Mindfulness Ottawa is a secular community of like-minded practitioners interested in gathering in fellowship while embodying the principles of mindfulness. Mindfulness Ottawa was officially launched in November 2012. The founding organization of Mindfulness Ottawa is Mindfulness Toronto which started in March, 2009. 

Our mission: 

1. Bringing professionals together to practice mindfulness, discuss mindfulness related topics and to socialize with like-minded individuals. We meet 9 times a year at The Royal on the last Monday of the month with the exception of June, July, and August.
2. Provide opportunities for professional training/development in Ottawa. Programs are organized in collaboration with The Royal and any proceeds generated will be used to finance our social program.
3. Through a social program provide mindfulness or compassion training and practice to individuals in the community who might otherwise not be able to access such opportunities.  
4. Provide information about mindfulness and compassion related events happening in Ottawa.

In addition, we are organizing a public meditation group at the Royal Spiritual Centre. The goal of this monthly hour long sitting group is provide a venue for anybody who would like to practice or who has recently graduated from a mindfulness program an opportunity to meditate with others. We are looking for experienced volunteers to lead these meditations. 

How to join us
Membership is open to all professionals who are either personally or professionally interested in mindfulness practice. We invite you to join our mindfulness community (Please set your spam filter to accept e-mails from this website). To be accepted you will need to answer three short questions about your personal and professional connection to mindfulness practice and be willing to pay $25 for our yearly membership fee. If you are not sure about joining us at this point, but would like to get more information email us or come to our next meeting.

Dear Mindfulness Ottawa Members! You Are Mindfulness Ottawa - We Appreciate You & Value Your Support. 

February is Membership Month! Please don’t delay in renewing your membership through PayPal or by sending a check to: Mindfulness Ottawa, 227 Claridge Drive, Ottawa, ON, K2J5V8.  For February- we are offering  20% discount - so Annual Membership is now only $20.00. We rely on memberships to be able to bring you excellent teachers, speakers and to cover the overhead for our programming. If you value the training programs and retreats we offer, and discussion opportunities please support Mindfulness Ottawa - supporting Mindful Professionals & Practitioners in Ottawa.

from: your Steering Committee at MO !

Benefits of Membership

• MindfulnessOttawa.ning.com is a social networking website where members can post events, create a blog, start a special interest group or join discussions.
• We send out monthly newsletters, which includes information about our meetings, professional development, mindfulness retreats, and other events. (By registering with MO you provide your consent to receive our newsletter).
• Attend our meetings free of charge. (If you are not a member and would like to attend a meeting we charge $10 per meeting at the door)

Cost of Membership
Annual membership cost $25, paid by PayPal Subscription, Interac Email Transfer, or Cheque. 

Scent Free Policy
Please be aware that the Royal Ottawa Hospital adapted a Scent Free Policy. Please do not wear perfumed products when coming to our meetings. Thank you. 

Mindfulness Ottawa Network Monthly Lecture Series:

End of Life Care: A Mindful Approach with Michele Chaban

Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2019
Location: The Royal Ottawa Hospital, RM 1420
Time: 7-9pm 

Title:  Mindfulness Informed End of Life Care

This talk will explore mindfulness and mindfulness meditation within the context of thanatology or the study of dying and death. Topics include:
-  how to use mindfulness and mindfulness meditation to attend to the suffering of all involved in care,
- how mindfulness might help a person who is chronically or seriously ill or dying, his or her family members, inter-professional teams, and those in organizational leadership roles overseeing service delivery.

Participants will be introduced to  the conceptual framework for Mindfulness Informed End of Life Care (MIEOL) and the language used by practitioners. 

There are many strategies of care within the scaffolding of end of life care counseling. This includes grief and bereavement theory, narrative work, brief solution focused therapy, dignity therapy, expressive arts, and existential counseling to name a few. Mindfulness and mindfulness meditation can work along side these traditional therapeutic modalities. The new sciences of quantum physics and neuroscience are challenging scientific materialism, which is a new way of approaching health care and health care systems. As such, we will also explore how the new sciences are supporting a shift towards holism.

Bio:
 
Michele Chaban MSW, RSW (Toronto), PhD.( Wales) began integrating mindfulness and mindfulness meditation into oncology and end of life care over 24 years ago, before mindfulness and mindfulness meditation was as well known as it is today. Her first mentors were Sogyal Rinpoche, HH The Dalai Lama, Dr Herbert Benson (Harvard Mind Body Institute). Michele introduced these practice to individuals and families as a form of non-pharma pain management, stress reduction and to enhance well being. She had some of the first mindfulness meditation groups at the University of Toronto when she was the Director of the Psycho-social-spiritual team for Tammy Latner’s Center for Palliative Care. Michele is the Founder and former Co-Director of the Applied Mindfulness Meditation program at the School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto.

Mindfulness Informed End of Life Care

ABOUT THE CERTIFICATE

Mindfulness Informed End of Life Care (MIEOL*) explores the applications of mindfulness, mindfulness meditation as it has been integrated into contemporary thanatology (the study of dying and death). This program focuses on general health care as well as hospice, palliative, and general end of life care. Founded on evidence based science, while drawing upon contemplative traditions, MIEOL cultivates health, wellness and resiliency benefits. These practices are helpful for persons who view themselves or are viewed as seriously or chronically ill, the dying, for family and community participants in care, for inter-professional health care teams, as well as for organizational leaders who support teams attending to suffering. MIEOL proposes that we cultivate a “practice of dying”, while living, so we can existentially prepare for complexities found in life and particularly in end of life care. As such, this is a core approach to end of life care that can be used by everyone, depending on their own need and intention.