We want to acknowledge that we are living through challenging times. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of our communities for months now and people around the country and the world have been experiencing natural disasters ranging from fires to hurricanes to floods. A psychologist colleague recently said that most people, even if they are not currently experiencing an acute challenging life experience, are living with some level of what she calls “ambient distress.”
You may have read the blog from IONS Scientist Arnaud Delorme, PhD, about his experience using mindfulness to deal with his fears about COVID. These kinds of acute and chronic levels of distress can create psychological and physiological responses in our bodies and minds. It’s a time when we may need to prioritize stepping up our self-care and using our noetic tools and practices to support ourselves. These tools can not only alleviate distress in the moment, but can also help us build resources that can reset our systems so that we are able to deal more effectively and resiliently with challenging circumstances that arise in our day-to-day lives.
We’d love to share with you a FREE Mindfulness body scan (below) from our Director of Research, Dr. Helané Wahbeh, a trained mindfulness meditation teacher. This meditation is part of our six-week online Internet Mindfulness Meditation (IMMI) course, which is currently being developed at IONS. The program will be available in a few months and will include lessons that incorporate mindfulness teachings, meditations, at-home practices, and reflective questions about your process. If you are interested in the course and would like to be contacted when it launches, please fill out the form below!
Mindfulness Body Scan (30 min):
Additionally, we’d love to hear from you about what noetic practices and tools YOU are using during these complex times! We invite you to complete a brief survey to answer a few questions. It should only take you approximately 2 minutes to complete the survey.
