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You Deserve to Take a Meditative Pause

Join SLCC faculty Heidi O’Donoghue and Andrea Malouf each week for Meditative Pause for People in Higher Education. Each week we will take a break from doing and problem-solving to come together for ½ hour sessions to connect, relax and center via web-ex. We’ll explore breathing and relaxation techniques, as well as best practices for mindful communication and well-being. Each session will include a very brief introduction to the weekly topic, a guided meditation and then a short group reflection.


No prior experience or registration required. Just join when you can. If you’d like to receive weekly web-ex reminders, please send your email and your department name to Andrea (andrea.malouf@slcc.edu) or Heidi (heidi.o’donoghue@slcc.edu). Or just email with questions.


Fall Session 2020: Tuesdays from 1–1:30 p.m., August 27–December 10, 2020
Spring Session 2021: TBA from 1–1:30 p.m.  January 13–April 28, 2021


To Join: Click on the WebEx link (Andrea's WebEx room). It may ask you to download the WebEx app, which takes a few seconds and is free. Be sure you have access to your computer or smart phone’s audio (video also preferred, but not completely necessary).


A canvas site is now available with resources from each week’s session, so you can better incorporate this work into your daily life. 


Bios:

Heidi O’Donoghue is an Adjunct Faculty at Salt Lake Community College where she teaches The Theory and Practice of Meditation in the Exercise Science Department. Heidi is a certified Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) teacher through Brown University’s Center for Mindfulness in the School of Public Health. Heidi works as an independent contractor for Salt Lake City School District teaching MBSR and other mindfulness trainings to teachers, administrators, school counselors and social workers. She is also a registered yoga teacher through Yoga Alliance and a certified Yoga Nidra teacher through the iRest Institute.


Andrea Malouf is a Professor at Salt Lake Community College. Her work in contemplative practices includes training and assisting meditation facilitation with Time Out Associates in the late 1990s. Most recently she has trained through the Center for Renewal and Wholeness in Higher Education and through the national Association of Contemplative Mind in Higher Education. She is a member of the SLCC Center for Authentic Leadership and Mindfulness and has facilitated a two-day retreat in 2020 and weekly Meditative Pause retreats in spring and summer of 2020 with Heidi O’Donoghue. And while it is different, but relative, she is also a trained mediator through the Utah Dispute Resolution/Utah State Bar Association, and she is one of SLCC’s conflict resolution mediators.


Testimonials from May 2020 Meditative Pause for People in Higher Education

“Thank you Andrea and Heidi once again for organizing these weekly meditative sessions. I am a firm believer in meditation, as I practice it on my own. But these weekly sessions really worked for me because it was a time for reflection as well. What I really liked about these sessions was the fact that each session centered around a theme. For instance Andrea yesterday you focused on “not trying to fix anything,” so while I was meditating I was consciously trying to led go of things that are beyond my control and that helped. When I meditative I don’t generally reflect on anything in particular but your sessions made us all reflect on issues and that helped, at least for me. I would definitely be interested if you continue with these sessions. Thank you once again.” — Aarti Nakra
 
“I found these session to be very valuable and re-energizing. Not to put too much on it, but I feel these are more valuable now than ever. I would be very interested in these in the future.” — Matt S. Merkel

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