1. Welcome to the Stress Reduction Workshop Presented by Carol Knox Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za

2. Lotus image from: www.freedigitalphotos.net 3. Introduction - Workshop Overview 1. What is stress and how does it effect physical and emotional health? 2. Look at ways to cope with stress 3. Use mindfulness meditation techniques 4. Create positive and meaningful personal contacts 5. Explore ways to create emotional health. Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za 4. About the Workshop The structure of the workshop has five basic parts: 1. Understanding stress 2. Taking responsibility for your own stress 3. Reducing stress 4. Improving relationships with self and others 5. Enhancing your emotional and physical health. Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za 5. About the Workshop Introduction Inspired and informed by - A Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Handbook (MBSR)* This workshop focuses attention on managing stress to maintain good emotional and physical health. We have many pressures as a result of our connected lifestyles. Stress as a part of life cannot be escaped. We all face uncertainties, difficulties, illness, aging and other such life events. Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za * By Bob Stahl and Elisha Goldstein, 2010, New Harbinger Publications, INC. 6. About the Workshop continued Our modern lifestyles are filled with new threats, such as nuclear war, famine and environmental degrading. Often we feel uncomfortable and not fully able to connect with others in a meaningful way. Herbert Benson related that a lot of people are not equipped with coping strategies for dealing with stress, (Benson 1976 p. 3 MBSR Workbook). Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za 7. About the Workshop continued In 1979, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD., founded the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Programme at the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre. Kabat-Zinns early research showed significant reductions in the symptoms of anxiety and pain in patients whose conditions were chronic. Since this early beginning as a beneficial process, research has grown showing the benefits of mindfulness in dealing with stress, depression, substance abuse, pain and illness. p. 3 Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za 8. About the Workshop You will be guided to understand the basic elements of emotional health, improve self-awareness and self-image, and clarify the link between physical wellness and emotional wellness. Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za Image from: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net 9. About Jon Kabat-Zinn We will look at some of the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn who has made great strides in stress reduction and the use of mindfulness as an aid in stress reduction. Jon Kabat-Zinn is founding Director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His books include Coming To Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness. Red Rabbit Skills Services: www.skillsservices.co.za 10. About the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook The authors of this book are Bob Stahl PHD and Elisha Goldstein PHD. In the introduction to this workbook they explain that mindfulness practice is the cultivating of non-judgmental awareness in day-to-day life. This workbook promotes that you take an active role in the promotion of your health and well-being. This is our aim too. 11. Lotus image from: www.freedigitalphotos.net