Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Discover tools for enhanced focus, clarity & emotional resilience

Our Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program is an 8-week, 9-session course that provides structured and sequential training in mindfulness meditation practices. Mindful Living NY adheres to the curriculum developed at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, which focuses on the experiential cultivation of both formal and informal mindfulness techniques that help to mobilize inner resources to support positive health behaviors and emotional resilience.

By developing mindfulness skills, participants learn how to integrate and apply practical techniques in their everyday lives to help meet the range of challenges that arise from medical and psychological conditions and life stresses. These practices naturally lead to the cultivation of mental clarity, insight and equanimity.

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Program Content

Our MSBR program offers eight weekly 2.5-hour classes with one additional session of extended practice and includes:

  • An orientation session prior to the start of the program, which provides an opportunity for participants to determine whether MBSR is appropriate for them

  • Guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices such as body scanning, breath awareness, sitting and walking meditations, gentle stretching and mindful movement, as well as informal mindfulness exercises for daily life

  • Mindful communication exercises to enhance interpersonal awareness and understanding

  • Individually tailored instruction within a small class size of up to 20 participants

  • Home practice materials, including handouts and guided recordings, to support a commitment of 15 to 30 minutes of daily practice during the program

  • Supportive group dialogue and review of home practice assignments

  • Educational materials on the mechanisms of human attention and perception, the physiological and psychological components of the stress reaction, and relevant neuroscience research

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benefits

MBSR has benefited people with a variety of conditions and concerns that include:

  • Prevention and Wellness for those wishing to learn tools to feel a greater sense of balance in life

  • Stress from work, school, family, financial burden, illness, aging, uncertainty about the future and feeling 'out of control’

  • Medical conditions including chronic illness or pain, cardiovascular conditions, cancer, GI distress, skin disorders

  • Psychological distress such as anxiety, depression, fatigue and sleep disturbances

MBSR has been the subject of hundreds of controlled clinical research studies [* link to research section] and is considered the gold standard of secular mindfulness interventions.