Classes and Workshops

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                        Family Communication

The words we use can invoke powerful ideas and feelings. Research shows clear

and consistent messages from parents to be one of the most important factors influencing a teenager's behavioral decisions including alcohol or drug use. 

Direct and honest discussion benefits all
family members and creates a setting of trust where all voices can be respectfully heard.​​

This unique program has been carefully designed to assist parents in raising resilient youth. Children today face seemingly ever-present pressures to become involved in a variety of unhealthy activities in their lives. Research shows that healthy emotional development is most likely to result when a child:

• is allowed to safely express their emotions

•  lives in an environment of honesty and trust

• has parents who model healthy behavior

• experiences love, acceptance, understanding and affection

The curriculum of this award-winning program includes strengthening parent-child communication skills and family bonding, defining family responsibilities and setting effective expectations and consequences on important issues. 

This parent workshop is structured as a series of 90 minute sessions over 5 weeks.

                                 Your Stress

Life is full of emotional highs and lows. Writing is a powerful means of self-expression that can alleviate stress and enhance well-being. 30 years of nationally recognized research has connected the process of writing our feelings down on paper to better health: reducing heart rate and blood pressure, minimizing stress, strengthening the immune system and improving your self-esteem.     

This 5-week workshop is designed and organized as a progression of writing activities, each one building on the other. No writing experience is necessary. The guided orientation will enable you to identify what “keeps you up at night” and to express it, with pen and paper, for only you to read. The workshop includes:

• Expressive writing - to remove obstacles and move beyond an emotional event.

• Transactional writing - take care of unfinished business and convey your feelings, expectations, and intentions.
  

• Story telling - your story as you wish to tell it.
  

• Affirmative writing - express your intentions for your best future self. 
  

• Legacy writing - tell loved ones about your values, major life lessons and turning points.​​
  

     This expressive writing workshop consists      of a series of 90 minute sessions over 5      weeks. ​           

                            Mindful Mediation

A 2014 Harvard Medical School research study has scientifically linked mindful meditation to increased brain function. Major increases in gray matter density were detected in the hippocampus of participants that practiced mindfulness exercises for 27 min. per day over just 8 weeks. 

It has been estimated that stress can be an underlying cause of nearly 80% of illnesses. Stress comes in many forms. Often stress is so much a part of our routine that we fail to recognize it as a problem. These hidden stressors continually barrage us and over time they can result in a wide range of health conditions such as:   

• premature aging 

• degenerative disease 

• insomnia

• indigestion

• high blood pressure 

• heartburn 

• addictions to alcohol, drugs and tobacco 
  

We offer mindfulness techniques such as guided relaxation, mindful breathing, meditation and aromatherapy to restore and rebalance the body and mind. The healing and therapeutic impact of these practices has been the subject of many medical research studies.

Recent scientifically-proven benefits include:
Boosted serotonin levels

• Decreased anxiety
  
• Improved sleep
  
• Enhanced immune system
  
• Stabilized blood sugar levels
  
• Released muscle tension
  
• Prevention of premature aging and illnesses​​

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