Mindful Self-Care: Three Ways to Virtually Practice Mindfulness this Fall

Mindfulness is the ability to focus and stabilize one’s attention in the present moment. The results of mindfulness practice can improve sleep, lessen reactivity, and positively change our relationship to stress.

Listed below are three opportunities to enhance personal relaxation response, mental fitness, and mindful resilience through the WVU Mindfulness Program. 

1. The WVU Health Sciences and WVU Medicine Wellness Center will host 20-minute virtual meditation sessions three days a week until Dec. 18. Whether beginner, advanced or somewhere in between, learn and experience the numerous health benefits of regular meditation practice. Meditations will take place virtually every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 1:15 p.m. 
2. Additionally, virtual mindfulness workshops will be available for departments and programs interested in scheduling a private group session. These hour-long workshops will cover a toolbox of techniques designed to effectively improve stress response, the result of which is a calmer, more resilient, and focused mind. 
3. And finally, if you're looking to further your mindfulness practice, a six-week virtual Mindful Steps series will take place every Monday (Oct. 5 - Nov. 9) at noon. The series focuses on different self-care themes each week from mindful pain management and mindful communicating to yoga and the science of mindfulness research, all designed to create better mind-body connectivity and understanding that can positively influence your relationship to stress. 

Series, workshops, and meditation sessions will be hosted by a team of mindfulness instructors with decades of combined mindfulness experience, including: clinical therapist Laurel Faulkenberry, and yoga teacher & stress management specialist Nicole Gauthier-Schatz. 

All mindfulness programs are free for students, faculty, staff of WVU and and employees of WVU Medicine. Participants can attend sessions individually or in sequence.

For more information or to register contact wellness specialist Anthony Danko.