Mindfulness for Stress Reduction | MBSR in San Francisco with Augusta Hopkins

Benefits of MBSR

Mindfulness has proven benefits for us all

A daily mindfulness practice and its associated benefits are accessible to anyone regardless of their religion, culture, politics or ideology. Beginning from within, mindfulness honors the mind-body connection and supports an increased awareness of all aspects of self.

Since Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., developed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MSBR) in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts, tens of thousands of people have attended courses at over 600 institutions. In three decades of published research, the majority of participants reported:

  • Lasting decreases in physical and psychological symptoms
  • An increased ability to relax
  • Reductions in pain levels and an enhanced ability to cope with chronic pain
  • Greater energy and enthusiasm for life
  • Improved self-esteem
  • An ability to cope more effectively with both short-term and long-term stressful situations

Augusta’s MBSR students, organizational and individual clients report similar positive results.

I took Augusta’s MBSR course last spring. I was just entering the divorce process and full of piss and vinegar and all-out rage. A quiet whisper deep inside me forced my angry self to take a pledge to not grow cold and bitter and shut off from the world (a very tempting prospect when you’re hurting). But that landed as a mere mental note. A housekeeping note. Something I could think like “Going to college is a good career move.” It wasn’t something I could feel at the time. I currently feel it all. Every joy. Every sorrow. All of life. And (get your cringe on) I feel extremely fortunate, blessed, loved and empowered to now love with strength, skill, and care. Not just romantically, but with everyone I come across in daily life. Living like this is a choice. Taking an MBSR class is the best action you can take once you’ve made that choice. No religious antics, no preaching. Just pure reality.

But. . . you’re a tough gal or guy. You’re too cool for this kind of thing. You’re a workaholic and your startup won’t take over the world unless you’re attending to it every waking hour. If you lose your edge, how will you hold up your house of cards? Yep, you’re some type of a badass, I know. Me too. Anxiety and depression and guilt and pain all chose you and strapped you down and made life shit for you and no one understands that. We buck up and fight. We grab our swords and slash away. We lock ourselves in our bedrooms and binge-watch GOT till it all goes away. But of course it doesn’t.

Then life throws you a whammy like your best friend being killed in an accident or your wife leaving you. And suddenly much like Neo (nerd alert) finally seeing the Matrix for what it was, you momentarily stop time and see what’s really going on. It was at this moment that I put my hand up to the nonsense and simply refused to play along any more. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but every internet search led me to MBSR. And my MBSR Yelp search led me to Augusta. Do it.

Of course it’s all dependent on you to make it work for yourself, but just like taking a Karate class, you need a coach who will teach you the skills and guide you. Oh, I forgot-we’re the same. That means you have a really hard time asking for help too. Stop. Let this happen. You couldn’t be in better hands here. Augusta has been there and felt that pain. She’s felt that misery. She’s an East Coaster who knows what it means to tense up and go to battle with life, work and our own selves. She knows. And she made her choice not to accept it and she’s come out the other end as a loving peaceful soul. One who’s admittedly as flawed as the rest of us and never comes off as holier than thou. She makes you laugh. She makes you feel normal with all your craziness. She puts you at ease. And she does it with care and sincerity.

Pull the trigger on this. It’s a door you need to open on your path to living well. You owe it to yourself and everyone you love. It’s hard, it’s transformative, and ultimately it can be incredibly healing and opening. No one is going to preach to you and no one is going to force you to do anything. In fact its about non-doing. That’s the hard part. Even if you reject every notion taught in this class, just take it to learn more about yourself, about others, about not feeling so alone in all the emotional hardships we ALL go through. Just listening to my classmates during the 8 weeks of this course was itself a priceless lesson.

Godspeed and take it easy. I mean that.
—Ben W.