Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Schedules

All schedules are subject to change - please check here for the most current schedules before registering for a class. MBSR classes are relatively small compared to other Duke IM offerings so early registration is highly encouraged. Please also be aware that classes must meet a minimum number of participants- if the minimum is not met, a class will be cancelled. Notification of cancellation will occur several business days in advance of the orientation session, and all registered participants will be issued a full refund.

• Foundation schedules (on-site classes)
  
• Foundation schedules (distance learning program)
  
• Foundation schedules (research study classes)
• Graduate Program schedules
  
• Continuation Class Schedules
  

Foundation schedules (on-site classes)

Tuesdays
Orientation:  January 10, 6:30-8:30 pm
January 17- March 6, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Mary Brantley
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Rd

Tuesdays
Orientation:  January 10, 6:30-8:30 pm
January 17- March 6, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Julie Kosey
Duke Raleigh Hospital, 3400 Wake Forest Rd, Building 7, Lower Level Room 0103

Wednesdays
Orientation:  January 11, 6:30-8:30 pm
January 18- March 7, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Riitta H Rutanen Whaley
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Rd

Thursdays
Orientation:  January 12, 2:30-4:30 pm
January 19-March 8, 2:30-5 pm
Instructor:  Phyllis Hicks
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Rd

Mondays
Orientation:  March 26, 6:30-8:30 pm
April 2-May 21, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Jeff Brantley
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Road

Tuesdays
Orientation:  March 27, 6:30-8:30 pm
April 3-May 22, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Julie Kosey
Duke Raleigh Hospital, 3400 Wake Forest Road, Building 7, Lower Level Room 0103

Thursdays:
Orientation:  March 29, 2:30-4:30 pm
April 5-May 24, 2:30-5 pm
Instructor:  Jeanne van Gemert
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erin Road

Foundation schedules (distance learning program)

Wednesdays
January 18-March 7, 7-8:30 pm EST
Instructor:Mary Brantley

Tuesdays
April 3-May 22, 7-8:30 pm EDT
Instructor:Riitta Rutanen H Whaley

Foundation schedules (research study classes)

Mechanisms of Mindfulness: Effects on Sleep Quality, Stress Physiology & CVD Risk*

Thursdays
Orientation:  January 12, 6:30-8:30 pm
January 19-March 8, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Julie Kosey
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Road

Are you feeling stressed or are you having trouble sleeping? You may be eligible to participate in a research study on meditation, stress, and sleep.

Receive the eight-week course, the accompanying meditation CDs, and other materials at no cost to you.

*This course is open to eligible individuals only.  Please contact  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it u if you are interested in participating in this research study.

Click here to read about this research study.  

Graduate Program schedules

Now is Good:  brief mindfulness practices for growing presence and finding joy in the moments of your life

Registration Opens: November 14
Early Enrollment Deadline: December 23

Wednesdays
Orientation:  January 11, 6:30-8:30 pm
January 18-March 7, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Jeff Brantley
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Rd

The barriers to living more mindfully often arise when a person feels stuck, or becomes over-identified with situations, relationships, or personal burdens that occur in the flow of daily living.  Sometimes, all that is needed to become unstuck is to have a simple method of establishing presence, and then for acting with intention and wholeheartedness, in one’s current situation, moment-by-moment.

In this MBSR graduate class, we will explore together the power of focused, brief mindfulness practices combined with a dedicated formal daily meditation practice to expand one’s possibilities for living more happily and for contributing to others’ lives more effectively. 

The brief practices will be drawn from Jeff Brantley’s latest book with Wendy Millstine, “true belonging:  mindful practices to help you overcome loneliness, connect with others, & cultivate happiness”; and will also be adapted from practices appearing in books by the same authors in the popular “five good minutes” series.

Participants will be expected to make a commitment to formal meditation practice daily of up to 45 minutes for the duration of the class, plus a commitment to working with the brief practices provided in the course in different situations of daily life throughout the week.

In addition, each participant will be invited to keep a journal for personal reflections during each week that can be referred to—to the extent they wish—during each session of the class.

Practicing Kindness

Registration Opens: Jan 11
Early Enrollment Deadline: Feb 1

Mondays
Second Monday of each month
2/13, 3/12, 4/9, 5/14, 6/11, 7/9
6:30-9 pm
Instructor: Mary Brantley
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Rd

This is an invitatin to join a new graduate level offering, meeting once a month for six months.

This class will be a journey into your own mind and heart, exploring and investigating what supports your loving-kindness practice and what hinders it. This will be an opportunity to deepen your personal lovingkindness practice.

The focus will be to open into the qualities of heart and bring clarification to our thoughs and feelings through the practices of compassion, fogiveness, sympathetic joy, and equanimity.  A typical class will combine periods of silent practice with guided meditations and group discussion. There is an expectation that participants will be practicing loving-kindness meditation at home daily for the duration of the class. There will be journaling and a limited number of readings, with the majority of the emphasis on your work outside of class focusing on practice and individual discovery through your direct practice experience.

This class is best suited to those who have already taken the Loving-Kindness Meditation graduate class. However, if you have not taken this grad class but have a strong loving-kindness meditation practice, please join us!

Strengthening Practice

Mondays
Orientation:  March 19, 6:30-8:30 pm
March 26-May 21, 6:30-9 pm
Instructor:  Jeanne van Gemert
Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Rd

This class assists participants in deepening practice by learning how to be more present with changing experiences during the day. This focus will strengthen with kindness, compassion, and equanimity the bowl, vessel or container of one’s self.  This container will provide the calm and peace necessary to contain difficulties; to enable us to be with things as they are.  The class will:
 

• Strengthen, deepen and consolidate daily personal practice in a way that it becomes a refuge and not a chore. 
• Use the group to help strengthen individual practice as well as becoming more comfortable and confident about sitting alone.
• Keep levels of stress manageable by identifying and learning to work with the various elements involved when we feel “overwhelmed.”
• Learn to recognize more fully how our specific difficulties are the exact fulcrums for transformation.
• Experience the rewards of practice more clearly and fully by awakening joy.

Continuation Class schedules

• Saturday Drop-In
  Saturday Drop-In Classes are once-a-month sessions except for months with the Day of Mindfulness. Topics vary. This class is for MBSR alumni only.
  
  Registration: There is no need to pre-register
  Fee: There is no course fee. Donations are welcome and benefit our financial aid program.
  Location: Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Road
  Time: 9 - 10:30 am

  December 3, 2011 | Riitta H Rutanen-Whaley
  January 14, 2012 | Mary Brantley
  February 11, 2012 | Phyllis Hicks
  April 21, 2012 | Maya McNeilly
  June 23, 2012 | Julie Kosey
  

• Day of Mindfulness
  One full-day session of intense mindfulness practice taking place once during each program cycle (Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall). Please bring a bag lunch.  This class is for currently enrolled students and MBSR alumni only.
  
  Registration: There is no need to pre-register.
  Fee: There is no course fee. Donations are welcome; all donations go to our scholarship fund.
  Location: St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 82 Kimberly Drive, Durham, NC 2770 or
               St.Paul's Episcopal Church, 221 Union Street, Cary, NC 27511
  Phone: 919-493-5451
  Time: 9 am - 4 pm
  
  Get directions to the Day of Mindfulness

Winter 2012 | March 3 @ St.Stephen's Episcopal Church in Durham


Spring 2012 | May 19 @ St.Stephen's Episcopal Church in Durham

• Experience Mindfulness
  Join Jeff Brantley for a weekly "taste" of mindfulness. Topics vary.  This class is open to the public.
  
  Registration: There is no need to pre-register.
  Fee: $10 payable at reception desk.
  Location: Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Road
  Time: 12 - 1 pm
  
  Every Wednesday.

• Managing Difficulties with Mindfulness
  
  Join Ron Vereen once a month for sessions focusing on using mindfulness as a coping technique. Please note: this class is an expansion of the MBSR Graduate offering of the same name. While completion of that program is beneficial to your participation in this continuation class, it is not required.  This class is for MBSR alumni only.
  
  Registration: There is no need to pre-register.
  Fee: $10 payable at reception desk.
  Location: Duke Integrative Medicine, 3475 Erwin Road
  Time: 10:30 - 11:45 a.m. First Thursday of each month.