If you are seeking guidance with beginning or deepening your meditation practice, I would like to introduce you to the practice of Mindfully Based Stress Reduction, another style of meditation and a name coined by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a world-renowned scientist, educator, author, speaker and founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at The University of Massachusetts Medical School. Learn how a series of simple practices can help you learn how to manage and reduce stress.
I first became familiar with Mindfully Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) back in the late 1990's when I came across a book called, "Wherever you Go, There you Are." I really didn't know what the book was about, but I was absolutely convinced that the author must have met me in another life and wrote this book with me in mind. Well, maybe me and a few million others. The title was irresistible because I had been going through one of those life moments when I really wanted to go on a vacation but leave my mind at home. Sound familiar anyone?
After reading this book, I began a more in depth exploration into MBSR. In the late 1970's Dr. Kabat-Zin developed and began teaching an eight-week program called "Mindfully Based Stress Reduction" in hospital settings to help patients recover and cope with stress, anxiety, pain, depression, and chronic illness.
In brief, MBSR is a melding of yoga and mindful meditation. It is another prescribed practice that teaches us to stay mindful of the present moment in order to manage our physical, emotional, and psychological well being. In my mind, MBSR is not really unique or conceptually different from other forms of meditation and yoga. However, what was unique at the time, was that Dr. Jon kabat-Zin brought scientific credibility to the power of the mind to have a physiological impact through the practices of meditation and yoga.
Finding measurable success with this program, Dr. Kabat-Zin trained other health care professionals to implement his program in various health care locations throughout the country and the world. In response to popular demand, he then developed self guided audio programs and books to help average, stress plagued, anxiety prone, needy souls like us learn how to adopt and practice many of these techniques in the sanctuary of our homes with his easy to follow guidance. I began listening to his Mindfulness Meditation CD, which encompasses the core training of his 8 week MBSR class. Then I listened, re-listened and listened again. Then I practiced, re-practiced and practiced again. I had been one of those cynics who thought meditation was for Woodstock groupies, San Francisco hippies and The Beatles. Mind you, I love San Francisco and The Beatles, but I didn't have a self image as someone who was ready for The Maharishi or any new-age practices that sounded alien. Then "enlightenment." Mindfulness, meditation, breathing, yoga; these "foreign" practices were actually helping me to experience calm in the midst of fear. I learned a little and became eager to learn a lot. It was the beginning of an unending journey that would teach me that mindfulness comes in many shapes, colors, sizes, and styles, and it is up to each of us to choose from the endless options which choices are best suited for us at any given moment on any given day.
It's important to take your time to explore a variety of practices to discover what works best for you. Whether it be MBSR, meditation, visualization, prayer, focused breathing, or some other practice, most of us really can learn to manage stress. No matter how anxiety challenged you may be, you can learn to escape your demons by finding the tools to create your own inner sanctuary. The real challenge is commitment and the determination to never give up.
Donna, a mindful baby boomer is a RYT with Yoga Alliance with advanced training in therapeutic yoga. She is the creator and founder of scentsualeyepillows.com scentsualeyepillows.com, unique, custom designed eco-friendly eye pillows in a variety of fabric and scent options and mindfulnessforbabyboomers.com mindfulnessforbabyboomers.com, a website to help guide those of the baby boomer generation through the practices of mindful awareness as we encounter the privileges, challenges, fears and anxieties of living longer than any generation before.
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