Try mindfulness meditation this fall

Two meditation programs will be offered on campus this fall to help foster a mindful approach to dealing with stress and cultivating creative attentiveness.

The York University Psychology Clinic will offer the programs beginning Sept. 29.

If you are looking for an activity that will help keep your brain healthy, come out to one of the groups to learn about the practice of meditation.

To register for any of the following meditation programs, visit the York University Psychology Clinic website for each program’s registration form.

Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behaviour Therapy  – V2

With the mindfulness movement comes visions and actions devoted to world peace and a more compassionate society. In this 10-week group, we adopt an interpersonal focus, emphasizing peaceful, compassionate relationships with self and significant others.

The mindfulness techniques emphasized are shamatha and tonglen, practices devoted to peace-making and healing exchanges where all people derive benefits. These approaches are integrated with an interpersonal approach to cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), changing the distorted thoughts and emotions that regularly occur and result in unnecessary internal and interpersonal conflict.

This combination is further integrated with recent cognitive and neurophysiological research on mindfulness and CBT, where indices of brain health are used as scientific validations of subjective processes and their benefits.

Time:  Tuesdays beginning Sept. 29, from 5:30 to 7pm (10-week group)

A Noon-Hour of Mindfulness Practice

Mindfulness meditation is being applied in every major medical centre and university setting in Canada. This is an introductory group that aims to use 10 consecutive noon-hours to guide participants toward a personal practice with pragmatic benefits (reduced stress and anxiety, improved sleep) and performance improvements (via better attentional control).

Time:  Wednesdays beginning Sept. 30, from noon to 1pm (10-week group)

For participants with extended health coverage for psychological services, the fee for either group should be reimbursable; for students with the YFS health plan, the fee is reimbursable by session with a note from your family doctor. Some bursaries are available for students with financial need.

Contact the clinic at yupc@yorku.ca with any questions or to register.