Mindfulness

“Mindfulness can best be described as an intentional focused awareness – a way of paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally.” (Jon Kabat-Zinn).

This uncritical presence helps us cultivate a different relationship with our experiences, one that allows us to meet the world as it is with curiosity, openness, and kindness rather than resistance and fear. Mindfulness invites us to be fully awake for each moment of our lives and for those around us. It builds the inner resources to take better care of ourselves and develops our resources for coping, growing, and healing.

 

Benefits

Practicing mindfulness, whether through meditation or in daily life, cultivates mental and physical resilience and an ability to deal with stressors and life circumstances with more patience and discernment. These benefits, and others, have been documented through 40 years of research. Here are some of the most common benefits of cultivating mindfulness:

ABOUT THE TEACHER

Celine Kavalec Celine has been an educator for 30 years at Valencia College in different capacities, but always connected to teaching. Currently, she directs the Teaching/Learning Academy, a nationally recognized program that supports professors as they expand and improve their practice and and earn tenure. Dis-ease and relational pain led her to meditation nearly 20 years ago, when she learned to meditate from an energy healer, Maria De St Croix, in Red Bank, New Jersey. This early mantra-based meditation method eventually transformed into mindfulness mediation after taking her first MBSR. The journey from college professor to teacher trainer, to MBSR instructor was organic for Celine, a natural evolution in her consciousness and teacher development as a teacher. Celine is a qualified MBSR instructor, trained through the University of Massachusetts Center for Mindfulness Teacher Training program. She currently teaches mindfulness to students and faculty at Valencia and in Central Florida community. She entered teaching because of a desire to help others and sees mindfulness as the means to bring healing to others. She wishes presence and peace to all.