EVENTS
Sunday, September 6th, 3:30-5:00 p.m.
and the 1st Sunday of each month
Meditation in Action:
Practices to Help Shift Your Inner State
In our meditation-in-action class, we practice maintaining present-centered awareness in the midst of various activities, including mindful movement, rhythm games, singing, and heart-centering practices.
Present-centered awareness is the essence of meditation. It is the capacity to calmly and compassionately witness, without disturbance, even intense feelings of anger or fear; or an intense experience of physical pain, It is this capacity for calm, non-reactive observation of our experience that allows an inner shift to occur, one that, over time, can profoundly change our sense of who and what we are.
Neuroscientists have now identified two areas of the body as the regions most closely associated with a mindful, heartful present-centered awareness – the mid-prefrontal cortex, and the “heart-brain”. When the mid-prefrontal cortex and heart-brain are activated by the practice of present-centered awareness, the various functions of the mind and body are harmonized and integrated, with the following results occurring spontaneously:
1. The autonomic nervous system is rebalanced, preventing and erasing
the negative effects of stress on all systems of the body.
2. Our heart intelligence is activated, making accessible the intuitive
insight of the “heart brain” (a system of neurons surrounding the heart,
much like those in the head brain).
3. Our limbic system is calmed, bringing greater stability and harmony to
our emotions.
4. The functioning of the left and right hemispheres of the brain are
balanced, bringing on board a wide range of our mental capacities,
including analytic, intuitive, and creative thinking; an aesthetic
sensibility; and emotional and sensory intelligences.
Beyond the personal benefits we may derive, the compassion, empathy, and interpersonal attunement that results from the practice of present centered awareness may be one of the most powerful ways to contribute to the development of a just and truly sustainable society.
North Main Yoga
10 W. Stone Ave., Greenville, SC
Cost: $10
For more information, call 864.241.0870
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Copyright 2008 Don Salmon and Jan Maslow
