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Begin a path of learning, growth and well-being. Reawaken your full participation in life through a practice that opens your heart and mind to meet each moment in an authentic way.

This program gently guides you towards remobilizing your inner strength and knowledge to face stress, illness, crisis, pain, and the vast demands of life with greater skill, insight, and peace of mind.

This program incorporates practical, scientifically-supported teachings proven to reduce stress, facilitate relaxation, promote physical health, and cultivate emotional well-being. Through relating directly with your body, emotions, and thoughts, you can discover the power of mindfulness to change your life. Through the use of mindfulness practices and meditations, you can learn how to live your life with a greater sense of ease, balance and purpose.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is a practice of being fully aware of your moment-to-moment life experiences whether they are rooted in pleasurable emotions such as happiness and joy, or less pleasurable emotions like sorrow, fear or anger.  Mindfulness is about being present and awake enough to take part in your life in a way that is more compassionate, truthful, and meaningful.

Mindfulness is a state of balance, tranquility and awareness that can be achieved through meditation and body awareness practices. Through practicing these disciplines, you’ll learn how to connect in a more meaningful way to the elements that make up your life, with a greater capacity for insight and transformation.

Through meditation, you’ll learn that all of your experiences emerge from the same source; yourself. The practice of mindfulness can help you be more present for the precious moments that make up your life with deeper intention,  a more tranquil-mind, and a more open-heart.

The Benefits of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

The life circumstances that draw people to learn mindfulness are diverse and individual. The common underlying recognition by those who signed up for the class is the recognition that life is made up of a variety of challenging problems, situations and experiences. There is also a simultaneous openness and desire to work with these challenges in a way that might bring more peace, a sense of control, equanimity, and well-being to our lives.  Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction can help with a variety of difficult issues, including:

Stress - common life stressors of work, family, school, finances, illness, grief, anger, uncertainty, worry, aging and feeling disconnected from life.

Emotional and Mental Health - anxiety, depression, panic, ADD/ADHD, discontent and sleep problems.

Physical Health - chronic pain and illness, life threatening or serious disease, hypertension, cancer, heart disease, asthma, digestive complaints, headaches, and many other conditions.

Prevention and Well-being -MBSR focuses on preventative mind-body health by teaching you how to take better care of yourself, to maintain more balance in your life, cultivate a greater sense meaning and well-being.

What to Expect

This program meets for 2 hours each week for eight weeks with an all-day retreat held on the Saturday between class six and seven. The lessons aim to help you tap into your internal resources and cultivate essential skills that deepen your life and to help you effectively cope with the struggles of stress, pain, and illness.

The materials are presented in a deeply engaging format and learning is experiential and individualized in nature. This MBSR class consists of:

• Guided instruction in a variety of formal mindfulness meditation practices
• Gentle mindful movements and stretching
• Practices for integrating mindfulness easily into daily life
• Individualized support and guidance
• Safe and supportive group environment
• Mindful communication and dialogue
• Daily and weekly home practice suggestions
• Home practice materials (CDs and workbook)

This program is intensive, experiential, and life-affirming. It draws upon your own potential, wisdom, and personal truth. You will be encouraged to make an ongoing commitment to yourself and to the experiential curriculum by attending each class and practicing with the home assignments for 45 - 60 minutes a day.