A706 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Learn how this world-famous, empirically validated practice developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn can reduce stress, improve emotional and physical health, and promote positive self-understanding.

Elena Rosenbaum, M.S.

CE Credits: 6
Audio Only: MP3 Download: $59
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Add 6 CE Credit Hours: $59

In the past 20 years, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), developed by Jon-Kabat-Zinn, has developed a worldwide reputation for the proven benefits it provides for the mind, emotional regulation, and physical health. In this course you’ll experience mindfulness through awareness exercises, mindfulness meditations, and discussion, and explore MBSR’s basic principles, such as authenticity and nonjudgmental attention. Each session will include a mindfulness meditation and an awareness exercise to practice in the session and at home to enhance your own well-being and help you incorporate mindfulness into your personal and professional life.

Meet the Instructor

Elena Rosenbaum, M.S., M.S.W., is adjunct faculty at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society and teaches at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She’s the author of Here for Now: Living Well with Cancer through Mindfulness.

Course Curriculum

Session 1: Introduction to Mindfulness and an Overview of MBSR * Discussion of perspective that there’s more right with you than wrong and that each person has the ability and responsibility for their own well-being * The role of intention, acceptance, and commitment * Awareness exercise, and practice of the body-scan meditation *  
Use of language in defining and explaining mindfulness

Session 2: Building Success * The meaning of wellness, cultivation of attention and compassion; the role of perception * Discussion of the body scan, its use as the seat of emotion, and self-discovery *  Movement practices in awareness * Mindfulness as a self-regulatory technique, qualities needed to sustain practice * Practice in awareness of the breath, nonjudgmental observation * Awareness exercise

Session 3: The Relationship of Attention to Stress Management and Identifying Patterns of Behavior * Focus on stress and stress reactivity versus response * Meeting difficulties and overcoming obstacles * Common difficulties or problems * The process of inquiry *
Case examples * Mindfulness meditation

Session4: Symptom Management, Coping Strategies, Loving-Kindness Meditation Practice, Discussion of Its Practice and Perils * Case examples * Use of poems and stories

Session 5: Mindful Communication, Use of Aikido, Joining and Connecting with Interpersonal Mindfulness * Exercises * Meditation in choiceless awareness (use of sound and thought, as well as sensations and breath).

Session 6: Highlights of Current Research in Mindfulness * Applicability and adaptability of mindfulness to patient populations and settings * Questions, and answers to common questions * Maintaining practice * Practice in an awareness meditation * 
Summation

Learning Objectives

1. Have an experiential understanding of mindfulness and be able to define it in user friendly terms.
2. Practice mindfulness meditations.
3. Understand how mindfulness impacts the stress response and self-management