When my husband began teaching Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction (MBSR), I was eager to take one of his 10-week courses. I know that MBSR is a highly effective way to reduce medical symptoms, manage chronic pain, ease stress, and relieve psychological distress based on more than 30 years of proven medical research.
Honestly, few of us escape the ravages of stress in modern life. Stress has without question played an overbearing role in my own life. Post traumatic stress has etched unhelpful grooves into my brain that can sometimes turn on alarm bells at the least provocation. Fortunately, we now have tools like MBSR to retrain and rewire the brain and modulate the stress response.
To beat stress, the first step is to know your stress. At the start of the MBSR course, I received a simple, open-ended “Stress Assessment” to complete. I took my time – a few days, actually – to explore all the causes of stress in my life.
