CIM

The UC San Diego Center for Mindfulness offers evidence-based training programs in mindfulness, compassion, and stress reduction designed to support health, well-being, and resilience.

These programs are grounded in decades of clinical research and are taught by experienced instructors. They are appropriate for individuals seeking to reduce stress, manage health conditions, and cultivate greater awareness, emotional balance, and compassion in daily life.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is an 8-week, evidence-based program that teaches participants how to work skillfully with stress, pain, and illness through the practice of mindfulness.

Developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, MBSR integrates meditation, gentle movement, and mindful awareness practices to support physical and emotional well-being.

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC)

Mindful Self-Compassion (MSC) is an 8-week program designed to cultivate the skill of self-compassion—learning to respond to difficult moments with kindness, understanding, and support.

Developed by Kristin Neff and Christopher Germer, MSC combines mindfulness and compassion practices to enhance emotional resilience and well-being.

Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT)

Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) is an 8-week course developed at Stanford University that helps participants strengthen compassion, empathy, and emotional resilience.

CCT includes meditation practices, reflective exercises, and discussions designed to cultivate compassion for oneself and others while supporting emotional balance and well-being.

Who Can Benefit

Program Format

Programs are typically offered in an 8-week format and include weekly group sessions, guided practices, and home practice assignments. Some programs may also include a day-long retreat or extended practice session.

Courses are offered in-person and online, making them accessible to a wide range of participants.

Health coaching is a collaborative, client-centered approach that supports individuals in making sustainable lifestyle changes to improve health, well-being, and quality of life.

At UC San Diego, health coaches partner with patients to identify personal goals, build motivation, and develop practical strategies that align with each individual’s values, preferences, and health needs.

What Is Health Coaching?

Health coaching focuses on empowering individuals to take an active role in their health. Through guided conversations, education, and accountability, coaches help patients create meaningful, achievable goals and develop the skills needed to sustain long-term behavior change.

Coaches provide support across multiple areas of health, including nutrition, physical activity, stress management, sleep, and overall lifestyle habits.

What to Expect

Areas of Focus

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Osteopathic medicine is guided by three central principles: the body should be treated as a whole unit, including its connection to mind and spirit; structure and function are interrelated; and the body has a natural inclination to heal itself.

Prevention and wellness are central to osteopathy. Doctors of Osteopathy (DOs) complete educational training similar to allopathic doctors (MDs) and are similarly licensed to practice a full scope of medicine in any specialty of choice.

Manual medicine can help change the resting tension in a muscle or tendon, “reset” a trigger point, alter tension or torque within a ligament or fascial plane, change alignment or asymmetry of bones or joints, help address structures that may be impinging on nerves, and support lymphatic flow, visceral function, cerebrospinal fluid flow, and immune function.

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What Is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine?

Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DOs), like Doctors of Medicine (MDs), are fully licensed physicians in the United States who can practice medicine and surgery in all specialties.

As part of their medical training, DOs receive specialized education in the musculoskeletal system, including the interconnected relationships between nerves, muscles, fascia, bones, organs, and the circulatory and lymphatic systems.

DOs practice in all areas of medicine, including primary care, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, emergency medicine, psychiatry, and surgery. Some DOs specialize in osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), while others integrate OMM into their specialty care.

Learn more at the American Osteopathic Association .

What Is Osteopathic Manual Medicine?

Osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM) is a hands-on approach performed by physicians trained in osteopathic manipulative treatment (OMT). It emphasizes whole-person care and focuses on restoring balance and function within the body.

Physicians trained in OMM develop refined palpation skills to assess areas of restriction or dysfunction. Treatment is designed to improve mobility, reduce pain, and support the body’s natural healing processes.

What Does Treatment Look Like?

OMM treatments involve a range of hands-on techniques, from gentle, subtle methods to more direct approaches such as stretching, joint articulation, and guided movement.

Treatments may address muscles, joints, ligaments, fascia, organs, the nervous system, and lymphatic flow. Each session is tailored to the individual and their needs at the time of the visit.

What to Expect During a Visit

During your visit, your physician will review your medical history, perform a physical exam, and develop a personalized treatment plan. Treatments are typically performed while lying comfortably on a treatment table.

OMT is generally gentle and should not be painful. Responses to treatment vary, and benefits may continue to develop in the days following your visit.

How to Prepare

Conditions Treated

OMT can be used across all ages and may support a wide range of conditions:

Naturopathic medicine is a distinct system of primary health care that emphasizes prevention, treatment, and optimal health through the use of therapeutic methods and substances that encourage the body’s inherent self-healing process.

At UC San Diego, naturopathic doctors (NDs) work collaboratively with physicians and other members of your care team to provide integrative, evidence-informed care tailored to your individual health needs.

What Is Naturopathic Medicine?

Naturopathic medicine focuses on identifying and addressing the root causes of illness rather than simply treating symptoms. Care plans are individualized and may incorporate nutrition, lifestyle counseling, botanical medicine, and other supportive therapies.

Naturopathic doctors are trained in both conventional medical sciences and natural therapies, allowing them to bridge traditional and modern approaches to health and healing.

Conditions and Health Goals We Support

Patients may seek naturopathic care for a wide range of conditions and health goals, including:

What to Expect

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Our nutrition services combine medical nutrition therapy with integrative and functional medicine principles through counseling, education, personalized recommendations, and whole-person therapies.

Areas of expertise include the use of a wholesome, plant-based diet to introduce therapeutic foods and recipes, enhance diet choices for digestion and whole-body support, revise food choices to meet condition-specific recommendations, support restorative movement, layer with lifestyle modifications, and provide evidence for further assessments.

At the Center for Integrative Nutrition, our dietitians and physicians focus on stages of health including prevention, treatment, remission, and maintenance to optimize health for individuals, the community, and the planet.

Conditions and Health Goals We Support

Patients with the following conditions, symptoms, diseases, or health goals are often seen by our team:

Additional Services

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Integrative nutrition services are most often referral-based appointments made in conjunction with a physician or nurse practitioner on your care team.

What to Expect

Trained specialists at UC San Diego offer massage therapy — inpatient and outpatient — to promote healing in the body through increased circulation, joint mobility, improved muscle tone, and to help ease tension, stress, spasms, and pain.

Physicians at UC San Diego work closely with massage therapists to coordinate an individualized treatment plan, which may be for an injury or part of your plan of care for conditions such as anxiety, headaches, neck, back, or nerve pain, muscle or joint pain/injury, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues, fibromyalgia, insomnia, myofascial pain syndrome, digestive disorders, or many other conditions.

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Types of Massage and Bodywork

Below are descriptions of the types of massages that our therapists may suggest for you:

Scheduling

Appointments are available at the Family Medicine clinics in La Jolla, Scripps Ranch, Hillcrest, and Downtown, and at the Perlman Women’s Health Clinic. Call toll-free to schedule an appointment.

Sessions are paid at the time of appointment and are not usually covered by insurance. However, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA) and Health Savings Accounts (HSA) may be used. Massage visits do not require a referral from your doctor. No tipping.