Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Strategies
Medcan’s Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Strategies (MBCS) course, is designed to help clients manage the pressure and demands of their everyday lives. Anyone who wants to improve his or her ability to cope more effectively with stress, reduce pain and anxiety, or improve energy and enthusiasm for life will benefit from this program.
Research from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester has found that the practice of mindfulness meditation alters regions of the brain associated with memory, awareness of self and compassion. Participants attended an eight-week program in which they practiced mindfulness meditation.
At the end of their eight-week program participants reported feeling more capable of acting with awareness, observing and remaining nonjudgmental. MRI images, done after the eight-week program, indicated that participants had increased concentrations of gray matter (the “computing” or processing neurons) in several areas of the brain associated with memory, learning and regulation of emotions. This suggests that participants had learned to think in a new way, thus changing the brain, similar to how the brain changes when a new physical skill is acquired.
During Medcan’s eight-week program, participants will learn a variety of meditative and cognitive techniques for dealing with stress, negative moods and anxious states. Graduates from the program can expect to leave with skills immediately applicable for personal and professional use.
The course will be led by Dr. Patricia Rockman, a family physician with a focused practice in mental health. She has extensive experience teaching Mindfulness-Based Therapies to individual healthcare providers and in public group settings. Dr. Rockman is Chair of the Collaborative Mental Healthcare Network with the Ontario College of Family Physicians - a provincial program dedicated to increasing capacity in the area of mental health.
The Medcan Clinic is committed to improving your mental health through an integrated approach to mind-body practices. For moreinformation on how you can join Medcan’s Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Strategies course, contact us at (416) 350-6924 or MBCS@medcan.com.