Meeting Minutes - June 1, 2016

Posted by Dave Read & Jim Bush on Jun 01, 2016

MIA: Tom Breen, Eric Chapman, Kim Clement, Marie Fessler, Gary Haigh, Debbie LeMoyne, Tina Medina, Marty Medina, Anne Morrell, Peter Park, Arnie Pechler, Dave Pray, Jenn Preston, Chris Santelli, Cindy Surline, Leslie Vecchiotti, Andy Wahl, Bob Yost.

Guests: Shirley Bassage, Inga Rojas

Students: Lindsay Howell, Jose Nunez, Sofia

In our thoughts: Chris Santelli; John Deisenroth; Maurina's sister-in-law battling cancer; Jane Culver (home from hospital.)

Happy Bucks:

• Stacey Wicksall forgot her ABC's book (don't forget to sign it when you can!)

• Bob Sloan & clan spent a great weekend in the Adirondacks (at a private lodge and lake)

• Mark Kramer expressed his gratitude for veterans, the cemetery clean-up campaign, time on Keuka Lake

Remember - Bill Dean announced July 16th as Rotary Night at the Red Wings game, vs. Norfolk Tides.

Also that night - still some spots needing filling at Hill Cumorah. (Please!)

"When, Where, I'll Be There!" Leslie Vecchiotti soliciting signatures for list of people needing help on jobs/projects too demanding for them to complete alone. Fellow members will volunteer to assist on such projects. "Members helping Members", she says. Great idea for Rotarians! See Leslie to get your name on the list - in both capacities, if need be.

Brian Brooks introduced guest speaker, Inga Rojas, who enlightened club members on the topic of "Mindfulness" - or, "paying attention on purpose". Google the term and you'll be amazed at how comprehensive this practice has become. Inga has been employed by Catholic Charities of Wayne County, and presents mindfulness sessions to kids as young as UPK, Kindergarteners, and on up through 8th grade. She demonstrated one tool of the art, a singing bowl. When she circled the lip of the bowl with a wooden mallet, the bowl sang and resonated harmonics for many seconds. The idea she uses with the children is to invite them to listen intently and see how long they can hear the bowl sing. In practice, the effects can regulate anxiety, pain and depression. With the kids, it almost immediately helps them focus their attention, energies, and, well, "mindfulness".

An online description says "Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment.

Mindfulness also involves acceptance, meaning that we pay attention to our thoughts and feelings without judging them—without believing, for instance, that there’s a “right” or “wrong” way to think or feel in a given moment. When we practice mindfulness, our thoughts tune into what we’re sensing in the present moment rather than rehashing the past or imagining the future.

Though it has its roots in Buddhist meditation, a secular practice of mindfulness has entered the American mainstream in recent years, in part through the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn and his Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, which he launched at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979. Since that time, thousands of studies have documented the physical and mental health benefits of mindfulness in general and MBSR in particular, inspiring countless programs to adapt the MBSR model for schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans centers, and beyond."

A very interesting program. Thank you, Brian and Inga.

Last but not least -

Dues! Dues! Dues! That means they're due!