New Paradigms in Medicine: From Holistic -> Alternative -> Complementary -> Integrative

This course in mind-body medicine will teach you how to live questions and how to develop therapeutic skills of guided imagery and mindfulness meditation. We will look and listen within to discover the message and meaning hidden inside our pain and our symptoms of the body, mind, heart and spirit. We will learn how to be with what we find with wisdom and compassion. Illness is an opportunity to embark on a journey of self-healing and awakening, to come home to our true and authentic self.

Through guided inquiry, silent reflection, meditation, lecture and case histories, you will learn to apply the principles of mind-body healing in your clinical practice and/or your life.

Mindfulness is the practice of becoming more fully awareof the present moment ... be here now....and is a mind-body medicine evidence based therapy for reducing and treating stress and its clinical effects and promoting mind-body health and healing. Of all visits to primary care physicians, 75-90% are for stress-related complaints.

This practical and experiential workshop will focus on the application and integration of mindfulness meditation practice and teachings as therapeutic support for people with stress related disorders. Studies show its health enhancing benefits in treating people with a wide range of common conditions and health concerns such as anxiety, depression, sleep, weight, chronic pain syndromes, IBS, PTSD, high BP, immune disorders, skin disorders, eating disorders and generalized chronic stress exacerbating all clinical conditions, illness and symptoms.

We'll explore what is mindfulness, how is it attained, understand its rationale for use and what are its benefits physiologically, cognitively, behaviorally, emotionally and spiritually ...how, when and why it works and gets clinical results. We'll discuss how mindfulness practice is also important for the physician in cultivating an unconditional healing presence, compassion and qualities of being that enhance the therapeutic relationship, compliance and outcome.

This workshop will combine lecture, discussion, case histories and guided meditations and support for further study, learning and practice for the clinical application and integration of mindfulness in a naturopathic primary care context.