Next MBSR® Program in Romanian: – LIVE – starting 26 October 2022 Info

A MBSR® Program in English will be scheduled based on requests received

MBSR® Origins & Developments

Mindfulness is the state arising when we deliberately focus on the Present Moment, instead of being “on automatic pilot”, immersed up to the brim in our thoughts or overwhelmed by negative emotions. Mindfulness correlates with a higher capacity of enjoying life, emotional intelligence, empathy and creativity, and with conflict reduction, a better stress resilience and improvement of performances in all aspects of life.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR®) has been created and developed by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, in the United States. Since 1979 up to now, more than 30.000 participants have taken the MBSR® protocol in Stress Reduction Clinic, offering a large sample for testing and validating the program in a scientific and rigorous manner.

The benefits of this method were so convincing that more and more insurance companies in the United States have included this program in their eligible treatment and prevention schemes.

Nowadays, Mindfulness has spread beyond the medical field, these methods finding their applicability, with remarkable success, in many fields: education, social sciences, personal development, business etc. They are currently used in top companies such as Google ( Search Inside Yourself program), Apple, Intell, AOL or in the United States Army, European Commission and British Parliament.

What is MBSR®?

MBSR® is an 8-week intensive program of stress reduction

MBSR® is based on mobilising internal resources

Research shows that the constant practice of Mindfulness has a positive impact on our way of thinking and acting due to the brain’s ability to adapt (also known scientifically as neuroplasticity). Through Mindfulness practice we aim to train our attention in the same manner that we train our muscles through sports.

The structure and duration of MBSR® program is designed to allow a change in our way to report to stress (be it punctual, chronic or acute ), but also with the challenges of daily life.

MBSR® is a non religious scientific method

The basic method of MBSR® is to focus attention on body sensations, emotions, fluctuations of thoughts, breathing and sounds.

The course is conceived to insure progressive development, providing a safe space for observation, experimentation and learning

The course does not request special knowledge and skills. It is based on the experience and personal observation of the participants both in the training room and in daily life. What is needed is a strong personal motivation, as this is an intensive program, which requires a daily practice of 45-60 minutes for 8 weeks.

MBSR® Program content

max. 15 seats

8 weekly group meetings of 2.30 hours each

one full day of Mindfulness practice

a total of 30 hours of guided practice and exploration, in the training room

daily practice between 45 and 60 minutes

The courses focus on learning through direct personal experience under the guidance of the authorized trainer and through sharing with other group members. They consist of:

Formal practice – sitting, lying, standing or moving
Informal practice using examples and situations from real life
Sharing experience in the group as well as personal exploration and guidance
The courses include information on stress physiology and our reactions to stressful situations, with reading references and keys to understand various type of situations

Audio recordings allow us to support our daily practice and the course also includes teaching materials with information and practice exercises.

In order to get all the benefits of the program, I emphasise the importance of engaging in an in-depth and persistent practice: attending the day of practice, attending the weekly sessions (at least 6 out of the 8) as well as daily practice at home.

Who can take this course?

This course can be attended by any adult who wants to improve his stress resilience abilities and re(find) a certain joy in living, regardless of his professional or personal background.

This course is not recommended to people dealing with post traumatic stress disorder, drug dependency, acute diagnosed depression, people with suicide risk and other difficult psychiatric diagnosis.

Who is your Trainer?

Valérie Cioloș-Villemin is coach and Mindfulness Trainer. She qualified as a Mindfulness MBSR Trainer with the University of Massachusetts (UMASS Medical School), the institution where this method was founded and recognized worldwide and used successfully in medicine, education or business. She achieved in 2022 the second and highest level of training and is Certified MBSR Teacher by Brown University.

Valérie has three university degrees in life sciences, social-economic development and economy, and a PhD on the restructuring of transition economies.

She has worked for 20 years in change management of organizations and society, before starting to focus on change and resilience at individual level using scientific Mindfulness tools and process.
In her everyday life, she practices the mindfulness techniques that she teaches, not only as a form of mental hygiene, but also because she feels this is her duty to the workshop participants.