EVERYONE EXPERIENCES STRESS. IT'S A PART OF BEING HUMAN.
We all face a host of challenges. Some may arise from big, traumatic life events, while others may simply be the demands and stressors inherent in our everyday lives as human beings.
The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program is a scientifically researched way to change our relationship to stress, using mind and body awareness. It offers us an opportunity to participate in our own self-care, and to contribute to our own physical and mental wellbeing.
In the words of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD (founder of the MBSR program):
“The MBSR program is an introduction to mindfulness that allows participants to explore a new way of being and seeing, that has profound implications for understanding the nature of our minds and bodies, and for living life as if it really mattered.”
Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, developed the MBSR program at UMass Memorial Medical Center in the late 1970s. Since that time, this groundbreaking 8-week program has spread to many parts of the world, offering participants of the program an opportunity to work with their own internal resources and abilities to respond more effectively to stress, pain, and illness.
The program focuses on the experiential cultivation of both a formal and informal mindfulness practice to familiarise oneself with an ever-present awareness. Through the weekly sessions and home practice, participants utilize mindfulness meditation, simple and gentle body movement, and group discussion of experience to begin to integrate this awareness into the challenges and adventures of everyday life. This innate awareness is the foundation for the development of positive health behaviours, psychological and emotional resilience, and an overall sense of wellbeing.
Formal and Informal Practices
In each session, participants will learn about and practice different forms of mindfulness, including formal practices of yoga, sitting meditation, body scan, and walking meditation, as well as informal practices such as mindful eating, speaking and listening, and mindfulness of daily activities.
Topics Covered
Participants will learn about stress, and explore the habitual, automatic behavioural, physical, emotional, and cognitive patterns as well as investigate, in detail, more effective and skilful responses to the challenges and demands of everyday life. In parallel, we’ll also be exploring what it means to take care of ourselves and flourish, how to relate to ourselves and others more effectively and what it might be like to nourish behaviours and activities that express our innate capacity for wellbeing.
Logistics
- Participants meet every week for 8 weeks, for 2.5 hours.
- There is an “all-day” class (a silent retreat day) between the 6th and 7th week on a Saturday, from 8:30 a.m.– 4:00 p.m.
- Both online and in-person courses (Cape Town) are offered.
Upcoming Courses
In-person
The next in-person course, based in Southern Suburbs in Cape Town, will start Feb 2024. Feel free to email me to tentatively book a place or for more information on bianca@mindfulnesspractice.co.za
Online
The next online course on Zoom will start end of July 2023. This is open to international participants as well, but please note that times are South African time (GMT+2). Dates and times of the online course are as follows:
- Orientation Session: Tue 25th July 6pm – 7pm
- Session 1: Tue 1st Aug 6pm – 8:30pm
- Session 2: Tue 8th Aug 6pm – 8:30pm
- Session 3: Tue 15th Aug 6pm – 8:30pm
- Session 4: Tue 22nd Aug 6pm – 8:30pm
- Session 5: Tue 29th Aug 6pm – 8:30pm
- Session 6: Tue 5th Sep 6pm – 8:30pm
- Retreat Session : Sat 16th Sep 8:30am – 4pm
- Session 7: Tue 19th Sep 6pm – 8:30pm
- Session 8: Tue 26th Sep 6pm – 8:30pm
Course Investment
R5200 for the 8-week course.
For more information or to join a course, please email me at bianca@mindfulnesspractice.co.za