“You can’t stop the waves but you can learn to surf!”
Jon Kabat-Zinn
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
The next Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction training will start in Term 2, Wednesdays 6:30-9pm, commencing 29th April 2026.
ABC Catalyst program, ‘The mindfulness experiment,’ featuring a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction group
Whether you are grappling with a stressful work role, or are a health professional, teacher, consultant or counsellor experiencing burn-out, or have been referred for depression or anxiety, participants find that they have much more in common than not. We all share the same tricky nervous systems and mammal brains designed for survival, not ease, and this program is about finding out for ourselves how mindfulness reduces stress and supports more satisfaction, compassion, wisdom and happiness. It is also about finding, connecting and aligning with our own core values and purpose, so that we are more empowered to live well and with meaning, no matter what we might be up against at any given time.
Next MBSR Program Online – Enrol Now
8 x Wednesdays, 6:30-9pm plus Online Retreat Day as per details below:
Week 1: Stepping out of Automatic Pilot & Waking up, Wednesday 29th April, 6:30-9pm
Week 2: Perception: How Perception relates to our experience of Stress & Suffering, Wednesday 6th May
Week 3: The Power and Pleasure of being Present & Embodied, Wednesday 13th May
Week 4: Approaching Emotional Stress and Difficulty more skilfully (Resilience), Wednesday 20th May
Week 5: Stress Physiology; Working with rumination & other unhelpful thinking patterns, Wednesday 27th May Retreat Day Online: Sunday 31st May 10-4pm (TBC) Week 6: Interpersonal Mindfulness & Compassion, Wednesday 3rd June Week 7: Living on Purpose & according to our Values, Wednesday 10th June
Week 8: Mindfulness as a way of Living and Being, Wednesday 17th June
Online Fees:
Standard $590 incl GST / Concession Card Holder $490. Pay in full by 22nd April for a $30 discount off your fee. Please pay on registering to secure your place
Repeating MBSR with Maggie (MindfulPresence) - $390 (new recordings provided)
Please email Maggie if you wish to pay in 2 X $295 instalments.
The fee includes 26 hours session time which works out around $19 per hour for Concession price or $22 per hour if you are paying Full rate. Included in the cost is also a comprehensive MBSR Coursebook sent to you by mail and Downloadable links for a full set of MBSR guided mindfulness meditation practices.
To secure your place, please enrol by filling in the enrolment form below, and pay your nominated amount via direct deposit to:
Bank Account Name: Margaret O'Shea
BSB: 633 000
Account number: 145643953
Reference: Your initials plus MBSR
WHAT IS INVOLVED IN AN MBSR COURSE?
A 2.5-hour class once per week for 8 weeks plus one full retreat day (almost 30 hours total class time)
Mindfulness meditation training (in stillness and movement), including daily practice at home of 30-45 minutes using guided recordings & a comprehensive Coursebook as a guide.
Exploring patterns of thinking, feeling, body sensations, and behaviour
Brief lectures & discussion
Individual feedback & phone support when needed
More about Maggie and her teaching
Maggie found herself in her first 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in 1994, during a period of burn-out, health break-down and grief. The retreat was brutal, but somehow, despite little understanding of the practice, she realised afterwards that she was no longer experiencing a depression that had set in some time after the sudden death of her 68-year old dad. When the same pattern started emerging soon after the equally sudden death of her mum, she immediately signed up for another 10-day retreat, and once again found this profoundly helpful in learning how to fully experience the pain of traumatic loss, without succumbing to depression. Working in palliative care social work a few years later, she came across the groundbreaking Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, and undertook her first MBSR teacher training with him and Saki Santorelli at a residential retreat in 2009. From 2010-2017 she taught MBSR groups in Melbourne each school term for Openground, Australia’s leading Mindfulness Teaching Training body, as well as many local groups in Castlemaine. She has also facilitated many groups of Mindful Self Compassion (MSC), and is registered to teach with the CenterforMSC. in the U.S. She is an accredited Brené Brown Daring Way, Wholehearted Living and Rising Strong facilitator, a registered Yoga teacher with Yoga Australia (350 hrs), and was approved by Rick Hanson to teach his Positive Neuro-plasticity Training (PNT). She teaches in the Masters of Counselling programs at Swinburne University and Relationships Victoria, and has a part-time private practice in Castlemaine, specialising in relationship therapy.
