Kind Words About Julie & Mindful Living
“Resting in your true nature is better than understanding or practice.” -Upanishads
I recently took Julie’s MBSR course and it was a true eye-opener. Lots of us have work-related stress, and through MBSR I learned the key to managing it is not just to “relax and stop stressing”, but to replace that behavior with something else. That is what MBSR provides: the substitute for constantly obsessing about the future and reviewing what happened in the past.
MBSR introduces you to the possibility of staying with the present, the place where everything actually happens, the spot where we actually live and enjoy our lives. Julie is an incredible guide to learning to stay in the moment. She is reassuring and compassionate, rock solid and expert on the relationship between mindfulness and health. It is a personalized and practical place she brings us to inhabit. A place where greater peace of mind is visible and achievable with commitment and daily practice.
As someone with a family history of heart disease, I can especially recommend her course to anyone whose intention is to maintain or improve their heart health. I’m really glad to have met her and to have taken MBSR. – Diego Espinosa
In 2010 I was in an outpatient cardiac rehabilitation program after being hospitalized for a month with stress induced heart failure. Though the word was actually a part of my diagnosis, medical professionals failed to mention stress or how to handle it differently as an important part of recovery. I am a psychologist and thought I knew about stress; yet being “stressed” had nearly killed me! I obviously needed to learn to chill out and asked health care providers for resources that might help.
Someone who had taken the eight-week course with Tom and Julie Chippendale recommendation I try Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Though I didn’t know much about mindfulness, stress reduction sounded great; I called Julie and arranged to be part of the next MBSR course. At that time, I wanted to stay alive and figure out how to survive a series of catastrophic events that had begun in 2003 with a head injury and eventually included loss of my home, business, financial security, safety, and health.
It is currently 2015 and I have taken the eight-week MBSR course several times as well as a graduate course. Not only did I survive, I live a more fulfilling, joyous life than I ever thought possible. Mindfulness, in addition to being the first work in the course description, is the foundation for reducing stress and a means by which I am able to be fully present for each new moment of life as I continue to practice MBSR teachings in an accepting, loving community provided by Julie for all students.
I still have physical pain and a few wounded body parts yet feel physically, emotionally and creatively healthier than before the devastating changes that led to heart failure in 2010. I’ve learned how to pay attention to now – which is the only time we really have.
I have taken the MBSR course with Julie Chippendale in 2014 and found it scientifically instructive regarding the neuroscience of the mind and well worth the time spent. I have continued my individual practice of MBSR since then. MBSR has helped me to reduce my daily stress and be more present as a listener for my patients.
It has helped me mobilize my inner resources for healing, learning and growing. It has helped me gain greater balance, ease and peace of mind. I can now speak to my patients from experience and with the knowledge that it is evidence based and presents another alternative for the care of my patient’s psychological and physical well-being.
Seven years ago when I was volunteering at San Diego Hospice all employees were offered an opportunity to attend an MBSR course. It was a wonderful gift. I did not miss one session because the deeper I got into this work, I knew I had found what I have long been looking for. One year later I was introduced to a patient’s neurologist, Dr. Tom Chippendale and his beautiful wife, Julie.
I have taken several eight-week MBSR courses as well as graduate courses from the Chippendales and I regularly attend ongoing events offered at their beautiful home. I have learned so much from Tom and Julie. My love and respect for both is so big. MBSR has invited me to find my way home through living mindfully and honoring each present moment. Grateful I am!