Choosing to Be Awake

September 10, 2013

Tami Simon speaks with Florence Meleo-Meyer, a senior teacher at the acclaimed Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where she also directs Oasis Institute, a school for mindfulness-based professional education and innovation. Florence is a leading teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and with Sounds True and Saki Santorelli she has developed the upcoming MBSR Online Training Course. In this episode, Tami speaks with Florence about the practice of interpersonal mindfulness and how mindfulness helps us heal from trauma. She offers a brief mindfulness practice for when we feel the need to return to ourselves. (60 minutes)

Florence Meleo-Meyer, MS, MA, is Director of Oasis Institute for Mindfulness-Based Professional Education and Training, a senior MBSR teacher and a member of the executive leadership team for the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Memorial Medical Center.

For more then three decades Florence has taught meditation and mindfulness to clinical populations and to professionals working in the fields of psychology, medicine, business, and education in the United States and internationally. A student of contemplative practices for over 35 years, she is a certified Siddha Meditation teacher as well as a senior Insight Dialogue teacher. She holds degrees in psychology and education and is a licensed family therapist.

Her dedication to enriching the lives of children and the people who work most closely with them has led her to develop Cool Minds™, a mindfulness-based educational program for adolescents, and The Aware Teacher™, an innovative program that supports the integration of mindfulness into the lives of teachers. Most recently, she wrote, coordinated, and is featured in the DVD Living Awake: Mindfulness Practices for Young Adults.

Florence brings deep commitment, compassion, and humor to her work. She is inspired to offer her service in alignment with the vision of the Center for Mindfulness—"An Awake and Compassionate World."

Author photo © Tony Maciag

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Meet Your Host: Tami Simon

Founded Sounds True in 1985 as a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. She hosts a popular weekly podcast called Insights at the Edge, where she has interviewed many of today's leading teachers. Tami lives with her wife, Julie M. Kramer, and their two spoodles, Rasberry and Bula, in Boulder, Colorado.

Photo © Jason Elias

Also By Author

Choosing to Be Awake

Tami Simon speaks with Florence Meleo-Meyer, a senior teacher at the acclaimed Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where she also directs Oasis Institute, a school for mindfulness-based professional education and innovation. Florence is a leading teacher of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and with Sounds True and Saki Santorelli she has developed the upcoming MBSR Online Training Course. In this episode, Tami speaks with Florence about the practice of interpersonal mindfulness and how mindfulness helps us heal from trauma. She offers a brief mindfulness practice for when we feel the need to return to ourselves. (60 minutes)

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A Message of Gratitude

Dear Sounds True friend,

At this time of thanks-giving, I want to thank you, a beloved member of our extended Sounds True community of listeners, readers, authors, and learners worldwide.

Thank you for your interest and willingness to be an explorer of your inner world.

Thank you for your perseverance, your willingness to be here, with all of life’s great joys and terrible griefs and sorrows. Thank you for being ”on the journey,” with all of the ways life breaks open our hearts and asks us to expand and hold a larger space of love.

Thank you for your courage to be you, beloved and singular, the you that carries a unique gift, some special look, a cry and a laugh never heard before, a contribution we need. Thank you for being yourself and extending yourself to others, even in small ways, which often turn out to be huge.

My own prayer this Thanksgiving is to remain steadfast and true. Please know that here at Sounds True we remain so—and we love doing so in connection with you. We are here because you are here. This thanks-giving, I bow to the strength and goodness of our human hearts.

With you on the journey,

Tami

P.S. Here is a thanks-giving offering, a classic poem from Mary Oliver:

Praying

It doesn’t have to be
the blue iris, it could be 
weeds in a vacant lot, or a few 
small stones; just 
pay attention, then patch

a few words together and don’t try
to make them elaborate, this isn’t 
a contest but the doorway

into thanks, and a silence, in which 
another voice may speak.

Mary Oliver, Thirst

Tami Simon

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