Provider
Missouri
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a program that helps you learn to calm your mind and body to help you cope with illness, pain, and stress.
MBSR teaches "mindfulness," which is a focus only on things happening in the present moment to purposefully pay attention and be aware of your surroundings, your emotions, your thoughts, and how your body feels, without judgement. The program also includes yoga breathing exercises, stretches, and poses to strengthen and relax muscles.
Developed in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, in the years since it has helped many people with chronic pain and other chronic illness lead healthier, more balanced lives.
A live, in-person (MBSR) class is still the best way to learn mindfulness, because it is more likely that you will complete the course, due to the live interaction and group support. But doing an in-person course is not always possible, for financial and logistical reasons. This online course uses precisely the same course curriculum and resources that I used in my local in-person course, and if you follow the suggestions and practices for each of the eight weeks of the course, the learning can be just as deep and profound.
