The University of Oregon will offer an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction course for UO faculty, staff, students and non-UO community members.

Participants must commit to nine 2 ½-hour classes held weekly and a full-day workshop on Feb. 22 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Classes for UO students are every Wednesday from Jan. 8 to March 5, while classes for UO faculty, staff and community members are every Thursday from Jan. 9 to March 6. All weekly classes begin at 6 p.m. at the UO Baker Downtown Center.

Those enrolled must maintain a commitment to daily meditation throughout the course. Participants will learn several meditative/mindfulness techniques, and are asked to meditate approximately 20 to 45 minutes per day, six days a week.

MBSR courses generally cost between $400 and $600 nationwide, but the UO-subsidized cost for faculty, staff  and students is $250. Cost for non-UO participants is $350. The course fee is payable at orientation during the first class.

The course is inspired by the curriculum pioneered more than 30 years ago at UMass Medical School. It teaches participants how to harness their own abilities to diminish stress and pain and improve overall physical and mental health. MBSR is used in hundreds of schools, hospitals and other institutional facilities worldwide. More than 20,000 people have completed the eight-week curriculum since 1979. UO offers the only MBSR program in Oregon.

For more information or to register for the course, visit the Healthy Oregon website.

- by Katherine Cook, UO Office of Strategic Communications intern