MBSR Orientation

This free 1 hour introduction to Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) as a wellness tool, professional skill, and way to restore and reset. This will be an opportunity to learn about the Western Slope Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program and see if the evidence based course is a good fit for you. Some additions to the Winter 2020 programming: a lower cost "do it yourself" version, and a more intensive version.

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“You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf”
Jon Kabat-Zinn

Classes

Tailored Programming

We can modify or create classes or content to meet the needs of your group or organization, as well as collaborate to promote your group members' participation in community classes. Examples include employee discounts, educational materials, team retreats, and workplace training.

Mindfulness for Health:
a 4 week series

We will experience various ways to practice mindfulness, with a focus on day to day applications. This is an opportunity to learn more, or reinvigorate your practice in the company of others.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course

This 8 week class an internationally recognized, evidence based course designed to guide and support participants in cultivating moment to moment awareness in an in depth and systematic way.
All Classes

About MBSR

MBSR is an evidence-based intervention, and an 8- week course that supports students in diving deeply into the integration of mindfulness in everyday life. It is based on the work of Jon Kabat Zinn, and supports participants in learning to “pay attention, on purpose, in the present moment, as non-judgmentally as possible” (Jon Kabat-Zinn). This type of awareness can be developed and harnessed to cultivate clarity, increase acceptance, and support positive behavior and lifestyle changes. These are critical factors for people of all walks of life to live fully and skillfully.

The course was originally developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center almost 40 years ago and continues to build favorable findings and outcomes. It still works and is now available in hospitals, clinics, workplaces, and community settings across the country, and the world.
Read more about MBSR

About the Teacher

Hello, my name is Nichole, and I am the lead teacher and owner of Mindfulness Based Interventions LLC. I hope that my passion for health equity and individual and community wellness comes through on the pages of brainbellyheart.com.

A little about professional me:
  • I have been providing mental health treatment, clinical case management, individual and group therapy since 2004
  • Over the years, I have participated in opportunities to train in evidence-based modalities, and effectively applied these approaches in my work with clients- Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction.
  • Most recently, I completed several years of rigorous training through University of Massachusetts Medical School’s Center for Mindfulness to earn the privilege of teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction courses as a Qualified Teacher.
  • I continue to participate in specialized consultation and training, regarding my practice of EMDR and as an MBSR teacher.
As is true for most of us, “awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose in the present moment, as non-judgmentally as possible” (Jon Kabat-Zinn) was a part of my life before I knew the word “mindfulness”. This type of awareness showed up certain times when I was playing outside with friends, being creative, spending time in nature, reading a book, running, eating delicious foods, doing yoga, or even studying. It showed up when I was trying to understand my emotions, feeling deep sadness or anger, and when I was connecting with others or feeling the vulnerability of trying to connect with others. My awareness was in the present to some degree or another when I felt joy or contentment, and when emotions were so clear and raw that I had no other choice but to wake up to them.
Then I attended a Dialectical Behavior Therapy training, and the trainer used the word mindfulness to describe a strange activity we did with a raisen (you will learn more if you take an MBSR course) I wasn’t sold, but I was intrigued.

Then I read “Full Catastrophe Living” by Jon Kabat Zinn, and what he was describing put words to what I was seeing and feeling working with clients, colleagues, and resources in community mental health. I further accessed my own well of resilience by practicing mindfulness. I integrated what I was learning into my own teaching of DBT skills with good effect. I took an MBSR course. I learned it is possible to cultivate this capacity to be present, and harness its power to wake up to and with life. I learned that despite my generally “good life” and positive outlook, I wasn’t already, naturally awake and being myself most of time. With surprise, and sometimes disappointment, I discovered how moment to moment awareness can transform painful emotions, thoughts, and experiences. So, I picked up the thread that had been stitched into my life at times of joy, peace, sorrow, and overwhelming anger, and I started sewing.

Brainbellyheart.com as you find it now is one of the pieces of this cloth I have been sewing. A fabric I have sewn together piece by piece, via writing, reading, practicing, researching, training, and most importantly, showing up and participating in my life moment by moment. I hope one or two of the words, stories, facts, or offerings on these pages resonate with you and if so, I invite you to pick up a thread.

Latest Blog Posts

August 3, 2019

Making my way home

It had been a long day, and I was beginning my 90 minute drive home after teaching a mindfulness class. Between meetings, commuting, and teaching, I had been sitting for most of the day. I was driving south on 50. Night quickly falling with the help of cloud cover, and I was aware of my own adjustment process.
April 19, 2018

Finding the Thread

As is true for most of us, “awareness that arises from paying attention on purpose in the present moment, as non judgmentally as possible” (Jon Kabat-Zinn) was a part of my life before I knew the word “mindfulness”.
April 19, 2018

Mood and Movement

I love this article and the great research referenced from the Harvard Health blog, an example of the burgeoning science supporting interventions that harness the power of the mind body connection. There are many doorways to growth and healing, and each of us must find our way. Research like this validates what some of us know from our own experience, and perhaps cracks the door for these types of interventions to be considered and offered within traditional medical settings.
April 19, 2018

Ordinary

In my last blog, I wrote about mindfulness as a way I intentionally sew the fabric of my own life. I find that by purposely bringing present moment awareness to the events, emotions, activities, and relationships that are already happening in my life, I enjoy texture, vitality, and engagement with my ordinary, even repetitive day to day living.
More Blog Posts

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Classes
A Day of MindfulnessTailored ProgramsMindfulness for Health: a 4 week seriesMindfulness Based Stress Reduction courseAbout MBSRFor Healthcare Providers
© 2018 Nichole Moorman
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