Find clarity and confidence through mindfulness.

Yes we know! Everybody has this experience when they first start mindfulness practice. It is not a problem and won't stand in your way of developing more ease and peace in your life through the MBSR training. It is just "grist for the mill". Most people in the class will feel the same way.

We need to start with the mind we have. If it is busy and preoccupied - that is the perfect place to begin. Initially, mindfulness practice is really about becoming familiar with your own mind and body and exploring ways to soothe, calm and simply explore how we tick.

Step-by-step throughout the course you will be offered lots of different ways of practicing in order to bring this way of being more into your life. The science is really motivating as we find out why we have such jumpy, 'jack-rabbit' minds and what they need in order to calm down and become a little clearer.

The course is for anyone who wants to reduce work, family or health-related stress and to bring a greater sense of balance and meaning to their lives and also to manage challenges more skilfully. The MBSR course involves -

• an individual phone interview with your teacher
• a 2.5 hour class once a week for eight weeks plus one full retreat day
• yoga and body awareness training
• exploration of patterns of thinking, feeling and action, and how to transform them
• brief lectures and discussions
• individual feedback and support
• scientific rationale for the practice
• your commitment to daily homework practice using audio tracks and course book

Over 35 years of research into the MBSR program has found evidence for these outcomes:

• Greater capacity to deal with stress
• Increased sense of well-being and balance
• Lasting decrease in both physical and psychological symptoms
• Increased energy and productivity, feeling more engaged with life
• Stronger immune system
• Increased levels of attention and concentration
• More creative problem solving and greater focus
• Increased sense of connection, meaning and purpose

In recent years research in neuroscience has made compelling discoveries about the brain’s capacity to grow and change, including evidence that meditation helps to create new pathways in the brain that increase our ability to be more positive and creative.

Mindfulness is not a good idea - it is a practice!

Like learning to swim, do Pilates or play golf – it is not so useful to just hear about it or read about it. It is the experience and practice that will lead to lasting and profound changes for you. Training in mindfulness offers a very portable set of skills so can be practiced anywhere, anytime.

But to benefit fully from the program are you willing to make a commitment to undertake some daily formal practice for the eight weeks? This will make all the difference to your satisfaction with the course and your life.

Give it a go and let's see what happens!

Most of us busy humans don't like it but change takes time. Therefore MBSR unfolds over 8 weeks and beyond - with 28 hours of training, 2.5 hour sessions plus a whole day retreat and with quite a bit of home practice. There are lots of promises of a quick fix about lately. You will see many short courses (four to six weeks long and offering between 4 - 9 hours of training) that claim to be based on 'MBSR' or 'the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn' and also inaccurately drawing on the MBSR research-base - when this is not evident in the structure of the course or the experience of the teacher. Mindfulness involves changing habits of mind and body. Change happens through practice and the evidence suggests that eight weeks provides the time for new cognitive, emotional, neurological and behavioural changes to become embedded. Our experience is that practice is most effectively developed in a sustainable manner when there is an ongoing personal relationship with a teacher who really knows their stuff. We encourage you to do some research. If you are quite stressed or meeting some big challenges you might be better doing an in-depth, evidence-based program. Read here about why an app may not be the best way of learning. .

MBSR is a wonderful program for those in helping professions. It assists with our capacity for listening, empathy, compassion and genuine curiosity. It can also help us see into our own patterns that get in the way of being truly helpful. MBSR is however not a professional training in using mindfulness with clients: in this course, we are all in the same boat. We welcome you to experiment with leaving your professional hat at the door and really immersing yourself in the mindfulness practice. Doing our MBSR course is an opportunity to learn about mindfulness from the inside out by engaging in the group process and learning from everyone in the group.

There are good ethical and professional reasons to have an in-depth understanding of your own personal mindfulness practice before teaching others. A sustained mindfulness practice, including doing an MBSR course and a teacher-led silent mindfulness retreat, is a pre-requisite for training to teach others. For more information about professional mindfulness training in Australia, go to: MTIA