How was MBCL developed?
Read about how MBCL was developed and meet its founders Erik van den Brink and Frits Koster. They designed MBCL to help you find a healthy balance between caring for yourself and caring for others and our world.
The History of Development of MBCL
Working in mental health service, Frits Koster and Erik van den Brink developed the MBCL compassion training as a follow-up eight-week training programme for groups of clients, who wished to learn how to deal in a healthier way with pain, stress and suffering, whether it was physical, mental, emotional or relational.
After having participated in MBSR/MBCT clients experienced the beneficial effects of the practice of mindfulness on physical and mental health, but many had difficulties integrating it into their daiy lives. They needed more support in how to relate to persistent patterns, such as strong self-criticism and inner harshness, and how to balance self-care and care for others.
It was important to offer more explicit compassion practices in a trauma-sensitive way, which gave rise to the development of MBCL.
Deepening their practice, building on what they already learned in MBSR/MBCT, enabled them to experience more warmth, acceptance and connectedness with themselves and others. Soon it appeared that professionals from health care and other domains, could similarly benefit from MBCL.
Founders of MBCL
Erik van den Brink
Co-founder of MBCL
Erik studied medicine in Amsterdam and trained and worked in psychiatry in the UK. From his return to the Netherlands in 1995 he worked as a psychiatrist-psychotherapist and later also as a mindfulness teacher and trainer. He co-founded the Center for Integrative Psychiatry, an innovative mental health clinic in Groningen, and also worked in psycho-oncology. He has always been particularly interested in methods that empower people’s self-healing capacity and pioneered with mindfulness and compassion-based interventions in mental health. He has a long-standing personal meditation practice in Vipassana, Zen and secular forms, and was trained by founding teachers in MBSR/MBCT, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT), Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) and Interpersonal Mindfulness (IMP). With Frits Koster he developed the MBCL programme and co-authored several publications on MBCL. He is a frequently asked guest teacher at mindfulness training institutes across Europe and beyond.
Frits Koster
Co-founder of MBCL
Frits is an experienced meditation teacher and a senior MBSR, MBCT and IMP teacher. He was a Buddhist monk for six years and during this period he studied Buddhist psychology at various monasteries in South East Asia. He has written several books on the subject of Buddhist psychology, some of which have been translated into English. He is affiliated as a trainer at various mindfulness teacher training institutes across Europe. With Erik van den Brink he developed the Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL), this programme is internationally acknowledged as a ‘full dose follow-up’ Mindfulness-Based Programme (MBP). Together they wrote several books on MBCL. They teach MBCL-Intensives and Teacher Training programmes live and online worldwide. With his wife Jetty Heynekamp he teaches meditation retreats internationally. Together with Victoria Norton they edited ‘Mindful Communication’ (Routledge, 2023). Frits is currently working with Zohair Elabd on a teacher training programme focussed on mindful communication (an international website will soon be published). Together with Joyce Cordus he developed the Mindfulness-Based Training in Forgiveness (MBTF).
www.traininginforgiveness.com
MBCL Blog
Self-compassion for men – The courage to be authentic
I had been living in South-East Asia as a Buddhist monk for about 6 years. When I came back to Europe in 1988 I fell into a strong culture shock and identity crisis. I remember one of the things that really supported me was reading a book by Guy Corneau: ‘Absent...
#CompassionNow – Launch of the Global Compassion Coalition
On 15th April 2023 this exciting new movement was launched. The Global Compassion Coalition gatheres all those who want to live in a world that’s based on compassion. Together with speakers like Marianne Williamson, Mpho Tutu, Jack Kornfrield, and Ruby Wax, we...
More international recognition of MBCL
With the call for compassion becoming ever louder in the world, we are pleased that EAMBA European Associations for Mindfulness officially acknowledges Mindfulness-Based Compassionate Living (MBCL) as a Mindfulness-Based Programme (MBP), according to internationally...