“the awareness that arises by paying attention on purpose,
in the present moment, and non-judgmentally”- Jon Kabat-Zinn, Full Catastrophe Living, 1990/2013
Mindfulness is knowing what we are experiencing while we are experiencing it. Not getting caught up in ruminative thinking or stories we tell ourselves, but paying attention to things as they actually are in any given moment, however they are, rather than as we want them to be.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a group-based program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn over 40 years ago at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center (UMASS). It is founded on ancient Eastern philosophies but is taught in a secular, or non-religious way. Since 1979, over 25,000 people have completed the UMASS program working with their own internal resources and abilities to respond more effectively to chronic and acute stress, pain, and illness. The systematic program teaches mindfulness through formal and informal meditation practices, gentle and simple movement practices, and group discussions. MBSR has been adopted around the world, being taught in many languages, and is the basis of much of the research on meditation as it relates to health and wellbeing.
Emerging research supports a number of health related benefits associated with practicing mindfulness exercises: improved focus/attention, body awareness, pain modulation, changes in perspective, emotional regulation and structural brain changes.
Group classes are held once per week (either face-to-face or online) to learn and explore mindfulness concepts and share experiences from practicing during the week. Participants are provided with audio recordings and homework activities to practice daily on their own. An All Day Retreat is typically held after the 5th or 6th week.
Marianne holds introductory community meditations every week and can be available for individual sessions.
If you are interested in finding out more about the next 8-week MBSR course or want to know more about how Mindfulness exercises might benefit you, please contact me:
Email: MBSRinEnglish@gmail.com
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Marianne Pilgrim is originally from Vancouver, Canada and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area at a young age. Trained as an Occupational Therapist at Dominican University in San Rafael, California, Marianne has been working with the US military community for over 13 years. Marianne and her husband, Aaron, have been living in Germany for almost 10 years and this is where she developed her personal meditation practice.
After learning about how medical research supports Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) for improving attention, memory and making literal changes in many parts of the brain, Marianne decided to become a certified MBSR Instructor. Marianne’s first exposure to MBSR was through a self-paced course from the original founders of MBSR at University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Marianne is a teacher in training with Mindful Academy Solterreno, Spain and Mindfulness Center at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Marianne is thrilled to teach others how MBSR can wake them up to their own lives.
