The Seminar:
"Mindfulness, Meditation and Moment Management"

The Seminar Description:
A comprehensive approach to managing stress requires numerous, varied, and personalized techniques. Mindfulness and meditative practice can play an enormous role. Participants discover the benefits of meditative practice and mindfulness, learn the basics of regular meditation, practice several meditative techniques, and explore ways to use each moment and live consciously in work and personal life.

The Content:
The Power of the Practice of Meditation

The regular practice of meditation is one of the most powerful strategies for managing stress and achieving optimal health. Most people are largely unaware of the potential benefits of simply sitting comfortably, breathing slowly, quieting the mind, and surrendering to the sense of relaxation and non-doing. The physical state one enters during the practice of meditation produces myriad positive effects for both the body and the mind.

Meditation's Benefits:

• Physical Health and Well-Being, including the Avoidance of Disease

Meditation produces a unique physiologic state, one that is unlike sleeping or sitting in a relaxed position. It might be viewed as the opposite of the fight-or-flight response, which is triggered by a stressful event or situation. During meditation, breathing slows, heart rate decreases, oxygen consumption is lowered, and extremities warm up.

People who meditate regularly experience health benefits that include diminished chronic pain, enhanced fertility, decreased insomnia, strengthened immune system, reduced blood pressure, lowered levels of the stress hormone cortisol, enhanced healing, and improved cardiovascular health. People who meditate experience fewer symptoms of illness, and are hospitalized less frequently.

• Emotional Health

Meditation is a natural method for improving one's mood. Regular practice is associated with the production of seratonin, the body's own naturally acting anti-depressant. It increases activity in the area of the brain associated with happiness and positive emotions. People who meditate experience fewer of symptoms of anxiety and depression. They report feelings of calm, serenity, elation, and even joy, and approach the challenges of their day-to-day life with enthusiasm and confidence.

• Cognitive Functioning

Meditation can increase an individual's focus and clarity by removing the "mind clutter" that most of us carry with us all day long. Solutions to problems that have previously tormented or baffled someone are likely to emerge during or after meditative practice. Increased self-awareness, which helps us to set goals and establish priorities, is one of the most significant benefits of meditative practice. Meditation can also decrease reaction time, improve memory, and enhance creativity, resulting in productivity gains. When a person has the opportunity to renew or "re-charge the batteries," even through a brief period of meditation, work-life effectiveness is increased.

• Spiritual Well-Being

Many people who meditate report a greater connection not only to their deepest, inner selves, but to something greater than themselves as well. Meditation can serve as a way to create a more personal relationship with a higher power, a God, the spirit of the universe, or a life force. Whether the individual believes in a particular power, is agnostic, or believes that there is nothing beyond the human experience, meditation can enhance a sense of spiritual connectedness and well-being.

• Improved Relationships

An important element of meditative practice is developing a non-judgmental attitude, a simple acceptance of what is. This attitude extends beyond the practice to relationships with family, co-workers, friends, and others. People who meditate enjoy better relationships at work and at home because they are more relaxed and accepting of others, are more likely to view situations objectively, and are less likely to lash out in anger. This tends to increase the likelihood of compassionate, constructive interchanges, and to reduce the likelihood of conflict, particularly the kind that can damage relationships irreparably.

Of all the stress management strategies, meditation provides the greatest benefits and gives us the "most bang for the buck." People who begin to meditate are likely to find that other stress reducing habits, such as exercising, getting sufficient sleep, and improving one's diet, fall into place. It's a wonderful starting point for making significant change in the direction of improved health. Give it a try!