Summer 2015 Classes
Jewish Community Center (JCC)
Where
JCC
6255 N. Santa Monica Blvd.
Milwaukee, WI 53217
Driving Directions
Contact
Susan Lubar SolvangGrowing Minds
414-949-5690
info@growingmindstoday.com
Foundations of Mindful Living
This course has been designed to assist you in developing the skills necessary to step back from your non-stop, problem solving and “getting things done” routine. You will experience and learn innovative and dynamic approaches to further your ability to diminish and cope with the negative effects of rising stress levels. Our simple research based techniques can improve your sense of physical and mental well-being, increase mental clarity and help you cultivate peace and happiness in your life.
Learn how to:- Improve focus and concentration
- Increase clarity
- Decrease stress
- Cultivate empathy for yourself and others
- Improve health
- Understand the science related to mindfulness practices
Learn to cultivate a different relationship to challenging patterns in your life. Rather than feeling progressively drained from wrestling with recurring thoughts and strong emotions, develop and promote more nurturing habits. Incorporating purposeful pauses in your day will offer opportunities to cope with stress and alleviate unhelpful patterns. When practiced regularly, these simple skills can encourage us to see the world with greater clarity and compassion.
Incorporating mindful practices into our lives has been shown to positively influence our health and happiness. It is more than a good idea or a technique. Richard Davidson from the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at UW-Madison, has demonstrated through brain imaging, that mindfulness promotes stress reduction, promotes increased happiness, increases compassion for oneself and others, and reduces anxiety, depression and pain.
This training employs concepts from Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, both of which are used in businesses, hospitals and schools across the United States. It also incorporates strategies based on Mark Williams and Danny Penman’s book "Mindfulness: an eight week plan for finding peace in a frantic world”, the “Mindfulness in Schools Project” and “.b Foundations, a mindfulness class for adults" as well as Janice Marturano’s book, "Finding the Space To Lead".
Growing Minds Curriculum Training
This class is designed for those who have taken our Foundations of Mindful Living (or similar class) and wish to further their work with students in school, home or therapeutic settings. Instruction is provided for the Growing Mind’s curriculum, delivery and implementation. An in-depth understanding of the related brain science that supports the curriculum will also be presented. Upon completion, the essential characteristics of a “mindful” classroom or home will be developed. Participants will have the opportunity to receive and work with the curriculum and our trained and certified instructors.
Graduate Credit Available!
Up to 2 graduate credits are available for the Foundations of Mindful Living class through Edgewood College, Madison, WI. One graduate credit is available for Growing Minds Curriculum Training class. $165/credit fee paid directly to Edgewood College.
Our Instructors:
Susan Lubar Solvang is the Founder and President of Growing Minds, a non-profit whose mission is to provide adults and youth with strategies to enhance their capacity for well-being and clarity. Growing Minds has written their own curriculum for Mindful Behaviors in Schools and is partnering with Mindfulness in Schools Project in England to teach .b Foundations, a mindfulness class for adults. Susan began learning about mindful awareness techniques over twenty years ago has been teaching in Milwaukee for four years.
Anna Silberg is the Director of Instruction and Research for Growing Minds. She has a PhD in Education with a specialization in Urban Education and Curriculum and Instruction. For 9 years she taught as an Assistant Professor at National-Louis University, where her research and expertise extended to teacher action research, authentic assessment and instruction, curriculum development, educational foundations and urban issues, and teacher mentorship. Her path of mindful awareness practices began as a way to bring stress reduction to herself and the teachers with whom she worked. Both Anna and Susan are certified MBSR trainers through the UCSD Medical School’s Mindfulness Center and have certifications in: Mindfulness in School’s -.b, Learn to Breathe, and Mindful Schools curricula. They both teach mindful skills to teachers and students in the Greater Milwaukee area schools as well as to adults.