What is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)?
MBSR, or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, is an eight-week mindfulness training program that was created by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He initially created it for chronically ill patients who were not responding well to traditional treatments, but it is now used for a wide variety of reasons by hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. MBSR is supported by a wide body of research showing that it is effective at addressing chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and general stress reduction.
Although MBSR's roots are in Buddhism, it is a secular program open to everyone. Evidence has shown that it can be an effective aid in the treatment of many mental and physical health issues, as well as generally improving our performance, relationships, and well-being.
What can Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction do for me?
MBSR trains your attention to help you cultivate self-awareness, which allows you to make more wise decisions in your day-to-day life. You are invited to incorporate mindfulness into your routine, which will also help you be more aware of the present moment. These strategies help you avoid dwelling too much on the past or future. You can learn to respond to stress, rather than reacting to it. You can also change your habitual patterns.
MBSR can not cure diseases. It is meant to be a complementary aid to traditional medical treatments or an aid to your life. It also should not be used in lieu of psychological treatment from professionals, only in tandem with it. It can also be used for those suffering from chronic pain. Before starting an MBSR course, please check with your doctor if you are hoping to use the program as a complement to their prescribed treatment.
Research conducted in the decades since MBSR was created shows that the majority of people who complete the program later report significant benefits, including an increased ability to deal with both short and long-term stress, decreases in both physical and physiological symptoms, a strong sense of relaxation, reduction in pain, increased ability to deal with chronic pain, and a renewed excitement and energy to live.
What does an MBSR course look like?
Courses consist of weekly group meetings (these are 2.5 hour long classes), a one-day retreat with a seven-hour mindfulness practice, and daily homework (these generally last 45 minutes). The course is intense, but many believe it is worth the time commitment for the benefits to their health and wellbeing.
The 8-week format is also an opportunity to make a commitment to showing up and building a regular practice over a series of weeks. It takes this kind of repetition over time to form new patterns of thinking and habits. You will also find that learning to mediate in a group with others and under the guidance of an experienced mindfulness teacher will provide you with a good source of insight and support.
During classes we will learn a variety of meditative and movement practices. These include body scans, sitting meditation, yoga and other forms of gentle mindful movement, and mindful listening and speaking.
Mindfulness is a simple and very powerful practice of training our attention. It’s simple in that it’s really just about paying attention to what’s happening here and now (i.e. sensations, thoughts, and emotions) in a non-judgemental way. It’s powerful because it can interrupt the habit of getting lost in thoughts, mostly about the future or past, which often generates more stress on top of the real pressures of everyday life.
Evidence-Based
Results
Over the last 30 years, academic research in the fields of neuroscience, psychology and physical medicine have documented the wide-ranging benefits of learning to meditate, particularly in an 8-week mindfulness course format.
With practice, mindfulness can serve as the perfect antidote to healing stress that can sometimes undermine our health, performance and quality of life, and can provide a sensation of relaxation. Indeed the evidence has shown that it can be an effective aid in the treatment of many mental and physical health issues, as well as generally improving our performance, relationships, and well-being.
The 8-Week
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction
(MBSR) Course
While there are many ways to learn mindfulness, we recommend the 8-week course format as the starting point, as it is the most widely-researched and evidence-based approach. The 8-week format is also an opportunity to make a commitment to showing up and building a regular practice over a series of weeks. It takes this kind of repetition over time to form new patterns of thinking and habits. You will also find that learning to mediate in a group with others and under the guidance of an experienced mindfulness teacher will provide you with a good source of insight and support.
Our 8-week course is based on the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programme, originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the late 1970s, and includes components of the related Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programme that explicitly address the negative thought patterns that can perpetuate stress and lead to depression and anxiety.
This fundamental course explores the essential mindfulness meditation exercises and helps cultivate new skillful ways of dealing with what goes on in our bodies, minds and lives. In addition to the meditation exercises there is information (and discussion) on healing stress, relaxation, stress management, and how to apply mindfulness to interpersonal communication.