MBSR/MBCT Courses Overview

This Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) /Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) programme consists of eight weekly 2.5 hour classes and one full day of mindfulness practice.Cost for full programme is £295.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an eight week programme created and pioneered in the USA by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn over the past 35 years in the Massachussetts Medical Centre. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for Stress & Low Mood was developed by Professors Mark Williams, Zindel Segal and John Teasdale. They adapted the original Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre in 1979.

Both of these courses have a strong evidence base for assisting people in managing stress, low mood, depression, anxiety, illness & pain. Studies have shown that committed participation in an MBSR/MBCT course can often lead to lasting positive effects on health and well-being. This 8-week course will introduce participants to different forms of mindfulness practice, including sitting meditation, body awareness and gentle mindful movement. As the emphasis is on bringing mindfulness into everyday life, home practice will be an important aspect of the course.

To benefit fully from the programme it is important that participants are willing to commit to engaging in about 30 minutes of daily home meditation practice supported by a guided meditation - for the duration of the course. Participants learn a different way of being with experience, bringing attention to what is happening here and now and staying with that direct experience.

The eight weeks of the Mindfulness program helps you to:

  1. Become more aware of how your mind works
  2. Notice the times when you get lost in automatic pilot / thinking / old negative patterns that activate downward mood spirals.
  3. Practice a different way of being with experience
  4. Get more connected to yourself and your body and attuned to what is happening in the moment
  5. Wake up to life happening inside of you and all around you, savouring moments instead of ‘being lost in thought’
  6. Develop kindness and compassion for yourself and others and acceptance of yourself just as you are
  7. Let go of the struggle, force, resistance and cultivate attitudes of patience, trust, non judgement, non striving, openness, acceptance
  8. See options and choices in every scenario.

This substantial program is shown to improve emotional wellbeing and be an effective treatment for anxiety or low mood difficulties. Mindfulness helps us to; open to life rather than struggle against it, respond to challenges rather than react, show compassion towards ourselves rather than judgement and appreciation rather than negativity - allowing us to feel more connected, more open, and more deeply alive.

The UK National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) has recently endorsed MBCT as a treatment for prevention of relapse. Research has shown that people who have been clinically depressed 3 or more times, find that taking the program and learning these skills helps to reduce considerably their chances that depression will return. The evidence from two randomized clinical trials of MBCT indicates that it reduces rates of relapse by 50% among patients who suffer from recurrent depression.” (Ma and Teasdale, 2004., Teasdale et al 2000). An synthesised version of the two above named courses has been developed by the Centre of Mindfulness Research and Practice at the University of Wales, Bangor. They have called their programme MBCT for Stress, using aspects of both MBSR and MBCT for a broader population. The course borrows heavily from MBSR and includes some aspects of cognitive behavioural therapy.

Payment

Payment for any of the courses or one off events can be made via PayPal. Note you do not have to create a PayPal account to send money via PayPal. Payment should be sent to MourneMindfulness via this PayPal link.

For more info on any of the following courses please email Deirdre at info@mournemindfulness.com.