MBCT Course Outline

Orientation

Orientations occur one to two weeks before your first class and are required for enrollment in 8-week courses. During orientation you will:

• Have an opportunity to meet the instructor and other participants
• Receive a full overview of the course, ask questions and make an informed decision about enrolling.
• Engage in some of the practices that are part of the MBCT course. 

Note: Please review our tuition and refund policy. 

You may receive a full tuition refund if you notify us by the day before Class 1.

Week 1: Awareness and Automatic Pilot

Mindfulness starts when we recognize the tendency to be on autopilot. In this class, you’ll make a commitment to learn how to step out of autopilot and become aware of each moment. The body scan exercise introduced this week serves as a foundational practice for developing mindfulness in the upcoming sessions.

Week 2: Living in Our Heads

Explore how automatic judgments and mental chatter can distract from being present and control our reactions to daily events. By bringing a friendly awareness to the present moment, we can identify the thoughts that limit how we respond to life’s challenges. 

Week 3: Gathering the Scattered Mind

You’ll learn how breathing and focus can help gather the scattered mind and reconnect with mindful presence. 

Week 4: Recognizing the Territory of Aversion

By increasing awareness of thoughts, feelings, and body sensations, you can break free from habitual reactions, for example, the human tendency to avoid discomfort. 

Week 5: Allowing/Letting Be

By observing your reactions to thoughts and feelings, you’ll find ways to allow your experiences without trying to change them. This practice can help you respond skillfully and compassionately rather than reactively.

All-Day Class 

An essential element of the MBCT experience, this guided online retreat typically takes place on a weekend between weeks 6 and 7. This meeting is an intensive 7.5-hour session, designed to help you firmly integrate MBCT skills into your daily life and equip you to apply them long after the program ends.

Week 6 Class: Thoughts Are Not Facts

Learning to recognize the powerful effects of thoughts on feelings and actions, we can become aware of them and let them go, realizing they are merely mental events, not facts. With distance and perspective, we can identify negative thought patterns that may undermine our practice, which is essential for maintaining our efforts to change how we feel.

Week 7 Class: How Can I Best Take Care of Myself?

Examine how daily activities influence well-being and ability to manage depression. You’ll identify and prioritize nourishing activities that enhance a sense of presence. 

Week 8 Class: Maintaining and Extending New Learning

In the final week of the course, explore the importance of awareness and acceptance in responding to life's challenges. Learn to recognize when to let go of control of things you can't change. This can help lessen feelings of helplessness, anxiety and depression. This week reinforces that grace, courage, and wisdom are cultivated through mindful awareness, enabling individuals to discern what can and cannot be changed.