Mindfulness Classes

My passion for teaching mindfulness emerged from my firsthand experience as a woman of color overcoming cancer and chronic illness. With an emphasis on mindful movement (Dayan qi gong), I have taught mindfulness in organizations and at conferences and retreats for close to 30 years. Anchored in liberatory and feminist teaching practices, I create classrooms where there are many ways for students to “thrive” in learning. Drawing from my experience as a tenured full professor at the Claremont Colleges, I have written about accessible approaches to fostering inclusive and cohesive learning communities.

WHAT IS MINDFULNESS?

The practices and knowledge systems originate from India and China.   Mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment on purpose without judgement.  Thích Nhất Hạnh described it in the following way:

“Mindfulness is when you are truly there, mind and body together. You breathe in and out mindfully, you bring your mind back to your body, and you are there. When your mind is there with your body, you are established in the present moment. Then you can recognize the many conditions of happiness that are in you and around you. 

I am certified mindfulness facilitator who has spoken at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Trained at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) through the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior, I completed the year-long facilitator training at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center in 2018 under the direction of Diana Winston, Dr. Susan Smalley, Dr. Dan Siegel, Dr. Marvin Belzer, Dr. Michael Irwin, and Dr. Matthew Brensilver.  In addition to supporting students in the UCLA “Mindfulness in Psychiatry” course, I am an authorized affiliated MAPs Teacher, facilitating the signature MAPs I program for UCLA MARC and a certified teacher through the International Mindfulness Teacher Association.

I am struck by the epidemics of loneliness and insomnia in the context of social inequities.

I am fascinated by the potential of mindfulness as one tool to address these epidemics.   I have spoken at the National Center for Bioethics, and I was the 2019-2020 Frederick P. Lenz Residential Fellow in Buddhism and American Culture & Values at Naropa University.  For the Spring 2021 semester, I was a visiting scholar at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) through the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior. 

The emerging field of mindfulness research is compelling in terms of mindfulness correlating to better sleeping, less stress, and neuroplasticity. 

Scholarship suggests that mindfulness:
*Impacts immune markers (Hazel 2011; Jacobs et. al. 2011; Morgan et. al. 2014)

* Impacts executive functions (Teper et. al. 2013)

* Decreases stress (Krasner et al., 2009) or pain (Zeidan et. al. 2011)

* Impacts the brain (Davidson et. al. 2003; Luders et.al. 2009)

* Impacts compassion (Jazaleri, et. al. 2012; Neff and Germer 2013)

* Impacts implicit bias (Burgess et. al. 2017; Kang, Gray, & Dovidio, 2014; Leuke & Gibson 2015; Tincher et. al. 2016)

During in person and online classes, I am amazed and inspired by the power of mindfulness to ease our stress and anxiety and to awaken us to our strength and potential as a collective to foster equity.

FOR EDUCATORS: HOW DOES MINDFULNESS RELATE TO TEACHING & LEARNING? 

At the workshops at various educational institutions, I hear stories of deep commitment to the students and stories of feeling pulled in many directions. Teachers, faculty, and staff repeatedly reflect on no time to recenter and respond and the relentless pace of work with no space to be sick or absent.  Mindfulness is not a bypass for addressing structural issues.  And, it is a powerful practice while in community to rehumanize — to experience liberation in the moment while also working towards systemic changes.  

“If we want to grow as teachers — we must do something alien to academic culture: we must talk to each other about our inner lives — risky stuff in a profession that fears the personal and seeks safety in the technical, the distant, the abstract.”

― Parker J. Palmer, The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher′s Life

WHAT ARE YOU INTERESTED IN?  Maybe you’re dealing with some of the challenges that come with living in this uncertain and ever changing world. Perhaps you are feeling stressed or anxious? Or maybe you aren’t sleeping well?

CALM AND CONNECTED:  Whatever brings you here, there are many ways to nourish feeling calm and connected when facing challenges. Through practicing mindfulness you’ll develop many new skills, like how to unwind stress, how to soothe yourself if your facing insomnia, and how to feel less isolated and linked to something larger.