8-WEEK MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is the most recognised and established Mindfulness course. It is scientifically proven to help participants cope better with pain, stress and anxiety, developing skilful practices to help you respond rather than react to external and internal stimuli.
Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn developed the MBSR programme in the late 1970s, in the clinical setting of the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre. The 8-week course was developed as an education and training vehicle for people with health problems and those suffering from the mounting demands connected with psychological and emotional stress, and to learn to relate in new ways to life challenges. Now, some decades later, the programme is used in hospitals, schools, businesses, and other non-clinical spaces.
The 8-week, evidence-based programme is underpinned and informed by science, medicine, psychology, ancient teachings and research. At the heart of the programme is a model of human experience which addresses the causes of human distress and the pathways to relieving it. The programme includes Mindfulness practices, meditation and mindful movement alongside interactive group discussions. Participants can understand not only theoretical but experientially how to self-regulate moods and develop new ways to respond to the daily challenges of life, which we all experience.
The MBSR is an 8-week programme. Classes are held weekly and last approximately 2 hours. The class size is usually between 8 and 10 participants to ensure an informative, warm and safe environment.
Weekly handouts, recordings of guided meditations and a retreat day are also included to enrich and encourage home practice, which is an essential part of the course, committing to 30-40 minutes daily. A recent study showed participants who practised daily throughout the course gained far more than those who didn’t do any home practice during the course.
As a Mindfulness teacher of the MBSR 8-week course, it is my ethical responsibility that the quality of my teaching and practice is of the highest standard. The course I will be delivering carefully follows the official MBSR curriculum (Centre for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts Medical School) and MBSR training criteria will be taken from the Centre for Mindfulness Research & Practice at Bangor University, where I attended my teacher training and continue to study for a MA in Mindfulness.
An orientation questionnaire and consent form will be sent out before the course, as it is customary to do this for safety purposes. It is ethically best practice for teachers to discuss suitability with course candidates (since there are occasions when it is not appropriate to start a Mindfulness course).
Course Structure
- Session 1 – Introducing Mindfulness: Fully experiencing the present moment through our senses.
- Session 2 – Perception: Perception and creative responding.
- Session 3 – Mindfulness of the Breath & the Body in Movement: Connection with the body in the present moment. Bringing awareness to pleasant, unpleasant and neutral feelings.
- Session 4 – Learning About our Patterns of Reactivity to Stress: Looking at the stress reaction cycle.
- Session 5 – Coping with Stress: Using Mindfulness to Respond Instead of React. Between the stimulus and the response there is a space, and in that space is your power and your freedom.
- Session 6 – Stressful Communications and Interpersonal Mindfulness: Working with difficult situations.
- Session 7 – Life-Style Choices – How Can I Best Take Care of Myself? Cultivating kindness and compassion towards self and others.
- Session 8 – Keeping Your Mindfulness Alive! Taking it from here into the rest of your life.
If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me via the contact form below or call 07590950077
Lissa Pickles 