Ruchiraketu leads the MBSR courses

The mindfulness-based stress reduction programme is designed to help you learn new ways of handling difficult physical sensations, feelings and moods. The course we teach is an amalgamation of the Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy course, developed by the clinical psychologists Zindel Segal, Mark Williams and John Teasdale and the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in the USA.

The core skill that you will learn is ‘mindfulness’ – a way of paying attention, on purpose and non-judgementally, to what goes on in the present moment in your body, mind, and the world around you. Mindfulness can enable you to see things differently, undoing mental and physical knots and tensions. It can increase your sense of personal confidence, of having more options and more strength to face the different challenges in your life.

Most people completing MBSR programmes report that they gain lasting benefits, such as:

- more energy and enthusiasm
- a greater capacity for relaxation
- more self-confidence
- an increased ability to handle stressful situations

What does the course involve?

The course consists of eight two and a quarter hour weekly classes of up to 18 people working together as a group, preceded by an introduction session followed by one all-day session. On it, you will learn several key mindfulness practices and have the chance to discuss these and your experience of them in the group. Home practice is an important part of the course, and each participant is required to undertake to do one hour of this, six days per week, between each class. To get the most from the programme, you need to work at it. This requires a strong commitment to work on yourself through a gentle but rigorous daily discipline of awareness exercises.

Please note: once you have booked you will be required to attend the introductory evening and then be invited to meet with the tutor one on one to ensure that the course is suitable for you at this time. In the event that the course is not for you at this time, a full refund or transfer to a later course will be made available.

Who will teach the course?

The course is led by Ruchiraketu who was ordained into the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order. He has practised and taught meditation and related disciplines for over twenty years. He is currently the Chairman of the Cambridge Buddhist Centre. At present he is completing an MA at the University of Wales, Bangor, focusing on mindfulness-based clinical approaches.

Who is it for?

Everyone who wants to work to change themselves. The MBSR programme is known to help with a wide range of problems, both physical and psychological. But its benefits extend beyond that. We all have times when we experience stress and difficulty. MBSR can significantly change the way we relate to these, greatly enhancing our capacity to cope. By developing more awareness, you can learn to deal more effectively with difficulties and take more pleasure in the good things in our lives. The course will be useful to anyone who is at that point where they are ready and willing to look deeply into themselves.

Although the course is held at the Cambridge Buddhist Centre, it is completely secular in nature and is open to those of any religious denomination or none.

Find out when our MBSR courses run.

Going deeper with Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction

Once you have completed an MBSR course there are some other supports to your practice.

Or you can attend the MBSR day intensive of another course.

Check All MBSR events to see if there is anything else available.