Presentations for the 2009 Applied Mindfulness Conference:

Keynote Presentations:

Mind, neuroscience, and mindfulness meditation
Presenter: Michael Baime, M.D.

Recent explorations into the neuroscience of meditation confirm that meditation practices significantly change critically important brain areas. Michael Baime, M.D. will highlight recent advances in the cognitive neuroscience of meditation, and discuss the implications of this information for individuals who practice, study, and teach meditation.

Michael Baime, M.D. is Director of the University of Pennsylvania Program for Stress Management and Director of Mind-Body Programs for the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn.


Mindfulness, healing, and health care
Presenter: Mary Campbell, RN, MSN, CNS-BC

This workshop will provide an opportunity to explore the various ways that mindfulness has been incorporated within health care to work with physical and psychological distress, improve quality of life and strengthen the capacity for genuine presence as the ground for relationships that promote healing and health.

Mary Campbell, RN, MSN, CNS-BC is Clinical Nurse Specialist in Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing and Adjunct Professor at the School of Nursing, Dalhousie University. She has extensive experience teaching mindfulness within the health care context.


Making wise decisions:
Engaging the body as a source of deeper insights
Presenter: David Rome

This presentation will explore the contemplative discipline of FocusingTM, a bodily way of knowing, as a process for improving decisionmaking by giving access to fresh ideas and unexpected options for action.

David Rome was personal secretary to the Vidyadhara Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and is a member of the executive team of the Greyston Foundation, Senior Fellow at the Garrison Institute, and president of Schocken Books.


Workshops:

When it matters most:
Teaching at-risk populations yoga and meditation
Presenter: Jill Satterfield

Jill Satterfield will discuss her professional advanced training curriculum, the Social Action Teacher Training (SATT). SATT offers the skills necessary to work with populations who don't normally have access to mindfulness and yoga, but who can greatly benefit from them - at-risk youth and adults, people in recovery programs and those living with chronic pain and illness.

Jill Satterfield is the founder of Vajra Yoga and its Social Action Teacher Training. She turned to yoga thirty years ago in an effort to heal from a debilitating physical condition. She healed far beyond expectations - and discovered her life's work. She has been teaching for the past twenty years, primarily in the Iyengar tradition. Jill developed Vajra Yoga, a synthesis of yoga and Buddhism combining meditation, yoga asanas and visualization. She was named one of the four leading yoga and Buddhist teachers in the country by Shambhala Sun Magazine, and sits on the faculty of Spirit Rock Center's Yoga and Buddhism teacher training program and Kripalu Institute's Integrative Leadership Program.


Drawing out the best:
Art therapy and contemplative disciplines to avoid professional burnout
Presenter: Timothy R. Walker, Ph.D., CCC, NSRCP

Dr. Walker will present a guided mindfulness and art therapy exercise he frequently presents to health care providers. The exercise incorporates mindfulness meditation, spontaneous drawing, and Tonglen and lovingkindness practice. Participants will complete and discuss the exercise.

Timothy R Walker is founder of the EastWind Stress Reduction Clinic of Halifax and has 30 years' experience integrating mindfulness into counseling, education and healthcare. He has taught at Dalhousie University, Acadia University, and the Halifax Counselor Training Institute. In 1999, Tim co-founded the Skills for Healing Weekend Retreats and the Skills for Wellness Programs for healthcare providers. He also provides private counseling for individuals, couples and families.


Why should I care?
Engaging (students) in learning through contemplative interaction
Presenter: David Sable, M.A.

Many students enter secondary and postsecondary education expecting to be told the "right answers," and instead discover the existence of multiple views that may have varying degrees of validity. Some recognize the value of entertaining doubt and uncertainty, but develop the position that "no one really knows." Contemplative interaction focuses attention on present experience and paired interaction. Students begin to communicate with authentic presence. They find their own voice and develop insight into hidden assumptions, their own as well as others'. Evaluating the impact of contemplative practices on learning is essential to wider use of applied mindfulness in higher education.

David Sable has been a senior teacher in the Shambhala mandala since 1978. He was a founding member of the Shambhala Institute for Authentic Leadership. Since 2000, he has been teaching courses in Buddhism and Spirituality in the Workplace at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. He is currently a doctoral student in the Interdisciplinary PhD program at Dalhousie University, where he is researching the impact of contemplative practices on critical thinking. Outside his university experience, David is a training and education consultant and has worked for over 20 years on assignments with corporations, government agencies, and universities.


Sharing the wealth:
Practical strategies for presenting the value of mindfulness to professionals
Presenter: Patton Hyman

Many professionals who are also meditators are aware of the richness that meditation can bring to their professional and personal lives. However, many professionals are either unaware of this potential, or unable to find a suitable meditation practice. This session will explore the practicalities of introducing mindfulness meditation to professionals. Topics will include: making initial contact and marketing the program effectively; designing programs ranging in length from an hour to a full day or longer; presenting meditation in ways that are attractive to professionals without sacrificing the integrity of the practice; and the challenges of giving meditation instruction in nontraditional environments. Participants will be encouraged to share relevant experiences and to discuss challenges they have encountered.

Patton Hyman is a practicing attorney, and Development Director of Tail of the Tiger. In more than 25 years teaching meditation, he has given instruction to numerous professional and business groups. He is the author of "Mindfulness Meditation and Lawyering," which was published in the Vermont Bar Journal, and initiated an annual day-long retreat for lawyers co-sponsored by the Vermont Bar Association. He lives in Barnet, Vermont.


When you want to run away:
Staying present for others in difficult times
Presenter: Wendy Sichel, M.Ed.

People facing life-limiting illness are coping with some of the hardest questions they will ever ask in their lives: Will I ever get better? Will I suffer a lot of pain? What will become of my wife, husband, children? What have I done with my life? What does it feel like to die? As caregivers of patients and families, we can hold our seat and bring calm presence, and even warm humor, to help them through this transition. As we relax with it, we can even learn to help them appreciate the end of life as an important time for growth.

Trained in counseling, Wendy has served groups and individuals for over twenty years, with an emphasis on encouraging and supporting others to help them uncover their intrinsic gifts. For the past ten years, she has worked in end-of-life care, teaching, managing volunteer programs, and facilitating bereavement support. She taught Grief and Loss at Granite State College in New Hampshire, and has worked with young adults and teens individually, in various group settings, and at a local crisis center. Wendy currently serves as Manager of the Palliative Care Volunteer Program at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. She is a member of the Shambhala Center of White River Junction, Vermont, and also practices t'ai ji quan and qi gong.


Designing contemplative space:
Environmental cues for mindfulness
Presenter: Rebekah Younger

In an era of 24-hour news, multitasking, invasive advertising techniques and ever-present video screens, creating physical space for mindfulness and contemplation requires re-thinking the environments where we live and work. This seminar will explore the possibility of designing supportive environments for mindfulness practice, with emphasis on applying mindfulness in the design process itself. Participants will use sensory exercises to explore their physical relationship to their immediate surroundings, and will share their experience of design decisions that encourage contemplative space in various settings. If time permits, the session will examine the larger impact such design decisions might make on our world.

Rebekah Younger is an interdisciplinary artist/designer and creative entrepreneur. Over more than 30 years as a full-time arts professional, she has owned and operated an art gallery, a picture frame shop and a knitwear company. Her clothing has been exhibited in museums and galleries nationwide, and featured in several national publications. She runs a design consulting firm, inSite Contemplative Design, which brings mindfulness into the environmental design of living and work spaces. She is authorized as a Shambhala Arts teacher, and also teaches contemplative photography, sweater design, and arts and meditation classes in a variety of settings. In 2009, she completed her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art at Goddard College in Vermont. She lives in rural Maine.


Rewiring the brain:
Trauma and anxiety recovery through mindfulness and meditation
Presenter: Barbara Heffernan

Mindfulness and meditation can be a key component to recovery from trauma and anxiety disorders. However, people with trauma histories and/or high anxiety often have a very difficult time learning to meditate, as sitting still can trigger severe discomfort. These are frequently the people who say, "I've tried, but I just can't meditate." Whether you work with mindfulness as an educator, businessperson, meditation instructor or health practitioner, this presentation will help you understand how techniques can be adapted for the significant portion of the population that feel they "cannot meditate."

The presentation will explore: how trauma and anxiety manifest physically and psychologically; which meditation techniques are most accessible for people with either cognitive or somatic anxiety; elements of mindfulness which are present in most trauma and anxiety recovery techniques; how mindfulness meditation promotes cognitive-behavioral therapy, EMDR and other recovery techniques; simple ways to adapt your meditation teachings to account for anxiety; and simple ways to introduce mindfulness and meditation to a resistant population.

Barbara Heffernan, LCSW, LADC, has a private psychotherapy practice in Norwalk, CT, which focuses on trauma, addiction, anxiety and life transitions. Barbara utilizes cognitive-behavioral therapy, EMDR, meditation and visualization in her practice. She has practiced meditation for over fifteen years, studying in Buddhist, Hindi and Shamanic traditions. She is a member of the Shambhala community at Sky Lake Lodge. Barbara spent sixteen years in investment banking, primarily in Mergers & Acquisitions for Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch. She holds an MBA from Columbia University and an MSW from Southern Connecticut State University. Her website is www.barbaraheffernan.com.


Minding your business:
Mindful leadership in organizational settings
Presenter: Michael Carroll

A new generation of leaders is turning to mindfulness as a cutting-edge leadership tool, but organizations are typically interested in receiving an ROI - a "return on investment" - from mindfulness training. What will mindfulness help leaders achieve? Will mindfulness reduce stress? Will it reduce medical benefits claims? Can mindfulness make leaders more successful? However, there is something more fundamental to mindfulness than measuring an ROI or achieving results - and often, when leaders get past the ROI mindset, they recognize that what they are looking for in mindfulness meditation cannot be achieved at all!

Michael Carroll is the author of Awake at Work and The Mindful Leader. Over a 26-year business career, he has held executive positions with companies such as Shearson Lehman/American Express, Simon & Schuster and The Walt Disney Company. He has been studying Tibetan Buddhism since 1976, and is an authorized teacher in the Shambhala lineage. He has lectured and taught at Wharton Business School, Columbia University, Yale University, Swarthmore College, Kripalu Center, Zen Mountain Monastery, Karmê Chöling, the Omega Institute, and many other practice centers throughout the US, Canada and Europe. Michael has an active consulting and coaching business, with client firms such as Procter & Gamble, Google, AstraZeneca, Starbucks, National Geographic Expeditions, and Gilbane, Inc.

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