Having access to a mindfulness-based mind fitness training program helps in training your mind to build resilience in times of crisis and improves your decision-making ability.
With all that’s happening around the world today (especially with the pandemic), there is a sharp increase in stress levels among people. Given the challenging times, there seems to be a sense of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty lurking in the minds of people.
If I may ask you some questions at this point:
- How are you dealing with stressful situations at work & home?
- Are you able to make sound decisions under pressure?
- Are you constantly worried about your future?
- Is your health taking a beating due to stress?
If you find yourself affected by chronic stress then you may want to consider some form of mindfulness-based training so that you are better equipped to deal with such situations.
I recently came across one such mindfulness-based program that not only helps you in dealing with stressful situations but also helps in recovering from PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), substance abuse, depression, and other stress-spectrum illnesses.
Before I share complete details of this program, I would like you to meet the creator of this program.
Meet Your Teacher
Dr. Elizabeth Stanley is a professor at Georgetown University and the creator of the Mindfulness-based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT)® program. She has spent 15 years studying the neurobiology of stress, trauma, and resilience to save her life and then to help other heal.
She has served in the U.S. Army as an Army Intelligence Officer in Asia and Europe. She holds degrees from Yale, Harvard, MIT and is a Certified Practitioner of Somatic Experiencing, a body-based trauma therapy.
She is the author of the book: Widen The Window has been featured on 60 Minutes, the ABC Evening News, NPR, and in Time magazine. You can check the below video where she speaks about her book at Google headquarters.
How Is MMFT Different From Other Mindfulness Courses
Before I share with you the details of the MMFT program it is nice to know how is this program different in comparison to other mindfulness programs.
As I was reviewing this program I simultaneously compared it with the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Course which is the only official online training that teaches the method pioneered by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts.
Here’s what I found: The Key Difference Between Both These Programs
The MBSR Course:
In this program you discover tools & practices to be in your present moment. You are taught to pay attention in the present moment, in an open, non-judgmental way. You learn how to accept your racing thoughts & deal with intense emotions. The focus is on breathing exercises to slow down your rapid heart rate and refrain from practicing shallow breathing.
The MMFT Course:
In this program, you are taught to widen the window of tolerance to stress. You will learn specific body-based trauma therapies to re-regulate deep-rooted mind-body dysregulation. This is especially useful for individuals who suffer from prolonged unresolved trauma from their past and fasten their recovery process.
I find both the programs excellent in their own respective ways, perhaps I would say the MMFT course has a combination of mindfulness training and body-based regulation skills that helps an individual to enhance his/her performance during stressful situations and build resilience during difficult times.
MMFT Program Overview
Dr. Stanley lays down the 8-week roadmap for you to build resilience, heal from trauma and recover from prior stress. She guides you through the daily practices, tools in this course that will help you build the much-required mind fitness to combat during stressful situations. Let’s delve deeper to understand what you learn on a weekly basis in this course.
Week 1: Five CORE Practices of Mind Fitness
In the first week Dr. Stanley discusses in detail the five core practices of mind fitness:
- Attention
- Mental Agility
- Emotional Intelligence
- Situation Awareness
- Self Regulation
You will learn about your window of tolerance and why it is affecting your performance. She will introduce the habits, attitudes needed to build resilience and explain a key warrior skill to perform well in high-pressure situations.
Week 2: Rewire Your Brain & Body
In this week Dr. Stanley introduces you to the basics of neurobiology so that you can use this knowledge to rewire your brain and body.
She discusses Neuroplasticity & Epigenetics and shares key information from her research that scientifically proves how certain repeated experiences have an effect on our genes. (You can find her published research articles that provide scientific evidence that this course actually works)
Thereafter she shares about having the awareness of body sensations helps to perform better during stress and talks about certain habits that can increase your stress.
Week 3: Dealing With Stress
As you enter the third week, Dr. Stanley shares the neurobiology of stress so that you understand and develop a new equation with stress. You will learn about stress arousal, your own stress activation levels, and how stress influences your decisions.
You will also come to know how stress coping habits that like relying on too much caffeine, or nicotine, or alcohol that make you feel better in short term can have serious consequences in the long term.
You will discover the role of the nervous system in stress and how to direct your attention to calm down your ANS (Autonomic Nervous System). You will learn by changing your stress equation you will learn how to make wise choices & improve your decision-making under pressure situations.
Week 4: Tools To Deal With Trauma & Ways To Enhance Your Resilience
This week Dr. Stanley delves deeper into trauma and resilience. She explains about the “thinking brain” and “survival brain” and how its collaboration helps in speeding up the natural recovery process.
You will identify symptoms of dysregulation in your mind-body system and learn practical tips to work with the nervous system to minimize the chances of developing trauma.
Get to learn how trauma encodes in the brain and how to rewire your brain.
Week 5: Habitual Reactions & Choices
As you enter the fifth week Dr. Stanley investigates the nature of habits and the power to access choices. You will learn how to identify the habitual reactions/behaviors and how to use them to change them.
Dr. Stanley shares with you warrior qualities of courage and wisdom to break the shackles of habitual reactions and choose wisely.
You will learn window-widening habits that will help you to work skillfully with obstacles and help you change your habitual behavior.
Week 6: Dealing With Emotions & Pains
This week Dr. Stanley offers guidance on dealing with emotions and reducing chronic pain. She will share the “emotional lab” and three components of emotion that help you understand how emotions drive your behavior.
You will learn to observe the signs of emotion regulation & dysregulation in your behavior and work more effectively to manage them.
Week 7: How To Deal With Stress & Emotional Contagion
As we reach the end of the course Dr. Stanley explains how as human beings we are “wired to connect” and constantly communicate our stress level through our interactions with people around us.
She explains instances wherein we are the most vulnerable to stress and emotional contagion and what we should be doing in such instances.
She discusses understanding your “attachment style” so that you can build a sense of connection in personal & professional relationships.
Week 8: Integrating Core Points & Continue Practice
In the final week Dr. Stanley will summarize all the core points & provide you guidance on how to make mind fitness practice a part of your daily routine. You can use the tools to ground yourself as you experience stress and stay in your zone of optimal performance.
By this time you have learned the warrior qualities of wisdom & courage that you practice to build resilience. You also know to exercise the power of choice skillfully to overcome any automatic habitual behavior.
As you continue to practice, you will adopt the new mind fitness program that will help you thrive in stressful environments.
BONUS Program (For Limited Period)
As I write this post there two bonus programs that would complement this program:
BONUS #1: Freedom From Pain
Audio Download – 2 hours approx
Peter Levine & Maggie Phillips, two pioneers in the field of pain and trauma, drawing on decades of clinical success address a crucial missing factor essential to long-term healing. This program will again provide you proven tools to address the unresolved emotional trauma held within the body.
BONUS #2: Healthy Sleep
Audio Download – 2 hours approx
Healthy sleep does not depend on the number of hours you slept. Andrew Weil & Rubin Naiman, two trusted mind-body experts provide you practical tools to achieve a healthy sleep without turning to sleep pills and waking up fully invigorated without needing that cup of coffee to get going.
How Much Does This Course Cost
At the time of writing this post, there is a promotional offer going on wherein you can have lifetime access to this entire program along with the bonuses for a one-time price of $197. This is for a limited time only as the original price of the program stands at $397. You may want this grab this offer and save $200.
Here is the best part, if you are not 100% satisfied with the program or do not meet your expectations then you can claim a full refund for this program within 1 year from the date of purchase. So take advantage of 1-year money-back guarantee and try this program practically at zero risks.
Final Thoughts
This is a groundbreaking program and Dr. Stanley has developed this program with integrity and effectiveness so that you can perform at your best and recover completely without any detrimental physical or psychological effects.
If you ever wanted to know how to deepen mental agility so you can think on your feet, problem-solve creatively, and make better choices under pressure then join this program now and make the most out of it ~ Wishing you the very best!
Please note I receive compensation if you click on any links mentioned in this post to purchase a product or service from the third-party website. Also, purchasing a product or service from the above links does not increase your purchase price, however, it is a great way to thank me if you enjoy my content and find my suggestions useful. I only recommend products and services that I have personally used or thoroughly researched.
Hi Satish,
Wow. I might just need this course. I have been suffering from depression and stress since I was a teenager. It has gotten better over the years but is not gone. I like that the program is put together by someone so knowledgeable. That is a sticking point for me. I am especially interested in weeks 2-3.
Hi Brianna,
I am glad you found this post useful, I wish you all the very the best with this program ~ Stay Blessed 🙂
Hi Satish,
Thanks for a great review. This sounds like a great program. I see she addresses Emotional Intelligence. This is a term that I’ve heard a lot lately. This definitely sounds like something worth learning more about. I can effect many parts of our lives. I’ll be looking into this! Thanks for bringing this to light.
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
Yes she does address “Emotional Intelligence” – Wherein she explains how to understand others and act more compassionately and ethically. This is explained in the first week when she discusses the Five CORE Practices of Mind Fitness. I wish you the best with this course ~ Stay Blessed 🙂
Hi Satish,
Although MBSR and MMFT are both very similar, I really like what MMFT has to offer. MMFT really seems like an in-depth framework incorporating a wide variety of core practices needed to achieve accurate mind fitness. There is a “pain” component that often gets missed in these kinds of therapy/program and that tends to prolong the recovery period.
I like that the actual program (week 6 in specific) and the bonus program included with MMFT really brings “pain” back into focus. The price point of Dr. Stanley’s program is also quite affordable. This is definitely an investment in self-development and so totally worth it.
I feel that aside from people dealing with WFH stress due to Covid (and even people with no PTSD) and those who wish to return back to work (physically) after lockdowns would benefit from this- Would you agree?
Hi Sasha,
I agree with your viewpoints both courses are excellent in their own way.
MMFT is designed and would be helpful for people working in high stress environments and who carry a load of past stress or prolonged unresolved trauma. Usually in a Mindfulness practice people start with “Breathing Awareness” exercise wherein the focus in on breath to calm the racing mind. Now there is nothing wrong in “Breathing Practice” however for a person who has had past traumatic experiences, if he/she brings full attention on breathing and calms his mind…there is strong chance of memory backlash. The brain may tap into those unresolved traumatic experiences and they may suddenly start to feel more anxious or panicky. This is a where a MMFT course can be helpful wherein you will learn a sequence of trauma-sensitive exercises for re-regulating the nervous system and survival brain after trauma.
So MMFT will enable the person to direct their attention in particular ways to downregulate & reduce the stress-thereby bring them back into balance whereas mindfulness-only training will provide tools to be aware and accept such thoughts and emotions.
To answer your last question: Yes, MMFT will help people who are going through high stress periods due to pandemic. Thanks for comments and wishing you all the best with this program ~ Stay Blessed 🙂
Hi Satish,
Thanks for this review man, this seems like a very interesting course on a very important subject. Mental health and being able to cope with the stresses of life is such an important factor to living a fulfilled life.
Dr. Stanley sure seems to have the credentials and experience to be able to deliver this type of course. Week 3 Dealing with Stress and the 2nd Bonus (Healthy Sleep) really stood out as areas that interest me. Life is filled with constant potential stressful situations and not knowing how to deal with them can affect so many other areas of your life, one of which is your sleep. I find when life gets stressful that my sleep becomes restless. Learning how to cope with the stress and getting a good night sleep is very appealing.
Thanks man, I will check this course out.
Hi Robb,
Yes dealing with stress, working in high stress environment, can pose a huge toll on your mental health and body. The BONUS programs that come with this course are a great complement to this course. I wish you all the best with this program ~ Stay Blessed 🙂
Hi Satish,
Great article on mindfulness based mind fitness training. I’m so glad you shared this important information. I will definitely share with a friend and suggest. For stress I take a healthy supplement but I can see how this program can also help me so much.
Hi Alyse,
I am happy to know that you found this information useful. I hope this course turns out to be a better alternative for you to manage stress as compared to consuming stress pills ~ Stay Blessed 🙂
Hello Satish,
How many hours is each week of the course?
Hi Amanda,
This is a self-paced course, so once you buy this program, you would have lifetime access to this. Thereafter you can decide basis your schedule how much hours you wish to invest per week on the program. I hope this answers your question? Stay Blessed 🙂