Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

at the BWH Osher Center

Thursdays from 5:30 pm-8:00 pm
June 21st – August 16th

Instructor: Meghan Searl, PhD

Welcome to the Summer 2018 MBSR Orientation. We will offer an 8-week MBSR class
on the following Thursday evenings from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm:

Class 1 6/21
Class 2 6/28
Class 3 7/5
Class 4 7/12
Class 5 7/19
Class 6 7/26
Class 7 8/9
Class 8* 8/16

All-day class 7/22 (9 am – 3 pm)

Make up date** 8/23
*Class 8 will be three hours long, ending at 8:30 pm. **In the unlikely event of inclement weather
or instructor illness, the class sequence will be delayed by a week and will finish on August 23rd.

If you decide that you would like to participate in this MBSR course, tell Meghan
immediately following the orientation or via email (msearl@bwh.harvard.edu).

We will be accepting participants on a first come, first serve basis. Depending on

when you respond, you may be placed on a waiting list. Alternatively, you may
choose to take a MBSR class later in 2018.

For those who express interest in this class following the orientation, Meghan will
contact you to set up a brief phone screen. The phone screen is an opportunity to
understand whether taking MBSR is right for you at the present time. Sometimes even
when there is an interest in the class, it becomes clear that the timing isn’t right.
Reasons for this vary, but might include having a condition for which MBSR is
contraindicated (e.g., untreated severe depression, active substance abuse, recent
trauma) or simply not having enough time to commit to doing the daily practice (see
below). If it is the right time and you do want to go forward with the class, Meghan will
give your contact information to Joel Priest (Osher Center Administrator) who will get in
touch to take your payment information.

If you are not sure that you want to take the course but have questions, please get in
touch with Meghan to set up a time to discuss what is best for you.
What is MBSR?
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week educational program
designed to foster the development of mindful awareness. The program is
experiential, which means that participants learn by engaging in a variety of meditation
and yoga practices. This means that, the more participants practice, the more they
typically learn, grow, and change. In fact, scientific research bears this out. The
benefits of MBSR correlates directly with the amount of practice one does over the
course of the 8 weeks.

What MBSR participation involves

Participation in an MBSR class involves a willingness to commit to the program in full,
including attending the weekly sessions and the all-day retreat, and most importantly,
carrying out the 45-60 minute home practice each day. You will be given home
practice monitoring forms to track your daily meditation; you will be expected to hand in
the completed forms at the start of each class. The willingness and commitment to
practice is a critical part of the program. It is often hard to find the time and energy in
our daily lives for this, but making such a commitment can be a powerful opportunity.
For the eight weeks of the program, you will asked to live up to this commitment to
daily practice and full participation, and you will have the support of the group to help
you maintain the commitment.

What will we do in the group meetings?

During the group meetings, there will always be some amount of guided formal
practice (e.g., meditation or yoga). In addition, there will be opportunities for
discussing experiences of practice within the large group, and sometimes within
smaller groups of 2-4 participants. There will also be discussions about stress, stress
reactivity, coping, interpersonal communication, and other topics.

Risks and benefits

Risks
 MBSR requires a significant commitment of time and effort. Like any endeavor
that requires time and energy, it is important to prepare to spend the necessary
time to get the most from the experience.
 We will be practicing mindfulness of the body and also of emotions. Sometimes
painful experiences, physical or emotional, can come to mind when we allow
ourselves to pay close attention to our experience in this way.
 For those a history of trauma, mindfulness practices can sometimes be
unsettling. If you have experienced trauma, it is critical to ensure that you have
enough psychological support available to you (e.g, therapists, other types of
support) during the eight weeks of the class.
 We will be doing some amount of yoga a form of mindful practice in MBSR.
While the type of yoga we will do is quite gentle, injury is always possible. It is
important for every student to be respectful of the needs and limitations of their
bodies and attentive to any risks related to past injuries.
  Finally, Meghan is a clinical psychologist and is therefore a mandated reporter in
the state of Massachusetts. This means that she is bound by law to break
confidentiality and report her concerns if she is aware of a risk of immediate harm
to anyone present during MBSR-related activities. She is also mandated to
report concerns about harm to elders, minors, or disabled persons if relevant
information is shared within the context of MBSR-related activities.

Benefits
The benefits of MBSR are difficult to predict for any given individual. While many
people who complete MBSR classes find that they experiences changes in their stress
level, health, or experience of pain, it is useful to enter into the experience of MBSR
with an open mind and spirit of curiosity rather than a particular goal or expectation.

Is this program right for me?

People who benefit most from MBSR typically want to learn mindfulness skills, even if
someone else has recommended the class. MBSR is typically less effective for people
who are feeling pressured to take the class, but are not otherwise interested in
mindfulness or meditation. People who benefit are usually struggling with something in
their lives, such as stress, pain, medical illness, anxiety, depression, etc. MBSR is
typically not recommended for people who are severely depressed, in early stages of
addiction treatment, or have untreated post-traumatic stress disorder.

Is this the right time for me?

This may be the right time for you if you have enough flexibility in your schedule to:

 Attend all of the Thursday evening classes

 Attend the all day retreat
 Do 45 minutes of daily mindfulness practice

I want to participate. What are the next steps?

If you haven’t done so already, set up a time to have a brief conversation with Meghan
(msearl@bwh.harvard.edu). This is an opportunity to confirm that this is a good time
for you to participate in the course and that you have the time, energy, and support to
commit to the required daily practice.