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Janice Lindsay-Hartz, Ph.D.
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EVENTS AND CLASSES Dr. Janice Lindsay-Hartz retired and closed her office on May 15, 2015. She is not currently teaching any mindfulness meditation classes or workshops. Check back, as she may create some offerings in the future. - Mindful Photography Workshops may be offered in the future. Please call 305-662-4127 if you are interested and want to be notified. An example of a past workshop is available here. - My Powerpoint slides from a 2014 presentation at Baptist Health Systems, entitled "Integrating Mindfulness Meditation with Psychological and Medical Treatment" can be downloaded. Click on the hyperlink, and then view the downloaded slides in Powerpoint 2010. Go to Slideshow, "From Beginning". Within the slides, you will be able to click more hyperlinks that will link to recent news articles, the latest research, Youtube videos, and various mindfulness centers. INFORMATION ABOUT THE 8-WEEK MINDFULNESS-BASED STRESS REDUCTION COURSE Dr. Lindsay-Hartz offered in her private practice the 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Course (MBSR), based on the course developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. This course has been taught at the University of Massachusetts, and at many sites in the world, for over 40 years. Mobilize Your Mind and Body to Take Charge of Your Life and Cope More Effectively with Stress Research published over two decades indicates that the majority of people who complete the course report: - Greater energy and enthusiasm for life - An increased ability to relax - Lasting decreases in physical and psychological symptoms - Reductions in pain levels and an enhanced ability to cope with pain that may not go away - Improved self esteem - An ability to cope more effectively with both short and long-term stressful situations - Improvement in the ability to pay attention and focus - Improved emotional regulation and emotional balance, decreased anxiety - Added Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) components help prevent relapse from depression, unhappiness, and anxiety - Help with health issues by lowering blood pressure and boosting the immune system - Thickening the brain in areas in charge of decision making, emotional flexibility, and empathy, and decreasing reactivity in brain areas that are connected with stress See the Center for Mindfulness, University of Massachusetts, for a bibliography. The Mindfulness Awareness Center at UCLA regularly reports on their research results, including the positive effects of mindfulness training on Attention Deficit Disorder (with or without Hyperactivity). The Mindfulness Awareness Center also posts on their web-site some nice guided mindfulness meditations, which you download and try. The Oxford Mindfulness Centre in England continues to develop mindfulness-based cognitive therapy interventions and to research the effectiveness of the MBSR course with these added elements. What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness involves paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, with curiosity and openness. Mindfulness is a way of learning to relate directly to whatever is happening in your life, a way of taking charge of your life, a way of doing something for yourself that no one else can do for you - consciously and systematically working with your own stress, pain, illness, and the challenges and demands of everyday life. Fortunately, mindfulness is not something that you have to get or acquire. It is already within you - a deep internal resource available and patiently waiting to be cultivated and released and used in the service of learning, growing, and healing. Mindfulness also enhances the flow of moments of positive experiences and deep happiness. "Mindfulness is about being fully aware in our lives. It is about perceiving the exquisite vividness of each moment. We feel more alive. We also gain immediate access to our own powerful, inner resources for insight, transformation and healing." (Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., Center for Mindfulness, U. Mass. Medical School) Mindfulness contrasts with both "mindlessness" and the "flight or fight" stress response. You probably have encountered moments of "mindlessness", when you lose awareness of the moment, and have a sense of living mechanically, or on auto-pilot. In these moments, you are not present for your own life. You have probably also experienced the "flight or fight" response, responding to even small stressors with agitated, intense emotion that controls you. Cultivating mindfulness helps restore within you a balanced sense of health and well-being, and involves increased awareness of all aspects of self and environment, including body and mind, heart and soul, and all others around you. This course includes training in meditation. Meditation is not about making your mind go "blank" nor about simply "going inward", two common misconceptions. Instead, meditation is about cultivating the ability to focus your attention and to become fully aware and awake, yet relaxed, during as many moments of your life as possible. The formal practice of meditation involves staying still, or moving slowly, and training your mind and body in special ways. Bringing the skills of mindfulness meditation into the flow of your everyday life involves opening more fully to your life, and cultivating being richly connected to everything in your life, with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is, as opposed to tuning out, or shutting down to things. In this course, you will learn to meditate, developing better ability to focus your attention, and to be aware. Awareness permits choice in how to respond to and influence circumstances, in contrast to being carried away by the currents of stress. Cultivating the skills of paying attention on purpose, and enhancing your awareness serve to help you learn more about how your mind works, to help you regulate your emotions, and to enhance your opportunities for living life more fully and freely. Recent research at the University of Wisconsin, by neuropsychologist, Richard Davidson, Ph.D., shows how this form of mindfulness meditation actually can stimulate changes in brain function (as measured on functional MRI's) that are correlated with states of greater joy and happiness, and states of more relaxation and ease, and better emotional regulation, as well as states of less anxiety and depression. Also, the entire video contents of a 2003 Stanford University conference, including research and scientific theories about meditation, the brain, and the mind, can be found here. See also the latest information on my Helpful Links page, for the latest research and free downloadable guided meditations. People participate for reasons as diverse as... - Stress: job, family, friendships, or financial - Parents who feel stretched too thin, or adult children caring for aging parents - Chronic pain and illness - Anxiety and panic - Depression - Eating disorders - GI distress (including Irritable Bowel Syndrome) - Sleep disturbances - Fatigue (including Chronic Fatigue and Fibromyalgia) - High blood pressure, and various symptoms of heart disease - Headaches - Family member of a special needs child, or of a physically ill family member - Coping with challenging transitions (divorce, death, birth of a new child, retirement) - Desire to learn to meditate - Desire to live life more fully Making a Commitment to Improving Your Health Participating in the Stress Reduction Program does require a commitment to yourself and to us. You will be asked to attend all classes (2 hrs. a week, for 8 weeks and one full day of instruction and practice), and to practice daily homework assignments for 45-60 minutes per day. If you enroll, you will learn - Practical coping skills to improve your ability to handle stressful situations - Methods for being physically and mentally relaxed and at ease - Gentle, full body conditioning exercises to strengthen your body and release muscular tension, including yoga - To become increasingly aware of the interplay of mind and body in health and illness - To take responsibility for improving your own health - To face change and difficult times in your life with greater ease - To learn more about how your mind works - To discover and develop your ability to help yourself move towards greater balance, control and peace of mind Cost of the program: Please call Dr. Lindsay-Hartz, at (305) 662.4127 to learn about the cost. Individual instruction: Available on a session by session basis. Call Dr. Lindsay-Hartz to discuss the cost of individual instruction. Register by calling Dr. Janice Lindsay-Hartz at (305) 662.4127 Is Mindfulness Meditation a Cure for Everything? Mindfulness Meditation is not a cure for everything. However, scientists are discovering some of the reasons that mindfulness meditation enhances psychological and physical well-being, immune function and neurological functioning. See the American Psychological Association and the University of Wisconsin for links to some of the latest scientific research. There are also many clinical trials listed at the National Institutes of Health, exploring the role of meditation in helping patients with conditions such as cancer, heart disease, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and binge eating. Of course, if you have any physical illness, or any emotional turmoil or mental disorder, such as anxiety, or depression, it is very important that you also seek treatment by a physician or psychologist. The mindfulness-based stress reduction course (MBSR) enhances other treatments, and certainly has therapeutic benefits, but is not a "cure" in itself for ailments. MBSR is an instructional course. |
