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Janice Lindsay-Hartz, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
Retired in Florida



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  offer
ed 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.
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