Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
AN EIGHT WEEK EVIDENCE BASED PROGRAM FOR CULTIVATING RESILIENCE, HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
Bring a greater sense of balance and meaning to your life
and increase your capacity to deal with stress.
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.
Simply Mindful has been offering MBSR in Canberra since 2004, and we are the only program in Canberra with teachers who are trained and certified to teach this gold standard mindfulness training program. Join one of our teachers on this experiential and transformative journey.
I’ve learnt that I can make a choice about my stress, that I’m not powerless in the face of stressful situations and I can decide how to respond. — MBSR participant
upcoming mbsr classes – enrol now
Develop strategies for applying mindfulness in daily life
An eight week evidence-based program to learn how to:
cultivate resilience
improve physical and mental health
boost overall well-being
MBSR as it is taught at Simply Mindful is the complete and authentic program which was developed in 1979 by Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre.
There has been a wealth of research investigating the effectiveness of the MBSR program, for example, this research showing changes that occur in the brain as a result of taking an 8 week MBSR course. See report >>
What are the possible benefits?
Over 30 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
Improved self-regard
More creative problem solving and greater focus
Increased sense of connection, meaning and purpose
The Mindfulness Experiment
In 2019, ABC science show Catalyst featured a group of MBSR participants. Watch this 6 minute excerpt to see how the 8 week MBSR course changes people's lives. The full show is available through iView.
What does the MBSR course include?
20+ hours of face-to-face instruction
2 ½ hour class once a week for 8 weeks
Mindfulness meditation training
The practice of mindfulness meditation sits at the core of the program
A range of learning approaches
Brief lectures, group discussion and experiential activities
Day of Mindfulness
All day silent retreat held on the weekend
Printed and bound handbook
A beautifully presented handbook for you to follow along and take notes in
Digital downloads of guided meditations and teachings
Lifetime access to our members-only digital library
An experiential adult education course focused on working with the stress in your life wherever you find it
course outline
class 1: recognising the present moment
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class 2: Ways of Seeing
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class 3: moving into practice
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class 4: the shadow of stress
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class 5: opening to the heart
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class 6: minding your mind
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class 7: being and connecting
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class 8: what really matters
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day of mindfulness
This is held from 9am-4pm on a Sunday, usually towards the end of the course.
The retreat is included in your MBSR program at no additional cost.
The MBSR retreat is a full day of meditation practice held in silence under the guidance of the Simply Mindful teachers.
Meet your MBSR teachers
Megan Layton
Director, Senior MBSR, PNT, Self-Compassion and Yoga teacher
Trevor Heldt
MBSR teacher & Facilitator of Graduate Practice Groups
Our venue: the Gathering Place
Our programs are offered at our beautiful northside Canberra venue. We are delighted to share this beautiful place of peace, meditation, contemplation, healing, renewal and learning.
The Brigidine sisters established this as a convent in the 1950s. When the convent closed, the Gathering Place was then created as a retreat and spirituality centre with a contemplative focus in 1994 by Meryl Bollard and Sister Lorraine Gatehouse. It has been lovingly cared for as a place of contemplation, renewal and healing for over 30 years and has played a very important role in our community.
Simply Mindful was invited to take on the management and vision of the Gathering Place in 2019 and a new chapter of the Gathering Place began in mid 2020. This is now the home of Simply Mindful: Canberra Mindfulness Centre and our mindfulness programs. We are honoured to be here.
enrol now in mbsr
Choose a start date below. (We generally run 1-2 courses per term, so check back later if you don’t see a date that suits you.)