Finding Stillness: a practitioner's review of Brown's MBSR Course

This week marked the end of my journey through Brown University's 8-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. For those seeking a secular introduction to meditation, let me share my experience. Despite years of daily meditation practice, I had hit a familiar wall – that stagnant feeling when routines become, well, too routine. Add to that some new life stressors, and I was eager for fresh tools to support my mental health. I'll admit, I also had this idea about exploring meditation teacher training.

But eight weeks have a way of shifting perspectives. While the course helped me rediscover my enthusiasm for practice, it also taught me something unexpected about my own limits and aspirations. That initial goal of teacher training? It's no longer a checkbox I'm desperate to tick off. If it happens naturally, wonderful. If not, that's fine too. After all, this journey of growth has shown me there's still so much more to explore.

Course Highlights

Anchors of meditation ⚓️ ⚓︎⚓️

Think of an anchor as your mind's home base. In our first week, we learned how these physical body sensations can ground us when our thoughts start to wander. Your anchor might be your breath, the feel of your hands clasped together, the feeling of your feet firmly planted on the ground, or the feel of your bottom on the ground or on a chair that's supporting you. When you realize your mind has wandered, you can gently bring it back to the anchor without judgement. The mind wanders - that's what it does and when you realize it, you start again. As the weeks progressed, I discovered new sensations I'd never noticed before – like tracking my breath from nostrils to throat. My go-to anchor became the gentle rise and fall of my lower abdomen while breathing, a rhythm that feels like coming home.

Body scan 🔎🔎🔎

Body scanning is like taking your mind on a gentle tour of your body. You slowly traverse each area, paying attention to whatever sensations arise. Years ago, I learned this technique from a Buddhist monk, and it became my meditation sanctuary. When faced with pain, just pausing to listen to the body was like taking time to console a crying child with patience and love. Funny enough, during this course, it transformed into my most reliable sleep aid. I rarely make it past my knees before drifting off! 😂

Meditative Yoga 🙆🏽‍♀️ 🙆🏻🙆🏿‍♂️

Of all the practices, meditative yoga emerged as my unexpected favorite. Unlike traditional yoga classes that often focus on perfecting poses, this approach felt like a gentle conversation with my body. Each movement is slow and intentional, with no pressure to push harder or improve. The beauty lies in its simplicity – you listen to your body the way at it is that moment, and respond accordingly. No goals, no expectations, just presence.

Silent Meditation 🧘🏽‍♀️🧘🏿🧘🏻‍♂️

These sessions introduced us to vipassana-style meditation, where you become the observer of your experience. The objective is to focus on your anchor, the body sensations, the sounds that surround you, and to just observe when the thoughts come in without judgement - like watching clouds pass across the sky. When you find yourself swept away in thought (and you will!), you simply return to your anchor and begin again. My teacher Colleen Camenisch captures it perfectly: This is a practice of a thousand beginnings.

All-day Silent Retreat 𑁍𐩕🪷

The crown jewel of the course was our virtual all-day retreat – eight hours of silent meditation from 9AM to 5PM. For a first-timer like me, this was diving into the deep end, especially since I hadn't caught the "silent" part until the retreat began! Picture this: it's a busy Saturday, also happens to be Diwali, and my house is full of family who only knew I'd be "busy," not completely mute. My attempts to communicate through smiles and shrugs while preparing lunch led to some pretty puzzled looks and became quite the family joke later.

The day itself was beautifully orchestrated, weaving together familiar practices with new experiences: Qigong movements, lake visualizations, mindful walking (both indoors and in nature), and metta (loving-kindness) meditation. Even lunch was a meditative experience, as we ate together in collective silence. But here's the real magic – instead of feeling drained after eight hours of meditation, I was buzzing with energy. That evening, I surprised myself by whipping up an impromptu Diwali feast with five dishes and dessert, hosting my daughter's friends, and ending the night with a 10PM firecracker celebration. We all dressed up in traditional wear – we even brought the dog got into the spirit! That unexpected burst of energy? I'm convinced it was the retreat's gift.

Mindful eating 🍽️ 🥣☕️

Ever really looked at a raisin? I mean, really looked at it? In one of our first exercises, we spent several minutes with just one raisin – observing its wrinkles, inhaling its scent, feeling its texture on our tongues. While it's not practical to eat every meal this way, the exercise opened my eyes to how much we miss when we rush through our daily rituals. Even a simple sip of morning coffee becomes an adventure when you slow down enough to experience it fully. In doing so, we are making room in our mind to pause and observe.

Active listening & mindful communication 🎧👂🏽🙊

The breakout sessions revealed something fascinating about human connection. In these intimate spaces, we practiced not just listening, but truly hearing one another. We shared vulnerable moments and deep experiences, taking turns as both speaker and listener. The real insight came during exercises where we had to reflect back what we'd heard from our partners. Here's what surprised me: despite knowing better, my brain went into 'fact-collector' mode, frantically trying to memorize details instead of absorbing the emotional essence of each story. It was a humbling reminder that while our minds grasp at facts, our hearts seek understanding. True connection, isn't about perfect recall – it's about creating a space where someone feels deeply heard and understood. We are emotional beings at the end of the day, and connecting with someone at that level brings about trust.

Visualization 🏞️🏔️🌄

During the retreat and in subsequent weeks, we explored visualization techniques that transformed simple images into powerful meditation tools. Whether imagining a serene lake or a steadfast mountain, we learned to paint detailed mental pictures that could anchor us in moments of stress. My favorite was the mountain meditation – visualizing the unchanging core beneath seasonal changes, much like our own inner stability amid life's fluctuations.

Where to go from here

⛳️ MBSR course registration page https://professional.brown.edu/executive/mindfulness/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction

📚 Relaxation Revolution: The Science and Genetics of Mind Body Healing by Herbert Benson M.D. https://a.co/d/fw7BL4x

Related goodies from others

📃 Relaxation response: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/using-the-relaxation-response-to-reduce-stress-20101110780

📱Dan Harris' Happier App https://www.happierapp.com/

📃 Everyday Mindfulness with Jon Kabat-Zinn https://www.mindful.org/everyday-mindfulness-with-jon-kabat-zinn/

📺 Mindfulness, the Mind, and Addictive Behavior: {{video(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a9sWI0vJzc)}}

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