I'll be sitting nervously with those who attended the class watching to see what Catalyst has to report. I'm hoping that the richness of this 25-30 hour course is captured in just 1 hour.
I'm wondering what the participants will say and whether the scientific results the Catalyst team gather, will match up with my anecdotal experience and past research into the course.
MBSR started in the US in 1979. It is now run all over the world.
I've been running 4-6 MBSR courses a year for 5 years now. In that time "Mindfulness" has become so popular. There are 4-week courses at one hour a week, apps galore and many psychologists bring mindfulness strategies into their work. This popularising of mindfulness as a "quick tool of self-improvement" has made it somewhat harder to fill in MBSR courses.
"Why do a demanding 8-week course that will ask you to practice every day for a significant period when you can enjoy 4-weeks at 1-hour?"
But the strong evidence base is with MBSR, an 8- week program with lots of practice, psycho-education and experiments for linking meditation with life - and MBSR is just the beginning of a journey.
MBSR offers something substantial. It is demanding. It demands that you do a "Mindfulness Experiment", where you get to know your body and your mind, in a particular way over 8-weeks. It allows you the time to properly try it out.
Catalyst screens on Tuesday 19 Feb, 8.30pm
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Why not watch the Catalyst program and then try out a course. Book into the HeadRest course that starts next week Wed, Feb 27 or book by Feb 27 for the Catalyst special for the May course.www.headrest.com.au.