​In order to participate in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class, please watch the MBSR Orientation Video and review course expectations outlined on the Practice & Learning Guidelines page. Once you have done this, review the upcoming course schedule and you can register online.

Schedule and Registration

Note: CFM requires a minimum of 10 registrants per program. Classes with fewer than 10 registrants will be cancelled and provided a refund. Please be aware of this when making arrangements to attend this program.

Course Description

Before you begin to read the information below about the Mindfulness-Based Courses at UC San Diego, we invite you to take a moment to pause and consider what brought you to this point. What is in your mind and heart and body that caused you to bring this web page on to the screen of this computer? You might pause for 10 or 20 seconds to get a clear sense of what led you here.

More than likely, you quickly identified a “problem” or “challenge” that you face in your life. This is something that causes you to suffer in some way, physically, emotionally or spiritually. Among the difficulties people report when they come to our mindfulness classes are such things as:

Now, take a moment to step back from your definition of the problem or problems and notice that there was also an aspect of you that was aware of this difficulty and was open to working with such challenges in a different way. After all, if you were satisfied with how you were dealing with the things you face in your life, would you have sought out a program about stress reduction? Perhaps that “inner voice” was seeking peace, balance, equanimity or a sense of control.

That awareness can be thought of in many ways, but we like to consider it your inner wisdom. You have had that sense of what feels right or wrong for you as long as you can remember, even though there have probably been times when you could not hear it, or you ignored or misunderstood it. That inner wisdom knows the fundamental principle upon which the foundation of mindfulness programs are built, that there is more right with you than wrong with you.

Our Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course (and other mindfulness programs) are unlike any sort of program you may have encountered before. They involve cultivating a different relationship between you and the things that challenge you in your life, and relies completely upon the tools you already have. Specifically, mindfulness helps you access the ability to be non-judgmental, compassionate, patient, present and aware. You wouldn’t have come this far if these qualities did not exist in you somewhere.

However, just because you have the inner wisdom and resources to contend differently with your life and all its aspects, does not mean that you routinely use them. Most of us are on “auto-pilot” much of the day and tend to react much more than we respond to the decisions and situations we face. Our courses are intended to develop the innate ability to cultivate mindfulness over “mindlessness”, with which we are all familiar. Those moments when we are unaware of where we are, what we are feeling and why we are doing what we are doing. Quite frequently, those are the moments that contribute most to our suffering. Just a few examples are: eating foods that we know we would be better off not eating; spending time with people that cause us great difficulty or emotional pain; or engaging in activities that are stressful, harmful or unnecessarily distracting.

The “flagship” 8-week MBSR program is detailed elsewhere on this site, but the overriding focus and intention of it is to reconnect you with that inner wisdom and deep knowing that resides within you. Mindfulness-based groups have a huge and growing body of research supporting their usefulness to address the kinds of problems we have described. 

This is an opportunity to rediscover yourself and to access the qualities and strengths you possess deep inside. Sit back, take a moment to become aware of the surroundings you are in, the sensations in your body, the thoughts in your mind and the feelings in your heart. Are you feeling curious, excited, skeptical, nervous, hopeful or bored? Are you aware of physical sensations of tension, pain, warmth or numbness? Can you hold all of the amazing and varied things in your awareness for a moment without having to change them, extinguish them or get lost in them? Can you experience this very moment for the precious, fleeting and beautiful thing that it is?

You have just tasted some of your own ability to be mindful and we invite you to cultivate it further through participation in the UC San Diego Mindfulness-Based programs.

8-week MBSR Course

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a professor emeritus of medicine and the creator of the 'Stress Reduction Clinic' and the 'Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society' at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and the author of many books including Full Catastrophe Living.

8-week MBSR Course Fee

The course includes the MBSR workbook, handouts, guided meditations and instruction and is offered for $575 ($525 if you pay in full 30 days in advance for the course). 

UC SAN DIEGO EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT

UC San Diego Employees may take the course for $525 (or $475 if you pay in full 30 days prior to the start of class).

Financial Assistance

We offer financial assistance to avoid turning away anyone with a genuine interest and motivation to participate, if the cost is the only thing preventing them from participating.

With our online registration process, you are able to use a credit card to pay the fee, which gives people some flexibility in making payments over a longer period.

If you a have genuine financial need and the considerations above are not enough to allow you to participate in one of our courses, please contact us (mindfulness@health.ucsd.edu) to inquire about financial assistance. The financial assistance we can provide for each class is limited so you may not be able to enroll in a given course and may have to wait until the next available course.

Continuing Education

Additional $50 fee for CE credits.

Continuing education credits are awarded in the following categories: American Psychological Association and Board of Registered Nursing.

Psychologists: UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness maintains responsibility for this program and its content. 27.0 CE credit.

California licensed MFTs, LPCCs, LEPs, LCSWs: This activity is an approved continuing education program by the American Psychological Association. Credit hours may be applied to your license renewal through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. 27.0 CE credit.

Nurses: UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing to sponsor continuing education. Provider Number CEP16351. 32.0 contact hours.

Cancellation Policy

A refund (minus your $50 non-refundable deposit) will be made for participants who withdraw prior to the 2nd class by emailing mindfulness@health.ucsd.edu. There will be no refunds after the 2nd class starts. Registration, deposits, and funds are non-transferable.

In the unlikely event that the course is canceled, UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness is responsible only for a full refund of the registration fee and not for transportation, hotel accommodations or any miscellaneous expenses.

The refunds are processed in the same method as the payments were submitted.

Watch the MBSR Orientation Video

Free Consultations

Interested in meeting with a member of our Teaching Staff? We offer free consultations with our staff over email or over the phone in order to provide advice on which of our Group Mindfulness Courses (Such as MBSR, MSC, & Youth Programs) may be right for you. Keep in mind that our teachers host these sessions on a volunteer basis, so if you are unsure if you are able to attend please refrain from signing up.

To schedule a consultation, sign up here: FREE CONSULTATION SIGN UP

If you are interested in acquiring information regarding our Professional Training Programs, please email us at mindfulness@health.ucsd.edu