Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is stress. While some individuals thrive under pressure, others develop stressrelated health challenges such as hypertension,
coronary heart disease, chronic pain and cancers, according to Jon Kabat-Zinn, professor of medicine emeritus and the founding executive director of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, as well as the founding director of its stress reduction clinic.

Kabat-Zinn, the author of Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, has dedicated his career to helping individuals deal with stress by bringing mindfulness into the mainstream of medicine and society. He began teaching his mindfulness- based stress reduction (MBSR) program at the clinic in 1979. Today, the eight-week program is offered by hundreds of practitioners throughout the, country, including Madeline Ebelini, the founder of Integrative Mindfulness, in Bonita Springs, Florida, who
studied directly with Kabat-Zinn.

With MBSR, people learn to relate directly to and take charge of whatever is happening in their lives. It offers a method for consciously and systematically working with their own stress, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Available in Naples by Lisa Marlene pain and illness and the challenges and demands of everyday life. Individuals that learn mindfulness discover ways to participate in their own health and wellbeing. It teaches them that between stimulus and response, there is a space of freedom and power in which to choose a different response that can serve them better.

Kabat-Zinn has backed the effectiveness of MBSR with two decades of published research, based on self-reports from participants, many of whom describe an increased ability to relax and cope more effectively with both short-term and longterm stressful situations; reductions in pain levels and an enhanced ability to cope with persistent pain; greater energy and enthusiasm for life; and improved self-esteem.

The practical course requires active participation and includes individually tailored, guided instruction in mindfulness meditation practices; gentle stretching and mindful yoga; and
group dialogue and discussion aimed at enhancing awareness in everyday life. Four home practice CDs and a manual supplement the course’s daily home assignments.

Integrative Mindfulness is located at 26721 Dublin Woods Cir., in Bonita Springs. For more info, call 239-590-9485 or visit IntegrativeMindfulness.net.