Mindfulness Center of Northern Michigan
Mindfulness Center of Northern Michigan
The Mindfulness Center of Northern Michigan (MCNM) is a subsidiary of Northern Michigan Psychiatric Services PC. Together they are dedicated to the education and enrichment of mindful living for residents of northern Michigan and beyond. It is the mission of MCNM to offer affordable and accessible mindfulness classes for all individuals regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation or socioeconomic status including; Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Classes, Mindfulness Retreats, Yoga Classes and Meditation Classes. In partnership with the Northern Physician’s Organization NPO, the Mindfulness Center of Northern Michigan is able to offer financial scholarships for all classes – so that no one is turned away due to financial hardship!
Mindfulness is a powerful tool, helping one develop a different relationship towards stress and the ability to more skillfully navigate through life’s inevitable challenges. This practice of moment to moment awareness and waking up to one’s life with clarity and deeper insight untaps essential inner resource for living a happier and more balanced life… with greater contentment, inner peace and ease.
This evidenced-based practice, deeply rooted in psychology, science and the ancient practice of Buddhism, has over 40 years of research and neuroscience demonstrating the profound ability to positively impact the health and well-being of body and mind. Over 1000 studies have shown that regular practice and mindful living can enhance attention, focus and memory, decrease symptoms of anxiety, depression, OCD, ADHD, PTSD, decrease self-harming and addictive behaviors, increase emotional stability and balance, improve mood and optimism, improve communication, social and relational skills, decrease the risk for disease, and reduce symptoms of diseases of both body and mind – enhancing overall immunity.
You will find a plethora of this research at the American Mindfulness Research Association www.goamra.org
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What is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction MBSR?
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction or MBSR was founded by Jon Kabat Zinn in 1979 out of the University of Massachusetts. MBSR is a highly structured, eight-week, evidence-based program that offers secular intensive mindfulness training to assist people with a host of stress-related physical, emotional and psychological conditions. The 8- week class, along with ongoing practice, trains attention and cultivates awareness, helping to discover inner resources and providing one with positive coping tools needed to become strong and resilient in both body and mind.
MBSR is a psychoeducational in nature – using a combination of mindfulness meditation, body awareness, yoga and the exploration of patterns of behavior, thinking, feeling and action. The MBSR program helps us become aware of our habitual patterns of reacting – to interrupt this cycle and create more choice in our life – with the potential to relate to ourselves, our experiences and the world around us with fresh perspectives, in new and more meaningful ways.
Since 1979 there has been a tremendous amount of research coming out of Harvard, UCLA, Stanford, UW-Madison and other institutions around the world providing insight into, not only how MBSR is helpful and how MBSR works, but also how it actually can change our brains for the better through positive neuroplasticity.
Viktor Frankl, a Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, explains how mindfulness teaches us to pause and bring moment to moment awareness to our thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations in the face of unpleasant stimuli; permitting us to calmly choose to respond thoughtfully instead of simply reacting habitually to life’s inevitable challenges. Most of us, are unaware of this space “between stimulus and response” because we get caught in our habitual patterns of reacting to life.
“Between stimulus and response there’s a space, in that space lies our power to choose our response, in our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Victor Frankl
What is Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction for Teens or MBSR-T?
MBSR-T otherwise known as Stressed Teens is a modified version of the adult Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction MBSR class designed specifically for adolescents. This 8-week class is modelled after the class by Jon Kabat-Zinn and was created by Gina Biegel in 2004 to meet the specific developmental and modern-day stressors of today’s teen.
About the Instructor
Financial Scholarships
In partnership with the Northern Physician’s Organization NPO, the Mindfulness Center of Northern Michigan is able to offer financial scholarships for all classes – so that no one is turned away due to financial hardship!