The primary intention of the MBSR curriculum is to create a structured pathway to relieve suffering and increase wellbeing for people facing a host of challenges arising from a wide range of medical and psychological conditions and the demands and stressors inherent in the everyday lives of human beings.
MBSR is an 8 week curriculum designed as a dynamic system to help people recognize and mobilize their inner psychological and emotional resources for taking better care of Themselves internally and externally.
The curriculum is based upon the cumulative experience and research totaling more than one million hours of clinical care, referred by more than 7,000 physicians and Thousands of other health care professionals.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Authorized Overview
As the place of origin of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness has, since 1979, conceptualized, developed, implemented and researched MBSR in the form of an 8-week, 10-session course comprised of 31 hours of direct instruction.
This 2017 version of MBSR Curriculum Guide is based upon our cumulative experience totaling more than one million hours of clinical care, more than 24,000 MBSR program completers, referred by more than 7,000 physicians, Thousands of other health care professionals, and through self-referral. In our view, maintaining the fidelity and integrity of MBSR as detailed in this Curriculum Guide will help insure the clinical efficacy, scientific validity, and educational rigor of this approach.
At its core, MBSR is based on systematic and intensive training in mindfulness meditation and mindful hatha yoga. The curriculum, originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., is an expression and reflection of this core principle. Therefore, it is termed “mindfulness-based.” In continual development in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at University of Massachusetts Medical School, the curriculum is designed to guide MBSR program participants in the “how” of learning to practice, integrate, and apply mindfulness in their everyday lives. The primary intention of the MBSR curriculum is to create a structured pathway to relieve suffering and increase wellbeing for people facing a host of challenges arising from a wide range of medical and psychological conditions and the demands and stressors inherent in the everday lives of human beings.
Embedded within the context of Mind-Body and Participatory Medicine, the MBSR curriculum focuses on the experiential cultivation of both “formal” and “informal” mindfulness practice as a means of familiarizing one self with awareness itself (mindfulness). The recognition of an innate, ever-present awareness is the foundation for the development of positive health behaviors, psychological and emotional resilience, and an overarching sense of wellbeing that can be effectively cultivated and relied upon across the life span.
MBSR clinical and basic science research and our experience at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School strongly supports the efficacy of MBSR as an effective clinical approach that can be utilized by participants far beyond completion of the program.
