What is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction?

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a clinically proven stress and anxiety reduction program using traditional mindfulness meditation and newer cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. Numerous studies have shown it to be effective in reducing and eliminating symptoms of a number of different psychological problems. Mindfulness practice is designed to help participants cultivate greater awareness of the unity of mind and body, and the ways the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can undermine emotional, physical, and spiritual health.  Mindfulness meditation has been shown to significantly improve numerous conditions, both psychological and physical. Some benefits supported by research include lowering blood pressure, decreasing chronic pain, increasing activity levels, reducing negative emotional reactivity, and increasing control over impulsive behavior.

Mindfulness is a way of restraining yourself to relate directly to whatever is happening in your life. It is a way of reasserting control of your mental and emotional life by helping you reconnect to the present moment, rather than the pain of the past or anxiety about the future. Mindfulness is a way of paying attention to and seeing clearly whatever is happening in our lives.  It is not necessarily a method of getting rid of life's pressures, but it can help us respond to them in a calmer manner that benefits our hearts, heads, and bodies.