Is Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction right for you?

Below is information about how Mindfulness can change your relationship to stress, anxiety, and other difficult thoughts and emotions. And learn first-hand this Friday with a chance to ask questions about Mindfulness and how it works.

When: The next Mindfulness Practice Evening – is this Friday, September 11, 2020, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Where: in the convenience of being in your own home.  Zoom is a free and easy to use platform. Just click on the link below, then “Open Zoom” and choose to listen with your computer’s audio. You can mute your microphone and camera or unmute if you have a question or comment.

Please contact Mike for the Zoom link for this session – mfhealy@bellsouth.net or or call 706-248-8918

Please be patient and you will be let in from the “waiting room” soon. If you have any questions or difficulty with Zoom please call me at 706-248-8918.

Who: You are invited to attend, whether you are just curious about mindfulness and loving kindness meditations, have a regular mindfulness practice, or are interested in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction workshop. Please join us to learn more about mindfulness, its practice and its benefits.

Free: This is a free offering sponsored by the Loran Smith Center, Piedmont Athens Regional and provided by the Mindful Living Center, LLC at MindfuLiving.Org

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) workshop provides guidelines and practices for bringing mindfulness to stress/suffering that we all experience in life. MBSR was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts in 1979.

MBSR is one of the most effective and researched stress reduction workshops available today. MBSR is taught and researched at US medical centers, universities, and elsewhere throughout the world. If you are interested in more information about in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction workshop please contact Mike Healy at mfhealy@bellsouth.net or visit MindfuLiving.Org – individual/private sessions are available live, online via Zoom.

Mindfulness is at the heart of MBSR
Mindfulness is awareness that arises by paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally (that is, suspending judgment). Another way to define mindfulness is to look at its components – Attention, Concentration, Awareness, and Compassion and its benefits.

Key Aspects – Mindfulness involves training in attention, awareness, concentration, and compassion: Attention – where you focus your mind; Concentration – the ability to stay focused on one object, one-pointedness. Awareness – another way of knowing that is non-cognitive, it is experiential. Awareness is the mind’s ability to know, in the present moment that is, not being caught-up in thoughts of the future or thoughts of the past; to “be here, now.”

Mindfulness brings a gentle, curious attention to whatever arises in mind and body as you rest in awareness. You just observe the sensations themselves, as they arise moment by moment with nothing added. As a result, you come to know and understand yourself in a deeper, experiential way. Compassion deepens as you come to understand the conditions of the present moment and as that understanding and compassion deepens for yourself, it is easier to extend compassion to others. Keep in mind, as with developing any art or skill, mindfulness requires practice and patience.

Mindfulness practice allows you to respond rather than react to stressful situations. Reactions are often automatic, unconscious, and habitual. Whereas responses are conscious choices arising from mindfulness – perception, appraisal, awareness of what is actually happening in the moment. This process results in not identifying as closely with your thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, which in-turn loosens attachment to them, allowing space for conscious, often creative options or choices to surface.

Benefits of developing a mindfulness practice – paying attention, both through formal and mindfulness in everyday activities allows you to:
Change your relationship to stress, anxiety, anger, fear, sadness, grief, etc.

• See more clearly – with fewer perceptual filers
• Be less reactive and more responsive – allowing space/time for conscious and creative choices
• Gain insights- identifying skillful and unskillful patterns of behavior, speech, etc.
• Know yourself more deeply, fully
• Open the door to inner wisdom
• Develop a calm peacefulness/ a reservoir of peace and energy
• Be more compassionate with self and others

In summary, to realize greater health and happiness personally and professionally.

Research on Mindfulness – MBSR is considered the “gold standard” for mindfulness studies. For peer reviewed journal articles on mindfulness research – visit http://www.goamra.org – the American Mindfulness Research Association.

Mindfulness Practice Evening is a Free Offering for the community – that meets the second Friday of each month from 6:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. We explore different aspects of mindfulness through discussions and practices. All are welcome – whether you are just curious about mindfulness and its benefits or have a regular practice. For more information and/or Zoom link, please contact Mike Healy at mfhealy@bellsouth.net.

Dedicated Mindfulness Practitioners Group is a free offering for the community – that meets each Saturday from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. This is an opportunity to practice and discuss your mindfulness practice. Now offered online with Zoom. For more information and/or Zoom link, please contact Jasey Jones at jaseyjones@gmail.com.

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) workshop provides guidelines and practices to reduce stress, anxiety – the suffering that we all experience in life. MBSR was developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts. It is one of the most effective and researched stress reduction workshops available today. MBSR is taught and researched at US medical centers, universities, and elsewhere throughout the world. Research on MBSR is the “gold standard” for mindfulness – www.goamra.org The MBSR workshop is available online, live using Zoom – a free online platform.

Individual session for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction workshop live and online using Zoom – please contact Mike Healy at mfhealy@bellsouth.net for details or call him at 706-248-8918, or visit MindfuLiving.Org 

The Mindfulness Practice Evening is facilitated by Mike Healy, Ed.D., is certified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction by the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is a certified Integral Hatha Yoga instructor, RYT 200. For more information, please visit: www.MindfuLiving.Org or email mfhealy@bellsouth.net or call 706-248-8918.

Mindfulness Research: Visit www.goamra.org – the American Mindfulness Research Association

Research: www.goamra.org – the American Mindfulness Research Association

Additional Free Practice Opportunities

The Mindfulness Practice Group – meets every second Friday of the month from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. These mindfulness meditation sessions are free and open to the public – for those just interested in learning more about mindfulness practices, beginners, and those with established practices. All are welcome. Visit MindfuLiving.Org for details or contact mfhealy@bellsouth.net.

Mindfulness Dedicated Practitioners Group also meets online using every Saturday from 8:30-9:30 a.m. to practice mindfulness. All are welcome-just drop-in. You can contact Jasey Jones for more information and or the Zoom link at JaseyJones@gmail.com.

The Mindfulness Practice Group is facilitated by Mike Healy, who is certified to teach Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction by the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and is a certified Integral Hatha Yoga instructor (RYT 200).

For information about the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workshop – individual sessions available live and online, please contact: mfhealy@bellsouth.net or call 706-248-8918 or visit www.MindfuLiving.Org