MBSAT: Where Neuroscience Meets Self-Mastery
Mindfulness-Based Strategic Awareness Training (MBSAT) integrates Karl Friston’s Free Energy Principle and Active Inference theory into an eight-session, evidence-based program. Picture your brain as an elite prediction engine that constantly updates hidden models to minimize surprise.
MBSAT shows you how to surface—and improve—those models So you can:
- Spot limiting beliefs
- Recognize reactive patterns
- Make values-aligned, skillful choices
Who We Are
MBSAT Governance and Management
Mission of MBSAT Foundation
Enhance individuals' quality of life, promote peaceful coexistence, and safeguard life on Earth by offering training in various formats to a diverse, international audience.
Foundation Board
Monika Young Elser
m.young@bluewin.ch
Jochen Reb
jreb@smu.edu.sg
Juan Humberto Young
j.young@bluewin.ch
Monika Young-Elser
m.young@bluewin.ch
President
Jochen Reb
jreb@smu.edu.sg
Research Lead
Lukas Arnold
Board member
Juan Humberto Young
j.young@bluewin.ch
Founder
Foundation Management Team
Dr Juan Humberto Young
Content
Prof Jochen Reb
Research
Dr Monika Young-Elser
Organisation & Planning
IT Support
Digital-marketing specialist
Marketing
MBSAT Program Structure
| Focus | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Part I |
Sessions 1 – 4 |
BETA – Body sensations, Emotions, Thoughts, Action impulses
|
Builds deep self-awareness and inner balance, reducing harmful free energy |
|
Part II
|
Sessions 5 – 7 |
META – Updating belief systems & generative models
|
Re-authors limiting beliefs; handles adversity, money attitudes & social experience
|
|
Part III |
Session 8 |
Strategic Adaptation – Integrating BETA + META, strategic planning for personal growth. |
Crafts a lifelong adaptation map for skillful, value-aligned decisions
|
Part I
Sessions 1 – 4
Focus
BETA – Body sensations, Emotions, Thoughts,
Action impulses
Outcome
Builds deep self-awareness and inner balance, reducing harmful free energy
Part II
Sessions 5 – 7
Focus
META – Updating belief systems & generative models
Outcome
Re-authors limiting beliefs; handles adversity, money attitudes & social experience
Part III
Sessions 8
Focus
Strategic Adaptation – Integrating BETA + META,
strategic planning for personal growth
Outcome
Builds deep self-awareness and inner balance, reducing harmful free energy
Highlights
- BETA: Heightens self-awareness and embodiment.
- META: Broadens beliefs and behaviors.
- Synthesis: Weaves all into actionable, minding, suave living.
Part I
Cultivating Awareness of BETA
Focus:
Session 1:
BETA I – Minding Body Sensations
Session 2:
BETA II – Minding Emotions
emotional balance.
Session 3:
BETA III – Minding Thoughts
Session 4:
BETA IV – Action Impulses
Part II
Cultivating Awareness of META
Focus:
Session 5:
META I – Minding Adversity
Session 6:
META II – Minding Beliefs About Money
Session 7:
META III – Minding Our Social Experience and Friendliness
Part III
Strategic Adaptation in Life (Synthesis)
Focus:
Session 8:
Minding Strategic Adaptation in Life (SAL)
Scientific Foundations
Where Neuroscience, Mindfulness, and Management Converge
Evidence, Not Hype
- Over 20 years of iterative development have been refined through teaching and study at renowned universities, including St. Gallen, SMY, Harvard, Oxford, UPenn, UChicago, NYU, and Case Western Reserve University.
- A peer-reviewed study (2019-2023) published in the Journal of Mindfulness demonstrates sustained gains in positive states and a reduction in negative states among experimental groups.
- Ongoing collaborations with Singapore Management University and other institutions expand the data set each year.
Why MBSAT Is More Than a Trend
The Four Core Scientific Pillars
| What It Adds | How It Shapes MBSAT | |
|---|---|---|
|
Comput ational Neuro science |
Free-Energy Principle & Active Inference – the brain as a prediction- error–minimising engine. |
Converts high-level theory into day-to-day tools for clearer perception and faster, wiser action.
|
|
Positive & Cognitive Psychology |
Evidence on flourishing,
resilience, and
metaco gnition. |
Reframes setbacks as “real options,” fortifying well-being while sharpening executive function.
|
|
Behavioral Sciences |
Deep dive into biases, heuristics, and social cognition. |
Exposes hidden shortcuts that derail strategy—then shows how to redesign them.
|
|
Minding Practices (Secular Mind- fulness + Suave Life) |
Builds precision attention in daily life.
|
Creates the mental space to update beliefs and act with caring, courage, common sense and intention.
|
Additional Scientific Disciplines
Leadership
Risk Management & Finance
System Dynamics
Design Thinking
From Theory to Action
1. Notice BETA – Body sensations, Emotions, Thoughts, Action impulses
2. Update META – Surface and re-author your hidden belief-portfolio.
3. Strategic Adaptation – Choose options that minimise free energy and
maximise shared value
This structured approach transforms cutting-edge neuroscience into a practical, human-centered method for navigating 21st-century complexity—while staying rooted in the pursuit of meaning, clarity, and well-being.
Why It Matters
• Skillful decisions – Minimal Free Energy, more adaptive choices
• Rightful mindsets – Constant model-updating fuels genuine insight
• Resilient individuals and cultures – Shared mindset and language for individual
and team VUCA navigation.
It “naturalises the Free Energy Principle by applying it to the
delicate practice of living in the 21st century.”
Karl Friston
Publications & Research
1. MBSAT Books
The MBSAT Manual (2016)
Complete Program for Leaders and Individuals
Evidence-based framework
for integrating mindfulness into professional and private life.
The MBSAT Workbook (2023)
Free-energy & active-inference approach to skillful decisions
Neuroscience-Based Mind Training
to sharpen strategic awareness and enhance decision-making skills.
MBSAT Research
MBSAT Experimental Study (2019 – 2023)
Peer-reviewed article in press 2025, Journal Mindfulness
Minding Well-Being: Validation of the Mindfulness-Based Strategic
Awareness Training (MBSAT) for Non-Clinical Populations
Eva Peters et al.
• Study Design: Randomised control vs experimental groups (≈ 50 working
adults).
• Duration: 8-week training + follow-ups over four years.
• Key Outcomes: ↓ chronic worry & stress, ↑ relatedness, work
engagement, competence fulfilment.
• Why It Matters: Provides rare evidence that MBSAT measurably boosts
well-being and strategic decision-capacity.
Why Evidence Matters
Many mindfulness offerings rely on anecdotes. MBSAT stands apart with peer-
reviewed proof: a multi-year, controlled study—just published in Journal
Mindfulness—showing sustained gains in well-being and strategic
awareness.
Minding as Management Approach:
Peer-Reviewed Article in special issue of Humanistic Management Journal
Minding: A Radically New Management Approach Based on Free Energy
Minimization
Juan Humberto Young
- Proposes a “radically new management approach” based on free energy minimization, applicable to both individuals and social systems.
- Demonstrates how “Minding” transcends traditional shareholder value models, presenting a universal principle for sustainable growth that benefits both individuals and organizations.
- Presents practical examples that show how MBSAT-based “Minding” can be applied to real-life challenges and management decisions.
MBSAT Teacher Directory
MBSAT Teachers
Our MBSAT teachers are a highly diversified group of professionals, all actively involved in a wide range of careers or businesses and simultaneously teaching MBSAT. The group includes individuals in different positions in organizations, entrepreneurs, coaches and counselors, business school professors, artists, and individuals in various other activities. What makes this group singularly attractive is their broad experience.
Hence MBSAT teachers are familiar with the challenges that their participants confront in their quest to perform successfully in a competitive environment and at the same time maintaining or increasing their well-being – two goals that often seem at odds with each other.
