MBSR Program in English (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction)

« If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.»

Wu Men

During the last 43 years, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have spread exponentially, creating tremendous access to mindfulness for people alle over the planet.

The MBSR program is built over eight weeks and allows the development of mindfulness, i.e. the quality of presence, moment after moment, whatever the experience of the moment is.

Anchored in the integrative medicine vision, it conveys powerful tools for the body as well as the mind. The MBSR approach consists of a set of meditative practices to create beneficial conditions, related to thoughts, emotions, body sensations and actions towards better physical or mental health and stress reduction.

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical University (USA) in the 80ies and has spread in Europe since then. Its benefits are evidence-based in many medical fields.

It should be noted that the program is independent of any spiritual commitment and is strongly anchored in a rational, contemporary and secular approach. It is therefore opened to everyone, with or without previous meditation practice.

How does the program work?

Participants of an MBSR program meet for weekly sessions of 2.5 hours. Each MBSR session includes meditative practices that allow becoming aware of our functioning in « automatic pilot » mode, mental ruminations, body sensations, and daily life behaviors.

The program is practice-based: in addition to the 8-week sessions, it includes a one-day retreat and daily exercises.

The key components are:

• Guided meditation practices
• Simple movement exercises, such as yoga or qi gong
• Theoretical inputs
• Group sharing
• Daily individual practices

To enroll, you must commit to attending all 8 sessions and the one-day retreat, as well as doing the daily exercises.

Who can benefits?

Anyone who feels ready and affected by some of the following situations can benefit from the MBSR program:

• Stress: at work, family, school,…
• Burnout, depression, anxiety
• Excessive perfectionism, restlessness
• Insomnia
• Emotional imbalance
• Eating disorders
• Pain and other chronic situations

Please note that when a person asks to join an MBSR group, the final decision is made by the instructor, through a preliminary telephone interview.

Important: certain physical or psychological fragilities might not be compatible with the program. This is to be discussed with the instructor during the preliminary interview.

Orientation session

In order to finalize your registration, you are asked to participate in a 1h30 orientation session. This session allows you to:

• Understand the content, principles and origin of the MBSR program
• Meet the instructor
• Get a practical experience in mindfulness meditation
• Know the practical implications of following the program
• Ask any questions you may have

Following this orientation session, you will be asked to have a brief telephone interview with the instructor. This allows us to better establish the framework of future work, clarify certain medical points, know each other and answer your questions.

The instructors

Jean-Philippe Jacques, PharmD, PhD, certified MBSR teacher
Jean-philippe has an initial training in Pharmaceutical Sciences and Molecular Biology. He did research for over 12 years before moving to medical training and Humanitarian activities. He started meditation and Taiji Quan in 1995 and instructed Taiji for many years. He started Ressource Mindfulness, as a Mindfulness Based Intervention Center in 2009 and has been a certified MBSR and MBCT instructor since 2011.

Ahmad Reza Hosseinpoor, MD, PhD, MBSR teacher in training
Ahmad is a medical doctor and an epidemiologist. He attended an MBSR course in 2013 and since then, he has regularly participated in meditation courses, retreats and drop-in sessions, and has continued his own mindfulness practice. He started a part-time Master’s Program in Mindfulness at Bangor University in 2019 with the orientation to teach mindfulness. He would like to spread his knowledge and expertise on mindfulness.