MANAGING OVERWHELMING STRESS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Overwhelming stress, anxiety, grief and loneliness is a serious problem

as we have been sheltered-in-place during the COVID-19 Pandemic and we are facing the realization that we must create a new normal life.

The goal is to live a well-balanced life, have a higher quality of living and better health.  Our online mindfulness meditation classes offer the positive side effect of meeting new friends and acquaintances who can offer new lens and perspectives to the problems and challenges, the ups and down in life, we all may experience.

When we're caught up in the business of adjusting to life as it is,

we can easily lose sight of what's most needed in the moment. It becomes easy to feel overwhelmed, and we may add to our own suffering. 

We invite you to join us on our weekly sessions to cultivate spaciousness in your mind and body, explore "on-the-spot" practices that help us discern what's called for when we find ourselves stuck in automatic reactivity. Learn to practice responding skillfully, even when life is moving fast or in unexpected directions, and develop cognitive and emotional"muscle memory."

Jeanne Vargas and the Mindfulness Institute of NW Illinois joins you in being deeply concerned about the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic. Jeanne is offering  free  weekly mindfulness meditation clasess online via Zoom to support the community as we manage the challenges of living with chronic illness and cancer during the pandemic.  Jeanne encourages everyone to take advantage of the free access to the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction classes offered online via Zoom. Learn practices and tools, build resilience and strength, and stay grounded and centered. We are in this together, and you are not alone. 

We offer two programs for you to participate in:

MINDFULNESS BASED CANCER RECOVERY (MBCR)

 If you have received a cancer diagnosis, you know the emotional toll it takes on you. Research shows that if you learn how to manage your stress and anxiety, you can improve your quality of life and become an active participant in your own recovery and survivorship.

Created by leading psycho-oncologists, the Mindfulness-Based Cancer Recovery (MBCR) program is based on Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), a therapeutic combination of mindfulness meditation, gentle yoga, and simple practices designed to let go of fears and concerns and focus on getting well.  To help you stay grounded and centered, we are offering free online programming via Zoom. You will receive the value of human connection and learn mindfulness practices and tools to help you navigate these difficult times.

The program is open to all cancer patients, survivors, and caretakers. Persons managing chronic illness are also invited to attend. There is no cost to attend, but pre-registration is required.  The Zoom link and details will be e-mailed to all registrants  each week. Once you have received the link to register for the weekly session, please register so that you can participate.

 MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION Program

The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction is an alternative and complementary program that augments medical and behavioral health care plan. The goal is to have balance in your life, a better quality of living, better health, and the ability to find joy in living. Jeanne Vargas offers the trauma-sensitive approach to teaching Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

The program is:

 - A challenging and effective practice of engaging in your life with curiosity and care. 

-  Designed to introduce Mindfulness practice as a way of reducing stress, and developing greater balance, ease and fuller participation in your life. 

- Invites people to be active participants in caring for themselves, using their internal resources to cultivate health and well-being.

The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) is offered throughout the world in medical institutions, educational settings, businesses, the military and correctional systems. Scientific research supports the benefits of mindfulness practice.

Research suggests that mindfulness practice can positively affect stress resilience, physical and mental health, academic skills, self-regulation of emotional reactivity, interpersonal skills, general well-being and happiness.

Some reasons people come to the group include, but are not limited to:

• Chronic pain
• Hypertension, heart disease
• Attention deficits
• Enhancement of quality of life, happiness
• Sleep disturbance
• Mild or situational depression
• Gastrointestinal disorders
• Wellness and self-care
• Cancer or other illness
• Anxiety, panic
• Anger-management, life transitions
• Family issues
• Job
• School

Intentional, present-moment awareness, developed through mindfulness meditation practices, helps you experience whatver is happening in your life as it unfolds with curiosity, non-judgment attention, and compassion for ourselves and others.

Engaging with your life in this manner helps you become more skillful and creative in your responses, while gaining insight into how to free ourselvs from habitual patterns of reacting such as anxiously anticipating the future, chronically focusing on the past, or just going through the motions of living, missing what is actually occurring right now, including when things are pleasant and joyful.

Focusing on what is happening right now, cultivated by the practice of mindfulness meditation, enables you to wake up to the pleasures in your life and enhances your ability to tap into your wisdom and internal resources in difficult times.

The practice of mindfulness is accessible, universal, and can be practically integrated into your everyday living. he program is modeled after the well-known Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR) developed at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD. in 1979.

Jeanne Vargas teaches the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness Based Cancer Recovery Program in northwest Illinois since 2016. In 2017, Jeanne founded the Mindfulness Institute NW Illinois nfp in 2017 .  She  taught the eight-week MBSR program at Sacred Heart Catholic Church Sterling in January 2016.  Jeanne began offering weekly mindfulness meditation sessions to the public in the lower level of the United Way of Whiteside County in Sterling, Illinois in Spring 2016 .  In 2018, Jeanne opened a Center for Mindfulness in Rock Falls. The need for online classes. Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Center for Mindfulness is currently closed. Weekly sessions for Mindfulness Based Cancer Recovery and Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program are offered via Zoom online.

Jeanne A. Vargas, MA

Mindfulness Institute NW Illinois nfp

Box 345

804 E. Humphrey Avenue

Rock Falls, Illinois 61071

815-499-1818