How Mindfulness Meditation Can Calm You Down

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www.umassmed.edu/cfm/mbsr Website to find local teacher near you
http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/mbsr/CFM
Go to the Univeristy of Mass. Medical School's Center for Mindfulness and find a MBSR Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Teacher in your area that is recommended by the Center for Mindfulness swhere Jon has conducted most of his reserch.

Dawndee Blickenstaff of TX 3:43PM February 27, 2009

http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/mbsr/CFM
Go to the Univeristy of Mass. Medical School's Center for Mindfulness and find a MBSR Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Teacher in your area that is recommended by the Center for Mindfulness swhere Jon has conducted most of his reserch.

Dawndee Blickenstaff 3:41PM February 27, 2009

I live in Staten Island. Are there places to learn these techniques on S.I. ? Your articles are great...

Janet of NY 4:31PM January 31, 2009

I was fortunate to learn Mindfulness from Dawndee Blickenstaff who was personally trained by Dr. Jon Kabat Zinn and Saki in 1995 and has been teaching such ever since in conjunction with Pain Management as well as Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression at Anima Springs Wellness Center which she personally founded and operates as a Non profit. She teaches such in a ecotherapuetic enviornment on two acres of dense pine forest with abundent wildlife and a lake. She charges on a sliding scale based on ones documented income and expenses. She permitted me to make payment over several months while teaching me to live Mindfully as well as how to meditate and deal with depression related to my chronic pain from MS. You can reach her thru her website at www.Animasprings.com or thru the University of Mass. Medical School Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Healthcare and Society which list her as a recommended teacher for Houston, TExas and surrrounding areas. She is not just an experience teacher of Mindfulness but an example of how one lives mindfully. Suffering with Chronic and Acute Pain daily herself from a serious car accident she pursued learning Mindfulness while in her Doctorate Program in Psychology in CA. She holds 7 various degrees in Psychology, Humanities and Fine Arts, General Education as well as Social and Behavioral Sciences. The wellness center she founded by The Woodlands Texas is located on two beautiful acres of forest with abundant wildlife and a lake. The classes are taught in this amazing setting either privately, couples, families, groups etc. She has many different programs varying from a one week intensive Mindfulness training to a weekly 8 week long course. She was a consultant for the National Institute of Health's NIH MIND Study at the University of Texas at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas. She taught MBAT Mindfuness Based Addction Therapy as an intervention for Smoking Cessation for high risk patients. I was so impressed with how she modeled living Minfully daily regardless of what life throws at you. After taining with her for 8 weeks I later decided to do addtional Mindfulness Interventions such as MBCT Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy to treat my pain related depression due to having terminal cancer. She not only worked with me but also worked individually with my children and then with our family as a while. Her compassion, education, and experience makes her an exceptional teacher of Mindfulness in South Texas. There were people from all over Texas who traveled to study MBSR with her. She also does Mindfulness counseling via the Internet for those whom are unable to commute to work with her personally. Since learning MBSR thru www.animasprings.com I found peace and healthy acceptance of my condition, but mostly she modeled and taught me how to experience joy and personal fulfillment while living MIndfully. She worked with my kids and husband which brought us all peace.

Carol Stahler of TX 7:25PM January 20, 2009

As an teacher of mindfulness based stress reduction in Seattle ( and trainee through Jon Kabat Zinn's Center for Mindfulness and by him in his professional retreat plus my own 30 years of learning and practicing various forms of meditation), I see and hear over and over the many benefits from the graduates of my classes that learning mindfulness and meditation has changed their life. Look for a mindfulness meditation class in your local area and see if you find how a little mindfulness can go a long way. Jon Kabat Zinn has done so much in his eloquent and humble way to broaden others perspectives to help reduce the effects of stress overload, day to day suffering and touch into our more huaman qualities of compassion for self and others.

Deborah Klibanoff of WA 11:20PM October 29, 2008

Regarding the previous comments: Extensive research over the last 20 years shows that psychological interventions like cognitive behavioral therapy (which is really a form of mindfulness, though not nearly as complex as the forms of mindfulness found in the Indian contemlative traditions) are superior to medication for most anxiety disorders. Regarding TM, I'm not aware of any research showing it is superior to mindfulness, but I'd be interested to hear if you know of any. Please write me at donsalmon2@bellsouth.net and forward the research comparing TM and mindfulness if you know of it.
Actually, in a way, it's a moot point, since most of the TM people I know talk about developing the "witness consciousness" as part of their training - which is exactly what mindfulness is!

Don Salmon of SC 11:59AM July 13, 2008

Very good article. We all face stress in our lives and meditating is a wonderful way of handling stress. It doesn't cost a thing and anyone can learn to meditate. Get a book from the library. Drugs and alcohol only add more stress and ruin your life and others around you.

JJ of MI 6:14AM July 04, 2008