MBSR - Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction: Intensive 2-Day Workshop

A note from Elana Rosenbaum

I remember working as a psychotherapist in a non-profit HMO, seeing client after client. They were anxious, panic-attack prone or just unable to cope with stress. They had seen physicians with little success. I was of no help. I was stuck in a rut treating symptoms and focusing on what was wrong rather than treating them as an individual and reinforcing what was right.

Desperate to find something better for myself and my clients, I walked into a meditation class with the most amazing, dynamic and confident teacher. After one session I was more energetic, better able to cope, and found myself more attentive with my clients.

This caring and incredible instructor was Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

That was 30 years ago and since then, along with the help of Jon Kabat- Zinn, I have been able to transform my life and my practice, using these very principles I discovered at that yoga class back in Worcester, Massachusetts. I became an instructor alongside Jon, started my own practice, and was beginning to see incredible treatment outcomes with my clients. I was feeling energetic and confident in myself and my clinical work.

Then in 1995 I was diagnosed with cancer. I put Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction to the test and experienced first-hand how to handle the pain and stress of chemotherapy and all that goes with a stem cell transplant. My personal and clinical experience with this evidenced-based approach led to the development of mindfulness-based interventions for bone marrow transplants at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Emory University, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction changed my life and has changed the life of many of my clients. I want to share these strategies with you. This work will transform the psychic and physical pain in your clients’ lives.

Objectives

1. State core beliefs of MBSR.
2. List the seven attitudes needed in cultivating mindfulness.
3. Describe the themes and essential components of the eight week MBSR curriculum.
4. Practice in defining mindfulness and introducing it in everyday language.
5. Practice guiding a body scan mindfulness meditation.
6. Practice guiding a sitting meditation with awareness of the breath.
7. Practice guiding a sitting meditation with open awareness.
8. Demonstrate experience in practices that integrate MBSR into daily life.
9. Explain the use of a mindful pause (S.T.O.P.) to refocus attention and interrupt negative thoughts and ruminations.
10. Practice in the process of inquiry and its use in cultivating insight to reduce stress.
11. Practice the use of interpersonal mindfulness in facilitating communication and deepening awareness.
12. Explain the applicability of neuroscience research to stress reduction.

• The Origin of MBSR
• Goals and Principles
• Populations Served
• Assessment and Orientation
• MBSR Ground Rules
• Teacher competencies

• Class 1-3 Grounding Mindfulness in the Body
• Class 4-5 Stress Reaction versus Response
• Class 6-7 Communication and Interpersonal Mindfulness
• Class 8 Summation and Bringing Mindfulness Home
• All Day Session

• Defining Mindfulness
• Introducing Mindfulness Experientially and Verbally
• 7 Essential Attitudes in Establishing Mindfulness

• Language —Using Gerunds and the Vernacular
• Leading an Awareness Exercise: The Raisin

• The Body Scan
• The Sitting Meditation with Awareness of Breath
• Yoga
• Walking Meditation
• Loving-Kindness Meditation
• Practice in Leading a Mindfulness
• Meditation

• Use of Homework
• The S.T.O.P.
• The Three Minute Breathing Space
• Awareness Exercises

• The Process of Inquiry including Role
• Playing and Practice in Inquiry
• Working with Feeling
• Working with Pain and Stress
• Working with Anxiety and Panic
• Application of Neuro-Science Research

• Depression
• Addictions
• Trauma
• Children and Adolescents

• Akido for MBSR
• Use of Dyads
• Group Process
• Interface with Psychotherapy