Mindfulness Toronto | Mindfulness Toronto

Mindfulness and Resilience in Education

Mindfulness Toronto — Mon, 30 Mar 2020 22:03:56 +0000

More and more is being understood about the impact of mindfulness on wellbeing. If we place meditation in the centre of a model of resilience model we are more likely to bounce back and even bounce forward from setbacks and challenges. This five-factor model of resilience is being implemented in a post-secondary setting and the goal of teaching our students resilience is to help them to cultivate the skills associated with thriving in this environment.

Learn how mindfulness, gratitude, optimism, self-compassion and grit can be combined to build resilience. Participants will have the opportunity to practice several guided meditations and will learn specific strategies associated with reframing pessimism and cultivating grit, all of which contribute to greater balance, ease, and hope.

Dr. Diana Brecher is a clinical psychologist with 29 years of experience at Ryerson University. Diana spent 25 years working in the Ryerson Counselling Centre as a therapist, supervisor and director, and over the past 20 years, she has also been teaching graduate-level psychology courses at OISE/UT and Ryerson University. Diana’s long-standing interest and certification in Positive Psychology culminated in the development of ThriveRU, a campus-wide resilience-based training program and various resources for students, faculty and staff. She co-developed Thriving in Action, a course that incorporates thriving strategies and progressive learning strategies, and just recently co-created this material as an online course.

Mindfulness Toronto Community meeting featuring Laura Sygrove of the New Leaf Yoga Foundation

Mindfulness Toronto — Tue, 25 Mar 2014 21:12:00 +0000

At this month’s Mindfulness Toronto Community Meeting, New Leaf’s co-founder and executive director, Laura Sygrove, will discuss the organization’s approach, their work within several TDSB schools, how this fits into their overall mandate, and the impact that their programming is having with youth in educational settings.

New Leaf Yoga Foundation has been offering yoga-based life-skills programs to youth in Ontario for the past 7 years. The organization works specifically with young people in some of the least-served communities and facilities. Believing in the strength and resiliency of youth and drawing on their capacity to heal and thrive, yoga offers tools for cultivating self-awareness, emotional resiliency, the ability to respond rather than react, and the opportunity to tap into a sense of personal empowerment. NewLeaf offers integrated, long-term support through their schools programs, youth justice programs and community-based drop-in programs. All classes are taught in a trauma-sensitive and inclusive approach.

Cultivating Therapeutic Presence with Therapeutic Rhythm and Mindfulness (TRM) – Shari Geller

Mindfulness Toronto — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 21:26:00 +0000

Being fully present enhances our health, well-being, and relationships. Therapeutic presence, which includes feeling grounded, immersed, spacious, and compassionately with and for another, can be strengthened with awareness and practice. Therapeutic presence is foundational to promoting positive change and creating safe relationships with clients, students, and loved ones. This evening will provide a taster of the Therapeutic Rhythm and Mindfulness (TRMTM) program to cultivate presence. TRM is an innovative approach combining group drumming, mindfulness and emotion focused awareness to help cultivate presence and is designed to increase positivity, vitality and social connectedness. Learn more about TRM at www.rhythmandmindfulness.com

About the speaker

Dr. Shari Geller is an author, clinical psychologist, and creator of the Therapeutic Rhythm and Mindfulness Program (TRM). With over twenty years experience weaving psychology and mindfulness, Shari co-authored the book Therapeutic Presence: A Mindful Approach to Effective Therapy. Shari has a long-term personal mindfulness meditation and drumming practice. Shari serves on the teaching faculty in Health Psychology at York University and for the Applied Mindfulness Meditation (AMM) program as well as Adjunct Faculty at the Music and Health Research Collaboratory (MaHRC) at University of Toronto. Learn more about Shari at www.sharigeller.ca

The role of narratives in a mindful Western life – Norman Farb

Mindfulness Toronto — Wed, 13 Nov 2013 20:55:00 +0000

The theme for the evening will be an examination of the role of narratives in a mindful Western life, from both personal experience and contemporary neuroscience perspectives. Is thinking about the world conceptually really antithetical to being mindful? What does the average person mean by self-improvement through mindfulness practice? Does it even make sense to think about living a ‘judgment free’ existence?

Guided meditation will combine elements of traditional mindfulness meditation practice and more experimental reflection on personal narrative habits.

About the speaker

Norman Farb is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. His work examines the neural mechanisms of emotional responses to stress, distinguishing between adaptive and maladaptive habits. He is particularly interested in how mindfulness training alters a person’s sense of self, potentially transforming their perception of stress in the world.

www.normanfarb.com

EEG and Meditation- led by Michael Apollo

Mindfulness Toronto — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 20:53:15 +0000

EEG and meditation have always shared an interesting relationship – creating the opportunity for anyone to engage in simple mindfulness practice using EEG has been the work of Michael Apollo at InteraXon. His work has been focused on quanitifying internal states relating to simple mindfulness practices. InteraXon has been around for the past 5 years providing engaging experiences using brainwave controlled devices.

This evening we will partake within an interactive view into how meditation alters one’s own brainwaves, along with insight into the future use of brainwave controlled devices as an aid to bridge science and contemplative practice.

There will be a silent seated meditation practice with at least one participant having the opportunity to have their EEG recorded to review after our session. There will also be an opportunity for asking questions and engaging with brainwave enabled experiences.

About the speaker

Michael Apollo is currently Faculty at the UofT’s applied mindfulness at work certification program teaching MBEIT mindfulness-based emotional intelligence training. He is a certified facilitator in MB programs and a seasoned specialist at individual and team social and emotional competency development.

Michael is founder of the Healing the Healer mindfulness program for medical professionals at University Health Network and the Mindful Gateway workplace MBEIT program. His passion is mental fitness training and currently is Director of Applied Mind Science at InteraXon Inc. building EEG-based programs to support mindfulness development.

http://www.interaxon.ca

Developing a Mature Mindfulness Meditation Practice with Bill Gayner and Steven Selchen

Mindfulness Toronto — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 20:22:00 +0000

MBSR and MBCT have done a great job of introducing people to mindfulness meditation in secular, psychologically-grounded contexts. However, less attention has been given to supporting the ongoing development of mature, secular, meditation practice. In fact, practitioners attending advanced professional training are typically expected to have a Buddhist teacher and to attend Buddhist retreats. This evening we will explore how you, as a professional who teaches or aspires to teach mindfulness within secular contexts, are navigating the process of sustaining and further developing your meditation practice.

There will be a silent meditation practice, set up in an inclusive way allowing for any kind of meditation practice, followed by journaling or reflection about the practice, and then discussion.

If you wish, you will also be able to engage in a novel, experientially open form of mindfulness meditation – recollective awareness meditation.

About the speakers

Bill Gayner, BSW, MSW, RSW integrates mindfulness in his work as a mental health professional in the Clinic for HIV-Related Concerns at Mount Sinai Hospital. He co-led a randomized controlled trial of mindfulness for gay men living with HIV. He has trained and mentored professionals in mindfulness for many years. He is an Adjunct Lecturer at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at U of T and the Head of Meditation Innovation at the new Sunnybrook Mindfulness Centre.

Steven Selchen, MD, MSt, FRCP(C) is a staff psychiatrist at Mount Sinai Hospital and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (University of Toronto). He has a Master’s degree from Oxford University in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. He runs a clinical and research program for mindfulness-based approaches, and leads mindfulness-based educational and professional development workshops in local and international settings. He is Director of Continuing Mental Health Education at Sunnybrook, and Director of the new Sunnybrook Mindfulness Centre.

Mindful Inquiry with Kate Kitchen

Mindfulness Toronto — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:15:00 +0000

Being a mindfulness group leader is complicated. We do the practice, we lead the practice, we discuss the topic and review the homework, we keep track of group process, we assign homework and always with the intention of bringing our full selves to the experience.

This week we will take time to appreciate the mindful attention and professional skills that we bring to our work, with an emphasis on mindful inquiry.

And, of course, we will have a mindfulness practice.

About the speaker

Kate Kitchen is a clinical social worker who has been leading MBSR and MBCT groups for over ten years, previously at CAMH and now privately. She also leads workshops for professionals who want to learn more about leading mindfulness groups through Sunnybrook Continuing Mental Health Education at Sunnybrook, mindfulness@sunnybrook.ca.

http://meditation-for-mindfulness.com

Mindful Breathing and Relaxation Techniques with Aidan Tierney

Mindfulness Toronto — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:12:00 +0000

In leading the mindfulness practice for this month’s community meeting, Aidan Tierney will introduce simple breath and relaxation techniques drawing from yoga and other traditions.

These techniques can be a very effective way to clear and concentrate the mind, and can serve as a good preparation for meditation and other mindfulness practices.

About the speaker

Aidan Tierney has studied and taught breath work for over 20 years. His first introduction was as an actor, training for 4 years with one of the world’s top voice coaches, Patsy Rodenburg. This foundation helped him understand the yoga breath techniques. Aidan has practiced yoga for the past 20 years, teaching since 2003. He has an advanced teaching certificate from the Sivananda Yoga Centres and the Yoga Vedanta Forest Academy of Rishikesh and is a Yoga Alliance Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher E-RYT 500. Aidan currently teaches yoga and relation classes at his mobile studio, QuietNorth – the system of calm

Zindel Segal: Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Comes of Age

Mindfulness Toronto — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:43:56 +0000

If the past decade has witnessed the establishment of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy’s broad appeal and effectiveness, the question of how exactly this multi-modal treatment achieves its benefits remains largely unanswered. It is still fair to ask, for example, about the relative contribution of cognitive therapy principles versus mindfulness practice to the benefits patients report. Clarifying mechanisms of action is of more than academic interest, as it will likely inform the approach taken to training the next generation of MBCT practitioners.

About the speaker

Zindel Segal PhD C.Psych is the Cameron Wilson chair in Depression Studies and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Toronto, where he directs the CBT program at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health. He has studied and published on psychological treatments for depression for over 25 years. His most recent book, The Mindful Way Through Depression, advocates for the relevance of mindfulness-based clinical care in psychiatry and mental health.

Practicing Dying: Contemplative End of Life Care in Life – Michele Chaban

Mindfulness Toronto — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Practicing dying is an ancient practice to help prepare the living for our dying and death, while we are very much alive and well. Contemplative End of Life Care is a more contemporary practice that can be integrated into hospice and palliative care with remarkable results. Come learn some of the basic principles of the contemporary practice, consider how it is a greatly different approach to western psychotherapies use of grief and bereavement theory both pre and post mortem. Contemplative end of Life care is changing the way we experience dying and death, pain and suffering.

About the speaker

Michele Chaban MSW, RSW, PhD. began integrating CEOLC practices into palliative care over 22 years ago before mindfulness and mindfulness meditation was so well known in Toronto. Her first mentors were Sogyal Rinpoche, HH The Dalai Lama, Dr Herbert Benson ( Harvard Mind Body Institute). Michele introduced this practice to University Avenue and had some of the first mindfulness meditation groups at University of Toronto when she was the Director of the Psycho-social-spiritual team for Temmy Latner’s Center for Palliative Care.

Currently, Michele is the co-director of the Inter-professional Applied Mindfulness Meditation Certificate ( AMM-MIND) at University of Toronto, Factor-Inwentash School of Social Work. The AMM-MIND program has three streams of application : psychotherapy east and west, enabling learning or mindfulness in the educational system, and the mind at work or mindfulness in organizations. The AMM-MIND program draws upon the poly-scholarship of history, philosophy, the lineages of buddhism and science, humanities and social science, as well as the mindfulness methodologies and scientific protocols which provide the scaffolding of this ancient yet contemporary practice of mind.