I’m WOKE and I Support DEI

These are values consistent with the deep history and ethos of mindfulness … values consistent with the values and ethics of Nursing. I will provide Free Mindfulness Training to like-minded groups.

I teach Mindfulness in the teaching tradition founded by Jon Kabat-Zinn when he created Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) at the University of Massachusetts in 1979, where he was on the medical school faculty. Outside his professional role he was privately a student of Buddhism and a Yoga teacher, and he was certain that the ancient wisdom of these disciplines had much to offer people experiencing complex and challenging medical conditions. He also anticipated that the conservative medically community would resist the introduction of these ancient Asian practices. His genius was finding a way to introduce meditation in plain language without reference to the traditional beliefs or culture which created the practices more than two thousand years ago.  In the lineage of teachers who followed, Mindfulness is taught as a secular practice which is increasingly validated by contemporary cognitive neuroscience. The values and ethos of mindfulness remain unchanged in the translation.

The earliest teachings on Mindfulness began around 600 BCE with the man known as the “awakened one” – the Buddha. He described himself as a man, not any kind of deity, nor did he claim any supernatural powers. He sought to find out why people suffered and find a way to relieve suffering. Beyond the inevitable challenges of illness, aging, natural disasters and human malice and injustice he believed that suffering was increased by our own thought-life, by our beliefs about ourselves and life and our motivations, desires, hopes and fears. In the disciplines of Mindfulness Meditation, he discovered a way for us to change our relationship to our own thoughts and experience so that we would suffer less. The desire to reduce suffering is the root of the Ethos of Mindfulness and is the fundamental beneficence of Mindfulness.

Growing from this root of beneficence springs the understanding that suffering is increased by exploitation, injustice, and discrimination in all its forms.  The parallel in the culture of healthcare is found in the historical root of the Hippocratic Oath to “first do no harm”, and the subsequent complement to do what is beneficial, and this without discrimination based on any attributes of the individual. In the greater sense this goes beyond simple care of the individual to address the environmental and social determinants of health and illness, and calls on us to oppose injustice, discrimination, and exploitation in all its forms.

The same values arise in Judaic and Christian wisdom traditions in the ‘Oath of Maimonides” and Jesus’ commandment to “Love your neighbor as yourself”.  As a nurse, a mindfulness practitioner, and a Christian, I can aspire to no less, and that is why I must assert, in response to the current escalating attacks on individual freedom and justice, that I am Woke and I certainly support DEI.

Teaching mindfulness is in the greatest sense teaching a way of thinking, a way of becoming, which supports the ethos of the Buddha, Maimonides, and Jesus, as well as other wisdom traditions.

Why do I teach Mindfulness?

My personal experience with Mindfulness meditation has had a profound impact on my own life and mental well-being. My career in psychiatric and addictions recovery nursing and my later career as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner has convinced me that Mindfulness has the potential to benefit patients as much, and in many cases more, than medication or other traditional therapies. And I love teaching Mindfulness. Perhaps someday, as my encore career, my teaching will net me a nice retirement income. Until then, as I build a client base and develop my reputation as a Mindfulness teacher, I am happy to teach pro bono. This is why at this time of political angst and turmoil I’m offering to teach for free if your group represents or offers services to marginalized or persecuted persons, because I’m WOKE and I support DEI. And that’s my political statement for today.


Summaries of research may have been produced with the AI program https://scisummary.com. In all instances I have carefully reviewed the AI generated text and edited it as needed.


 

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Costs of Chronic Stress

  • Professional “Burn Out”
  • Short temper & irritability
  • Depression or anxiety
  • Headaches
  • Muscle tension and pain
  • Heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke
  • Sleep problems
  • Weight gain
  • Memory and concentration impairment
  • Diabetes
  • Skin problems, such as acne or eczema
  • Menstrual problems
  • Immune system dysfunction

Costs of Chronic Stress

  • Professional “Burn Out”
  • Short temper & irritability
  • Depression or anxiety
  • Headaches
  • Muscle tension and pain
  • Heart disease, heart attack, high blood pressure and stroke
  • Sleep problems
  • Weight gain
  • Memory and concentration impairment
  • Diabetes
  • Skin problems, such as acne or eczema
  • Menstrual problems
  • Immune system dysfunction