**ONLINE MINDFULNESS TRAINING NOW AVAILABLE!** Dr. Sears now offers an 8-week mindfulness program (MBCT/MBSR) online. Click here for details.
For free mindfulness audio recordings by Richard Sears, click here.
For information about individual sessions, see the psychotherapy page.
IN-PERSON GROUPS IN CINCINNATI, OHIO:
There are no in-person groups scheduled in the near future. If you would like to schedule an individualized course of MBCT, contact Dr. Sears.
Watch a 2-minute video about the Mindfulness Groups below:
Watch a 20-minute video of Dr. Sears describing mindfulness and stress reduction:
Listen to an interview with Live Happy Magazine about mindfulness:
Live Happy Now Interview
Listen to a one hour radio interview about mindfulness with Whole Living Journal’s Tara Robinson: Mindfulness interview on WAIF FM 88.3
What is mindfulness training, and what can it do for me?
Mindfulness involves learning to pay attention to and wisely work with our thoughts, bodily sensations, and emotions. The practice is learned through simple meditation exercises, through which you eventually come to bring a richer awareness and presence into your daily life. This reduces ruminating thoughts, helping to prevent stress, anxiety, and relapses of depression.
The training groups are modeled after the evidence-based practices of Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and Zindel Segal and colleagues’ Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT). The group consists of education, discussion, practice of mindfulness meditation, light stretching exercises, and homework assignments.
“The MBCT group has significantly increased my awareness of my thoughts, my emotions, and my body. I am better able to be fully present through both joyous and distressing times.” – Past participant in Dr. Sears’ mindfulness group.
The specific themes addressed in the program are:
- Class 1: Awareness and Automatic Pilot
- Class 2: Living in Our Heads
- Class 3: Gathering the Scattered Mind
- Class 4: Recognizing Aversion
- Class 5: Allowing and Letting Be
- Class 6: Thoughts are Not Facts
- Class 7: How Can I Best Take Care of Myself?
- Class 8: Using What’s Been Learned to Deal with Future Challenges
Over the eight weeks of the program, the practices help you:
- to become familiar with the workings of your mind.
- to notice the times when you are at risk of getting caught in old habits of mind that re-activate downward mood or stress spirals.
- to explore ways of releasing yourself from those old habits and, if you choose, enter a different way of being.
- to put you in touch with a different way of knowing yourself and the world.
- to notice small beauties and pleasures in the world around you instead of living in your head.
- to be kind to yourself instead of wishing things were different all the time, or driving yourself to meet impossible goals.
- to find a way so you don’t have to battle with yourself all the time.
- to accept yourself as you are, rather than judging yourself all the time.
from www.mbct.com
Who can participate?
Anyone with a desire to reduce stress is welcome to inquire. A commitment to attend all 8 sessions, and to do 45 minutes of practice per day, is required.
Health care and business professionals are also invited to learn these skills to be more effective in their daily work, and to help facilitate work-life balance.
I’m a mental health professional. Can I receive Continuing Education Credits?
Continuing education requirements vary depending upon your state board’s requirements. Dr. Sears can provide you with an outline of the course content and a certificate of completion, which you may be able to submit to your state board for review.
Who is the facilitator?
Dr. Richard Sears is a board-certified clinical psychologist licensed in the state of Ohio. He is in private practice in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, and Director of the Center for Clinical Mindfulness & Meditation. He teaches others how to do this course all over the US and even internationally. He has written a dozen books, with endorsements from many mindfulness experts. For more information about Dr. Sears, click here.
Where are the in-person groups located?
The groups are held at the Alliance Institute for Integrative Medicine, 6400 East Galbraith Road, Cincinnati, OH 45236.
Can I learn the material privately?
If you live in the Cincinnati area, and cannot make the group times, or prefer to work with Dr. Sears individually, contact Dr. Sears to discuss an individualized program. You might also consider the self-paced online option. Click here for details or to sign up.
For more information about the in-person course:
For questions about the program, send an email to Dr. Sears at richard@psych-insights.com or call 513-899-MIND (6463). To register for the 8-week course in-person course in Cincinnati, call the Alliance Institute for Integrative Medicine (Kenwood) at 513-791-5521.
Links for more information about the program content:
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) (www.mbct.com)
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) (http://www.umassmed.edu/cfm/index.aspx)