What is Mindfulness?

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Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to whatever is happening in your life right now ~ being fully present and aware with a kind and curious attitude. It is a skill that we can learn to help us to be more fully engaged in our lives with acceptance and compassion.

Most people are drawn to mindfulness from a desire to bring more peace into their lives. We live in a fast-paced, stressful world and feel pressured by technology, responsibilities and even our own negative self-beliefs. We live life on “auto-pilot”, feeling distracted, disconnected and overwhelmed; we ruminate over the past and worry about the future. We miss the moments that really matter. And it takes a toll on our health, relationships and well-being.

What if we could establish a kinder relationship with our lives? What if we had more acceptance and compassion for all of our experiences ~ for the people and relationships we have ~ for ourselves?

Mindfulness allows us to center ourselves and put the power of our happiness back in our own hands. The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program provides structured training in learning those supporting skills.  As we practice bringing our attention to the present moment, we learn to pause and quiet our mind and reconnect with our own inner wisdom. In learning mindfulness we can:

•  Restore our health, balance and peace of mind
•  Have more resilience, empathy and calm
•  Learn to check in, reorient and refocus
•  Be truly present for others
•  Improve mental clarity
•  Learn to respond instead of react
•  Listen in order to hear and understand, not just to reply

 Imagine giving yourself the gift of showing up in your own life ~ for the richness, the challenges, the beauty and the simple, precious moments as they unfold. You can be here now, just as you are, minding the moment.

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Tell me more about Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, is a structured eight-week course that teaches participants how to strengthen their ability to pay attention to what is happening in the present moment to help create a more peaceful and balanced life. 

Each week, a variety of mindfulness and meditation practices are introduced to strengthen the ability to be more present. Through these and the accompanying home practices, you develop a greater sense of awareness and acceptance with which to choose more effective ways of responding to life's stresses and challenges. You strengthen your ability to connect with your own innate wisdom and take better care of yourself; to recognize when you're on auto-pilot and reconnect with life and the people in it. Rather than being driven by assumptions of how things should be, living in the past or worrying about the future,  you have the opportunity to engage in life with openness, compassion and ease.

The MBSR program was originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at The University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979 as a way to help people cope with chronic physical and emotional pain. It helped bring mindfulness meditation into the “medical mainstream” and is now offered in hospital, work and learning environments worldwide. Research has demonstrated many positive benefits which include:

• Reduced stress
• Sharper focus
• Improved memory

• Reduced chronic pain
• Enhanced immune system
• Lower blood pressure

• Reduced anxiety and depression
• Improved sleep
• Improved communication