Jon Kabat-Zinn to Kick Off National Breast Cancer Awareness Month at UCLA

by Danny Fisher

I’ll be there at UCLA to see Dr. Kabat-Zinn speak, and I hope you will too–it’s a great cause.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact: Andrea Vaucher 310.487.6100/media@insightla.org

Jon Kabat-Zinn, best-selling author and authority on Mindfulness and Integrative Medicine, at UCLA Royce Hall, October 6, 2010 to kick off National Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Los Angeles, CA – September, 2010 – Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, one of the world’s preeminent authorities on Mindfulness and Integrative Medicine and one of the first to conduct actual clinical trials on the use of meditation techniques to cure pain, anxiety, stress and illness is coming to Los Angeles to do a benefit for the LA County Affiliate of Susan Komen Race for the Cure.

Dr. Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, studied with Zen Masters and was a founding member of the Cambridge Zen Center, before the Buddhist teachings led him to medicine and the creation of  a technique he called Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).

MBSR, which, as Dr. Kabat-Zinn told the LA Times, brought “the heart of Buddhist meditation without the Buddhism into the mainstream of Western medicine,” contributed to a growing movement of  mindfulness in institutions such as hospitals, schools, corporations, prisons and professional sports organizations. At UMass Medical School, Dr. Kabat-Zinn founded the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society, and the world-renowned Stress Reduction Clinic.

Over 200 medical centers and clinics nationwide and abroad now use the MBSR model.

The New York Times best-selling author of Full Catastrophe Living and Wherever You Go, There You Are, Dr. Kabat-Zinn was featured in Bill Moyers’ PBS Special and book, Healing and the Mind. He serves on the Board of the Mind and Life Institute, which organizes dialogues between the Dalai Lama and western scientists and scholars to promote ways of understanding the mind, emotion, and reality.

Dr. Kabat-Zinn’s appearance at Royce Hall is part of The Lynn Lectures and kicks off National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Maria Shriver is the event’s honorary chairperson.

Event Information:

Date & Time: Wednesday, October 6, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. with a reception for VIP ticket holders at 5:30 p.m.

Location: UCLA’s Royce Hall, 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Pricing: Event ticket prices range from $10–$100 with a VIP Package* for $300.

VIP Package includes admission to an intimate reception with Dr. Kabat-Zinn prior to the lecture, admission to the lecture and event parking.

Ticket Purchase: To read more information and to purchase tickets visit www.komenlacounty.org.

All proceeds from this event will benefit the Los Angeles County Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, with 75 percent going directly back to local community efforts in the form of research grants, breast cancer support programs, screening, diagnostic tests and treatments for breast cancer. The remaining 25% of the funds raised goes directly to Susan G. Komen national research.

For questions and more information about the event, please contact: lynnlectures@komenlacounty.org