Hi Kathleen,
Thank you so much for writing to me. I am a “qualified” MBSR teacher at this point, working toward my certification at CFM. I retired from nursing in 2015 and would like to supplement my income with cost-wise courses. I’ve taught 4 class series so far. My initial 3 classes were taught with the help and support of a local hospice in my community of Las Cruces, NM. I had 11 in my first class, 12 in my second and 20 in the third which I did as a benefit for the hospice and I charged $89 which went entirely to Hospice. The vast majority of class participants have been white and also retired. The Las Cruces population is about 90,000 with a state university in town. We are a border community and have a large Mexican and Central American population. However, the majority of the population are Caucasian, many retired, with a few African American folks, a few black students from the US and abroad, very few Native and Asian peoples. Our economy is primarily based on agriculture. Our politics are centrist to liberal.
Since taking the TDI in March 2016, I decided to begin charging a nominal fee for my fourth 8 week course. The fee was $119, $79 for those 18-34 yrs. If people really wanted to take the class, I offered to negotiate the fee for a lesser charge. No one has taken me up on that as of yet. I had 9 students initially and 2 dropped out. This year I started making my own recordings that I expect to have ready for my next class in late March.
What I was looking for help with was how to encourage other social, ethnic and economic groups to participate in the classes. The few Hispanic participants have not had any real ideas as to how I might reach other Hispanic people. I have had a few articles in the weekly newsprint publication and I have met with a professor at the university who teaches the science, and some of the mindfulness practices, to counseling students. I have made email contact with the Superintendent of Schools about the success of Mindful Schools. I haven’t heard much from that but was hoping he’d grab on to it as a way to help kids manage their emotions in class. Last year I attended a gathering entitled “Mindfulness in Business” where the Chamber of Commerce and others were hoping to encourage a better working relationship between businesses and employees, primarily. I recently agreed to speak for 45 minutes at a symposium on mental health and social justice that is happening here in mid-March. The organizers of the symposium asked that I offer a mindfulness meditation practice which I will certainly do. I expect the audience will largely be academics and hopefully people from the business community. The recent immigration policy changes and the hostilities toward Mexico are of major concern to us here, as you might imagine.The subject I want to broach (in my few minutes of opportunity!) is employing mindfulness (MBSR) as skillful means for bringing diverse populations together for the purpose of recognizing their inherent interconnectedness. I am not aware of any research concerning this. I do have access to the David Black research reviews and to the library at the university and need to explore that.
So, Kathleen, do you have any suggestions about 1) how I may encourage different ethnic and social groups to come to MBSR and 2) other resources I might use in my talk at the symposium?
I really do appreciate your interest and, having visited Maine on several occasions, respect very much what you are doing in Maine.
Warmly,
Gerri January
