Creating the next generation of thinkers and innovators through mind-body awareness, contemplation, and self-nourishment.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Creating the next generation of thinkers and innovators through mind-body awareness, contemplation, and self-nourishment."

Dana Cannon
7 years ago
Views:

1 Mind-Body Connect. Helping adolescents cultivate balance and minimize stress through mindbody medicine techniques (yoga, meditation, deep-breathing, and guided imagery). Mind-body. Mind-Body Connect. Creating the next generation of thinkers and innovators through mind-body awareness, contemplation, and self-nourishment. Mind-Body Connect is a new approach to empower young adults as they navigate the challenges of an increasingly technologic world with frequent distractions and less time for self-reflection. My goal is to encourage grounding and balance by shifting the focus away from distraction and toward enjoyment of the present moment. This program teaches young adults how to use mind-body medicine (meditation, guided imagery, deep-breathing and yoga) in their daily life to minimize stress and anxiety, set realistic expectations and goals for themselves, and to develop intentional schedules based upon their own passions. Megan starts her work with each client by understanding their talents and natural strengths. From there, she develops a wellness plan based on personal and academic goals. The plan incorporates a variety of mind-body techniques, which Megan will teach and customize for each student. The ultimate result is to allow young people to embrace their own talents and minimize stress, anxiety, and distraction in order to more fully enjoy their experience in high school.

Mind-Body Connect is a new approach to empower young adults as they navigate the challenges of an increasingly technologic world with frequent distractions and less time for self-reflection.

2 Research. Mind-Body Research. Cultivating a peaceful mind improves quality of life for teens. Research on how mind-body medicine practices impact teenagers is growing. The outcomes of modalities like yoga and meditation for adolescents are very encouraging and include: decreased anxiety, improved focus and concentration, successful adjunct therapy for eating disorder treatment, improved school attendance, decreased aggression, and decreased depression. The following are a select group of articles to highlight some of these findings. 1. Mindfulness Meditation May Lessen Anxiety, Promote Social Skills, and Improve Academic Performance Among Adolescents With Learning Disabilities. Beauchemin, Hutchins, and Patterson, University of Vermont, 2008, Journal of Evidence Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2. Impact of Stress Reduction on Negative School Behavior in Adolescents. Barnes, Bauza, Treiber, Medical College of Georgia, 2003, Health and Quality of Life Outcomes. Results: These findings demonstrate that the Transcendental Meditation program conducted in the school setting has a beneficial impact upon absenteeism, rule infractions, and suspension rates in African American adolescents. 3. Mindfulness Meditation Training in Adults and Adolescents with ADHD, Zylowska et al, UCLA, 2008, Journal of Attention Disorders. Results: Self-reported ADHD symptoms and test performance on tasks measuring attention and cognitive inhibition were noted. Improvements in anxiety and depressive symptoms were also observed. 2

disorder treatment, improved school attendance, decreased aggression, and decreased depression. The following are a select group of articles to highlight some of these findings. 1.

3 PINGREE Proposal. Creating a balanced learning community. Mind-Body Connect. Discussions with the guidance department, school nurse, and dance teacher helped to clarify the needs and goals for the Pingree community. As a Pingree alumni, I also have an appreciation of the environment facing students. Pingree promotes excellence in the student body, which can be difficult for some students to handle, whether it be in the classroom or on the sports field. During our meeting, two specific groups were identified that may need extra attention: the top-achieving students and the athletes. The goal for both groups would be to teach skills to manage stress, promote a healthy relationship to body, and a strong emphasis on self-care. I commit to coming to Pingree one day/week from March-May 2013 in order to offer integrative medicine opportunities to students and faculty. The following is the proposed day plan and includes some additional opportunities based on other interested community groups: Morning Meeting (Feb 22): Guide Pingree Community in Brief Meditation and Introduction to Mind- Body Medicine. 9-Noon: 1:1 Sessions with Students Identified by Faculty and Self- Identified (priority given to students with identified mental health conditions) Noon-3: Teach yoga in dance class (H block), continue 1:1 sessions with interested students, faculty sessions also an option. After School: Teach various athletic teams (depending on practice schedules), Teach Yoga Club. Other options: Faculty daytime class, faculty conference on mindbody medicine in the classroom, involvement of other UMASS Medical students who practice integrative medicine, sitting meditation group. 3

As a Pingree alumni, I also have an appreciation of the environment facing students.

4 About Megan. Pingree Class of 2002 BA Biology, Brown University 2006 MS Georgetown University 2007 MD UMass Medical School hr Registered Yoga Teacher, Yoga Tree SF, 2013 Megan brings a unique perspective to her practice of mind-body medicine. She completed a master s degree in complementary and alternative medicine and physiology at Georgetown University prior to attending the University of Massachusetts Medical School and completing her medical degree. She believes in supporting the growth of young adults by developing a strong connection between the mind and body. Her specific skill set consists of a wide range of meditation and breathing techniques, guided imagery, and yoga. During medical school, she created an elective for medical students on complementary and alternative therapies and most recently founded a wellness initiative for oncology patients at the UMASS Memorial Cancer Center of Excellence run by medical students for patients, families and care providers. Megan will begin her residency in pediatrics in July 2013 and will be further developing a model of integrative medicine care for children and adolescents. In her free time, she enjoys choreography with a scientific twist, African dance, and teaching yoga to medical students. 4

5 What is Mind-Body Medicine? I support the World Health Organization s definition of health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Mind-body medicine consists of a number of modalities including: meditation, yoga, tai chi, qi gong, clinical hypnosis, guided imagery, and progressive relaxation as defined by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. This approach to care can be combined with conventional medical knowledge in order to provide optimal care. This is the medicine that I believe in and practice. 5

6 Wellness Tools. The multi-modality approach. Finding your flow using YOGA. Megan has completed the 200hr yoga teacher training certification in addition to having a self-practice for ten years. She has taught yoga to GUIDED IMAGERY. Cultivating deep relaxation on journeys through the imagination MEDITATION. defines Megan s guided imagery Finding quiet is something work. She encourages the listener that is more and more difficult all ages (young children to to find comfort in special places, the elderly). In addition, she beautiful beaches, and forest has experience teaching adventures. Utilizing all five yoga to oncology patients. A senses, colors, textures, she former dancer, Megan truly teaches you how to create and loves how movement access a deep peaceful place for your own breathing. She has meditation creates a deep those stressful moments when you her own daily meditation need to escape. She trained in practice and has completed a guided relaxation at Boston 10-day silent retreat. Children s Hospital with a palliative Meditation can be used care focus. throughout a busy day to re- awareness of the physical body. in this age of technology. Megan will teach you how to relax into silence, becoming friends with the gentle flow of center and re-focus. 6

She encourages the listener that is more and more difficult all ages (young children to to find comfort in special places, the elderly).

7 Resources. Want to learn more? Often there are yoga studios in the community along with meditation groups that meet on a regular basis. This is a great activity for a parent and their adolescent to enjoy together! Here are my favorites, enjoy: COMMUNITY RESOURCES: -Local Yoga Studios: Repose Yoga (Newburyport) -Meditation Centers: Insight Meditation Center (Newburyport, Cambridge) BOOKS: - Christopher Willard: Child s Mind -Jon Kabat-Zinn: Wherever you go, there you are, Full Catastrophe Living -Pema Chodrin: When Things Fall Apart, The Places that Scare You TRAININGS: -Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Shrewsbury, MA: 8wk, multi-modality group course in stress reduction techniques. -Yoga Teacher Training: Kripalu (Western MA). -Clinical Hypnosis : New England Society for Ciinical Hypnosis, Newton-Wellesly Hospital, Basic Level Hypnosis Training. ONLINE RESOURCES: -University of Vermont Free Meditation Recordings: tml - Online free yoga classes on youtube (Fiji McAlpine s Flow Class): 7

Here are my favorites, enjoy: COMMUNITY RESOURCES: -Local Yoga Studios: Repose Yoga (Newburyport) -Meditation Centers: Insight Meditation Center (Newburyport, Cambridge) BOOKS: - Christopher Willard:

8 + Only that day dawns to which we are awake. ~Henry David Thoreau Mind-Body Connect. 42 Howe Street Ipswich MA Cell:

Coping With Stress and Anxiety

Coping With Stress and Anxiety Stress and anxiety are the fight-and-flight instincts that are your body s way of responding to emergencies. An intruder crawling through your bedroom window in the dark