UF Mindfulness Day 2016
"Integrating Mindfulness in Life"
Keynote Talks
Michael ("Mickey") Singer "Living Life Mindfully"
UF Smathers Library Room 100. Sept. 26, 2016
(4:30 pm to 6:00 pm).
Michael A. Singer (Mickey) is the author of the New York Times bestsellers: The Untethered Soul and The Surrender Experiment. He had a deep inner awakening in 1971 while working on his doctorate in economics at UF and went into seclusion to focus on yoga and meditation. In 1975, he founded Temple of the Universe, a now long-established yoga and meditation center where people of any religion or set of beliefs can come together to experience inner peace. He is also the creator of a leading-edge software package that transformed the medical practice management industry, and founding CEO of a billion dollar public company whose achievements are archived in the Smithsonian Institution. Along with his more than four decades of spiritual teaching, Michael has made major contributions in the areas of business, education, healthcare, the arts, and environmental protection.
Abstract
There are many popular techniques for practicing mindfulness, such as meditation and yoga. These practices are very effective, but how do you actually integrate mindfulness into your everyday life? Michael Singer will discuss the tremendous impact of living each moment of your life with complete mindful awareness. Oprah said of Singer’s The Untethered Soul, “It’s what I give to everybody who wants to have a better life.” Come and learn from Michael how to transform your life through mindfulness.
Lou Ritz "Meditation, Wellness, and the Brain"
UF Smathers Library Room 100. Sept. 26, 2016
(12:50 pm to 1:40 pm).
Louis A. Ritz, Ph.D. is on the faculty of the Department of Neuroscience, within the University of Florida College of Medicine and the McKnight Brain Institute. In recent years Dr. Ritz has focused on medical and graduate education. He is the co-course director for Clinical Neuroscience, taken by second year medical students, and is coauthor of the textbook “Medical Neuroscience”. He was selected, based on an Educational Portfolio, as a member of the College of Medicine’s “Society of Teaching Scholars” in 2006. At the University of Florida he also is Director of a campus-wide Center for Spirituality and Health, which offers workshops, academic programs, and interdisciplinary research ventures exploring the impact of spirituality on health. For the undergraduate Honors Program Dr. Ritz directs two courses, “Spirituality and Health” and “Neurotheology.”
Abstract
In today’s talk, Dr. Ritz will present an overview of meditation including some of the health benefits. The role of mindfulness – of being present – in stress reduction will be discussed. The emerging “science of meditation”, based on modern neuroscientific methods, will be introduced. Neural networks thought to be important in attention and in mindwandering will be presented. The concept of training our mind/brain circuits to alter our behaviors and ultimately to improve our lives will be highlighted.
