As this year comes to an end, I feel inspired to look back to see how far we’ve come. In November of 2016, I had the wild idea to teach MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) live online to solve the problem of finding an affordable place to hold classes. All MBSR courses at the time were “in person”. I convinced Merel de Boer, a fellow MBSR graduate, to co-teach with me during the winter of 2017. While we didn’t feel particularly good about that first online experience, we did start a new 8-week program a few months later after following up on suggestions for improvement from family and friends who had graciously volunteered to take that first online MBSR course. Ever since then we have actively solicited and incorporated participant feedback, making us stronger every single additional teaching cycle. We celebrated this early 2020 when both Merel and I received MBSR instructor certifications from both the University of Massachusetts and Brown University.
We are so thankful for each one of our students. They have taught us how to become compassionate, curious, and effective teachers - and they helped us build a community. When we decided to create Imagine to bring mindfulness to a larger audience we could never have imagined that through careful listening we would discover our “special sauce”. Imagine's program creates a distinctive, supportive sense of community and can put each participant on the road to discovering their True Self, finding resilience and ease in life. Because we believe that each person learns and grows in a unique way, we are committed to a personalized experience: our live online classes are small and students and alumni are actively encouraged to reach out to our instructors. We also thank those of you who have not yet taken one of our classes, but who have expressed interest. To show our gratitude, we are making our online MBSR meditations available free of charge.
Until March 2020, we were one of a very few offering live online MBSR courses, the only other entities being programs affiliated with universities. COVID-19 changed all that! At a time when stress reduction was needed most, the in-person environment was no longer available. Since our company’s vision is to extend mindfulness as far and wide as possible, which includes helping fellow instructors, we began to “give away” what we had learned these past years - without hesitation. We assisted many MBSR instructors to successfully take their classes online during the pandemic. We thank these colleagues for their loyalty and devotion to the MBSR practice in these difficult times! Further, I also want to express a heartfelt thank you to Summer, our CEO, and others who have added their voices to Imagine: Barbora, Nikki, Pat, and Ann are just a few.
We thank all of our past, present, and future students for teaching us. We are ready to extend our love to you through MBSR as you decide to join us. We are most grateful for this community and your ongoing support of our efforts!
Peace to you!
Jerry
