When:  July 12 – September 6 2018

Where: Duke Integrative Medicine, Durham NC

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a method of using meditation and yoga to cultivate awareness and reduce stress. It is based on the ancient practice of mindfulness, which is about waking up, being fully alive, and being present for the richness of each moment of our lives. Within this awakening, we gain access to our deepest inner resources for living, healing, and coping with stress.

Offered at Duke since 1998, our program challenges participants to practice present moment awareness, deep relaxation, and gentle movement. Through the use of these techniques, a person learns to discover and observe his or her reactions to life’s stressors and to choose how to respond. With practice, one can apply these skills to everyday situations and connect more fully with one’s self, loved ones, and the life one is living.

MBSR can help people who are coping with medical problems, job or family-related stress, and anxiety and depression. The majority of participants report lasting decreases in both physical and psychological symptoms. Pain levels improve and people learn to better cope with pain that may not go away. Most people also report an increased ability to relax, greater enthusiasm for life, improved self-esteem, and increased ability to cope more effectively with stressful situations.

Learning Objectives

• Learn about the roles of stress and reactivity in health and healing
• Cultivate mindful awareness through several different types of meditation practices
• Establish a daily meditation practice
• Recognize negative patterns of reactivity triggered by stressors, and utilize mindfulness to develop alternative responses to stress
• Apply mindfulness to cultivate a deeper connection with your body, emotions, and relationships with others

What to Expect

Format

The MBSR program consists of 10 sessions; nine weekly sessions, each 2.5 hours long, and one all-day intensive, the Day of Mindfulness.

• Session 1: Orientation:  Meet your classmates, instructor, and review logistics and expectations for the course.
• Session 2: Introduction to mindfulness, and the Awareness of Breathing & Body Scan meditation practices
• Session 3: The stress response, bringing awareness to present-moment experience, and introduction to walking meditation practice.
• Session 4: Connecting to pleasant moments, mindful movement (gentle yoga), and introduction to the council process (mindful speaking and listening).
• Session 5: Expanding your field of awareness to “choiceless”, open awareness.
• Session 6: Introduction to Loving Kindness Meditation.
• Session 7: Mindfulness and awareness in your communication.
• Session 8: Review of mindfulness practices through lens of experience
• Session 9: Acknowledging progress, the ongoing process, and how to sustain a mindfulness practice going forward.
• The Day of Mindfulness (typically occurring between Sessions 7 and 9) is an all-day silent retreat allowing experience of a longer-form and deeper meditation practice. This session is an opportunity to put into practice all the skills you have learned so far in a supportive community environment, together with the other students from concurrent MBSR courses, and alumni from previous MBSR courses.

Event Follow-up: