MINDFULNESS STRESS MANAGEMENT: STRATEGIES FOR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

The Purpose of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice that is gaining acceptance in western medicine as an evidenced-based way of reducing stress, and managing emotions, and pain. Mindfulness practice teaches us to learn to control our attention. This in turn helps to manage emotions so that emotions don’t hijack the brain. With mindfulness, strong physical sensations and thoughts can be managed in a way that is less stressful.

Mindfulness focuses on restoring a balanced sense of health and well-being through increased awareness and focus on the here and now.

Jon Kabat-Zinn says, “Mindfulness is a way of paying attention that is: Intentional, in the present moment, non-judgmental.” (Full Catastrophe Living)

About Meditation and Mindfulness

Contrary to popular belief, meditation does not mean emptying our minds of all thoughts. When meditating, we become more aware of our thoughts which in turn allows us to choose which thoughts to focus upon.

Thich Nhat Hanh explains that “Meditation is not to escape from society, but to come back to ourselves and see what is going on. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. With mindfulness, we know what to do and what not to do to help.”

Brains are like a large train station with many trains of thoughts rolling in and out. We can easily get on a train of thought that leads to an unwanted destination resulting in emotional distress. By improving awareness of thoughts, we can become aware of thoughts before we get caught up and rolling on those trains.

Through meditation, poetry, mindful movement, discussions, and activities, we practice strategies for managing pain, and emotional distress, as well as the unpredictability of life and life’s challenges.

Viktor E. Frankl said “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Mindfulness increases those spaces, allowing us more freedom to choose our responses.

The Provider

Wendy Sullivan is a resident of Bay St. Louis, MS. She is a licensed clinical social worker experienced in mental health, neurological disorders, trauma, education, and disabilities fields. Initially trained in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction by Jon Kabat-Zinn and Saki Santorelli, Wendy has over 15 years of experience teaching Mindfulness Stress Management to adults and children in diverse situations including clinical, educational, religious, and workplace settings.

Wendy spent over 11 years at the National MS Society’s Upstate New York Chapter where she developed educational programs, provided individual and family counseling, and facilitated many groups including Mindfulness Meditation.

At the Rochester Vet Center and most recently at the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System, Wendy worked with veterans and their families providing individual, group, trauma processing, and family psychotherapy. Her work included  Mindfulness Meditation and Adapted Tai Chi for military veterans with PTSD, pain, depression, or anxiety. Children of veterans were taught to use mindfulness for managing their emotions also.

In 2004 in her church community in Rochester, New York, Wendy created a Mindfulness Ministry which offered weekly mindfulness sessions to adults. All-day silent retreats were provided to the adults as well as 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction workshops so that interested members of the community could learn about mindfulness meditation formally with the goal of improving health and wellbeing. Special time-limited programs were developed and provided children in the neighborhood with tools for managing the stress of urban life.

Wendy created a series of worksheets to accompany Dr. Rick Hanson’s book “Just One Thing, developing a buddha brain one simple practice at a time”. These were published on Dr. Hanson’s website for use with his book.

She draws on the work and training she received from teachers as noted above and Sharon Salzberg at the Insight Meditation Society, along with other teachers in the larger Mindfulness Community. She recently completed an updated training on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for military veterans.

Services

Wendy works with people of all ages. She is available to work in a variety of formats and settings including:

• Introduction to mindfulness classes
• 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Individual instruction
• Workplace seminars
• Schools
• Groups
• Retreats
• Consultations

Services are adapted to the needs and abilities of the participants.

For more information or to schedule a session, contact Wendy: