Cultivate Joy and Resilience with Mindfulness

Find the inner support and resources to "ride the waves" of life's journey through mindfulness practice, including within the proven 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program designed to help you reduce stress, build resilience, and enhance well-being.

What is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)?

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week, evidence-based program that offers intensive training in mindfulness meditation and movement practices. It helps participants integrate mindfulness into their daily lives, fostering awareness, resilience, and well-being.

Developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979, MBSR blends ancient contemplative practices with modern medical approaches. Through both formal and informal mindfulness exercises, participants harness their inner resources to manage stress, enhance focus, and improve overall quality of life.

MSBR is for:

Participants in David’s MBSR program reported:

  • Sleep improved by 24.07%

  • Stress decreased by 13.31%

  • Joy improved by 23.61%

  • “I felt this course was extremely supportive and saw a direct correlation between how much I was able to practice and how well I was able to handle stress and be present with my family. I was so overwhelmed when I started the class (and in some ways I still am), but I definitely feel like I am better ready to meet future challenges with more patience and grace, because I have the tools to be present.“

    Program Participant

  • “The course helped me tremendously in managing stress. It helped me assess stressful situations , identify the triggers and respond to them better than before joining the class. I learned tools to keep me focused and grounded.“

    Program Participant

  • “The course allowed me to experience more mindfulness and calm in the face of significant added stress in my personal life. Whereas I might have typically played the blame game or been overcome with anger or resentment, I had the ability to remain calm and while having some feelings of despair, they were far lessened.“

    Program Participant

  • “The most valuable part of the course - I found a friend and anchor I never realized I had, my Breath.“

    Program Participant

  • “It (MBSR) has taught me tools to identify my stress and anxiety sooner--catch it before it gets away from me--and strategies that are an important part of my self-care. It also provided more than I expected as I have found acceptance and my gratitude for the everyday has been enhanced. This has filtered into my relationships with my family and how I engage in my work with others.“

    Program Participant

Group Program Snapshot

Individuals of all backgrounds are welcome to sign up. Group program size is limited allow for a more interactive and supportive experience.

8 Weeks

+Orientation and
One All Day Session

Online

2.5 hours per week with one all-day silent retreat session

Tuition

$625 per person

Program Start Dates:

  • MBSR orientation (required) is either 

    • Thursday, January 23, 4-5:15 p.m. ET or

    • Friday, January 24, 2:30-3:45 p.m. ET

    Weekly Sessions (Thursdays)
    6:00 - 8:30 p.m. ET

    • January 30

    • February 6, 13, 27

    • March 6, 13, 20, 27

    All Day Silent Retreat

    • Sunday, March 9 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET

  • MBSR orientation (required) is either 

    • Thursday, April 3, 4:00-5:15 p.m. ET or

    • Friday, April 4, 2:30-3:45 p.m. ET

    Weekly Sessions (Thursdays)
    6:00 - 8:30 p.m. ET

    • April 10, 17, 24

    • May 1, 8, 15, 22, 29

    All Day Silent Retreat

    • Sunday, May 4, 10 AM - 5 PM ET

  • MBSR orientation (required) is either 

    • Thursday, September 18, 4:00-5:15 p.m. ET or

    • Friday, September 19, 2:30-3:45 p.m. ET

    Weekly Sessions (Thursdays)
    6:00 - 8:30 p.m. ET

    • September 25

    • October 9, 16, 23, 30

    • November 6, 13, 20

    All Day Silent Retreat

    • Sunday, November 9, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM ET

I deeply appreciate the MBSR classes. As a former executive of a public company, I experienced significant emotional and physical stress. These classes exceeded my expectations—they weren’t just about learning theoretical ways to reduce stress but about immersing oneself in the present moment.

After just a few sessions, I found myself noticing the subtle scent of the forest, seeing more vibrant colors in nature, and feeling a deeper connection to the people I encountered. I learned to appreciate what I have and to extend gratitude—to myself and those around me. These experiences not only reduced my stress but also prepared me to approach each new day with a sense of calm and readiness.

Beyond the personal transformation, the class created a supportive community. It was a space filled with gratitude, mutual respect, and openness, offering a true sense of belonging. It’s been a life-changing experience in so many ways.
— Maxine, Program Participant

Start Your Mindfulness Journey

Take the first step toward managing stress and improving your well-being. Join our 8-week program to explore mindfulness practices that fit into your daily life.


Register Today

Step 1: Email David at ijustbreathe@yahoo.com or use the contact form below to secure your spot or inquire with questions.

Step 2: Program fee is $625 per person. Complete payment via Venmo -  @dweingard.

If you are participating in the class via an Employer, please contact your HR department as the class may be provided as part of your corporate health benefits.

Corporate and group pricing is available, please contact ijustbreathe@yahoo.com. 

Contact David.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out—I’m here to help and happy to provide any information you need. Simply fill out the form below, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. You may also email me at ijustbreathe@yahoo.com.

Meet Your Mindfulness Guide

David Weingard (he/him)

David (he/him), MBSR qualified teacher, is a father to three adult children, husband, triathlete, lives with Type 1 Diabetes (diagnosed at age 36), is founder of Cecelia Health, and "all in" to positively transform the chronic disease and mental health landscape.


I am whole heartedly grateful for David guiding us through this class. I appreciate the patience, the wisdom and the resourcefulness and accessibility.
— Program Participant

Feedback for David

Benefits to Meditation Practice

Scientific research at medical and research centers around the world suggests that meditation practice can positively and often profoundly affect participants' lives.

  • Stress reduction

  • Decreased medical symptoms

  • Improved self-care

  • Greater ability to manage anxiety and depression

  • Loosening of the grip of negative habits and thinking

  • Improvement in symptoms of burnout

  • Clearer recognition of when your attitude or mood is beginning to change so you can become less reactive

  • Discovery that difficult and unwanted thoughts and feelings can be seen from an altogether different perspective – a perspective that brings with it a sense of compassion and less judgment to the suffering you are experiencing

  • Improved sense of well-being and learning how to be present and appreciate the simple pleasures of everyday life, connect with yourself, and the experience of being alive

I learned more about the power of being present and aware of how my body is signaling. I have tools to stop in the middle of a stressful or chaotic situation and apply techniques to let go and accept what is.
— Program Participant

Group MBSR 8-Week Course Curriculum

  • The 8-week program includes a required Orientation that introduces participants to the secular practice of mindfulness, describes the science behind mindfulness and offers recent scientific findings to highlight how the program can support a wide-range of challenges, medical and psychological conditions, fostering well-being and resilience. Additionally, logistics and expectations are reviewed, and participants complete an intake form that is reviewed by the teacher.

  • This is a basic, foundational stance the program provides, encouraging all that is right within us, including the innate qualities of awareness, courage, and energy that mindfulness practice cultivates. The group learning context is established, as well as review of the working definition of mindfulness. Mindful eating, focused attention, and the body scan meditation practices are introduced, and the aliveness of the mind-body connection is explored.

    The first class is 3 hours. 

  • How we see things (or don’t see them) will determine, to a large extent, how we respond.

    Through practice followed by interactive dialogue and learning activities, we invite examination of perceptions, assumptions and how we see our lives and the world. Included is the exploration of creative responding in how we perceive, take in information, and what we do with it. The practice of the body scan and mindful movement continues.

  • In this session we integrate a range of mindfulness meditation practices including a mindful movement sequence of lying down yoga (with chair adaptations for those for whom lying down on the floor is not accessible) and sitting practice. Walking meditation may also be introduced. Daily practice with the recordings has been going on for two weeks, and there is time to ask questions, share learning and discoveries, and talk about how it is to make time for this new habit–including the challenges of doing that. Another theme for session 3 is exploring “pleasant experiences,” and how these are received in one’s thoughts, emotions and sensations.

  • After three weeks of daily mindfulness practice, participants often report a greater awareness of all experiences: pleasant, unpleasant and everything in between. Curiosity and openness are being cultivated through practice, which begins to show up not just in meditation–but also in ordinary moments of life. In this class we identify the physiology and psychology of fight, flight or freeze and investigate personal patterns in relation to stress.

  • How mindfulness interrupts the stress cycle

    From participants’ direct experience with practice and becoming aware of reactivity in one’s life, mindfulness strategies are illuminated to respond in skillful ways that are more aligned with personal values and intentions. Exploration continues in how mindfulness can interrupt patterns around being stuck, maladaptive coping, through continued focus on the thoughts, emotions and sensations that arise, moment by moment.

  • This day takes place between weeks five and six. With skillful guidance by teachers, participants are led through the mindfulness practices learned thus far in the course, along with a few new options. This day offers participants the opportunity to see their lives closely and freshly, through the lens of practice and the qualities that come along with it, including kindness, curiosity and interest, self-sovereignty, and choice. Without the usual demands and distractions, possibilities, insights, and new perceptions may arise.

    The all-day session is 7.5 hours long.

  • This session continues the learning from the all-day session, illuminating discoveries and also challenges. In addition, we turn towards interpersonal relating (in person, electronically, through social media), and explore how we might bring mindful presence, creative responding, and navigating strong emotions (one’s own and others) to the ongoing life practice of relating. We can relate this to resilience or stress hardiness–the ability to recalibrate when we realize we are stressed. We also come to know that this is normal. The expectation is not that we will always be calm, but that we know what to do and how to care for ourselves when we realize we are in the midst of reactivity.

  • By session seven, consistent, daily mindfulness practice has revealed many surprises and discoveries: More focus, less judgment, faster recovery from stressful situations, the ability to speak up for oneself and to respond to one’s needs more effectively–to name a few. Along with the establishment of a regular, daily mindfulness practice, the class explores how to bring mindfulness “off the cushion” and into one’s life as an ongoing “habit,” of mind, body and heart. The prior weeks of practice have offered a new perspective on how to care for oneself, how to meet moments of stress and challenge, and how to savor moments of joy and peace.

  • In this final session, we come full circle, practicing several of the mindfulness meditations that have been learned, reviewing course highlights, and setting new intentions for keeping up  the momentum from the prior weeks. In addition, together we celebrate the challenges overcome and the learning accomplished. While acknowledging the program’s end, we also celebrate how each person will carry the practice forward in the unique and supportive ways they choose.

    This final class is one-hour longer.

Find Calm in the Chaos

Learn how to embrace the present moment rather than just getting through it.
Join David’s 8-week program to explore mindfulness practices that fit into your daily life.