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Mindfulness-based stress reduction class comes to Clarks Summit
‘Downton Abington’
Sports
March 19, 2015
Calming the Storm
ON THE INSIDE
South Abington Elementary PTA hosts fundraiser Page 8
SUBURBAN
by Stephanie Longo
ABINGTON SUBURBAN EDITOR
He went inward and, by doing so, Phil Sallavanti found a way to help other people get out of the doldrums of life. “I was at my previous job working on the computer one day and someone came into my office,” he recalled. “I turned my back for a minute and when I came back, ‘mindfulness-based stress reduction’ was on my screen. I have no idea how it got there and, to this day, I am not questioning it.” Wanting to learn more, Sallavanti began to research the method, which was pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts in the early 1970s. Sallavanti began studies at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia and eventually decided to take a leap of faith to become a certified mindfulness instructor. Sallavanti will bring the fruit of more than 20 years’ experience in mindfulness training and instruction to the Abingtons beginning on Monday, March 30, from 6-8:30 p.m. for an eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction class at the office of Dr. Tiffany Griffiths, 406 N. State St., Clarks Summit. An additional eight-week course will be held at Sacred Heart Church, 1101 Willow St., Peckville, beginning on Tuesday, March 31, also from 6-8:30 p.m. “Jon Kabat-Zinn’s definition of mindfulness is paying attention to the present moment in a particular way,’ Sallavanti said. “That particular way is by doing it on purpose and without judgment. We like to say it is being here now; but it is being here now with an attitude.” Sallavanti explained that mindfulness helps a person cultivate openness, curiosity and kindness, not just for others, but for themselves. Having taught mindfulness-based stress reduction
Phil Sallavanti (left) will bring mindfulnessbased stress reduction classes to the Clarks Summit office of Dr. Tiffany Griffiths (right), located at 406 N. State St., for an eight-week session beginning on Monday, March 30, from 6:30-8 p.m. For more information, contact Dr. Griffiths at 570-342-8434. PHOTO STEPHANIE LONGO
classes throughout the area, he has witnessed students as young as their teens up through their 80s reap the practice’s benefits. Although the classes are not group therapy, participants can expect to enjoy therapeutic benefits just by learning how to listen to their inner voices. “When you become stressed, what is hap-
pening is that your body is going into a stress response,” he explained. “We are chronically stressed today. Our ancestors had to either fight the saber-toothed tiger or flee from it, but after they fought the saber-toothed tiger, they probably rested. We don’t do that today. Our saber-toothed tigers nowadays are our work, our relationships, our financial problems and other stressors. We forgot how to rest. We’ve become human doings and we’ve forgotten how to simply be.” “What we teach is how to respond to life instead of how to react to it, like we’ve done habitually,” he continued. “It is about noticing habits and giving yourself a pause. We’re slowing life down just enough to create a space and, within that space, you’re able to make skillful, wise choices. Instead of reacting to a stressful situation, you learn to respond. Your actions begin to change.” Griffiths said mindfuless-based stress reduction goes hand-in-hand with psychotherapy, adding that she has all of her clinicians learn the practice. “Research has shown over and over again that for many different psychological symptoms and medical conditions, particularly anything related to stress and lifestyle, the mindfulnessbased stress reduction system on a daily basis is the most effective treatment we can provide to people,” she said. “It helps chronic pain, anxiety, depression, insomnia, it even helps combat trauma. It can help anyone. There’s not much that this won’t be helpful for.” For more information or to register for the Clarks Summit class, contact Dr. Griffiths at 570-342-8434. For more information or to register for the Peckville class, contact Sallavanti at 570-351-5611 or email calmofnepa@gmail. com.
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