Mindful Veterinary Practice

The Mindful Veterinary Practice course is based on the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and the Mindful Practice (MP) programs. The MBSR program was developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in 1979 as a practical way to foster and facilitate life balance and self-care in health care professionals. The MP program, developed by medical faculty of the University of Rochester Medical School, is a series of modules presented to third year medical students and residents. The full MVP course is delivered over 8 weeks and teaches a variety of techniques with the goal of participants developing their own lifelong practice. This workshop will guide you through a the core mindfulness practices; introducing you to the theoretical, philosophical, pedagogical, and scientific basis of each practice while allowing you to experience each practice. The practices include (1) the raisin exercise: an exploration of mindful eating; (2) the body scan: systematically noticing bodily sensations and the cognitive and emotional reactions to the sensations without attempting to change the sensations themselves, (3) sitting meditation: bringing nonjudgmental awareness to the thoughts, feelings, and sensations experienced, (4) walking meditation: slow, deliberate, and attentive walking while bringing awareness to the experience, and (5) mindful movement: simple hatha yoga exercises to slowly and methodically explore the sensory, emotional, and cognitive aspects of the experience.

Trisha Dowling is a professor of veterinary pharmacology at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine. She is board certified in large animal internal medicine and veterinary clinical pharmacology. In 2010, she developed the Mindful Veterinary Practice course and teaches it to veterinary students and veterinarians.