Introduction to the MBSR Program
Living in this technically advanced society creates tremendous challenges
for maintaining a healthy and happy life. Many of us have asked
whether it is even possible to live a healthy life when we find
ourselves feeling exhausted, frustrated, anxious and depressed as we race to
complete endless tasks, trying to make the best of the difficulties that are
a part of being alive today.
Is it possible to live a healthy life today? The answer is YES.
Current research reveals that qualities such as happiness and joy can be enhanced
through training. Through the cultivation of positive emotions, the brain rewires
itself. That is to say that happiness can be learned like learning
to play the guitar. With daily practice, we become more skilled.
A Mindful Pilgrimage
Calling up your own natural curiosity and courage, we invite you to join us on
this challenging and rewarding journey. We invite you to embark on this adventure
as a pilgrim rather than a tourist. Tourists travel to what may be far away
and secluded places, gather souvenirs, and essentially come back the same,
with their suitcase full of tokens and photos reminding them of where they
have been. The pilgrim returns determined to be different than before the deep
and challenging travels began. As Andrew Schelling wrote in Meeting the
Buddha “... a pilgrimage is a passage for the reckless and subtle…” “…a
pilgrim must be prepared to shed the husk of personality or even the body like
a worn out coat…..”
The MBSR course offers you five awareness practices: The Body Scan, Mindful Sitting
Meditation, Mindful Yoga, Walking Meditation, and Lovingkindness. Participants
receive four CDs, each containing a guided 45 minute practice. Thus the pilgrimage
begins; this passage where you begin by moving slowly into a new place of stillness,
a place where in time find that you can greet yourself with kindness and acceptance
and where you can greet others with patience and understanding. The tourist would
simply take home the CDs and Practice Manual from this course and place them
on a bookshelf. The pilgrim takes the practices to heart and finds the time and
space where they can begin to explore this new way of being.
Down the pathway that MBSR offers you, you may explore and discover new possibilities
for coping with stress and illness, perhaps observing yourself waking up to the
richness of living more readily in the present. Being present offers you a release
from being stuck in thoughts and worries about the past and future that may contribute
to stress and dis-ease, for the past no longer exists and the future is not yet
here. All we really have is the present! Imagine the tremendous relief as you
begin to skillfully let go of the mind’s consistent tendencies to review
the past, to prepare for the future and to worry about future outcomes endlessly.
Imagine being able to just sit and notice that you are breathing, noticing the
sounds around you and letting this simply be your focus for right now. Everything
else can fall away even if just for this breath ….and now for this breath….
MBSR offers the opportunity to benefit from data derived from interesting research-
based mindfulness awareness practices. Upon joining us, you will be requested
to do so wholeheartedly, with a commitment to practice daily for the full duration
of the program. What you gain from this program will depend directly on your
own willingness to attend each class session and to commit to your daily practice
and homework.
This course teaches well-tested, simple, but not easy practices. Yet it remains
a challenge to embody the teachings and to find a place for them in your busy
life. We hope that you are ready to join us on this pilgrimage. Take a step on
this path now, just one step at a time. Come explore with us and make a change
in the quality of your daily life. As Mary Oliver the poet wrote “….determined
to do the only thing you can do? Determined to save the only life you could save.”