Graduate School of health and Medical Sciences

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) course for PhD students
Provider: Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Activity no.: 3789-24-00-01
	Enrollment deadline: 02/09/2024

Date and time	02.10.2024, at: 16:00 - 27.11.2024, at: 18:30
Regular seats	20
Course fee	3,120.00 kr.
Lecturers	Jacob Sander Bojsen

Contact person	PhD administration E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Enrolment Handling/Course Organiser	PhD administration E-mail address: phdkursus@sund.ku.dk

Aim and content This is a generic course. This means that the course is reserved for PhD students at the Graduate School of Health and Medical Sciences at UCPH. Anyone can apply for the course, but if you are not a PhD student at the Graduate School, you will be placed on the waiting list until enrollment deadline. After the enrollment deadline, available seats will be allocated to the waiting list. The course is free of charge for PhD students at Danish universities (except Copenhagen Business School), and for PhD students at NorDoc member faculties. All other participants must pay the course fee. Introduction The MBSR course will be offered to PhD students at SUND in 2024. Please read the below description before signing up for the course. MBSR is a scientifically documented program to strengthen well-being and reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression, and pain. The program consists of intensive training in mindfulness. Purpose of the course The purpose of the course is to learn how to integrate several skills that make it possible to effectively deal with stress in everyday life. When you strengthen your attention, you achieve greater balance and a better overview. You will also become better at prioritizing your presence in everyday life. More specifically, you train the ability to detect negative thought patterns when they occur, as well as the ability to shift attention away from these thought processes. You work with body awareness and regulation of emotions. The documented effects of the course include, among other things: • More energy, • greater satisfaction, • better concentration and memory, • less stress and clutter • less pain. Specifically, you discover and train the ability to be consciously present through a series of practical mindfulness exercises. For example, a body scan lying down, simple yoga exercises and sitting meditations, where you train to be still and feel what is happening in the body. It is as simple as it is difficult. In MBSR, the mindfulness training is supplemented with examples, teaching about stress, stress physiology, perception, and communication. In addition, there are guided exercises and experience-oriented learning methods that show the connection between body, thoughts, emotions, and behavior under stress. You can improve your quality of life by dealing with your thoughts. MBSR can improve quality of life, increase well-being, mood, empathy, and attention, as well as reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and pain. The beneficial effects are supported by brain research. The structure and function of the brain changes in areas responsible for regulating stress. Through meditation we become able to separate our thoughts from the physical sensations and to relate to our negative thoughts in a different way. Instead of letting ourselves be consumed by them, we can just register that they are there - knowing that sooner or later they will disappear again. In doing so, we can drastically change our perception of pain, stress and suffering, and we can direct energy towards something that contributes to our quality of life, rather than spending it on wishful thinking, anger or worry. There is scientific evidence that mental health can be trained in the same way as physical health, and that MBSR can be used as a technique. Mindfulness can help in a demanding everyday life, where many feel that they and their surroundings make many demands to live "the good life". We often feel the urge and pressure to perform in terms of work and education, create a perfect family and nurture our friendships. The danger here can be that we constantly have the feeling that we always should be on our way to a new and better place. Then we quickly lose the sense of how important it is to be present in the present. It's easy to forget that life happens right now and doesn't start until we've been promoted, got a raise, passed an exam or booked our dream vacation. Many come to stick to their own narratives about how they must be strong, make a career, have many projects running at the same time to be successful. Instead of living in the present, we therefore shuttle back and forth between the experiences of the past and the challenges of the future. What is important in everyday life? When we sit down, remain silent and mindfully focus on the breath that is here and now, all thoughts come swarming. We can practice becoming aware of which thought patterns repeat themselves. When you share your thoughts with others during an MBSR course, you also become aware that you are far from the only one who thinks that life can be difficult. Mindfulness training can help clarify and prioritize your values and focus on what you think is important in everyday life. Mindfulness training can help to stay focused on the present and work with the thoughts that arise in the present. Initially, mindfulness is not about changing thoughts, but about registering and accepting that they are there. After this, we can work on how we relate to them in a more appropriate way. MBSR does not necessarily remove the sad thoughts and feelings we may have. But it can contribute to us accepting that they are part of life. Rather than spending energy fighting them. This practice can increase our enjoyment of life and reduce stress. The background of MBSR MBSR was founded by the American biologist Jon Kabat-Zin, who in 1979 opened the first stress clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. In 1981, Kabat-Zin and Saki Santorelli founded the Center for Mindfulness at UMASS, where countless patients have since completed an MBSR program and where many MBSR teachers have been trained. The MBSR program is not aimed at any specific group of people - on the contrary, everyone can benefit from the program. From the start, the intention has been to focus on the universally human: that we all have thoughts and feelings that can make us feel overwhelmed, stress, worried or lost. About the instructor on the course It is crucial that MBSR is taught on a serious and professionally strong foundation. The instructor on this course for PhD students is Jacob Sander Bojsen, who is a certified instructor in MBSR from the Danish Center for Mindfulness at Aarhus University and who has extensive experience in teaching mindfulness-based programs, including MBSR. Jacob Sander Bojsen is an MSc. in Theater Studies, Sociology and Gender Studies and has worked as a study and career counselor for 20 years, primarily at the University of Copenhagen. Since 2018, Jacob has taught several hundred students at SUND and the entire University of Copenhagen in MBSR. Jacob receives ongoing professional training and supervision by professionals from Aarhus University and regular participate in professional silent retreats. Jacob has his own company 'Mindfulness every day', where he offers courses and workshops in mindfulness for workplaces and institutions as well as holds individual conversations, where training in mindfulness in conjunction with therapeutic conversations is a method for less stress and better well-being. Please go to www.mindfulnesshverdag.dk for more information. Practical information about the course The course lasts 8 weeks and the lessons are 2.5 hours per week except 1st and 8th session. In addition there will be home training in mindfulness, which typically lasts approx. 30-60 min. every day. Dates The course takes place on the following Wednesdays in October and November 2024: 2/10, 9/10, 23/10, 30/10, 6/11, 13/11, 20/11, 27/11 (no course in week 42). All days 16-18:30, except first and last session which will be 16-19:00. The 1st and 8th sessions lasts 3 hours. You must be able to attend 6 out of 8 sessions. Location Panum, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 Copenhagen N Room: 02/10/2024 - 7.15.92 (Foredragssal, Top of Mærsk tower) 09/10/2024 - 7.15.92 (Foredragssal, Top of Mærsk tower) 23/10/2024 - 7.15.92 (Foredragssal, Top of Mærsk tower) 30/10/2024 - 7.15.152 (Top of Mærsk tower) 06/11/2024 - 7.15.92 (Foredragssal, Top of Mærsk tower) 13/11/2024 - 7.15.92 (Foredragssal, Top of Mærsk tower) 20/11/2024 - 7.15.92 (Foredragssal, Top of Mærsk tower) 27/11/2024 - 7.15.92 (Foredragssal, Top of Mærsk tower) Language English. Bring to course Notebook and pen. Something to lie on, e.g., yoga mat, blanket or sleeping pad. Wear comfortable clothes so you feel good. Please eat something before each session since there is no eating break. Catering Water and fruit will be served. ECTS 0 Max number of participants 20 Before signing up for the course Before you sign up for the course you should first consider if you have the time to participate and train at home for aprox. 30-60 minutes per day during the 8 weeks. You should also be willing to work with yourself in the company of others and thus be comfortable with or willing to learn how to share your experiences with others. If you have a mental diagnosis, it can be a good idea to talk your doctor or psychiatrist if a MBSR-course is relevant for you. You are also welcome to contact the instructor of the course with questions before you sign up. You write to jacob@mindfulnesshverdag.dk Registration deadline 02 September 2024 Note: All applicants are asked to submit invoice details in case of no-show, late cancellation or obligation to pay the course fee (typically non-PhD students). If you are a PhD student, your participation in the course must be in agreement with your principal supervisor

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