Jon Kabat-Zinn, the founder of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), famously said, “As long as you’re breathing, there’s more right than wrong within you.” This foundational principle forms the basis of the MBSR program, encouraging us to embrace and cultivate all that is positive within ourselves. It highlights the innate qualities of awareness, courage, and energy that mindfulness practice nurtures. In this first session, the group learning environment is established, and the working definition of mindfulness is reviewed, along with common misconceptions. Mindful eating, focused attention, and body scan meditation practices are introduced to explore present-moment awareness and the profound connection between the mind and body.

How we perceive things (or fail to perceive them) significantly influences our responses. Through practice, interactive dialogue, and learning activities, we encourage self-examination of our perceptions, assumptions, and how we view our lives and the world. We delve into creative responding, exploring how we perceive, absorb information, and utilize it. The distinction between reactivity and responsiveness is also discussed, emphasizing the role of mindfulness in fostering more skillful responses. The practice of body scan and mindful movement remains an integral part of this journey.

In this session, we’ll integrate various mindfulness meditation practices, including a mindful movement sequence of lying down yoga (with chair adaptations for those who can’t lie down on the floor), a sitting practice, and possibly a walking meditation. At this point, you’ve been practicing at home with the recordings for two weeks, and this session will include ample time for questions, sharing of learning and discoveries, and discussions about how to incorporate this new habit into our daily routines, including the challenges involved. Another theme for session 3 is exploring “pleasant experiences” and how they’re perceived in our thoughts, emotions, and sensations.

After three weeks of daily mindfulness practice, participants often report heightened awareness of all experiences, including pleasant, unpleasant, and everything in between. Through practice, curiosity and openness are cultivated, manifesting not only in meditation but also in ordinary moments of life. In this class, we explore the physiology and psychology of fight, flight, or freeze and delve into personal patterns related to stress. Additionally, strategies for responding to stress positively and proactively are discussed.

From participants’ firsthand experience with practice and increased awareness of reactivity in their lives, mindfulness strategies emerge as powerful tools to respond skillfully, aligning with personal values and intentions. The journey continues in exploring how mindfulness can disrupt patterns of being stuck or engaging in maladaptive coping mechanisms. Through exploration and awareness of the thoughts, emotions, and sensations that arise moment by moment.

The all-day retreat provides participants with an opportunity to delve deeper into mindfulness practices learned throughout the course. Alongside familiar techniques, they explore new avenues of exploration. This day offers a chance to gain a fresh perspective on their lives, viewing them through the lens of mindfulness and the qualities it cultivates, such as kindness, curiosity, and interest. By removing the usual demands and distractions, participants may discover new possibilities, insights, and perspectives.

This session builds upon the learning gained from the all-day session, shedding light on both discoveries and challenges. Moreover, we shift our focus to interpersonal relating, exploring how we can incorporate mindful presence, creative responses, and navigating strong emotions (both our own and those of others) into our ongoing life practice of relating. This can be connected to resilience or stress hardiness—the ability to adjust when we recognize stress. We also learn that this is normal. The expectation is not that we will always remain calm, but rather that we understand what to do and how to take care of ourselves when we find ourselves in the midst of reactivity.

By the seventh session, consistent, daily mindfulness practice has unveiled numerous surprises and discoveries. For instance, it has enhanced focus, reduced judgment, accelerated recovery from stressful situations, empowered individuals to speak up for themselves and respond to their needs more effectively. These are just a few examples. In addition to cultivating a regular, daily mindfulness practice, the class delves into applying mindfulness beyond the meditation cushion and integrating it into one’s daily life as an ongoing habit of mind, body, and heart. The prior weeks of practice have provided a fresh perspective on self-care, stress management, and appreciating moments of joy and tranquility.

In our final session, which may extend up to an hour beyond other sessions, we complete our journey together, practicing several mindfulness meditations we’ve learned, reviewing course highlights, and setting new intentions to maintain the momentum from the previous weeks. Together, we celebrate the challenges we’ve overcome and the learning we’ve accomplished. While acknowledging the program’s end, we also celebrate how each individual will carry the practice forward in their own unique and supportive manner.