Instructor: Tom Bassarear
Format: Hybrid (In-Person and Zoom)

 About the course:

While sitting at a meditation retreat, Jon Kabat-Zinn came up with the idea for his well-known Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. He saw how he could map the essential concepts and practices of Buddhism into a 10-week course. When teaching MBSR, he was clear that this framework came from Buddhist psychology but he replaced all Buddhist words with common English words. This course is an opportunity to go to the source of what is taught in MBSR and what is commonly taught in mindfulness retreats and courses.

Each week will focus on one or more topics, including a meditation practice which will be introduced, unpacked, and explored.

Each week will also have a related mindfulness component to practice during the week. These practices generally take less than five minutes a day.

The first part of each class will involve a check-in and discussion of the previous week's content and practices. The second part will be a presentation on and discussion of the new topic and practices.

Previous experience with mindfulness meditation is suggested but not required. If you are totally new to meditation, please email me and we can talk. I can provide resources for you to do some meditation before the course starts.

 Benefits of the course that most previous participants have reported:

•  a deepening of one's meditation practice

•  more tools that can be used when stressed and which can lead to increased happiness and joy

About Tom:

I have been practicing Buddhist meditation for over 40 years and have been teaching it in this area for over 20 years at our Center and other places in this region including schools, the county jail, Cheshire Medical Center, Keene State College. I participated in two intensive trainings in the MBSR program at UMass Medical Center in Worcester. I have taken several courses in Buddhist psychology at the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, and I have taught variations of this course twice at our Center.

The suggested donation is $150, though no one is ever turned away because of lack of money. All proceeds go directly to support the running of our Monadnock Mindfulness Practice Center.

Because this is an interactive course and because some participants will be on Zoom and some in-person, the size will be limited to 16 people.

To register or if you have questions, email Tom Bassarear at tombassarear@gmail.com. I am happy to provide more information about the course if anyone wishes.