About MBSR
What is MBSR?
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an effective, scientifically researched method for reducing physical and psychological suffering while building resilience, balance, and peace of mind. Classes are offered both in-person and online.
Learning to practice mindfulness provides a way of relating directly with whatever is happening in your life, a way of taking charge of your life, of consciously and systematically noticing and responding to your own stress and pain, and to the challenges and demands of living as well.
This starts with cultivating present-moment attention in an open, nonjudgmental way. MBSR is a nonsectarian, scientifically researched approach that is in harmony with any faith-based tradition.
MBSR was created by Jon Kabat-Zinn about 40 years ago. Jon has pioneered the rigorous training and scientific study of meditation and yoga as practices. MBSR is the most researched mindfulness program available. All courses begin with an orientation to see if the format and the class is a good fit for you. Following orientation there are weekly 2.5 hour classes for 8 weeks. The MBSR course also includes a full day of meditation practice.
How does MBSR work?
Through the regular training in mindfulness that an MBSR course offers people become familiar with their own behavior patterns, especially in relation to stressful situations. Students also learn that though circumstances in which they find themselves cannot change, they can choose how to respond to them. MBSR involves learning about stress, and developing a different relationship with stress through the practice of awareness. Mounting evidence has shown that MBSR can reduce stress, and help students address stress in their lives.
MBSR Course Description
The standard MBSR course consists of eight, weekly sessions each lasting 2. 5 hours, plus an all-day session that includes a full day of mindfulness practice.
Each session focuses on one particular topic that is explored with specific exercises, as well as presentations from the teacher and in dialogue among the group participants.
Some topics in an MBSR course are: mindful communication, working with difficult emotions and how perception influences our relationship to stressful events. There’s also time for participants to share what they experienced during the exercise as well as to talk about their daily mindfulness practice outside class.
How to Enroll in a Class
Learn more about MBSR and if this class is right for you.
First, we ask all who are contemplating attending a MBSR class to watch these three informational videos made by Dr. Erin Walborn-Sterantino. They will help you understand the process and what you can expect in the class. You can click here to access them.
A sample class outline is available below but may change class-to-class based on the instructors assesment but it provides a good idea of what to expect.
Sample Class Outline
ORIENTATION
You will learn how this secular, scientific, evidence-based MBSR practice has become an accepted part of mainstream medicine, and discover how it can positively affect the quality of your everyday life.
WEEK 1
Here you will receive an overview of the course and establish the learning context for the rest of your experience. You will learn the theory and evidence of mind-body medicine and how to apply it in your life. You'll be experientially introduced to mindful eating, mindful breathing, and the body-scan method, with a special emphasis on what it means to be fully engaged in the present moment.
WEEK 2
Perception is key in mindfulness—how you see things (or don't see them) will determine in a large part how you respond. This week's session and practices will ask you to examine your perceptions, assumptions, and the way you view the world. You will learn to use the body-scan practice to cultivate a greater degree of awareness of how you react to stressful situations. Changing the way you perceive and respond to difficulties and challenges will impact the short- and long-term effects of stress on your mind and body.
WEEK 3
In this session, you'll practice several distinct yet interrelated mindfulness practices—mindful hatha yoga, sitting meditation, and walking meditation. This is an ideal time to share your insights about your experiences with formal practice and integrating mindfulness into your daily life. You will discover that there is both pleasure and power in being present—you'll directly attend to and investigate how your experiences create such reactions as pleasure or discomfort in the mind and body.
WEEK 4
By practicing mindfulness, we cultivate curiosity and openness to the full range of our experience, and through this process our ability to pay attention becomes more flexible. This week, your practice will focus on the development of your ability to concentrate and systematically expand your field of awareness. You'll learn about the physiological and psychological bases of stress reactivity, and experience mindful strategies for responding in positive, proactive ways to stressful situations.
WEEK 5
At the halfway point in this course, you should now be familiar with the foundations of mindfulness and able to focus on applying it more rapidly and effectively to specific challenges and stressors in your life. This week you will begin to pay attention to the places where you might be stuck in repeating unhealthy patterns that you can disarm through mindful awareness. You will also learn how to apply mindfulness at the critical moment when you experience a physical sensation, intense emotion, or condition, with special attention to exploring the effect of reactivity in health and illness.
ALL-DAY RETREAT
This day-long guided retreat will take place between weeks six and seven. The intensive nature of this six-hour-plus session is intended to assist you in firmly and effectively establishing the use of MBSR skills across multiple situations in your life, while simultaneously preparing you to utilize these methods far beyond the conclusion of the program.
WEEK 6
Resilience or “stress hardiness” is our ability to return to equilibrium after stressful situations. This week, you will focus on transformational coping strategies to broaden your inner resources and enhance your resilience through mindfulness practice. You'll also learn the fundamentals of interpersonal mindfulness—applying awareness and presence at times when communication becomes difficult or fraught with strong emotions. You'll gain direct experience of a variety of styles for more effective and creative interpersonal communication.
WEEK 7
Mindfulness is most effective when it is a lifetime commitment. This week, you will explore the many ways that you can integrate mindfulness more fully and personally into your life. While having a dedicated regular practice for mindfulness meditation is important and beneficial, it is just as important to bring a broader sense of awareness and presence to every moment in your life, and to use non-judgmental mindfulness in your self-reflection and decision-making processes. You'll learn how to maintain the discipline and flexibility of daily practice as circumstances change over the course of your life.
WEEK 8
In the final week of the program, you will have a complete review of everything you've learned over the course, with an emphasis on carrying the momentum you've built forward into the coming months and years. You'll learn about resources available to you to pursue mindfulness in new directions as your life and practice evolve, as well as the support systems that exist to help you continue to integrate, learn, and grow. The final lesson creates a satisfying closure by honoring both the end of this program and the beginning of the rest of your life.
Review Class Dates, Times, Requirements & Tuition
So you've decided you want to attend a MBSR class. Step one is to review our available classes and find a time that works for you. Each week will be 2.5 hour sessions including by a full day Saturday retreat. Please make sure you can attend all sessions before registering.
Next, make sure you can meet any technological requirements ahead of registration for a virtual class. View the Zoom Technical Requirements Here.
Lastly, look over the tuition costs for attending an MBSR class. A select number of scholarships are available, but only in limited circumstances for those most in need. If possible, please pay what you can to help us provide MBSR to those less able to pay.
Enroll in a Class
On our Schedule page, select the course you would like to attend and fill out the enrollment application and either make your tuition payment or apply for the scholarship. The course instructor will be in touch with you after your application is recieved to conduct a short phone interview to review course requirements and answer any questions you have about the program.
Please note, your application does not guarentee admittence to the program.
Attend Orientation
The first meeting in the MBSR program is an Orientation session before the start of the 8 weekly classes. These Orientation Sessions are required of all participants before beginning the program.
During these sessions you will have the opportunity to:
- Learn about the program, ask questions, and determine whether it is right for you
- Meet your program instructor
- Experience, first-hand, mindfulness methods and approaches you will be learning during the program
If you or your instructor decide that MBSR may not be the right fit for you, your tuition payment is fully refundable after the orientation but before starting the weekly classes.
The Benefits of MBSR
The Mindfulness Center at Brown University has found that the benefits of MBSR can include:
- Stress reduction
- Decreased medical symptoms
- Improved self care
- Greater ability to manage anxiety and depression
- Loosening of the grip of negative habits and thinking
- Improvement in symptoms of burnout
- Clearer recognition of when your attitude or mood is beginning to change so you can become less reactive.
- Discovery that difficult and unwanted thoughts and feelings can be seen from an altogether different perspective – a perspective that brings with it a sense of compassion and less judgement to the suffering you are experiencing.
- Improved sense of well-being: Learn how to be present and appreciate the simple pleasures of everyday life, connect with yourself, and the experience of being alive.