"Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teaches you how to use meditation and yoga to cultivate awareness and reduce stress. It is based on the ancient practice of mindfulness, which is about waking up, being fully alive, and being present in the richness of each moment of our lives. Within this awakening, you gain access to your deepest inner resources for living, healing, and coping with stress. MBSR teaches present moment awareness, deep relaxation, and gentle movement.
Through the use of these techniques, you learn to discover and observe your reactions to life's stressors and to recognize that you can choose how to respond. With practice, you can apply these skills to everyday situations and connect more fully with yourself, loved ones, and the life you are living." (University of Minnesota MBSR Program).
It is widely accepted that stress is detrimental to health, productivity and creativity. As Americans struggle to manage their stress, our personalized mindfulness programming is increasingly important. In an era of astronomical healthcare costs, MBSR is an affordable and effective option for treatment of stress-related problems. Chantal Doriott is committed to making MBSR accessible to individuals and organizations wanting to improve their overall wellbeing in St. Croix County.
Outstanding MBSR teachers come from diverse backgrounds including business, education, healthcare, humanities, law and social work. Chantal's background is in local government, where she has served as City Clerk for Hudson for more than 20 years, a job that involves dealing with people in many highly stressful situations. She took it upon herself to study MBSR through the University of Minnesota and University of Massachusetts so she could offer it to residents of Hudson and surrounding communities.
The University of Massachusetts has special significance to the field:
"In 1979, Professor Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, and nearly twenty years later at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Both these institutions supported the successful growth and implementation of MBSR into hospitals worldwide. Today MBSR is practiced as a complementary medicine, commonly in the field of oncology. Today close to 80% of medical schools offer some element of mindfulness training and research and education centers dedicated to mindfulness have proliferated." (Wikipedia, MBSR)