Our speaker for January 24 - Diana Wightman

Today’s guest speaker was Diana (Canby) Wightman, a former member of our Club.  She is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and spoke to us today on Mindfulness Meditation.  Diane works with RAIN project and also Project Understanding.  She also works for the Camarillo Health Care District and has a private practice, focusing on abuse, mood disorders, homelessness and betrayal.

Her interest in mindfulness mediation developed out of her two premature deliveries.  (Her boys are doing great.  They are almost teenagers.)  As she learned how people deal with these issues, she decided to go back to school to study psychology.

Some years ago she learned about mindfulness meditation, which focuses on present-moment awareness.  The Vietnamese monk she trained with is in his ‘80’s and travels around the world teaching this.  The idea is our five senses integrate together.  She teaches eating meditation and walking meditation, among others.  She led us through two exercises on eating meditation.

She passed out two chocolate treats.  First exercise, to close our eyes and ask: what do you sense?  Hear?  (Hear the rustling of tinfoil?  Little noises about the table?) Smell?  Feel?  Can you feel the chair?  Or your feet on the floor?  Take a breath:  it is cool when you take the breath, and warm when you exhale.  Take a breath to the count of four, hold it for a count of three, exhale for a count of five – slow, deep, relaxing breaths.

Then, put the chocolate in your hand.  Feel the weight of it.  Feel the shape.  Smell it.  Is it strong?  Gentle?  Put it on your tongue and wait.  Let it melt.  How does your mouth respond?  Breathe in and out again, being aware of how you feel.  Is there any difference from when you began the exercise?  What are your reactions?  Tim Hughes was reminded of smelling the chocolate from the Hershey plant he walked by as a youngster on his way to school.

Exercise #2:  Relaxing under pressure.  Continue deep, slow breathing, but relaxing muscles and relaxing thoughts.  This helps to focus, when lots of demands have added stress and pressure to us.  Just through deep breathing, you may feel yourself calming down.  Now focus on muscles:  relax the shoulders.  Relax your hands, let them open up, and rest them by your side.  Relax the jaw.  Then as you breathe, listen to statements, such as “I am calm”  “I am relaxed”, etc.  When you open your eyes, notice your senses.

Diana has some CD’s coming out shortly.  You can find out more at her website, www.BeginHomeAndHealing.com.  Thank you, Diana, for a very informative (and relaxing) program.   

Rocky Ludes