mindful collapse

I first encountered Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) in 2014 when I was about as stressed as I ever remember being. I was one of the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought by Occupy Wall Street Library against then-mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the NYPD as well as the NYC Department of Sanitation. Friends were having the FBI show up on their doorsteps and were being thrown in the back of unmarked vans. I was both stressed and low-key paranoid and was looking for anything that might be helpful.

The internet led me to a signup for an 8-week MBSR class that was starting the next day. The timing seemed auspicious, so I joined. I thought I'd learn something about meditation which I'd already been practicing off and on for about 10 or 15 years by then, but was mostly just curious about what this "gold standard" of stress reduction was all about. I came in cynical with my usual bad attitude and aversion and left the course 8-weeks later with a different worldview.

For me, the course changed how I related to myself and other people, cleared the lenses through which I view the world and set me off on a trajectory that eventually led me to devotional practices and the world of Dharma. That's what it was for me– it's different for everybody: your mileage may vary.

It was meaningful enough to me that I studied and trained in it for years. I attended my first course in 2014 and after a few years of training, began teaching meditation and yoga in 2017. In 2019 I qualified as an MBSR teacher through the University of Massachusetts Medical School's Center for Mindfulness and continued studying MBSR at Brown University along with additional trainings in somatics and relational mindfulness all while deepening my own study and practice of Buddhadharma.

As my own practices grew more devotional, I stopped teaching MBSR because I had some aversion toward the secular nature of the curriculum. I felt like leaving out the 'smells and bells' was stripping some of what was most profound from the practice. I was also keenly aware as I offered the traditional MBSR curriculum, of how anchored it was in conditions of white supremacy culture, run through with ideas of individualism and separation.

I was reflecting on a question someone asked me recently, whether I had a spiritual practice or not and I laughed and said 'yes, absolutely, I don't know how anyone is surviving these times without one.' I wouldn't have had a spiritual practice and I can't imagine how I'd be navigating this collapse if I had never encountered the tools and practices offered in that first MBSR class and the opportunity it offered to nurture wellbeing through 8 weeks of supported and guided practice. That's what's encouraged me to offer the course again.

Everyone carries stress. Everyone experiences suffering. We are also equipped with wondrous capacities for resilience and creativity. One key to accessing creative response to whatever arises is mindfulness. We can rediscover our innate gifts of compassion and curiosity with some patience and a little bit of practice. If you'd like to find out how, please do join me.

8 Wednesday evenings 6:30 - 9 pm (est) online
September 17 - November 5, 2025
Practice Day on Saturday October 18 9:30 am - 5 pm (est)
Orientation on Wednesday September 10 6:30-8 pm (est) online required if you intend to register for the class.

Tuition = $600 – $500 – $350 includes materials and practice day

Regarding my pricing scale, I deeply value the course and have seen the benefits of the practice in my own life and in the lives of many others. For that reason, I want to make it available to as many people as possible. I also value my own time, training and have life costs that need to be met. Balancing these considerations, I’m currently offering tiered pricing for the 8-week course on par with other offerings in NYC. Paying at the supporting side of the scale subsidizes those who may not otherwise have access to the course. Please reach out if the regular pricing tiers are not accessible to you right now.

To register for the course or attend the free orientation session, contact me, Betsy Fagin at double.earth.mindfulness@gmail.com.