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                  Summer 2013 Mindfulness training
               6 week course starting July 11th

The course will teach participants how to use mindfulness meditation and yoga to manage stress. It is based on Jon Kabat Zinn’s MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) program* and Shri Krishnamacharya’s insightful understanding of yoga’s potential for transforming conditioned patterns. Participants will investigate how they personally perceive stress. Through practicing yoga and a form of meditation that is stripped of cultural and religious reference, they will develop the skills to bring greater balance and clarity into their daily life.

A FREE orientation session will be given on June 27, 5:45-7PM. Let us know if you would like to attend.

The course itself will consist of a 2 hour class for 6 consecutive Thursdays from 5:45 to 7:45, beginning July 11. The class will provide didactic material as well as guided formal meditations. Participants will be asked to commit to a daily practice. These will be short in duration to begin with and increase gradually and appropriately over the 6 weeks. Students will receive CDs to support their home meditation practices as well as downloads to inspire and inform their meditations. In addition, there will be a silent retreat on August 10 from 10-2. The retreat will re-inforce the formal mindfulness meditation techniques and present other forms of meditations. The fee for the program is $285, with an additional $25 material fee.

The instructor, David Jacobs, received his MBSR training at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Center of Mindfulness. He teaches the program to Syracuse University students through the University’s Counseling Center and to the faculty and staff through the University Wellness Initiative. David also is a certified yoga instructor at UYI where he has taught yoga since 2001.

* MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) is a medically respected program that was developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979. Thirty years later, the program forms the basis of therapeutic interventions for anxiety, depression, OCD, and PTSD. Schools, businesses, and sports programs use the program to reduce stress and support meeting goals and potentials.