MBSR / MBCT Mindfulness Training.

MBSR / MBCT is considered the gold standard of mindfulness programmes. It is a combination of the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction curricula. It can be a powerful and transformative intervention for both beginners and mindfulness practitioners. MBSR’s origins lie in helping people live better with chronic pain and MBCT’s origins lie in reducing relapse for people living with depression. The skills, practices and attitudes cultivated throughout this 8 week programme help all of us to reduce suffering and increase the joy on out lives.

It is a highly accessible, engaging, and practical experience of mindfulness. The programme teaches mindfulness skills and how to use these skills to improve wellbeing and resilience to stress. It is not suitable for those in the midst of an acute mental health crisis.

The core aim of the programme is reducing cognitive reactivity. The course’s themes include waking up to the life you have, gathering the scattered mind, relating differently to thoughts and worries, practising kindness, and nourishing activities.

Mindfulness is an innate human capacity to be fully present, aware of what we’re doing, where we are, who we’re with, and what we are experiencing. Being mindful of our experiences in this way can support us to approach what is going on around us with greater interest, kindness, clarity, and creativity — without becoming overly reactive or overwhelmed.

Broad learning outcomes:

• Through guided mindfulness practices, didactic presentation, group dialogue and tailored instruction, you will learn the essential principles of mindfulness and techniques to build your practice.
• A variety of formal and informal mindfulness practices that can be easily integrated into your life.
• Understanding the physiology of stress and how to manage stressful situations more effectively.
• Recognizing unhelpful patterns such as worry, self-sabotage and self-criticism that often generate more stress; and how we can relate to ourselves, others, and situations with a more accepting and useful stance.
• Skills to self-regulate attention and emotions in ways that allow one to pause and respond with greater clarity, skill and creativity.
• How to have more engaged, mindful communication, connections, and relationships.
• Developing practical self-care tools to foster the capacity to thrive, perform at one’s best and build resilience.