{"id":836,"date":"2014-02-20T03:04:17","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T11:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/?p=836"},"modified":"2014-02-20T14:42:34","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T22:42:34","slug":"mindfulness-training","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/mindfulness-training\/","title":{"rendered":"Healthy Workplace Initiative: UBC Okanagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mindfulness Training<\/h2>\n

By Nancy Sandvoss, Support Services Assistant<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As part of a Healthy Workplace Initiative, the staff of Student Services and Financial Support meet every Tuesday morning for an hour of Mindfulness training.\u00a0 We are led by Dr. Janice Snyder, Professor of Psychology.\u00a0 This practice is a first-time experience for all of us.\u00a0 Below are some excerpts about individual experiences:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image courtesy of tiverylucky \/ Freedigitalphotos.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“For me, the mindfulness meditation sessions mean another tool in my mental health toolbox. Shortly after we began our mindfulness meditation sessions, a headline in the January 13th<\/sup> edition of the National Post caught my attention:\u00a0 Is meditation the new antidepressant? Mindfulness practice may be more effective than drugs for anxiety, depression. \u00a0The article goes on to say that on January 6th<\/sup>, 2014 the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published the results of a study lead by Dr. Madhav Goyal of the John Hopkins School of Medicine which demonstrated that \u201cmeditation appears to provide as much relief from some anxiety and depression symptoms as antidepressants\u201d and that \u201cmindfulness meditation is the most effective form\u201d. \u00a0These results are not surprising to those who work in field of psychopathology as mindfulness works to help calm the mind.<\/p>\n

I am thankful I have been given the opportunity from my employer to try mindfulness meditation in an effort to improve my overall health and wellness.\u00a0 Mindfulness meditation has now become another tool in my mental health toolbox.”<\/p>\n

_______________<\/h5>\n

“I\u2019m really struggling with whether this is for me or not. This thought stresses me out because I think \u201cmaybe I am being lazy? Why isn\u2019t this for me? Am I not open minded enough? If I choose not to do it will I be judged?\u201d\u00a0I have found that the stretching\/yoga type sessions we have done are GREAT for me, I come out of that ballroom ready for the day mind and body limber. So I ask myself why I can\u2019t come out of every session like that. I think my problem is that I am putting too much pressure on myself to have the perfect meditation every time when that may not be a reality. ”<\/p>\n

_______________<\/h5>\n

“I am not discrediting the entire meditation idea all together but I think everyone has their own personal form and idea of what meditation is. For me its yoga for someone else maybe it\u2019s a body scan laying still. Whatever your form is I think it is great and I think we should all be respected for whatever form suits each of us individually.”<\/p>\n

_______________<\/h5>\n

“Today was my first ever meditation class done at work. It was definitely a very interesting experience. Thinking back to when I was young, I remember my elementary school teacher used to lead us in a very similar style of meditation where we imagine being \u201cone with the nature\u201d. I really enjoy that as a team, we get to do this together every Tuesday morning. Not only allowing us to be relaxed and refreshed once a week through meditation, but enjoying each other\u2019s company outside of our normal work setting. I think now a day with everyone\u2019s busy schedule, it\u2019s tough for us to slow down and relax. But with these Tuesday meditation classes, it gives everyone a great excuse to do so.”<\/p>\n

_______________<\/h5>\n

“The most astounding thing for me is that I find myself going to a mindful place unintentionally during my day.\u00a0 I find myself with my thoughts on my inhalations and exhalations and, in doing so, find calmness and focus in the rhythm of my breath.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mindfulness Training By Nancy Sandvoss, Support Services Assistant As part of a Healthy Workplace Initiative, the staff of Student Services…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18740,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[881454],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-enrolment-services-okanagan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18740"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/esnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}