MANDALA Autumn 2015 CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
the MINDFULNESS issue
INSIDE:
Center Celebrates
20 Year Anniversary Mindfulness Teachers
Create Lasting Impact Collaboration
Changes Pain Research
1
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
MANDALA Table of CONTENTS Made in Minnesota, Impacting the World Letter from Mary Jo Kreitzer
Page 3
The Future of Integrative Health Research: Brent Leininger, DC
Page 5
Empowering Those Who Served Mindfulness as a Healing Skill for Veterans
Page 6
Transdisciplinary Collaboration Could Change the Future of Pain Research
Page 8
A Mindful Foundation Jon Kabat-Zinn
Page 10
Changing the World from 66 Degrees North 1st International Integrative Nursing Symposium Convenes
Page 12
A Legacy of Mindfulness Center Celebrates Our Mindfulness Teachers and Students
Page 14
Meet Sue Nankivell Director of Business Development and Community Relations
Page 21
A lesson in appreciating life more Better dealing with stress
Page 22
Leadership for Individual, Organizational, and Global Wellbeing Center Launches New Focus Area
Page 24
Meditation and Yoga Help Bust Stress at the University 2004 Minnesota Daily Article
Page 26
Spring Courses
Back cover
COVER ARTWORK Photo courtesy of Center Senior Fellow Craig M. Blacklock. Mr. Blacklock, a renowned photographer, collaborates with the Center on our Wellscapes video series. For more information about Wellscapes, please visit z.umn.edu/wellscapes. To learn more about Craig, visit blacklockgallery.com
AUTHORS: Craig Blacklock, Roni Evans, Linda Hanson, Erin McHenry, Jeanne Mettner, Thomas Olson, Cindy Wilcox
Mandala, a biannual publication, is produced by the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality & Healing. Detailed information about Center research, events, academic courses, workshops, and more can be found on our website at csh.umn.edu. Letters to the editor must include name, address, telephone number, and email address.
Mandala is the Sanskrit word for “circle” and is a sacred symbol that mirrors a state of consciousness
DESIGN: Jo Penfield
through a concrete pattern. Native
EDITOR: Kit Breshears kit@umn.edu
Americans use mandalas as healing
EDITORIAL STAFF: Pamela Cherry, Marina Kaasovic, Thomas Olson
and transformational art in the sand;
Center for Spirituality & Healing Mayo Memorial Building ,MMC #505 420 Delaware St. S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455 www.csh.umn.edu
art therapists to facilitate healing; and Tibetans as visual representation of Buddhist beliefs. As a universal symbol of healing, the respective circles of the mandala capture the many diverse aspects of the Center’s work: reflection, transformation, spirituality, creation, and lastly, the ongoing journey that continues to shape what we are to become.
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
2
Made in Minnesota,
Impacting the World begin to live a little better — and when they see how much yet remains to be achieved.”
Over the past two decades, I have been frequently asked questions about the Center for Spirituality & Healing, such as how it began, how it has been sustained, and what the future holds. There has always been curiosity about what it was about Minnesota that created the conditions that were ripe for the Center to emerge.
Why Minnesota?
3
So, when in 1995 I proposed that we create the Center for Spirituality & Healing to better understand and meet the needs of our population, there was truly great support and scarcely any resistance. People often find that hard to believe, and assume that it took years of struggles and battles. While the details of the Center’s evolution over time are documented elsewhere, suffice it say that I had clarity on what would be needed for success — we would need to be responsive to unmet needs, aligned with partners inside and outside of the university, be entrepreneurial and resourceful, and we would need to model excellence in every aspect of our operation. As I look back, it was a tall order! I recall Dr. Frank Cerra, then senior VP of the AHC saying — “You can grow the Center as big as you want, you just need to be entrepreneurial and find a way to fund the growth”. It was the best possible advice he could have given us. The Center has become a model within the university and beyond of an innovative, sustainable, freestanding academic unit with local, national, and international impact.
Minnesota has a rich history of innovation. Consider the many Minnesota brands that have national and even global reach — 3M, Medtronic, General Mills, Ecolab, and Target, to name a few. Within healthcare, Minnesota has long been considered a leader in healthcare reform and innovation. The whole concept of “health maintenance organizations” (or HMOs) began here, as did early leadership in behavioral and mental health, particularly in the area of caring for people with addictions.
What has sustained the Center?
The University of Minnesota has many firsts within healthcare, including open heart surgery, inserting the first cardiac pacemaker, launching the concept of primary nursing, and pioneering novel roles such as dental therapy. Since 1971, we have also have had a strong Academic Health Center with colleges and schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, public health, veterinary medicine, and pharmacy, with a history of early collaboration, long before the current interest in interprofessional education and collaborative practice. As a public, land grant university, there has been a strong focus on agriculture, natural resources, food science, and nutrition. Strong values are reflected in this history of innovation, including risk-taking, responsiveness to human need, taking a comprehensive, whole person approach, appreciation of diversity, collaboration, and partnership. As a native Minnesotan, I would say that we are also known for being practical, doing what seems right and makes sense, and working hard to meet the needs of those we serve. As Hubert Humphrey once said, “History teaches us that the great revolutions aren’t started by people who are utterly down and out, without hope and vision. They take place when people
Students have been instrumental to our success on many levels. Perhaps even ahead of their faculty, students have recognized the importance of learning and discovery outside of the silo of their major field of study. Each year, we draw more than 1,500 students from departments, colleges, and schools across the campus. On annual surveys, students consistently tell us that Center courses enrich them personally, as well as professionally.
In a word, people. The Center, from its earliest days, attracted outstanding faculty. Two of the earliest Center faculty were senior, tenured professors in Food Science and Nutrition. Drs. Linda Brady and Craig Hassel, highly regarded in their field, saw the potential of teaching in an interdisciplinary, interprofessional environment. Dr. Mariah Snyder, a tenured professor in the School of Nursing, offered to become the Center’s first director of graduate studies. Today we have a diverse, outstanding faculty of nearly 80 that drives our excellence and productivity in teaching and research.
Wise and generous donors have been critical to our success and not surprisingly, many of the earliest Center supporters were innovators and pioneers in their own lives and work. Earl Bakken designed the first cardiac pacemaker and co-founded Medtronic with his brother-in-law. Ruth Stricker Dayton founded The Marsh: A Center for Balance and Fitness. AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
Made in Minnesota, Impacting the World Mary Jo Kreitzer continued
Bruce Dayton built the Daytons and Target retail brands. Dr. Marilyn Sime, a professor emeritus in the School of Nursing, helped create the doctoral program in nursing and one of the university’s first interdisciplinary graduate minors, which focused on Interpersonal Relationships Research. Under Bill George’s leadership as Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, the company grew exponentially in annual market value, from $1.1 billion to $60 billion. Penny George, a visionary within integrative health and medicine, has — through her family’s foundation — supported numerous local organizations including the Center for Spirituality & Healing. She was also the co-founder of The Bravewell Collaborative, a national collaboration of philanthropists dedicated to advancing principles and practice of integrative health and medicine. She is also the recipient of the 2015 Spirit of the Center Award, and demonstrates five qualities that embody our Center values: Courage, Curiosity, Compassion, Tenacity, and Vision. Penny is a person of enormous heart and integrity, and will be presented with the Award at our 20 Year Anniversary lecture on Nov. 20.
NOTABLE CENTER ACCOMPLISHMENTS 1998 Center offers graduate minor 2000 The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards the Center a five-year $1.6 million grant to support the development and integration of CAM into health sciences curricula at the University of Minnesota 2002 Research begins in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Public classes in MBSR begin in 2004, and have enrolled more than 6000 students to date 2003 Center is awarded Investigative New Drug (IND) status by the FDA for research into tea tree oil as a treatment for wounds 2004 Center is designated a “Developmental Center for Research on Complementary & Alternative Medicine” by the NIH — one of only three designations in the country. 2011 Center co-hosts visit of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama with the Tibetan American Foundation of Minnesota 2012 Wellbeing Lecture Series is launched 2014 Integrative Health & Wellbeing Research Program is created; new Integrative Health and Wellbeing Coaching master’s degree is approved. 2015 1st International Integrative Nursing Symposium is convened
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
What’s Next? Rather than dwell on what we have accomplished in the past, I want to highlight what I believe are promising and compelling directions that will inform our future. •W e will continue to be a leader at the University in team science, and will use rigorous and innovative approaches to explore novel questions that will improve human health and wellbeing. •W e will add academic programming in areas of growing interest including nature-based therapeutics, the arts and healing, healthcare provider wellbeing, and culinary medicine. •W e will deepen partnerships in the community where we can pilot innovative ideas and create laboratories for student learning and research. The Waters Senior Living is an excellent example of this. While building on strong ties we have with hospitals and healthcare systems, we envision expanding our focus on opportunities that will strengthen organizational and community wellbeing. • We will also continue to innovate in how we deliver and disseminate information. Originally created in partnership with leaders from Charlson Meadows (formerly Life Science Foundation), our Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing website now reaches more than 250,000 unique visitors each month, half of whom live outside the US. We will continue to grow this platform, and we are interested in a new area called “dissemination science” that focuses on ways to not only create knowledge, but to also get it efficiently into the hands of practitioners and consumers. •O ur faculty is highly sought for their expertise nationally and internationally and I expect this will continue to grow. In addition to being a vehicle for sharing information, this is also a powerful way to learn that stimulates our own creativity and innovation. Our global work leads to international learning opportunities for our students, and research collaborations for faculty. In closing, I want to express my profound gratitude to all who have contributed to the Center’s growth and success. For me, it has been the work and privilege of a lifetime to work with such a talented, committed, and visionary group of university leaders, faculty, staff, students and community partners. I am excited to see what unfolds in the decades to come! In gratitude,
Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, RN, FAAN Founder and Director, Center for Spirituality & Healing 4
THE FUTURE OF
Integrative Health Research: BRENT LEININGER, DC BY TOM OLSON AND RONI EVANS Investigating the cost-effectiveness of chiropractic and other integrative health approaches for spine pain is Brent Leininger’s passion.
more of a holistic approach, which is important. I’m interested in looking at how integrative health approaches impact peoples’ overall wellbeing.”
Leininger, DC, is a chiropractor and junior researcher in the Center’s Integrative Health & Wellbeing Research Program.
The postdoctoral fellowship was the first step on Brent’s career path in research. Three years in length, it provided him the funding to pursue a Master of Science degree in Clinical Research from the University of Minnesota, and to gain extensive practical experience in all aspects of clinical research by working with his mentors. Brønfort is his primary scientific mentor, and is a leading authority on complementary and conservative interventions for spine pain conditions, with a special emphasis on conducting systematic reviews and randomized clinical trials.
Brent has been mentored for six years by Drs. Gert Brønfort and Roni Evans, who were previously at Northwestern Health Sciences University, and joined the Center in 2014 to form the new Integrative Health & Wellbeing Research Program. When his mentors moved to the Center, Brent had the opportunity to bring his National Institutes of Health (NIH) postdoctoral funding. According to Brent, the NIH fellowship provided him important opportunities to connect with other scientists. “Gert and Roni have a longstanding track record for conducting high quality clinical research, and have established meaningful collaborations with an expansive network of researchers across the world. Tapping into that was a great experience for me.” While the experience he gained working with his mentors was valuable, the move to the University of Minnesota gave him an additional career boost. “Being here at the University and at the Center is a lot different than where I was previously. The resources are exponentially greater. My recently submitted proposal for a career development award (K01) to the NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health is a great example. I was able to identify mentors and resources across a number of different disciplines here at the University to build a robust career development plan.” He is appreciative to the Center’s leadership for investing in future healthcare researchers. “The Center’s vision for health aligns with mine. It’s
“Brent is highly motivated, with an excellent work ethic and a keen eye for the nuances of high-quality and relevant health research,” says Brønfort. “His postdoctoral fellowship provided him a wonderful opportunity to expand his research skills and identify a specific career path for which he has passion and aptitude.” Recently, Leininger completed his three-year Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship from the NIH, and is awaiting word as to whether his K01 proposal will be funded. “The reviews and score were favorable,” says Leininger. “Receiving the award will allow me to actively pursue the next phase of my research career.” The opportunity to work within the Center as a research fellow is an unquestionable win-win for all! The Center offers a unique setting for dynamic and interdisciplinary training in integrative health research that provides aspiring scientists the skills and support needed to fundamentally shape the nation’s health and wellbeing. Supporting a research fellow is a tangible, highly influential way of advancing the Center’s work. +++
The University of Minnesota Center for Spirituality & Healing’s Integrative Health and Wellbeing Research Program is funded in part by a gift from the NCMIC Foundation, Inc.
5
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
Empowering Those Who Served CENTER MINDFULNESS TEACHERS PARTICIPATE IN STUDY THAT EXAMINES MINDFULNESS AS A HEALING SKILL FOR VETERANS BY ERIN MCHENRY
The sunglasses were first to go. The hat followed, and not long after, the hair was pulled back. Each week, he let a little more of himself be present. A small smile crept up his face, and by the end of the nine-week mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) study, he couldn’t hide his enthusiasm for what he was learning. And he didn’t want to. That’s the transformation Mariann Johnson, MBSR instructor at the Center, saw in one of the veterans who participated in a study about MBSR as an intervention for post traumatic stress disorder among veterans at the Minneapolis VA Medical Center. “Many veterans with PTSD tend to hide out or experience shame or anxiety, or can feel overwhelmed by the emotions they experience when suffering from PTSD,” Johnson said. The man was one of 116 veterans studied. Divided into smaller cohorts, the veterans practiced nine weeks of MBSR under the guidance of Johnson and two VA psychologists. The study investigated how mindfulness practice would impact PTSD symptoms compared to group therapy alone. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in August. “We can attribute this man’s transformation to the research study, but in the end he made the change,” Johnson said. “It was his courage and dedicated mindfulness practice that brought him inner peace and a better quality of life.”
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
The study found that most veterans practicing MBSR showed improvement in their PTSD management, and experienced symptom relief. While the sample was small, and many veterans still had a PTSD diagnosis two months after treatment, the results are promising. “Over the last ten years mindfulness and selfawareness has just blossomed,” said Terry Pearson, R.Ph., MBSR instructor at the Center , who also contributed to the VA study. Pearson reviewed the MBSR sessions and confirmed their legitimacy and adherence to MBSR standards. She also trained some of psychologists that taught the MBSR research study. “Mindfulness-based stress reduction has become much more common place. It’s embedded right into our lives, and that’s exciting because the practice can greatly improve health and wellbeing,” Pearson said. The study echoes the core principles of the Center, and highlights the importance of evidence-based medicine. “Mindfulness instructors like Terry and Mariann pave the way for the future of integrative therapies,” said Mary Jo Kreitzer, Ph.D., R.N., founder and director of the Center for Spirituality & Healing. “Their unwavering sense of compassion and dedication to research establishes a foundation we can build upon and continue studying, while supporting positive, meaningful change in the lives of people who are suffering.”
6
LEARNING TOGETHER; RECLAIMING THE HEART Many of the veterans were skeptical in the beginning, Johnson said. It took some time for the mindfulness practices to take root, and for the veterans to build trust in Johnson and to open their minds to the potential healing powers of MBSR. “We’re all in the same circle,” Johnson said. “As they learned about mindfulness meditation, which is a major part of my life, I learned about their lives and their experiences as veterans. I think we grew a deep and mutual respect over time.” Each week brought progress, Johnson said. And Pearson noticed it too. While reviewing the sessions after the study was completed, she spotted major differences from videos of the first meeting compared to the last. “It was clear that this was a transformative experience for most everyone involved,” Pearson said. “You could tell it helped them with their stress and anxiety, and provided them with the skills to cope with PTSD and difficulties in life in a different, new way. They learned to quiet their minds, to become still, and to find some inner peace.” After the nine-week sessions, the research protocol mandated that the study’s MBSR instructors weren’t allowed contact with the veterans for a period of time, but when some of the cohorts returned to film a mini documentary for JAMA, it was like they had never left.
7
“We often think of courage as being forceful and bold, but another definition is to reclaim one’s heart,” Johnson said. “As the veterans mindfulness practices deepened, they embraced self-compassion and forgiveness, and learned to cope with their PTSD in new ways, taking back a part of themselves,” she explained. “The men and women in this study were extraordinary. They served their country and endured trauma, loss and pain, and then in this study they did everything in their power to make a difference, not just in their own lives, but also for the benefit of all veterans with PTSD. They continue to motivate and inspire me,” Johnson said. The study authors, professors in the University of Minnesota Medical School and psychologists at the Minneapolis VA Memorial Hospital, hope to expand the study and continue to research mindfulness as a tool for treating and coping with PTSD. For now, it’s a huge step in the right direction, Johnson said. “We need more research, but let’s build on these exciting preliminary findings,” Johnson said. “Through this study, we were able to help these veterans, many of whom reported positive changes in their lives. Mindfulness practice decreased their suffering due to PTSD, and that is worth so much more than one study could ever capture.” +++
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
Transdisciplinary COLLABORATION Could Change the Future of Pain Research
BY RONI EVANS AND LINDA HANSON
AN EXCITING NEW TRANSDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION BETWEEN FACULTY FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF ANESTHESIOLOGY AND THE CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING’S INTEGRATIVE HEALTH AND WELLBEING RESEARCH PROGRAM — INFORMALLY KNOWN AS THE INTEGRATIVE CARE RESEARCH GROUP — COULD FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE HOW PAIN IS RESEARCHED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA AND PROVIDE NEW TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES FOR ASPIRING SCIENTISTS. Challenging conventional approaches to pain management, and developing and testing new, innovative, integrated treatment programs tailored to meet individual patients’ needs is this group’s collaborative goal. “People with pain are finally getting the attention they deserve,” says Dr. Gert Brønfort, a professor and senior researcher at the Center who has studied chronic pain for more than 30 years. “Pain is a huge burden to patients and society, and we need to do a better job in managing it.” With pain one of the leading reasons Americans use complementary and integrative therapies, he sees the Center being well-poised to collaborate with faculty from other disciplines. “Pain is part of the human condition,” says Brønfort. “Everybody experiences it at some point in their lives.” This was recently confirmed by a study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health which found that more than 1 in 10 Americans experience pain every day, and nearly 1 in 5 have pain that is severe. Dr. Joyce Wahr, professor and medical director of the University’s Pre-operative Assessment Center in the Department of Anesthesiology, is
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
also a key player on the new team. “Because pain involves such a complex interplay of psychological, physiological, genetic, and environmental factors, optimal advances in treatment will occur taking a team based approach,” she says. Dr. Roni Evans, Director of Research at the Center, agrees and sees an exciting opportunity to study the role of combining complementary approaches with conventional medicine to improve outcomes from a whole person perspective. “What is especially troubling is the effect pain has on an individual’s overall health and wellbeing,” she says. “By working together, we can start to address the person who is experiencing the pain, instead of being too narrowly focused on the pain itself. ” Wahr notes the importance of effective collaboration, when individuals, each with a unique skill set and knowledge base, come together to develop innovative ways to explore difficult problems. Brønfort concurs and believes that a unique strength of this collaboration is that, although members come from different professional backgrounds, “we are likeminded in what we want to accomplish.” Dr. Florin Orza, Division Chief and Medical Director of Pain Management at the University, is also part of the new collaborative. “Together, we can do research that blends the best of integrative and conventional medicine. We can approach chronic pain in a comprehensive way that makes a real a difference in patients’ lives,” he says. According to Dr. Evans, “we have genuine enthusiasm around our shared vision of providing patient-centered care informed by the best possible research.”
8
“ Pain is a huge burden to patients and society, and we need to do a better job in managing it.”
Dr. Joyce Wahr
Dr. Florin Orza
Dr. Linda Hanson, a chiropractor completing her Master of Science degree in Clinical Research at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, was invited to participate in this collaboration as part of a fellowship experience. Evans, who is Hanson’s mentor, emphasizes that developing meaningful working relationships with other disciplines is a critical part of doing high quality team science. “My professional network has expanded as a result of this collaboration and I’m getting involved in projects that examine pain from a different perspective,” says Hanson. Based on her experience, and her current perspective as a student, Hanson hopes to see the development of new fellowship programs at the University that foster more interdisciplinary partnerships. Given her interest in the prevalence of costly pain conditions, she sees a real need for fellowships to focus on chronic pain. “Regardless of our professional discipline, we want the same thing, which is to help patients live happy, healthy, more functional lives,” she says. “Finding effective teams to provide suitable training for future scientists can be a challenge,” says Evans.
She has been most surprised by how quickly this new group developed the characteristics of a highly functioning team. “We started identifying as a cohesive group that valued interdisciplinary collaboration focused on meeting the needs of patients from a whole person perspective.” Wahr agrees. “This is a mindful collaboration to better understand how to relieve suffering. We have been able to create a unique space where we can be freethinking and brainstorm with intention,” she says. “We all came to the table sharing in the principle that science must be done rigorously and ethically so that the research product is trustworthy,” says Evans. That foundation, coupled with a true openness to exploring pain interventions in new ways, has created an atmosphere where team members feel they can engage and solve big problems. “Doing research these days is a tough business. However, collaborations like this fuel researchers’ enthusiasm and passion,” she says. “This is the type of environment scientists need to thrive and do great work.” Beyond the design of innovative research, we are also envisioning how to more immediately integrate complementary care approaches into care settings. We envision “Integrative Care Coaches” working with patients, and in a coordinated way with physicians, nurses, and other professionals in interdisciplinary clinic settings. The Center seeks to start new fellowship programs to educate interested professionals to work in integrative care environments and pilot this exciting new role. +++
Nahin RL. Estimates of Pain Prevalence and Severity in Adults: United States, 2012, Journal of Pain (2015).
9
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
A Mindful Foundation BY JEANNE METTNER In his 40-plus year career, Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, has become a pioneer for mindfulness-based practices nationwide and abroad. Since founding the renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts in 1979, Kabat-Zinn has traveled throughout the world, giving lectures and generously sharing his expertise as others cultivate the practice of mindfulness in health care settings, schools and communities. He has written a dozen books on the topic—and countless articles. So when he shared a particularly candid reflection with Mary Jo Kreitzer, PhD, and her team shortly after she founded the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality & Healing, she was not quick to forget it. “He told us that in the first year after he had opened his clinic, it felt more like he had founded a center of mindlessness and stress production,” says Kreitzer. “His advice was, ‘Don’t just do the work; live the work; think about how you can incorporate mindfulness into everything you do at the center.’ And we have taken that advice very much to heart.” This fall, Kreitzer and the team at the Center will once again welcome Kabat-Zinn to Minnesota as he helps celebrate the Center’s 20th anniversary.
In addition to leading a day long retreat on November 19th, Kabat-Zinn will give an evening lecture on November 20th that’s open to the public. “Jon hasn’t been back here in a while, and he is such an important thought leader in the field,” she says. “We just couldn’t think of anyone who would be a better fit for this event.” Kabat-Zinn first met Kreitzer in 1999, when he was in the early stages of forming what is now the Academic Consortium for Integrative Medicine and Health. Representatives from eight academic medical institutions had convened for a kick-off meeting in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and Kreitzer was one of them. “She was with one of the deans from the University of Minnesota, and I had so much respect for what she was trying to do,”
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
recalls Kabat-Zinn. “We hit it off immediately, and our friendship and collaboration began.” Kabat-Zinn credits the Center as one of the pioneering institutions to bring mind-body medicine out of “the fringe” — into the realm of mainstream medicine. “She and her colleagues are shifting the bell curve of people’s attitudes toward spirituality and healing and helping them participate in their own movement toward optimizing their health and wellbeing, no matter where they are along that journey,” he says. “The Center has helped show people that whether you have a cancer diagnosis or heart disease or chronic pain, it’s workable to do this ‘interior work’ as a complement to whatever your health care team can do for you.” The respect between the two friends is very much mutual. Kreitzer says she feels fortunate that Kabat-Zinn connected with the Center in those early years. Thanks in part to Jon’s memorable advice, she and her team wove mindfulness into the Center early on—and it continues to be part of its fabric today. “It’s much more extensive than holding mindfulness classes or teaching
10
Learning from Other Generations As the Center continues its journey to incorporate mindfulness into many areas, so too does Kabat-Zinn. He now has two new instructors to help him on this journey: his two grandchildren, ages 2 and 4. We asked him what being a grandparent means for his mindfulness practice. Here was his response:
I let my grandchildren teach me, because they know all there is to know about mindfulness. All I need to do to learn from them is stay present and open and observe how grounded they are in their bodies and minds. It’s extraordinary. They acquire language by immersing themselves in listening to people talk, in letting themselves be drawn into a story that someone is reading to them. They use their body without anyone teaching them…they get up and crawl and stand and then walk and run and swim. They don’t read books about how to move. They are learning out of their beings and bodies.
mindfulness-based stress reduction. Mindfulness is what we try to bring into all of our teaching and research and consultation. Jon has had a huge influence on keeping us on track with that.” For 20 years, since the Center’s founding, Kreitzer and her team have created innovative coursework on mindfulness, conducted research on the effect of mindfulness-based practice on chronic diseases and conditions, and began preliminary work to bring mindfulness-based stress reduction into elementary and secondary schools. Kabat-Zinn says the laying of such a solid foundation will allow the Center to dig deeper in the years ahead. “One of the things I would look for in the Center’s future is that kind of continued collaboration with the different medical disciplines — to look at the costeffectiveness of mind-body-related interventions, their value with different kinds of chronic medical conditions, and also work across the lifespan. The Center is doing many of these things already, but to move forward, we will still need a lot more penetration into medicine and health care—and that presents an opportunity for us for make an even bigger difference in the future.” +++
11
When you watch young children, you cannot resist recognizing that being alive as a human being is completely miraculous. That recognition was a really important part of my life as a parent—and still is— because parenting never ends. But with grandchildren, you get a whole new opportunity to fine-tune that awareness—the reality of the beauty and challenges of life and the inevitabilities of aging and new life. When you are seeing with that kind of clarity, when you aren’t getting completely caught up in the “story of me,” you can see with wisdom, and that’s what mindfulness is. It’s not like you have to read a book about it or even take a class. It’s becomes the default mode if you are really paying attention and willing to be present. At Jon’s request, we have created opportunities for individuals, businesses and foundations to support the Center’s celebratory events. All contributions are dedicated to advancing the Center’s mindfulness programs. We are grateful for the generous support from the George Family Foundation, Accredited Investors, Inc., the Trust for Meditation Process, The Marsh: A Center for Balance and Fitness, Cigna, Stratis Health, The Goodman Group, and a host of engaged Center friends and families.
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
CHANGING
the
FROM 66 DEGREES NORTH
WORLD
BY KIT BRESHEARS
To view videos from the
The 2nd International Integrative Nursing Symposium will be
2015 Symposium, visit
held from April 5-7, 2017. We are starting now to create a scholarship
http://z.umn.edu/iinsVideos
fund that will permit nurses serving all ages in all clinical and community settings to attend. Visit integrativenursing2017.com to learn more about the conference.
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
12
From its fiery mountains and green plains to its icy glaciers, the small country of Iceland, located near the top of the globe in the northernmost part of the Atlantic Ocean, is a place unlike any other. The University of Minnesota’s connection to Iceland is also unique. For more than 30 years, the University of Iceland and the University of Minnesota have shared a rich history of student and faculty exchange, research collaboration, and cultural engagement. Students like Dr. Thora Jenny Gunnarsdottir and Dr. Gisli Kristofferson — both residents of Iceland who earned their PhD’s in Nursing at the University of Minnesota — have benefited from the educational experiences provided by the exchange. While studying at the University of Minnesota, both students formed long-lasting relationships with Dr. Mary Jo Kreitzer. In 2014, when Kreitzer and Dr. Mary Koithan were writing their book, “Integrative Nursing,” which was published by Oxford University Press, they reached out to Kristofferson and Gunnarsdottir to join other nurses from around the globe in providing information and aspirations about the field of integrative nursing. It’s no wonder, then, that when Gunnarsdottir proposed Iceland as a location for the 1st International Integrative Nursing Symposium — a gathering unlike any other — Kreitzer and Koithan readily agreed.
In May 2015, more than 250 integrative nurses from 12 countries gathered in Reykjavik, Iceland, to explore how they, as nurse leaders, clinicians, educators, and students, could expand care and help transform patient lives. People had many reasons for attending. “I chose to attend the Symposium to gain a more global perspective on integrative nursing, and also to learn from other nurses,” said Dr. Laura Sandquist, a nurse practitioner at Touchstone Mental Health in Minneapolis. Neus Esmel, from Catalonia in Spain, looked toward the future. “Integrative nursing is a future investment that aligns with my philosophy in life, my professional and personal interests, so it was important that I attend,” she says.
Creating community was also important. “It’s important for integrative nurses to gather,” says Dr. Debbie Ringdahl, faculty at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality & Healing and in the School of Nursing. “Meeting as a group creates community, identifies similar goals, provides a forum for overcoming common obstacles, and adds opportunities to collectively discuss and introduce system change.” For three days, participants met in the magnificent Harpa, Reykjavik’s ultramodern concert hall and conference center, surrounded by mountains and the sea, to learn from their colleagues. Topics included the application of integrative nursing in a variety of clinical settings and with many different patient populations that cover the life span, and many chronic 13
conditions, as well as health promotion. “There is an incredible expertise in the global integrative nurse community of clinicians, educators, researchers, and policy leaders,” says Barbara Glickstein, a nurse and journalist from New York. “This growing body of knowledge is influencing the field of nursing, the evolution of interprofessional practice, and the delivery of health care in the world. The Symposium will be known as a foundational moment in the field of integrative nursing globally. It was shape shifting.” Opportunities for camaraderie were also present — and encouraged. On the second night of the Symposium, nurses gathered for a conference dinner on Videy Island, which was only accessible by a 10-minute boat trip over an uneven sea. The evening included traditional Iceland folk songs, and warm welcomes by Gunnarsdottir and Kristofferson. Gunnarsdottir noted, “Hosting the Symposium was one of the biggest moments in my life.” Kreitzer, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality & Healing, was inspired by the diversity of nurses in attendance. “We had nurses who have been in practice for 30 or more years, including nurses in their 70s and 80s. We also had new graduates who aspire to practice in a different way,” The Symposium also left many contemplating the future of the nursing field. Mats Jong, an integrative nurse from Sweden, sees the future of integrative nursing in its roots. “In some sense, integrative nursing lifts up the essence of what nursing is all about, and has been all about since the practice of nursing began” he says.
“The Symposium was important to the field of nursing because it was an indication of global movement toward the practice of integrative nursing, and the power of nurse collaboration,” says Sandquist. Rainer Ammende, an attendee from Germany, also
felt that the Symposium had a world-changing impact. “Holding an international Symposium, publishing a book that defines the concepts of integrative nursing, and highlighting initial developments is a major milestone,” he says. “It is important that we dialogue, disseminate, learn from each other, and exchange our ideas.” “It is clear that this type of care is what the public wants,” says Linda Halcón, associate professor at the University of Minnesota. “The self-care aspects of integrative nursing are the heart of what keeps nurses in the profession, and why nursing is the healthcare profession most trusted by patients.” Koithan, who is Professor of Nursing, and Associate Dean for Professional and Community Engagement at the University of Arizona’s College of Nursing, also sees the future of integrative nursing addressing patient needs. “The public is demanding new ways to address chronic symptoms and problems,” she says. “In addition, systems changes will require more self-management with less expensive intervention strategies for common problems. +++
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
A Legacy of
Mindfulness
Meet the Center’s Mindfulness Teachers
BY TOM OLSON AND KIT BRESHEARS
For more than a decade, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality & Healing has offered mindfulness programs to the campus and Twin Cities communities. From an 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, to other opportunities like Mindfulness at Work, Mindfulness in Motion, and Mindful Eating, the Center has provided learning opportunities to thousands of people. At the heart of this program are our mindfulness teachers, who are all certified – or currently in training – at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the nation’s most established and rigorous training institute. Learn more about our instructors – and their students – in the following stories.
ERIK STORLIE As a graduate student in English at Berkeley in 1964, Storlie began practicing meditation at the San Francisco Zen Center with Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, developing a deep admiration for meditation and the health benefits that come with it. For the next 30 years, he dreamed about bringing secular meditation classes to colleges and universities, making them available for academic credit. “As a teacher, I want students to be curious, to work with meditation and find their own way into practice,” says Storlie. “And I also want them to dip into the current scientific knowledge about meditation and mindfulness, as well as the thousands of years of history in the Eastern and Western ‘mystical’ traditions, and in the many varieties of indigenous wisdom.” Storlie’s students appreciate his unique teaching style, as well as his interpersonal communication style. “He’s delightfully frank and good humored,” says a former student. “He’d be the first to tell you his own follies with a joke and a shrug, and that’s the same kindness he accords everyone else. Erik likes to say, ‘You’re the boss.’ When he says that, he means that you’re in charge of your own life. It’s up to you to pay attention to what makes you happy and what doesn’t, and then base your choices on what you find out.” Storlie credits one of his good friends and mentor, Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, with easing the path toward acceptance of secular meditation. “He wanted to present meditation to the public in a non-religious format,” says Storlie. “Mindfulness has evolved into a broader term than ‘meditation,’ but both have at their core a devotion to knowing one’s body and mind deeply, coming to stillness, and touching the vast ocean of mind that lies below and gives rise to all our thoughts and experience.” Storlie teaches academic courses in mindfulness at the Center for University of Minnesota undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
14
TERRY PEARSON In Zimbabwe, as an adult Peace Corp Volunteer, Terry Pearson learned about the importance of meditation. “Zimbabwe was dangerous, and I was lonely and fearful in the beginning,” she says. “Meditation transformed my life, and helped me cope with my emotions and find joy in the life that I was living in Africa. The Zimbabweans taught me much more than I taught them. It was one of the greatest learning experiences of my life, and they helped form who I am today.” When Pearson returned to the US, she completed the 8-week practicum in MBSR at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts, where she also volunteered. “I knew that I wanted to devote my purpose and life to spreading mindfulness in all areas of our society — healthcare, government, business, and schools.” Pearson, who is a pharmacist, and has worked in healthcare management and in the business sector, says, “I am especially interested in MBSR as an intervention tool for promoting health, wellbeing, and healing.” (editor’s note: see story about MBSR and PTSD in Veterans in this issue) A mindfulness teacher for 13 years now, she sees mindfulness instruction as a gift. “Teaching mindfulness has been a tremendous gift and it has enriched my life beyond measure,” she says. “Mindfulness allows us to connect to our inner strengths, our wisdom and our radiance. I am so grateful and honored to have this privilege of teaching.”
MARIANN JOHNSON “My mindfulness practice has been an extremely important part of my life for more than 20 years,” says Mariann Johnson. “A few years ago I felt like it was time to share these powerful and healing practices with others by teaching MBSR.” Johnson believes that building a greater sense of self, community, and of the surrounding environment, are only a few of the benefits of being a mindfulness teacher. “I find that the MBSR curriculum makes mindfulness training very accessible — even demystifies it as a concept — while building a powerful sense of community and caring amongst the participants,” she says. “I like to think of teaching as simply being in the circle with my students, and together exploring the fullness of the human condition in honest and compassionate ways. I always learn so much more from my students than I could ever teach.” Johnson, who teaches community mindfulness courses at the Center, says, “When I began my mindfulness practice, I wasn’t familiar with MBSR and I feel blessed to be able to teach it” now.” In addition to her work as a mindfulness teacher, Mariann is an organizational development consultant with a client list that includes Fortune 100/500 companies, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and educational institutions. She is also a mediator for the Minnesota Department of Human Rights.
15
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
SUSAN MILES
ROBB REED
Minnesota District Court Judge Susan Miles isn’t one to mince words. “The world would be a better place if everyone practiced mindfulness,” she says.
Robert “Robb” Reed has spent his entire career as a teacher. Whether it was teaching English to corporate executives in Tokyo, teaching in the Minneapolis Public Schools, or leading mindfulness courses, Reed has always had a special talent for guiding and coaching others.
A judge for nearly 19 years, Miles took up mindfulness practice as a way to better cope with her daily career stresses. “After experiencing a significant difference in my own life which I attribute to my mindfulness practice, I felt called to share with others the benefits of greater enjoyment of their personal and professional lives,” she says. “My job involves hearing and deciding all manner of cases, often in an emotionally-charged atmosphere. Cases all come down to listening to and dealing with people, whether they be lawyers or laypeople, sanguine or not,in as calm and even-handed manner as possible. Mindfulness plays a big role in doing my job well.” Miles became a mindfulness instructor in 2013. “I personally benefit from every story I hear from a student describing the difference mindfulness practice has made in his or her life,” she says. “I consider myself to be a patient listener and teacher whose objective is to make the practice as accessible as possible to all.” In addition to being a mindfulness teacher in the Center’s community classes, Susan also teaches the Center’s “Mindfulness for Judges and Lawyers” workshop.
“I was first introduced to mindfulness in 1993 when I attended a retreat led by Thich Nhat Hanh,” he says. “I came home with the passion and resolve to make meditation a life-long pursuit. My first efforts to teach mindfulness came more than a decade ago when my daughter was in elementary school. I wanted her to learn these skills, too, so I helped co-found and teach the children’s mindfulness program at Common Ground Meditation Center, my spiritual community.” He didn’t stop there. “In 2012, my professional life and my mindfulness practice came together in a tangible way. The Center for Spirituality & Healing team invited me to work with them to bring mindfulness to the public schools. It has been a wonderful and fulfilling experience.” Reed is currently working to help create the Center’s new “Mindfulness in Education” initiatives, and teaches Center MBSR courses in the community.
JEAN FAGERSTROM Jean Fagerstrom has been a counselor at the Walk-In Counseling Center for more than 17 years, and has worked with the National Alliance on Mental Illness-Minnesota, in their educational program. Currently, she is also an intake counselor at Catholic Charities. Her ability to learn from her students while teaching provides her a great deal of energy. “I became a mindfulness teacher because it combines two of my core interests: spiritual growth and psychological health. I’m deepening my own practice and always learning as I teach,” says Jean Fagerstrom, who has been teaching mindfulness at the Center since 2007. A long-time meditator, Fagerstrom is aware of the powerful benefits of a regular mindfulness practice. “Meditation has helped me be centered, grounded, and stable in the midst of surprising life changes, and it helps me with having a perspective, understanding that this is how things are right now and they will inevitably change.” She is also passionate about sharing those benefits, and helping make mindfulness accessible to students in all walks of life. “I hope that I can make the teachings accessible and relevant for everyone, allowing for differences in personality,” she says. “The MBSR course offers many tools for mindfulness, and participants may find some more useful to them than others. I ask everybody to try all of the practices offered, but at the end of the course we say to continue practicing what works for you.”
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
16
MERRA YOUNG
JEAN HALEY
For Merra Young, meditation and teaching are not just her jobs, they are her way of life.
Jean Haley’s teaching extends well beyond the classroom.
“Meditation has transformed my life and I love it. I’ve found it to be transformational in my own life, and in the lives of the clients that I work with, “she says. Young, a psychotherapist with her own private practice, is a co-founder of the Midwest Meditation and Psychotherapy Institute. “I offer supervision, consultation, and mentorship to other people in the mental health professions and I very much have been what I call a ‘Mindfulness-Based Integrative Psychotherapist,’” she says.
“I try to ‘walk the talk’ when teaching and embody the qualities I admire most — humility, compassion, and presence,” she says. “My long personal mindfulness practice, which includes two to three months a year of silent retreat practice, is the basis for everything that I teach, and I continue to learn new and exciting things as I deepen my own practice of mindfulness.” As a clinical social worker who teaches in a variety of settings — including the Center, the Shakopee Correctional Facility, and a private practice — Haley believes that mindfulness meditation has had a great impact upon her life. “The practice has transformed me in ways that I could never have imagined at the time,” Haley says. After spending years as a higher ed administrator and prior to becoming a social worker, she served as Vice President for Information Services and Technology at a small college. Haley’s passion for mindfulness led her to step outside her comfort zone and enter a new phase of life.
Young, who also teaches an academic course at the Center titled, “Emotional Healing and Happiness: Eastern and Western Approaches to Transforming the Mind,” has a broad range of clinical experience, including life transitions, grief, spirituality, health and illness, women’s issues, eating disorders, and addiction recovery. “I have been integrating mindfulness in mind body spirit practices in the mental health field and working with different populations for more than 35 years,” she says.
“When I decided to switch careers ten years ago as a result of what I had learned through my mindfulness practice, I knew I wanted to incorporate mindfulness into my professional work as a psychotherapist,” says Haley. “I also knew I wanted to work with both individuals oneon-one and with groups. I love the energy of people learning from and supporting one another!”
In addition to her mindfulness training, Young also has a background in Vipassana meditation and Yoga.
17
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
SUSAN FLANNIGAN For Susan Flannigan, healthcare isn’t just her job, it’s her passion. Flannigan has been a primary care provider in a family practice for 25 years, and has also worked one day a week in a chemical dependency treatment center for the last 24 years. Mindfulness has transformed the way in which she works with her patients, and has led to her becoming an MBSR teacher at the Center. “I have found the meditation practice to be beneficial in my own life and I wanted to give others a chance to experience the same benefit,” says Flannigan. “From a public health perspective, I see it as an ideal method of health promotion and prevention health care.” Flannigan brings with her a scientific background, research awareness, and knowledge from her clinical and meditation practice to support the content of the program. Her inspiration to become a mindfulness teacher surfaced when she learned about all of the benefits that being mindful can have. “I was motivated to become an MBSR teacher to help my patients with pain management, especially those with a history of chemical dependency,” she says. “It provides skills to live a healthier life in mind, body, and spirit, improves management of chronic diseases.”
ALEX HALEY As a high school student, Alex Haley had a math teacher who started the first few minutes of class with moments of quiet reflection. As a college freshman, Haley had a professor who started class on the first day with 20 minutes of silence. “That experience showed me the patterns of how people reacted when they were put into a new and different situation,” he says. “I was completely fascinated by this experience, and that’s one thing that led me to being a mindfulness practitioner and teacher today.” In law school, Haley learned how mindfulness skills can help people thrive in challenging environments.
Interest in mindfulness as a strategy for supporting teachers and students in educational setting is increasing dramatically. The Center, long a leader in providing individual and organizational education in MindfulnessBased Stress Reduction, is partnering with the Trust for Meditation Process to discover what makes some of the
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
While working full time as a corporate lawyer and business manager, Haley continued to focus on his mindfulness practice. “I was spending weeks and months in intensive retreat practice,” he says. “I would go away while working full time, and was using pretty much all of my vacation to go to mindfulness and meditation retreats.” Now, as an assistant professor in the Center’s mindfulness program, Haley wants to create bridges for new mindfulness opportunities. “I want to be a translator,” he says. “I’ve had to spend a lot of time on a more traditional track moving into the corporate world. I want to help bridge the worlds of the contemplative community with that of the business and legal communities.”
early leading programs around the nation so effective, and what teachers and administrators here in Minnesota need to implement mindfulness programs. Additional partners are encouraged to bring their ideas and resources to the initiative.
18
Student Stories STUDENT STORY: COLLEEN It is funny how some decisions you make in life take you in unexpected directions or lead you to unplanned experiences. I first heard about MBSR during my eating disorder treatment at The Emily Program last winter. Intrigued and curious, I decided to enroll in the summer program. I thought I knew what the experience would be like based on the course description, so my main goal for completing the program was to learn how to reduce the stress in my life. Our knowledgeable leader — Jean Fagerstrom — guided us through a variety of experiences all designed to decrease stress and increase mindfulness. Throughout the eight week program, I experienced body scanning, yoga, meditation, and Qi Gong to name a few. By the end of the program, I had developed a new set of mindfulness tools that I use each day. I was also pleasantly surprised to notice other areas of positive personal growth and healing: an increased sense of self; the ability to live in the moment and notice life; and, a decrease in my judgment of situations, myself, and others. Unintended journeys can be some of life’s greatest joys and wonderful inspirations. Thanks Jean!
STUDENT STORY: WILLIAM You know those every day things that eat away at you, like the incessant barking of a neighbor’s dog or that one person in your life who prances about on your last nerve? If only these annoyances were not part of our lives, how perfect things would be! Sometimes the cumulative weight can feel unbearable, and just when your patience dangles on its last thread, something truly upsetting happens. Such is life, no? Perhaps not. Perhaps these ‘imperfections’ are like the crackles and pops that surface naturally as a record spins. Through expert guidance provided by Jean Haley and the Center’s MBSR program, these are the things I’ve come to appreciate most about my life. Mornings spent at the Center enabled me to see how soulful, natural, and mysterious life can be, if only we let go of our desire to render it perfect. I learned that high-definition living does not occur when you wipe clean this texture-of-the-unexpected. In fact, I learned that by taking notice of how the system skips and repeats, as well as when the system appears worn or damaged, we stand our best chance of cultivating sincere compassion toward ourselves and others. Just when it seemed that MBSR had helped me the most, an even deeper epiphany occurred and continues to reveal itself during small, random pockets of my day. It is expressed beautifully in the first two lines of a poem by Mary Oliver, titled The Wild Geese, which reads, “You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” MBSR gifted me with a bona fide practice for reminding myself — particularly when I feel lost and just about to throw in the towel — that life itself, and our great fortune to ‘be’ is enough. We need not earn a sense of belonging. MBSR demonstrates how, by experiencing the miraculous process of breathing, we are already part of it all. As we partake in the inevitable suffering, irony, and paradox of life, we do so at the same table. I am most especially grateful for my instructor Jean Haley and fellow participants for cultivating this sense of solidarity, which will undoubtedly last a lifetime. Dr. William Brendel Assistant Professor Organization Learning & Development University of St Thomas
19
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
STUDENT STORY: BRYAN The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course was a wonderful experience for me. It was a beautiful space to step into each week. I’m finding the greatest benefit from the course is that I now feel like I trust the present moment more. I didn’t realize how much I was always trying to control my emotions or what I was experiencing. I now find it easier to simply lean into what is happening in the “now”. STUDENT STORY: ANIKA “I was first introduced to mindfulness by my colleague, Dr. Susan Everson-Rose, PhD, MPH.” It became the basis of a research study we developed that introduced MBSR to AfricanAmerican women in North Minneapolis.
I am coming to terms with just how much anxiety has dictated some of the decisions in my life so far. Through being still, I feel like I am shedding some of those layers that have held me back from deep, meaningful connection with those around me.
MBSR has helped create space between me and the daily stressors I face. I’m no longer held hostage by my fears and anxiety. The more I opened myself up to embrace it, the more I grew in my practice. It is now a part of my life. I’m proud of myself for adopting this form of self-care. My decision-making is clear and compassionate, my interpersonal relationships are blossoming. Even in the midst of the occasional chaos, I manage to find a comfortable pace. The ANIKA Foundation, in partnership with CSH, hosts a Stress-Busters series that shares elements of MBSR, including yoga, stretching, meditation and other stress-relieving techniques at the Robbins Urban Wellness Retreat on a monthly basis in North Minneapolis. I’m excited to share these lifesaving, stress-relieving techniques with a community that can benefit greatly from it. Anika Robbins Executive Director The Anika Foundation
It was incredibly powerful to notice the shift in my energy and perspective when I left class every week. There were days when it felt like a hassle to make the drive there, but I always left feeling so glad that I showed up. It will be a life-long journey for me to implement a mindfulness practice into my daily routine, but this course certainly gave me the tools to do so. I am extremely grateful to the Center for providing such a powerful resources, not only to myself, but to everyone in our community. Bryan Piatt
+++
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
20
Meet Sue
Nankivell Director of Business Development and Community Relations
I’VE ALWAYS BEEN FASCINATED BY PEOPLE. WE’RE AMAZINGLY COMPLEX — SO FRAGILE AND YET SO STRONG, WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR INCREDIBLE RESILIENCY AND THE ABILITY TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS INDIVIDUALLY AND COLLECTIVELY. WE ADAPT TO OUR WORLD, REALIZE OUR FULL POTENTIAL, INTERACT WITH OTHERS, AND COLLABORATE TO FORM CONNECTIONS. Throughout my career, I’ve employed what I learned in my psychology and sociology degrees to build strong, collaborative, and productive connections within my organizations, through partnerships and with clients — alliances built to co-create and achieve collective goals. As much as I enjoyed working with organizations from Fortune 500 business like major airline and travel companies, to smaller organizations that included marketing agencies, something was missing. It was satisfying to work hard and achieve goals, however, without a larger humancentered context, the victories seemed hollow. When I had the opportunity to work for a national behavioral health consulting company whose mission it was to help organizations support their employees and create healthy workplaces, I jumped at the chance. In my role as Vice President of Account Services, I partnered with organizations of all sizes and in a variety of industries, with an emphasis on healthcare, to support employee and organizational wellbeing. I was with the company for seven years before the opportunity to join the Center for Spirituality & Healing as Director of Business Development and Community Relations presented itself.
21
What drew me to the Center was its focus on integrative health and wellbeing from an individual, family, community, and organizational viewpoint. The Center’s Wellbeing Model really resonates with me; it identifies and elegantly describes the 6 dimensions that contribute to our wellbeing as individuals and as part of a whole. With each of these dimensions recognized and defined, steps can be taken to achieve wellbeing within each and every facet of our lives. In partnership with our amazing faculty and staff, my role at the Center is to build strong, collaborative relationships, and to develop and implement programs that advance our vision of a world in which people, organizations, and communities flourish. Whether you’re interested in educating your staff in integrative therapies; introducing the benefits of mindfulness in the classroom at your school; engaging in leadership coaching to strengthening your emotional intelligence; offering a course on mindfulness and wellbeing in your workplace; employing consulting services to strengthen organizational wellbeing or a program to strengthen your community, I’m ready to collaborate with you! I look forward to hearing from you at 612.626.2395 or sue@umn.edu. — Sue Nankivell +++
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
When I first became aware of mindfulnessbased meditation, my initial reaction was, “this is nothing new — this is what I do every time I make a photograph! I’ve been striving to get better at this my whole life.”
SLOW DOWN A lesson in appreciating life more, and better dealing with stress BY CRAIG BLACKLOCK To be a landscape photographer, I must hone my ability to focus and temporarily exclude stresses and worries of my everyday life, including any current distractions around me. I must concentrate on what is happening within the frame of my composition, primarily at the present moment, while secondarily remembering what has just occurred, which helps me anticipate what might happen in the near future. I must first identify the elements I want to include, then arrange each element to clearly tell my story, making sure there are no technical or compositional mistakes that would distract the viewer from seeing the composition as I intended. If there are changing elements within the scene, such as the waves in these photographs, I must recognize the temporal patterns as well.
Being mindful helps me to focus mentally as well as physically. What is more, if I am to create images that go beyond mere recordings — images capable of eliciting emotional responses from my viewers — I must be cognizant of my own feelings and responses to what I’m photographing. To do this requires a dramatic slowing down. When I make photography trips, it takes a day or two to sufficiently put on the brakes. Then something magical happens. I start seeing relationships. Patterns appear. Rhythms, lines, colors, textures, all the elements making up my compositions gradually emerge from what had previously appeared as chaos. Within this quiet setting, I’m also more aware of my place within the environment. Often, when I set up to make an image, another composition reveals itself from the same location, simply because I’ve paused long enough to see what is around me.
Clearly, photography is not the only way to reach this state of concentration. Think of slowly savoring every bite of a gourmet meal. Making music, gardening, and many other activities allow us to isolate ourselves for a period of time, and enter into a different state of mind. This mindset may not be without its own stresses. When I’m waiting for wind to stop blowing, or hoping the sky will clear before the sun sets, when I’m selecting a lens for a once in a lifetime photograph, I am certainly feeling stress — but it is a good stress. In this situation, I’m in control of what can be controlled, and can overcome challenges within my abilities. I feel an adrenaline rush, and all my senses wake up as I embrace the moment with a heightened emotional response, followed by an awareness of my surroundings. I’m like a shortstop who must execute a double play to win a game, as he is waiting for the pitch to be thrown. This is what I’ve trained for, and I’m ready! When things that are beyond control don’t go as I’d hoped, I can easily accept that nature’s random patterns did not play out in my favor, and I may simply have to settle for having a wonderful outing. Allowing yourself time to slip away into a state of “quiet mind” each day certainly has its benefits. But are there also lessons from this that we can apply when someone triggers unhealthy stress, by doing something unfair, harmful, or irrational? More and more, we are recognizing that we can sometimes deal with this kind of stress by noticing how we are reacting to the stress and choosing our response. Our response may be as simple as changing how we perceive it. Can we rename it, re-categorize it, view it in a way that transforms it from something incapacitating, into something familiar — something we know we have the skills to handle? Renaming a bad stress as a recognizable good stress allows us to regain our equilibrium, then confidently and rationally work through the problem. Either we can come up with a way to solve it, or if it is unsolvable with our skill set, we can seek help from others. If we recognize neither option is possible, then removing ourselves from the situation is far better than getting beaten up fighting an unwinnable battle! The more we practice this, the more agile we become at identifying and dealing with stress in a positive way. Every time we overcome something that would have previously left us feeling worn down and depressed, we achieve a self-confidence-boosting victory, strengthening our ability to better deal with the next challenge. +++
Craig Blacklock’s photos and books, featuring images from Lake Superior, the Apostle Islands, and more, can be seen on his website at www.blacklockgallery.com CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
22
I allowed myself a week to make each of these photographs. The first day or two I did more watching and questioning than photographing. I knew the longer I observed Superior’s waves, the more time I let their rhythms become part of me, the better my final image would be. Simply sitting on the beach changed how I felt. I wanted the images to deliver that same feeling to the viewers. Each hour of the day the sun changed its penetration of the water and differing amounts of scintillations were etched over the surface of the waves. A hazy sky would lessen the contrast, cloudy light created foglike waves void of sparkles. Different levels of waves dramatically changed what I was able to see of the rocks below. I experimented with various shutter speeds to see which imbued the images with the emotional sentiment I felt. During all of this, my vision and concentration was focused on nothing but what happened as each individual wave washed over the veined bedrock.
23
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
Leadership for
Individual, Organizational, and Global Wellbeing
Center Launches
BY CINDY WILCOX Over time, the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality & Healing has broadened its vision beyond the utilization of integrative therapies to enhancing the health and wellbeing of people, organizations, and communities across the world. The creation of the Center’s Wellbeing Model set the stage for what is emerging as a new focus area for the Center — Leadership for Individual, Organizational, and Global Wellbeing. Leadership and leadership development is never an end in and of itself, rather it is a means and a catalyst for creating the type of change you want in the world. Leadership for wellbeing translates into helping people learn the frameworks, strategies, and skills that will allow them to move their personal leadership and the systems in which they are involved into greater states of health and wellbeing. The new series of course offerings draws on the Center’s core competency in integrative health and wellbeing, combined with faculty expertise in leadership, organizational, and community systems. Faculty for our new courses have backgrounds in leadership development, culture and cultural systems, education, I/O psychology, business, organizational strategy, sustainability, systems theory, and social change. COURSES WILL BE ORGANIZED AROUND ONE OF FOUR CONCENTRATION AREAS: • Whole Person Leadership • Leadership and Organizational Wellbeing • Leadership and Community Wellbeing • Whole Systems Healing
Whole Person Leadership The first concentration area offers a grounding and focus on the whole person — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. It invites people to examine their own wellbeing and resilience, how they impact those around them, and ways in which it their wellbeing is contributing to or detracting from their ability to have the impact they want. It invites leaders and future leaders to spend more time focusing on their way of being (leadership
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
presence), not just their having and doing. In the process, mindfulness skills, higher-level emotional intelligence, and resilience will be fostered and developed, preparing learners more effectively for leadership roles. The goal is to ensure we are producing fewer “toxic leaders” and more leaders who view their contributions through a lens of sustainability and wellbeing. COURSES IN THIS AREA INCLUDE: • Being Leaders: The Qualities and Practices of Whole Person Leadership IN DEVELOPMENT • Embodied Leadership: Mind-Body Skills for the High Impact Leader • Emotional Intelligence and Mindfulness for Leaders • Leadership Resilience and Renewal
Leadership and Organizational Wellbeing Leadership and Organizational Wellbeing focuses primarily on an examination of what contributes to organizational wellbeing, how leaders can create cultures of wellbeing in their organizations, and the role of leaders in reducing suffering and increasing wellbeing among their employees. It turns out that employees are much more satisfied and productive when the needs of their whole person are considered in the workplace: physical, through opportunities to regularly renew and recharge; emotional, by feeling valued and appreciated, and enjoying healthy relationships at work; mental, when they have the opportunity to focus in an absorbed way on their most important tasks and define when and where they get their work done; and spiritual, by doing more of what they do best and enjoy most, and by feeling connected to a higher purpose at work. In addition to examining the role of leaders in creating environments in which people can thrive, we will consider the “self as instrument” literature and ways in which leaders can develop and influence through healing
24
New Focus Area
presence and healing practices. Angeles Arrien’s Fourfold Way highlights the universal leadership archetypes that appear in all indigenous traditions — leader as warrior (truth-teller), leader as visionary, leader as teacher, and leader as healer. In western science, we have developed a strong body of scientific literature on leader as visionary, quite a bit on leader as warrior in connecting leadership to courage and right action, and more recently leader as teachers through a “leaders teaching leaders” approach to organizational leadership development. What is missing is the leader as healer. Leaders working from a healer archetype understand their absolute responsibility to enhance the wellbeing of those around them and the planet as a whole, through both their actions and presence.
indigenous and other culturally-based wisdom traditions have historically been more grounded in both systems thinking and sustainability practices and approaches, we will consider leadership learnings from other (nonwestern) wisdom traditions and perspectives.
COURSES IN THIS AREA INCLUDE: • Mindfulness in the Workplace • Wellbeing in the Workplace
Every week, I have conversations with people who are trying to reduce suffering in their workplace, enhance connectedness and support within their community, or find a way to influence an organization or larger system to behave in healthier and more humane ways. We, at the Center, are also an active experimenter with our internal leadership models and approaches, seeking to integrate mindfulness, ethical communications, creativity, compassion and gratitude, and adaptive action into our ways of organizing and leading our work. We know that we humans created the very systems that are causing us so much pain and struggle now, and we are in deep inquiry together on how to find different approaches to work and life that are life-giving, support our wellbeing, and contribute to sustainability on the planet.
IN DEVELOPMENT • Leader as Healer • Developing a Culture of Wellbeing
Whole Systems Healing Whole Systems Healing is a way of thinking, leading, and healing that prepares us to be agents of individual growth, social change, and environmental restoration. By cultivating the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities, and the environment, we become more aware of the interconnectedness of all living systems. The Whole Systems Healing program operates within the framework of systems thinking, which emphasizes interdependence and the need to consider the whole system when seeking to effect change. The Center’s work on Whole Systems Healing began with funding from Charlson Meadows, and resulted in 8 free online learning modules, including one on Whole Systems Leadership. We are now extending that work to include principles for leadership within living systems, including knowledge gleaned from our integrative health and wellbeing roots, as well as newer scientific inquiries in fields like biomimicry. Given that many
25
COURSES IN THIS AREA INCLUDE: • Ecosystems of Wellbeing • Whole Systems Healing: Health and the Environment IN DEVELOPMENT • The Wisdom Traditions of Leadership: Leadership from a Global Perspective • Leading Living Systems: Emergence, Co-creation, and Flow
Through this body of work, we hope to support students in being our future advocates and activists for wellbeing in their careers and lives, and provide practical leadership tools and approaches to creating wellbeing in our organizational and community settings. We will mirror our academic offerings with external work with organizational and community partners in areas including employee wellbeing, leadership resilience and renewal, cultivating organizational positivity, emotional intelligence and mindfulness, organizational wellbeing assessments, leadership wellbeing practices, creating healthy cultures, and whole systems healing. +++
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
26
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction instructor Terry Pearson, center, leads a stress-release class Tuesday in the Mayo Building. Classes are offered throughout the semester and aim to help participants deal and cope with stress, pain, illness and the demands of everyday life.
27
Photo: Amanda Schwengel
AUTUMN 2015 MANDALA
www.csh.umn.edu Mayo Memorial Building MMC #505 420 Delaware St. S.E. Minneapolis, MN 55455
SPRING COURSES 2016 Courses are open to students and the general public.
CSPH 5212
Peace building through Mindfulness
CSPH 5215
Forgiveness and Healing
CSPH 5226 Advanced Meditation: Body, Brain, Mind, and Universe CSPH 1000 Topics 002: Technology and Your Wellbeing CSPH 1001
Principles of Holistic Health & Healing
CSPH 5226 Advanced Meditation: Body, Brain, Mind, and Universe 002
CSPH 1211
Creating a Meaningful Life
CSPH 5311
Intro to Traditional Chinese Medicine
CSPH 3001
Introduction to Integrative Healing
CSPH 5315
Traditional Tibetan Medicine
CSPH 3101
Creating Ecosystems of Well-Being
CSPH 5317
Yoga: Ethics, Spirit, Healing
CSPH 3201
Intro to MBSR-001
CSPH 5343
Ayurveda Medicine
CSPH 3201
Intro to MBSR-002
CSPH 3201
Intro to MBSR-003
CSPH 5401 People, Plants, and Drugs: Intro to Ethnopharmacology
CSPH 3211
Living on Purpose 001
CSPH 3301 Food Choices: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves CSPH 4311 Foundation of Hatha Yoga: Alignment & Movement Principles CSPH 4312
Hatha Yoga Philosophy, Lifestyle, & Ethics
CSPH 4313 Hatha Yoga Teaching Principles & Methodology
CSPH 5431 Functional Nutrition: An Expanded View of Nutrition, Chronic Disease, and Optimal Health CSPH 5503
Aromatherapy Fundamentals
CSPH 5535
Reiki Healing 001
CSPH 5535
Reiki Healing 002
CSPH 5535
Reiki Healing 003-Rochester
CSPH 5536
Advanced Reiki Healing: Level II
CSPH 5000
Walking into Wellbeing
CSPH 5555 Intro to Body & Movement-based Therapies
CSPH 5000
Our Dreaming Mind
CSPH 5561
Creative Arts in Health & Healing
CSPH 5000 Cross Cultural Engagement in Health Education
CSPH 5631
Healing Imagery I
CSPH 5641
Animals in Health Care
CSPH 5000 Tibetan Medicine: Creating & Sustaining a Healthy Mind
CSPH 5642
Nature Heals
CSPH 5702
Fundamentals of Health Coaching II - 001
CSPH 5702
Fundamentals of Health Coaching II - 002
CSPH 5705
Health Coaching Professional Internship
CSPH 5707
Coaching People with Clinical Conditions
CSPH 5000
Yoga and Psychology
CSPH 5000
Preventing Chronic Pain
CSPH 5000
Whole Person, Whole Community
CSPH 5000 Being Leaders: The Qualities and Practices of Whole Person Leadership CSPH 5101
Intro to Integrative Healing Practices-001
CSPH 5101
Intro to Integrative Healing Practices-002
CSPH 5102
Art of Healing: Self as Healer-001
CSPH 5102
Art of Healing: Self as Healer-002
CSPH 5115 Cultural Awareness, Knowledge and Health CSPH 5121 Whole Systems Healing: Health & the Environment CSPH 5201
Spirituality and Resilience
CSPH 5708 Mind-Body Science and the Art of Transformation CSPH 5806
Wellbeing & Resilience for Health Profs
CSPH 8701
Health Coaching Capstone Project
Learn more and register at onestop.umn.edu or contact Erin at fider002@umn.edu