Meditation

A practice that has been observed for centuries throughout the world, meditation provides countless benefits for your spirit, mind, and body. Although meditation is not done with the purpose of “accomplishing” anything, as we typically define accomplishment, it is known that engaging in meditation regularly does in fact:

• Lower stress levels
• Increase energy and creativity
• Reduce anxiety and ease symptoms of depression
• Strengthen the immune system
• Reduce blood pressure and protect against heart disease

How does meditation work?

The goal of meditation is to connect with your sacred space inside—to simply be. Meditation allows you to shut down the chatter of everyday life and its problems, bringing you beyond the limitations of body, thought, and emotions to access a profound stillness within. The Yoga Nidra style of meditation, guides you to learn to be at peace with what is, and discover the key to unlocking what could be. Connecting with your inner calm helps you become a “happy surfer,” with the ability to remain content and in control through life’s ups and downs.

Our Meditation Technique

Meditation sessions at LivAwareMD are appropriate for all levels, from beginners through experienced students. Classes use the yoga nidra technique: Students lay comfortably on thick foam mats with blankets, and are led through guided meditation to facilitate awareness. The techniques are very effective in guiding you to experience the world within. After engaging in these meditation classes, students will be able to use what they have learned on their own, seeing themselves and the world in a new light.

Practitioners

• Dr. Martha Hackett

T’ai Chi

T’ai chi ch’uan (known familiarly as “t’ai chi”) is a centuries-old system of gentle internal exercise. Devised in China as a superior form of self defense based on principles of yielding and softness, it has come to be practiced today for many other benefits that derive from the same principles.

With regular practice, students may achieve:

• Improved health, circulation, vitality, and stamina
• Profound relaxation, finely tuned balance, and enhanced coordination
• Sharpened attention and concentration
• A sense of one's own center and rootedness
• Cultivation of one's own qi ("chee"), the vital force underlying all physiological processes - including longevity - and linking the body, mind, and spirit.

The sequence of movements comprising a t’ai chi “form” is performed slowly and fluidly and can be practiced with benefit by anyone who can walk, regardless of age or state of health.

Many styles and individual forms have developed over the centuries. The style offered at LivAwareMD is known as Yang-style short form, developed by Prof. Cheng Man-Ch’ing. Prof. Cheng, a poet, painter, calligrapher, and renowned doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, was the t’ai chi grandmaster who developed the short form from a much longer sequence of movements. For those with limited time to exercise, the short form permits the regularity of practice essential for obtaining the benefits of t’ai chi ch’uan.

Practitioners

• Peter Geller