TABLE 3.
Class | Theme | Therapeutic Community Concepts | |
---|---|---|---|
Session I | Introduction to Mindfulness—Reawakening to Life | Reducing the tendency to operate on automatic pilot, becoming awake | MBSR as a tool for treatment Right living is being in the personal present, the here and now “To be awake is to be alive” |
Session II | Perceptions and Their Effect on the Ability to Respond Creatively | The universality of the wandering mind, how thoughts influence experience, sense of community | “Keep it simple” or focusing on one thing at a time. “Letting go” Community as method |
Session III | Cultivating a Sense of Wonder and Appreciation in Life Through Mindfulness | Bringing awareness to the sense of wonder developed through being present to our experience | “You get back what you put in” or focusing on participating fully in the therapeutic community |
Session IV | Stress Reactivity and Opportunities for Responding Differently | Noticing how the body responds to stress, how thoughts affect stress reactions and behaviors, and how to handle stress | “Remember who you are” or remembering the basic goodness and potential of one's inner self in coping with stresses |
Session V | Allowing and Letting Be—Handling Emotions with Mindfulness | Befriending one's emotions and handling them in a different way, acceptance | “It's better to understand than to be understood” or learning by listening and accepting others |
Session VI | Making the Practice Your Own | Emphasizing the importance of taking responsibility for one's own mindfulness practice | “No gain without pain” or anything worth having is worth working for (De Leon, 2000; Kabat-Zinn, 1990; Segal et al., 2002) |
Note. MBSR = mindfulness-based stress reduction.