MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION (MBSR)

Photo by Sharon Toribio

DISCOVER PRACTICAL WAYS TO REDUCE THE IMPACT OF STRESS 

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week restorative and psychoeducational group program that offers you practical ways to reduce the impact of stress and develop capacity for greater balance in your day-to-day life.

MBSR is a highly participatory and experiential course, including guided instruction on meditation practices, gentle mindful movement, home practice and audio recordings. MBSR is the world’s most well-known meditation program, developed in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Hospital. 

JOURNEY INWARD

Photo by Sylvia Eugenia Ruiz

THROUGHOUT THIS JOURNEY, YOU WILL LEARN:

When you participate in the MBSR program, you genuinely learn how to access your inner knowing-our most powerful resource.

  • Awareness skills to recognize and transform your relationship with stressors 

  • Skillful ways to improve self-care  

  • Practical ways to manage stress and build resilience 

  • An increased ability to relax more easily 

  • To manage anxiety and improve emotional regulation

  • To develop healthier relationships with thoughts and emotions

  • To choose more skillful responses to life’s challenges

  • To generate more energy and zest for life

BE HERE NOW

Photo by Sandy Wojtal-Weber

WHO IS THIS FOR?

This course is for individuals who wish to reduce stress, anxiety, and pain, as well as improve their quality of life. 

It’s also ideal for those looking to begin their mindfulness practice or deepen their existing practice. 

MBSR is not a replacement for therapy or physical treatments you may be receiving.

BIPOC and folks who identify as LGBTQIA2S+ are welcome; in other words, we need your precious presence here! 

Languages

Format

English or Spanish

Online (Zoom)

8-week course, 2.5 hours per week, plus a day of mindfulness. Total of 27 hours of instruction.

Timing

Many students have reported decreases in psychological and physical symptoms due to anxiety and stress. These include: lower blood pressure, better job and home life function, improved sleep, better emotional regulation, and others. Research findings corroborate these reports (e.g. meta-analyses by deVibe et al., 2017, Campbell Collaboration; Goldberg et al., 2018, 2021). 

Photo by Sharon Toribio

MBSR ROADMAP

THIS 8-WEEK JOURNEY INVITES YOU TO THE ONLY MOMENT ANY OF US EVER HAS; THE PRESENT MOMENT.

MBSR is a course that is highly participatory and experience-based. We will spend more than half of the class practicing a variety of formal and informal meditation practices. There will also be time during class to share experiences from the practices. Below you can find a general road map of what will be covered in each session.

  • A time for an initial welcome, meeting with the group, and to review the program's history and broad outline. Additionally, we will review the course content, logistics, risks and benefits, program expectations, as well as experience a short practice.

  • Bringing attention to all the senses, experiencing mindful breathing, and noticing our auto-pilot way of being.

  • Identify what gets in the way of being present. Shaping our construct of reality and cultivating a beginner's mind and self-awareness.

  • Start constructing the bridge that will bring mindfulness into everyday life and inhabit your anatomy with present-moment awareness through body scan and mindful movement.

  • This session supports you in becoming more familiar with what causes stress, as well as working with stress reactivity and its connection to thoughts, body, emotions, and behaviors. We will explore the role of mindfulness in recognizing automatic reactions to stress.

  • "When the eight weeks are over, then you can tell us whether it was of any use or not. For now, just keep practicing". — Jon Kabat-Zinn (developer of the MBSR program). In this session, you will explore how to use mindfulness as a platform to be with adversity, identifying what is present and intentional, with awareness responding.

  • Bring awareness into how you interact with others. Examine how mindfulness can support you in communicating with yourself and others with greater compassion.

  • The group gathers to practice for a prolonged period. The community will experience a variety of practices:

    -Mindful Movement
    -Body Scan
    -Sitting and Walking Meditation
    -Mountain Meditation
    -Extended Silence
    -Loving-Kindness Meditation

  • In this session, we explore what nourishes and depletes us. The group will learn skillful choices and expanded self-care.

  • In the final session, we reflect on what we learned during the past seven weeks' journey and how to incorporate the lessons into our lives in order to keep the practice alive.

FACILITATORS

And You!

TESTIMONIAL

TESTIMONIAL

Matthew J. Sorensen
USA

  • Sylvia Eugenia Ruiz was absolutely instrumental in my successful completion of the University of Wisconsin Hospital’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class. Throughout the 8-week program, Sylvia showed tremendous commitment to program participants and never failed to demonstrate a warm, kind, open, and generous spirit in her interactions with me and others.  Sylvia’s honesty and empathy allowed me and other participants to form meaningful and lasting connections with her.  I consider Sylvia to be a tremendous blessing in my life, and her work in the MBSR program has changed my life in profound and lasting ways that I will never forget.  Sylvia’s work rekindled a new courage and commitment within me to confront the challenges in my life in new ways and made me hopeful again that, despite the innumerable differences between people that seem to create so many seemingly insurmountable barriers to mutual respect and understanding, authentic and meaningful connections made between people of different backgrounds are still possible and will, if we stay open to love and kindness, change the world for the better. Thank you Sylvia!

    Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction — Participant

Photo by Lil Artsy(Pexels)

UPCOMING EVENTS

MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION (MBSR)

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO. CENTER FOR MINDFULNESS 

IN-PERSON MINDFULNESS RETREAT IN MILWAUKEE: Balancing Giving and Receiving  

WELLNESS INITIATIVE: CUIDÁNDONOS, CUIDAMOS AÚN MEJOR

SERVICE REQUEST FORM

FAQ

FAQ

  • Research has found that attending all sessions is most beneficial, however, you can miss 1-2 classes if needed.

  • 16 years old.

TESTIMONIAL

TESTIMONIAL

Anna Ulrey 
USA 

  • She was outstanding!  She helped create a warm and welcoming environment for the group despite the fact that we were meeting over zoom.  She met each of us where we were on our MBSR journey and was instrumental in helping us form a safe and supportive community in which to practice.  She made sure every participant had the chance to be heard while keeping us on track and on topic.  Her humor and deep personal commitment to mindful living really shone through.  Sylvia was an inspiration.  She brought a fresh perspective to the material we covered and got me thinking about my mindfulness practice in ways I had never done before. She was extremely eloquent and I would strongly recommend her to anyone interested in MBSR.  I sincerely hope I will be able to take another class with her in the future. 

     
    Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction — Participant

Photo by Landiva Weber (Pexels)

resources

BOOKS ABOUT MINDFULNESS AND MEDITATION

  • Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD

  • How to Train a Wild Elephant by Jan Chozen Bays, MD

  • Mindfulness in Plain English by Bhante Gunaratana

  • The Dharma of Modern Mindfulness by Beth Ann Mulligan,PA-C

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MBSR

Freedom is not given to us by anyone; we have to cultivate it ourselves. It is a daily practice...No one can prevent you from being aware of each step you take or each breath in and breath out.

THICH NHAT HANH

Photo by Frank Cone (Pexels)