Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Psychedelic Therapists

Course Description:

This offering of MBSR will be focused on supporting the personal and professional mindfulness practices of Psychedelic Therapists. The class will follow the formal MBSR curriculum meeting weekly for 8 weeks with an online retreat Sunday March 5, 2023. Home practice will be assigned each week and will be supported by recorded practices. Students should expect to commit to daily practice. 

At its core, MBSR is based on systematic and intensive training in mindfulness meditation and mindful hatha yoga. The curriculum, originally developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., is an expression and reflection of this core principle. In continual development the curriculum is designed to guide MBSR program participants in the “how” of learning to practice, integrate, and apply mindfulness in their everyday lives. The primary intention of the MBSR curriculum is to create a structured pathway to relieve suffering and increase wellbeing for people facing a host of challenges arising from a wide range of medical and psychological conditions and the demands and stressors inherent in the everyday lives of human beings. 

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this program, participants will be able to:

• Identify the key aspects of mindfulness as it relates to stress reduction, coping with pain and illness and enhancing well-being

• Define Mindfulness in the context of mindfulness based interventions

• Articulate the difference between MBSR from relaxation techniques

• Describe three different types of focused mindfulness practices

• Describe benefits of open awareness or choiceless awareness meditation techniques on attention

• Apply mindfulness into social interaction with patients, colleagues, supervisors, family and friends to facilitate more effective and mindful communication

• Compare stress reactivity to stress response

• Describe benefits of the S.T.O.P. Practice intervention

• Describe benefits of the R.A.I.N. Practice intervention

• List 4 brain regions studied in the neuroscience of meditation

• Describe the potential benefits of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (and mindfulness in general) to educate patients and their families about the benefits of such programs in their own lives

• Utilize brief mindfulness practices with patients and family members as a means of contending with acute pain, anxiety and distress.

• Describe the benefits of extended mindfulness practice retreats, such as the all day silent retreat

• Identify key aspects of trauma informed practice that allow for safe and effective practice

• Describe the 3 benefits of personal practice to supporting presence in professional settings

• Describe the 3 layers of inquiry used in mindfulness based teaching