Month: November 2015
Beginner’s Mindfulness Classes in 2016
Posted on November 24, 2015 by Laura Hawley, Lic Ac, LCSW - No Comments
Beginner’s Mindfulness Classes in 2016
Two 8 week courses
limited to 6 participants each
Evening class meets on Mondays from 6:30 to 8:15 pm
February 1st to March 21st
——-
Morning class meets on Tuesdays from 9 am to 10:45 am
February 2nd to March 22nd
Cost: $300
Interested students, please contact Laura at 215-545-7040 or laura@acuphilly.com for details. Or sign up on schedulicity.
In this class, Laura Hawley will teach beginner’s meditation and mindfulness practices. The aim of the class is to learn how to suffer less and to enjoy life more fully by developing the ability to be aware of the present moment.
The development of a regular mindfulness practice will be supported through homework with guided meditation and simple qi gong exercises.
Participants will be encouraged to practice daily for 20 to 30 minutes.
Everything is connected
Posted on November 24, 2015 by Laura Hawley, Lic Ac, LCSW - No Comments
Everything is connected
Laura Hawley
The muscles of the body are woven together in a richly multidimensional structure, as coach Brook Thomas describes here. She is writing about the importance of fascia or connective tissue but her description of it helps illustrate how acupuncture, which treats the fascia, works to release the muscles. The picture on the left shows a “muscle chain” – an interwoven system of muscles, tendons and bones that are involved in holding the body upright and stable. The picture on the right shows the pathway of the Tai Yang, or Bladder meridian used in acupuncture. This may help us to see why a tightness in the back might cause pain in the foot, for example. Ms Thomas explains how this give rise to the “dreaded domino effect”, or how an injury in one part of the body can give rise to pain and dysfunction elsewhere, because everything is connected.
Acupuncture as a system depends on the fact that in the body, everything is connected. We treat the back of the skull and see the achilles tendon relax. We treat the shoulder and see the gluteus maximus release. Understanding the pathways of the meridians gives the acupuncturist a set of maps of the fascia, and many ways to design an effective treatment. It seems magic in some ways, but it is no more magical than the way everything is connected in the human body.
Introduction to Mindfulness – free
Posted on November 24, 2015 by Laura Hawley, Lic Ac, LCSW - No Comments
Free Beginners Mindfulness class
offered by
Laura Hawley
Sunday, December 6, 2 to 3:30 pm
For those who are
curious about mindfulness.
Class is free, but space is limited to ten spots.
so please register below.
This class is intended as an introduction to the 8 session Beginners Mindfulness classes offered this winter at Open City Healing Arts
https://www.schedulicity.com/scheduling/
OCHWKK/workshops
or call or text 215-545-7040 and leave a message.
Beginners Mindfulness Workshop – for People in Caring Professions
Posted on November 9, 2015 by Laura Hawley, Lic Ac, LCSW - No Comments
Beginners Mindfulness Workshop – for People in Caring Professions
Sunday, Dec 6th, 10 am to 12 noon
Cost – $35
Class limited to 10
People in caring professions such as teaching, social work and medicine face the challenge of learning to give without emptying ourselves, making do with limited resources, multitasking, and representing systems and institutions that may seem to care very little about those we are committed to caring for. All this can add a lot of stress to our jobs and our lives. Left untended, stress leads to fatigue, irritability and burnout.
We are not often taught how to care and maintain balance for ourselves. In this workshop participants will learn simple mindfulness practices, and participate in facilitated conversation about sources of stress, and about mindfulness as a means of stress management and self care.
Goals of class:
> Engaging in conversation about sources of stress at work, participants will explore a range of stress responses, both physical and emotional. We will discuss cultural and professional messages about stress, pain and suffering. burnout as a risk in the caring professions.
>Participants will learn simple sitting meditation, will learn about applications of mindfulness in daily life and and work. Participants will also learn qi gong, a form of moving meditation.
>Participants will learn techniques to bring mindfulness to daily life, to work and to stressful situations at work. Although these techniques can be taught to our students and patients, the focus of this class is on caring for the self while caring for others.
About the teacher:
Laura Hawley, Lic Ac, MSW is an acupuncturist and social worker. Her acupuncture practice includes a focus on the treatment of anxiety, depression and stress related disorders. A graduate of the practicum in Teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction at the Jefferson Myrna-Brind Center of Integrative Medicine, she incorporates meditation instruction into her treatment of patients
. Her teaching includes Beginners Mindfulness at her practice, Open City Healing Arts, and seminars on Ethics and Communication for the Association of Professional Acupuncturists. She is also a volunteer teacher at Mighty Writers, where she leads a monthly book club for teenage girls.