What is MBSR

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR): What It Is & How To Find A Great Teacher

“Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had to do it over again. I’d have more of them. In   fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after the other, instead of living so many years ahead of each day”.
                                                                                                                                                                – Nadine Stair, 85 y/o

What is MBSR

What is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)?

What is interesting about teaching Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is that, as teachers, we don’t really do anything for our participants. If we tried, we would fail miserably. Instead, we invite participants to do something radically new for themselves, that is, to experiment with living intentionally from moment to moment.

What are Mindfulness-based Programs (MBPs)?

MBSR is a blend of modern psychology, pedagogy and the ancient wisdom of mindfulness meditation. A typical session is 2.5 hours, where you will see a mixture of different meditation practices including lying down, standing, sitting and walking, alongside group discussion and didactic teaching elements. This course is evidence-based and has been rigorously tested since its conception in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, an American molecular biologist and student of Buddhism turned professor emeritus of medicine at the University of Massachusetts, USA. Kabat-Zinn’s aim was to secularise the teachings by removing any Buddhist language and integrate it with western psychological practice to place MBSR in a scientific context. His work helped more than 10,000 people with a range of conditions, including heart disease, cancer, AIDS, chronic pain, gastrointestinal problems, headaches, high blood pressure, sleep disorders, anxiety and panic. By 1993, the clinic had evaluated the efficacy of patients suffering from anxiety disorders and chronic pain specifically. The evidence not only showed that participants experienced long-lasting reduction in their physical symptoms but also psychologically including significant positive changes in attitude, behaviour, perception of self, others, and the world.

How Can MBSR Help?

The work that goes on in an MBSR course is deceptively simple, so much so that it is difficult to grasp what is going on unless you get personally involved. We start with meeting people where they are at, no matter where that is. If they are willing to engage in what might be some very challenging inner work by turning towards themselves and their difficulties with curiosity, compassion and non-judgmentally. We never give up on anyone, even if they become discouraged, have setbacks or feel they are “failing” in their own eyes. Each moment is a new opportunity to begin again, to tune into what is really going on for them.

The MBSR course is traditionally 8 weeks long. You may ask, ‘What can we possibly do for people in a short 8 weeks?’. We offer individuals the tools to start living their lives more fully and completely. Week 8 in the course may be similar to the day you passed your driving test. It is the first day of the rest of your driving career; you have got what you need to excel, you just have to put in the practice time. The more systematically and regularly you practice, the more power your new skills will have.

 

What to look for in a MBSR Teacher

What to Look for in a MBSR Teacher

For example, a key part of research into the efficacy of MBPs is known by the teacher’s competence in their own mindfulness meditation practice (Segal et al, 2018). Essentially if you are learning mindfulness from an individual who does not practice themselves, it reduces its efficacy considerably and can potentially cause harm or even re-traumatise an individual. The incompetence of a teacher will show up as them not being able to embody a different relationship to the most intense distress of their clients. This ability to relate differently to negative affect comes from having their own ongoing mindfulness practice, so that they might teach mindfulness out of their experience of it. A vital part of what an MBSR teacher will convey is their own embodiment of mindfulness itself.

To conclude, interestingly, taking a stress reduction class can be stressful, i) THAT is why we are here (to learn how to relate differently to stress) and ii) why it is important to be discerning when looking for a teacher. All MBSR qualified teachers will have a master’s degree level of training in psychology, to be able to tailor the program to the specific psychological needs of the client and in doing so, prevent harm. The strategy is to offer space for the client to patiently build a ‘healthy’ relationship with all their forms. To compassionately understand their unhelpful automatic patterns, to clearly see what is happening in this moment, in this reality, with this body and this breath. What we really offer people is a different way of being with themselves and their problems within the ordinary experiences of everyday life. A way of coming to terms with stress, or ‘the full catastrophe living’ as Jon Kabat-Zinn states (2020), that in turn can make life more joyful and rich.

By Jennifer Hannibal 

MA Teaching Mindfulness-based Programs | COPE Psychosocial Support Worker | If you wish to learn more about MBSR do reach out to Jen via the COPE Centre.

REFERENCES

  • Crane, R. S., Brewer, J., Feldman, C., Kabat-Zinn, J., Santorelli, S., Williams, J. M., & Kuyken, W. (2016). What defines mindfulness-based programs? the warp and the weft. Psychological Medicine, 47(6), 990–999. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0033291716003317  
  • Kabat-Zinn, J. (2020). Full catastrophe living: How to cope with stress, pain and illness using mindfulness meditation (2nd ed.). Piatkus.
  • Purser, R. E. (2019). McMindfulness: How mindfulness became the new capitalist spirituality. Repeater.
  • Segal, Z. V., Williams, J. M. G., & Teasdale, J. D. (2018). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for Depression (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press. 

 

 

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