Yes, our program is based on the program developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness at UMass , and all of our instructors have studied with him or other nationally recognized mindfulness instructors.

The course registration fee is $395.00. Those that register by the noted early registration deadline qualify for a 10% discount. Duke Affiliates qualify for a 15% discount at the time of their registration. This discount is not eligible to be combined with the early registration discount. Duke Affiliates are defined as Duke Employees, Duke Registered Volunteers, and Duke Students.

The registration fee covers printed course materials, a set of guided meditations on CD, access to online resources, and ten instructor-led, in-person sessions. There are no additional required textbooks.

Your materials will be shipped out prior to the first call-in session via FedEx, to the address in your profile.

• Awareness of Breathing - simple focus on breath, observing thoughts without being caught up in them.
• Body Scan – a way of discovering embodiment -what it means to live in and with the physical body by becoming more aware of the sensations in the different parts and regions of the body.
• Walking Meditation – Walking as a way of meditating.
• Mindful Yoga – Nurture awareness of the body while moving through a series of gentle stretches.
• Loving Kindness – Projecting feelings of friendliness and kindness towards yourself and others.
• Choiceless Awareness – a mindfulness meditation practice that deliberately does not "choose" a particular focus for attention, but instead takes a broad attentional stance that includes sounds, sights, sensations, emotions, and thoughts with equal interest.

The yoga is very gentle and its main focus is on stretching and awareness of the breath during movement but you are not obligated to engage in any practice you feel may be uncomfortable or unsafe.

If you are unable to do yoga or movement practices because of a physical limitation the instructors will work with you and help you find another posture.  The yoga is very gentle and its main focus is on stretching and awareness of the breath during movement. You are also not obligated at any time to engage in any practice you feel may be uncomfortable or unsafe.

It is a common experience for many participants in the early weeks of the course to feel more stressed. They may feel this way because awareness has grown and you are beginning to sense more deeply, and understand more clearly, how much stress you are actually facing and how intense it really is.

In our experience there are a few circumstances that may require additional support to manage this experience. In some situations the stress an individual is carrying can take on a particularly painful and challenging character and in those cases we often strongly encourage that person to have an additional safe place, usually a therapist or counselor, where they can talk, process, and heal the difficulties that are being unearthed and illuminated by the light of mindfulness.

For example, if a person is carrying severe trauma and suffering from PTSD the flashbacks may become more intense, at least at first, and the need to process the experience in therapy of some kind may arise.  If a person struggles with anger issues, with growing mindfulness they may feel the intensity of their anger or the harshness of their angry thoughts more deeply. In such instances the very intensity of the pain--made clear by mindful awareness--can be the doorway to healing if the person chooses to work skillfully with an anger management specialist or a skilled trauma therapist, and can use the authentic self-awareness developed by their mindfulness practice to inform their treatment.

  

Please be assured many, many, participants carrying one or more of these challenges have successfully completed the MBSR program.  The program is designed to benefit people suffering with exactly these kinds of stresses!  With good advance awareness and utilization of proper support remarkable healing is possible for anyone.

You are asked to do home practice- i.e. meditating on your own 45-60 minutes, daily, and reading from the workbook between the class sessions.

No.  This MBSR program is not appropriate for young children or adolescents.

No.  The practices and techniques Jon Kabat-Zinn distilled for MBSR are designed to be neutral and approachable for all individuals, regardless of their chosen spiritual practice.  People from a variety of backgrounds have enrolled in MBSR.

No, we'll ask you to choose a specific course and stay with that class for the duration.  It becomes disruptive to the group learning dynamic to move from one class to the other. Please be sure to arrange your schedule as best you can to minimize the chance you may miss a session. If you know in advance that you must miss more than two sessions, we recommend that you consider waiting to taking the course at another time.

Participants who attend at least seven of the eight weekly sessions and provide us with feedback about their experience at the end of the course will receive a downloadable electronic certificate of completion as acknowledgment of their dedication to their health.

No continuing education credit is available for this course.

The MBSR program is an educational program not a clinical service, and so is not eligible for insurance coverage from most companies. Individuals who are referred to the program by their doctor may be able to file for reimbursement, but it is up to you to negotiate with your insurance company.  Supporting documentation to verify your attendance (receipts, letters of description of service from Duke Health & Well-Being, ect.) is available on request.

Duke Health & Well-Being has limited funds available for partial financial assistance for Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and MBSR Distance Learning courses. The funds may cover up to 50% of the registration fee. To be considered, please submit your financial assistance application prior to the early registration deadline for your desired course. Please click here to submit a financial assistance application.

For programs with a designated start date, transfers are not allowed. Cancellations may be requested using the cancellation request form. If you make this request at least 7 days prior to the start of the program you will receive a refund of your payment minus an administration fee equal to 10% of the registration fee. If you request a cancellation within 7 days of the program start date or do not arrive on your scheduled start date you will forfeit your payment.

In order to access the required telephonic practice sessions you will need access to a reliable phone line that can dial long distance phone numbers. For comfort a headset is strongly recommended. Specific instructions for accessing the telephonic conference call line is sent to registered students with their class materials.

To access online registration and course resources, and for general administration of your account, the minimum system requirements are as follows:

Tablets and Smartphones: Using iOS or Android operating systems are supported

Internet Connection: 0.5 Mbps (recommended 1+ Mbps), wired connection or Wi-Fi connection

General Software: Adobe Acrobat Reader

Windows Operating Systems

• 2.33GHz or faster x86-compatible processor, or Intel® AtomTM 1.6GHz or faster processor for netbooks
• Microsoft® Windows® XP (32 bit), Windows Server 2008 (32 bit), Windows Vista® (32 bit), Windows 7 (32 bit and 64 bit), Windows 8 (32 bit and 64 bit), or Windows Server 2012 (64 bit)
• Internet Explorer 8.0 or later, Mozilla Firefox 17 or later, Google Chrome, or Opera 11
• 512MB of RAM (1GB of RAM recommended for netbooks); 128MB of graphics memory

Mac OS

• Intel CoreTM Duo 1.83GHz or faster processor
• Mac OS X v10.6, v10.7, v10.8, or v10.9
• Safari 5.0 or later, Mozilla Firefox 17, Google Chrome, or Opera 11
• 512MB of RAM; 128MB of graphics memory

Chrome OS

• If you are using a Google device such as a Chromebook the device will display the course PDF documents with its internal software. Adobe Acrobat need not be installed on the system.

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