Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
PAMF offers the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program, an intensive 8-week course that helps people cope with physical and mental stress, and to reduce suffering from the conditions arising from stress. During weekly two-and-a-half-hour sessions, and a full-day mindfulness retreat, participants learn and practice:
- breathing awareness, body scanning gentle yoga, mindful meditation
- new ways of thinking, responding to difficult situations, relationships, and emotions
The course is experiential and practical; it includes guided practices and group discussions The program was developed in the early 1980s by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., a molecular biologist from MIT who studied and taught yoga and Buddhist meditation, incorporating its key principles into a course harnessing the link between mind and body.
Research shows that the mindfulness approach can reduce symptoms of:
- Anxiety, panic and worry
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Work stress and family stress
- Chronic illness and pain:
- IBS and other GI conditions
- Psoriasis and other skin conditions
- Blood pressure and other heart conditions
- Asthma and other respiratory conditions
- Muscle tension
- Fibromyalgia, headaches, arthritis, lower back pain, TMJ, and other pain conditions
- Infertility
- Addictions
- Grief and Loss
Read more about Mindfulness and MBSR here: Mindfulness (.pdf, download Acrobat reader if you don't have it)
Two sections of MBSR are offered every quarter - one on Mondays, one on Tuesdays.
Time: 6:30 to 9 p.m.
Cost: $325 (Includes text book, workbook and CD)
Location:
Palo Alto Center, Hearst Center for Health Education
795 El Camino Real
3rd Floor Jamplis Building
Palo Alto, CA 94301
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Instructor: Renée Burgard LCSW is a mindfulness-based psychotherapist and educator in private practice, owner of Mindfulness & Health in Palo Alto. She has taught the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program for the Palo Alto Medical Foundation since 2001. She also teaches MBSR courses and workshops for Stanford University, Google, Inc., Apple Computer, Inc., and for other schools, nonprofit organizations, and corporations in the SF Bay Area. Her background includes extensive education and training in health, medical, and neurosciences, and she is currently in training for certification in the field of Interpersonal Neurobiology with Dan Siegel, MD at UCLA. She serves as a senior mentoring instructor for mindfulness teachers in the northern California region, and trains psychotherapists in the use of mindfulness practices.
MBSR Online Registration and 8 Week Class Schedule: Click here to view class dates and to register online.
Free Orientations (offered quarterly):
2012: January 3, April 3, June 26, September 4
6:30 - 9 p.m.
Hearst Center for Health Education, 3rd floor, Jamplis Building
Click here for more details and to register
Classes Begin
2012: January 16 & 17; April 16 & 17; July 9 & 10; September 17 & 18.
All-day Sunday Retreat Dates
2011: October 23; 2012: March 11, June 10, August 19, November 4
9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Hearst Center for Health Education, 3rd floor, Jamplis Building
While PAMF physicians may refer their patients to this program, the Mindfulness program is open to everyone in the community.
If the class is full and you would like to be placed on a wait list in the event of cancellations or for questions about this class, please email Health Education or call 650-853-2960.