Lecture on Mindfulness and MBSR with Bob Stahl

Intro

• Speaker: Bob Stahl, expert in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
  • Founder of the MBSR program in five medical centers in the San Francisco Bay Area
  • Lived in a Buddhist monastery for eight and a half years
  • Co-author of the "Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook"

Personal Journey

• Began realization about life and death at the age of four
• Experienced personal losses (brother, best friend, grandfather)
• Grew up during the social changes of the 1960s
• Studied in Northeast Kingdom of Vermont; interest in downhill skiing
• Took a life-changing course on Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Zen
  • Impactful professor who introduced Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
• Inspired to look inside oneself for answers
• Moved to San Francisco, attended graduate school in Counseling Psychology
• Became a forest monk in Burma (now Myanmar) and later contributed to establishing a monastery in Boulder Creek, Santa Cruz
• Transitioned into normal life after leaving the monastery; started teaching mindfulness

Professional Development

• Worked at Cabrillo College Stroke Center, teaching mindfulness and relaxation to patients
  • Patients gave positive feedback on mindfulness practices
• Introduced to Jon Kabat-Zinn's book "Full Catastrophe Living" and the MBSR program
  • Contacted Jon Kabat-Zinn and visited UMass Medical Center
  • Started initial MBSR programs in California

Understanding Mindfulness

• Definition: Learning to be more present in our moment to moment, day-to-day life
  • Only moment we actually live: the present moment
  • Importance of not living in the past or future

Formal vs. Informal Practice

• Formal Practice: Set time for focused mindfulness exercises (e.g., breathing, body scan)
• Informal Practice: Integrating mindfulness into daily activities (e.g., eating, walking, conversing)
• Acronym for practice: STOP. S: Stop, T: Take a breath, O: Observe, P: Proceed

Benefits and Applications

• Helps improve work efficiency and precision
• Recalibrates and refreshing during the workday
• Mind-body connection: How thoughts and emotions affect our physical state

Impulsive Reactivity vs. Mindful Response

• Viktor Frankl's quote: "Between the stimulus and the response, there is a space. And in that space lies our freedom"
• Ability to choose mindful responses over impulsive reactions
• Story: "Autobiography in Five Short Chapters" illustrating behavior change through mindfulness

Neuro-pathways and Mindfulness

• Mindfulness helps in recognizing and altering mind-body connections
• Promotes physical, mental, and emotional balance

Guided Meditation

• Breath awareness and body scan meditation
• Loving-kindness meditation: Wishing peace and well-being for oneself and others

Questions and Answers

• Teach mindfulness to kids by setting an example
• Absorption in programming balanced with mindfulness breaks
• Moving from being stuck in negative patterns to seeing from different perspectives
• Applying mindfulness from monastic life to everyday Western life

Conclusion

• Practice mindfulness in daily life for overall well-being
• Invitation to free drop-in meditation group at El Camino Hospital