightfold Path
- Guided reflection on the change in mental health
- Guided practice and what’s next
Dr. Manijeh Motaghy is a compassionate, spiritual person who “walks the talk.”
As a student of her mindfulness teaching for over 15 years, Manijeh has a unique ability to connect with groups and individuals. Her extensive teaching experience at UCLA and personal journeys visiting Buddhist monks enrich her teaching skills and knowledge, making her insights deeply impactful. The practice sessions during her classes, by Zoom or in person, provide actionable skills I use daily.
—Richard Katz, HR Executive
Course Summary
- Six (one and half-hour) session modules
- Lecture, reflection, practice, and community
- Mindfulness meditation
- Q & A sessions
- Membership to a private WhatsApp group for community building and sharing reflections
- Continued pathway to MLO PC Life Optimization Professional Counselor (A Professional Pathway to Livelihood)
I am forever in debt to Manijeh. Her teachings have empowered me to push the boundaries of my comfort zone. My life has been immensely enriched. The practice of cultivating wisdom and wholesome qualities has brought me peace and happiness. Manijeh’s wide range of topics have increased my awareness and love for all living beings and our environment.
~ Randy Shultz, Entrepreneur
Receive 3 Hours of Private Sessions
with Dr. Motaghy.