Nearly five decades after the development of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), MBSR continues to be taught and practiced across cultures, communities, and contexts around the world. Its growth and evolution invite an important question for the field: How do we honor the form, essence and integrity of MBSR while remaining responsive to the realities of teaching and practicing in our time?
Join the Brown Mindfulness Center, Brown University School of Professional Studies, and the Global Mindfulness Collaborative for a global gathering marking the release of the 2026 MBSR Curriculum & Teaching Guide and exploring three central questions:
The new edition is the culmination of an extensive, year-long community-informed revision process. Following the release of the 2025 guide, hundreds of comments, suggestions, and reflections were received from the global MBSR community, alongside extensive review and input from teachers, trainers, researchers, and leaders across the field. What was initially envisioned as a relatively quick update became a much deeper process of listening, reconsidering, refining, and expanding the guide.
The resulting 2026 edition remains deeply rooted in the foundations of MBSR while offering expanded guidance, resources, and appendices to support teachers working across cultures, communities, and contemporary contexts.
During this gathering, curriculum authors Jon Kabat-Zinn, Lynn Koerbel, and Eric Loucks will reflect on the foundations of MBSR, what has been learned through the revision process, and what the new guide offers teachers today. Together, we will explore the contributions of the broader MBSR community, key developments in the curriculum, and the ongoing relationship between fidelity and responsiveness, form and essence.
We will also look ahead: How can an openly accessible curriculum support teachers and communities around the world? And how might the intentions and integrity of MBSR be carried forward by current and future generations of teachers?
This gathering is free and open to the global mindfulness community, including MBSR teachers, trainers, trainees, researchers, mindfulness professionals, and all those interested in the continuing evolution of MBSR.