Valley Stress Reduction

Invite Calm and Spaciousness into Your Life

Learn a Little About The Course

Auto Pilot

We have a tendency to live our lives on automatic pilot, going through our usual routines and losing the aliveness and sense of connection that come from being truly awake in each moment.

MBSR

The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) is an attention-training program – a structured, systematic educational approach that uses intensive training in mindfulness meditation to teach us to cultivate nonjudgmental moment-to-moment awareness.

The Course

The course is based on Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program offered at UMass Worcester and described in his book, Full Catastrophe Living.

Course Description

The program consists of eight weekly two and a half hour classes, and one full-day retreat. Participants are given instruction in formal meditation methods including a body scan, gentle yoga, and both sitting and walking meditation.

Welcome to Valley Stress Reduction

Clinical studies of the Stress Reduction Program have shown benefits in the following conditions: Difficulty coping effectively with short and long-term stressful situations; chronic illness or chronic pain; depression, grief, or anxiety; hypertension or heart disease; irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis; cancer; diabetes, asthma, or other respiratory disorders; sleep disturbances; psoriasis.

Ellen Kaufman, MD

Ellen Kaufman, MD

Ellen Kaufman, MD is a retired OB/GYN and Director of Medical Education at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. A serious back injury led her to join an MBSR course at UMass in 1997; and meditation has become a central part of her life since that time.

She went on to receive teacher training at the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School and is a CFM Qualified MBSR teacher.

Ellen has enjoyed teaching and sharing this program with others at Cooley Dickinson since 2006

Jean Erlbaum, MS

Jean Erlbaum, MS

Jean Erlbaum, MS, has studied yoga and meditation since 1965 and has been teaching since 1972. A registered Yoga Alliance Teacher, Jean is schooled in several styles of yoga, meditation, and stress reduction.

Trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction at UMass Medical School, she is a CFM Qualified MBSR teacher. Jean has studied Zen for more than 30 years, and has created several yoga and meditation CDs.

Jean's book, Sit with Less Pain: Gentle Yoga for Meditators, was published in 2014.