Sign up for our Free Information Sessions and/or our 8-week Introductory Course on Mindfulness:
Interested in Mindfulness? If you have a PTSD claim approved by WorkSafeBC, we have a course for you!
Lunchtime Mindfulness Sessions
Schedule: Every Tuesday, 12:00-1:00pm PST
Platform: Conducted online via Zoom
Facilitator: Dr. Jano Klimas
To ensure access, pre-registration is required; the Zoom access link will be provided upon registration at https://shorturl.at/iwxE1.
Please pre-register via this link: https://shorturl.at/iwxE1.
Some participation guidelines
The lunchtime meditations are not offered as therapy nor meant to replace any other therapy that you are undertaking at the West Coast Resiliency Centre. There are times when practicing mindfulness may become challenging and you are strongly advised to stay within your “window of tolerance”.
What is window of tolerance?
People are best able to cope with stressors and triggers when they can manage the resulting emotions. The window of tolerance is a useful concept to help you understand how to regulate emotions and the arousal if you’ve experienced traumatic incidents.
Dr. Dan Siegel, MD describes this window as the: “optimal zone of arousal for a person to function in everyday life. When a person is operating within this zone or window, they can effectively manage and cope with their emotions.”
Here is a copy of the Window of Tolerance graphic created by the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine that you can download for free and make sense of what’s going on when you’re feeling dysregulated and out of your window of tolerance.
Trauma can affect your window of tolerance in many different ways. If during a meditation, you feel like you are outside your window of tolerance, here are some things you can do:
stop the meditation
stand up and move around
open your eyes if they are closed
walk and feel sensations in the legs or feet
shift your attention outside, to sounds, or sights, or touch
name 5 things you see, hear or feel
take slow, deliberate breaths, with longer exhalations
private chat your teacher
drink some water
For more strategies you can use to stay within your window of tolerance, be sure to check out the resources at the National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine. You can also listen to trauma therapist Vanessa Pezo, LCSW discussing the concept of the window of tolerance on The Healing Trauma Podcast.
About postures: We will follow the convention of using "sit" or "sitting meditation" to refer to periods of stationary practice, but you can do a lying down practice if that's your normal meditation posture. Also, the gentle mindful movement stretches can be substituted for walking meditation, depending on what works best for your body.
The mindfulness sessions also follow the group agreements:
Confidentiality and privacy – what is shared in the group stays in the group
Refrain from advice giving
No cross talk, or private chats.
Free Mindfulness Info Sessions Thursday, May 2nd & Thursday, May 16th, 2024:
PTSD Treatment for Occupational Therapists: An Evidence-Based Approach (coming soon).
Learn practical strategies for the treatment of individuals suffering from PTSD from experienced occupational therapists and psychologists. Pre-register below!