"For me, mindfulness practice with Sharon has been life changing! I can’t say enough about how it has impacted me and the people around me. My husband is Sharon’s biggest fan! I have learned techniques to understand and manage my mind and emotions that are truly empowering. Probably the most helpful part of working with Sharon is that when I feel stuck I can schedule a private session to help me get unstuck! "
afternoon of mindfulness, Sunday, January 5
mindfulness-based stress reduction class
what's different about mindfulness?
Mindfulness is for everybody, we all have habits that are not helpful. Are you Impatient? Anxious? In pain? Mindful awareness is a window into how habitual thoughts affect our life and our health. Neuroscientists say "neurons that fire together wire together". Our thoughts, for better or worse, flow through our mind, shape our brain, and influence our perception. Habitual thoughts form neural superhighways which become our mental/emotional patterns. We find ourselves repeating things we don't mean, behaving in ways we regret, chasing the same thoughts, even making difficult situations worse. Practicing mindfulness gives us the tools to be the person we want to be, and to respond intentionally to whatever happens.
about mindfulness-based stress reduction
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is the classic introduction to secular mindfulness. Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn pioneered MBSR in 1979 at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. It proved to be so effective at easing chronic pain that within a year it was made part of the Department of Medicine. Today it is offered in hundreds of hospitals, and clinics worldwide. MBSR is supported by research in medicine, neuroscience, and psychology, and recommended by the Mayo Clinic, and the National Institute of Health. Mindfulness is helpful for a wide range of medical symptoms and psychological distress including:
Why Stress is Dangerous, Storoni, a surgeon explores how chronic stress may change the structure of the brain. BBC Future, August, 2019
Scientists’ Understanding of Anxiety is Radically Evolving-But How Long will it Take for Treatments to Catch Up? -Adam Piore, Overview of the changing understanding of anxiety, and the limitations of current medical treatment…"many clinicians say one of the most exciting trends in mental health… is the rise in the use of a technique that is thousands of years old and actually predates many of the current treatments: mindfulness." Newsweek, Sept 2019,
How People Want to Feel.. influences their emotions, Alex Shashkevich, New research finds that our underlying motivation determines how much we allow other to influence our feelings, such as anger. Stanford University News, June, 2019
How Job Stress Can Age Us -By Dhruv Khullar, M.D. Long hours, disrupted sleep and constant stress can take a biological toll on new doctors. Down to the level of their genes. NY Times, July, 2019
The Latest in Military Strategy: Mindfulness -Matt Richtel, NY Times. Troops who went through a month-long mindfulness training. were better able to discern key information under chaotic circumstances and experienced increases in working memory function. The soldiers also reported making fewer cognitive errors than service members who did not use mindfulness. April, 2019
How Pain Tolerance and Anxiety Seem to be Connected – Heather Murphy, NY Times, People with high levels of anxiety, tend to be more sensitive to physical pain, there may be a genetic basis for this? March, 2019
Proper Breathing Brings Better Health, Scientific American, January, 2019, a description of how specific breathing techniques can help with stress, insomnia, emotional regulation, and cardiac health.