Presbyterian Village North (PVN) is pleased to offer residents something new this summer: a Mindfulness Meditation series featuring one-hour meditation sessions, mid-morning tai chi and sunrise yoga. Mindfulness meditation is known to improve physical and emotional well-being in addition to supporting brain health in executive functioning and memory retention. As a result, thousands of medical professionals recommend that their patients develop a mindfulness meditation practice. The series has gained popularity since its introduction. The sessions are held every other week in PVN’s chapel at 1:00 p.m. on Mondays, and are led by a mediation instructor, Roz Katz, who has been practicing meditation for 45 years. The tai chi and yoga classes take place outdoors, weather permitting. These are led by the PVN wellness team near the community’s lake and promote vitality and rejuvenation. The tai chi classes are on Mondays from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. and the sunrise yoga is held on Tuesdays from 7:00 a.m. to 7:45 a.m. To positively impact physical and emotional well-being through tai chi and meditation, this series aims at improving quality of life.
What is mindfulness meditation?
A Perspectives on Psychological Science study described it as “the nonjudgmental awareness of experiences in the present moment.”
Benefits of Mindfulness Meditation: Reduces stress, improves concentration, promotes a healthy lifestyle, increases self-awareness, increases happiness, increases acceptance, makes music sound better by making you more aware of composition of notes, lowers fatigue, improves emotional processing, helps regulation of attention, increases compassion, encourages good behavior, helps people become better listeners, lessens feelings of loneliness, lowers depression, supports weight-loss goals, helps people sleep better, slows aging and benefits cardiovascular and immune health.
Benefits of Tai Chi: Relieves physical effects of stress, promotes deep breathing, reduces bone loss in menopausal women, improves lower body and leg strength, helps with arthritis pain, reduces blood pressure, requires mind and body integration through mental imagery, accumulates energy by releasing endorphins rather than depleting them, enhances mental capacity and concentration, improves balance and stability by strengthening ankles and knees, promotes faster recovery from strokes and heart attacks, improves conditions of Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis and Parkinson’s.
Benefits of Yoga: Encourages movements, sharpens the mind, improves balance, promotes bone strength, fights arthritis, lowers blood pressure, prevents muscle atrophy, enriches the body’s functions, boosts mood and improves quality of sleep.