Developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre, Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction is based on mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness is a basic human quality, a way of learning to pay wise attention to whatever is happening in your life that allows you a greater sense of connection to your life inwardly and outwardly.
Mindfulness is also a practice, a systematic method aimed at cultivating clarity, insight and understanding. In the context of your health, mindfulness is a way for you to experientially learn to take better care of yourself by exploring and understanding the interplay of mind and body and mobilizing your own inner resources for coping and growing.
Some of the skills people learn in MBSR courses:
- Practical coping skills to improve your ability to handle stressful situations
- Methods for being physically and mentally relaxed and at ease
- Gentle full body conditioning exercises to strengthen the body and release muscular tension
- To become increasingly aware of the interplay of mind and body in health and illness
- To face change and difficult times in life with greater ease
Nearly three decades of scientific research all over the world suggest that training in mindfulness and MBSR can positively and often profoundly affect participants’ ability to reduce medical symptoms and psychological distress while learning to live life more fully.