Mindful Drew

11/14/2025

Tonight, the last group of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)participants in 2025 conclude their 8-class MBSR experiences together, but they will continue the life-long journey of mindful awareness and wise responding.

Each will walk away with something unique from their experience. All of us have learned that, in any circumstances, we have the ability to pause, be mindfully aware of what is happening, and choose a wise response. It's amazing how much easier and more fulfilling life can be when we simply stop habitually making it more complicated than it needs to be!

After these 8 weeks of practice, we are just beginning to know the immense value of these simple skills.

If you are interested in learning these skills too, visit https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/ to learn more about MBSR and to see when 2026 sessions are announced!

11/08/2025

At one time or another in your life, you may have been urged to, "Let it go," or even, "Get over it." Chances are, this was unhelpful advice. Though we hear such encouragement often, few of us (including the advice-givers) truly know what it means.

It is natural for us to try and hang onto what is valued, especially when we feel it slipping away. But this type of clinging only makes the inevitable pain of loss that much greater. We futilely hang on to people, possessions, titles, and situations that are all impermanent, focusing all of our attention on what is no longer present, all the while missing out on what remains.

Letting go is NOT a pushing away of memories. It is NOT an effort to believe that what is lost never mattered. Rather, it is an acceptance of what is. It is an appreciation for all that has come and gone, all that has contributed to the uniqueness of this moment.

We facilitate Letting go can by shifting focus away from memory and related thoughts and resting it on the direct perception of this moment, the feeling of feet in contact with the ground, the sensations of the breath coming and going in the body, the sound of the wind. Letting go often includes allowing the grief of loss to wash over and past us rather than trying to resist or stuff it. Letting go is not something we do once. It is a way of being in each moment that leads us to greater peace.

The current cohort of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction participants are entering their 7th of 8 weeks of practice and learning together, and they'll be practicing with the principle of letting go this week (and every week thereafter).
If you are interested in participating in a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction journey of your own, learn more about upcoming 2026 sessions at https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/.

11/04/2025

Last Saturday, November 1, 2025 past participants from many of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) sessions I have taught in the past joined the current cohort for a mindfulness meditation retreat. We practiced a variety of still-body and moving-body meditations, engaged in a mindful meal together, and ended with a time of reflection about the experience. All but the final discussion was done in Noble Silence, a choice to refrain from speaking and even from making eye contact with one another, intended to facilitate a deeper awareness of the present moment.

Our retreat day marked the beginning of the "home stretch" of our 8-week MBSR journey together. Current class participants were putting together the skills they have learned and the observations they have made in ways that help them reduce their stress and more skillfully manage what remains. Past participants took advantage of the opportunity to renew or deepen their practices.

If you are ready to begin or deepen your journey to this kind of balance, learn about and stay up to date regarding upcoming 2026 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction sessions at https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/

10/30/2025

The mindfulness principle of Non-Striving highlights the fundamental flaw in the common belief, "I'll be happy when..." As we practice deeply observing the present moment, we begin to recognize that the acts and attitudes of chasing after possessions, accomplishments, or circumstances are primary causes for our suffering. The inverse, trying to avoid or push away unwanted things or conditions, also leads to suffering. With genuine acceptance of and gratitude for the reality of this moment, contentedness and joy emerge.

In week 6 of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, participants are beginning to integrate the principles and practices we have learned, applying them in our interpersonal interactions and in moments of solitude in service of our own peace and wellbeing and for the wellbeing of others.

If you are ready to begin your journey to this kind of balance, visit https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/ and keep an eye out for announcements regarding 2026 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction sessions.

10/26/2025

Often, we attempt to manage the uncertainty of life by trying to control things. We think that, if we can just keep all the balls up in the air, we'll create the outcomes we're looking for and avoid those we dread. In reality, this is a recipe for stress and suffering.

To find peace and to sustain that peace, the better strategy is to accept that we are in control of very few of life's details. This allows us to let go of our attempts to manipulate future outcomes and to instead trust in our ability to clearly perceive and wisely respond to this present moment. There is no better way to take care of the future than by taking good care of right now.

In week 5 of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, participants are practicing applying the principle of trust. This eventually leads to greater self-confidence and abiding peace.

If you are interested in beginning your journey to this kind of peace, visit https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/ and keep and eye out for announcements regarding 2026 MBSR Sessions.

10/16/2025

In week four of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), participants are beginning to recognize the importance of patience. Mindful patience allows us the opportunity to observe each moment as it unfolds. It equips us to fully experience the only moment that matters, the only moment that exists in reality, this moment. Patience prevents us from missing out on here and now because our mind is focused on some future moment that has not yet come, that may never come, or some past moment that is unchangeable.

If you are interested in participating in an upcoming Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class, you can learn more and keep up with announcements about 2026 MBSR Sessions at https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/.

10/09/2025

Mindful acceptance is not an endorsement of things as they are. It is not a passive resignation that things must always be as they are. Mindful acceptance is a simple, dispassionate, clear awareness of the elements of the present moment, including what we may know of how they came to be, regardless of whether or not we would choose things to be this way.

This kind of acceptance prepares us for wise decision-making and wise action and keeps us from unnecessarily creating or sustaining suffering through our denial or mindless reactivity.

In week three of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, participants are practicing with the principle of Acceptance in their everyday lives, "rolling out the red carpet for all experiences," as MBSR creator Jon Kabat-Zinn has described it.

If you are interested in participating in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, visit https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/ for more information and for announcements regarding 2026 MBSR sessions.

10/03/2025

Have you ever noticed that seemingly automatic process that occurs when we encounter something (anything) and the brain says, "I like this," or "I don't like this?" This judging is a shortcut our brains take as they try to sort through all of the information our senses are sending them. Like many shortcuts, this one has its pros and cons. The list of pros is rather short: speed and ease. The cons list can grow quite long, and it includes the reality that we miss detail, nuance, and opportunity. We can mistake seeing A path forward with seeing the ONLY path forward. But, if we are mindfully aware and intentional, we can recognize and overrule this automatic judgment. Consider what might be possible if we approached all situations in this way!

In week two of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), participants were introduced to the principle of non-judgment and will be working with this in their home practice all week. If you are interested in learning more about non-judgment or would like to participate in an upcoming MBSR session, visit my website. I hope to announce 2026 sessions this November. https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/

09/25/2025

Sometimes beginnings are daunting. Sometimes they are energizing and exciting. Tonight 11 new participants begin their Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) journeys together. Over the next 8 weeks, we'll gather, meditate, move, discuss, and practice non-reactively being with whatever is. Each week we'll practice with a new principle of mindfulness. This week it is cultivating a Beginner's Mind.

Though we may sometimes feel daunted, other times excited, and likely many other ways about this journey, we'll support each other throughout the process, practicing ways to enter our "challenge spaces" wisely, seeking opportunities to grow and learn.

If you are interested in participating in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, visit my web page and keep an eye on the Mindful Drew page for announcements about 2026 MBSR classes. https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/

09/17/2025

We create our own happiness,
our own misery.
We create a world that is peaceful,
or one that is plagued with violence.
If we want there to be peace in this world,
we must first create a peaceful path
for ourselves to walk upon.
Peace begins with Us.
Non-violence rests upon a mantle
of collective Understanding and Compassion.
If 'I' can understand that the 'Other'
is also suffering,
that we each are a product of conditions
and life experiences,
then violence will cease.
Watering the seed of mindfulness in others
is a form of social and political activism.
World Peace is always one collective
mindful breath away.
~Forrest Knapp
forrestknapp dot com

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09/08/2025

Registration for 2025 MBSR Session 3 closes Thursday! Request your registration link today. https://mindfuldrew.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction/

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07/31/2025