SAYING GOODBYE TO SUMMER
September 7, 2021
“To say it was a beautiful day would not begin to explain it. It was that day when the end of summer intersects perfectly with the start of fall.” – Ann Patchett
A Moment with Stephanie
There has been so much going on the past month as we head into fall and start all sorts of new programs and work with new partners! See below for our updates on ways we are working to bring mindfulness to our region! In addition we have many ways for you to engage with us in practice.
As I say goodbye to summer, I feel the ongoing uncertainty that the pandemic has brought into so many aspects of my life. I also continue to extend compassion to so many brothers and sisters both local and from across the globe who are suffering from the effects of not just the pandemic, but of climate change, social/civil unrest, and violence.
As I say goodbye to summer, I am reminded of how the natural cycle of life and death we experience through the seasons also offers the opportunity grieve the losses we see all around us and begin again, giving birth to a better way forward.
As I greet the fall, I look towards fresh apple cider, cooler weather, and the smells and colors of earth’s transformation. I am also so excited at the new programs and projects we are working on at Awaken Pittsburgh that have the potential of transforming lives for the better.
As I greet the fall, I set a daily intention of living my life in a way that could liberate us all and our planet from suffering and harm.
I hope that our work at Awaken Pittsburgh can support you and your community to join me in this effort.
How Can Awaken Pittsburgh Support Your Mindfulness Practice?
International Day of Mindfulness –Join Our Online Guided Meditation
Sunday, September 12th @ 9:30am
Stephanie Romero, founder and ED of Awaken Pittsburgh will be leading a guided meditation in honor of the International Day of Mindfulness. This is a chance to practice in community together. Each session follows the same format: introductions, a period of guided meditation (about 20-30 minutes), and then a chance to support one another, discuss how our meditations are going at home, and ask any questions we have about practice.
We welcome you to join our fall online programs!
Leading Change: Bridging Individuals, Teams and Systems
The world needs inspiring leaders to guide and sustain the work of systems change in our organizations, communities, and society. The Adaptive Space Network and Awaken Pittsburgh have come together to offer a course targeting these individuals so that we can come together in practice, build knowledge, and explore skillful actions to drive change. Drs. Gemma Jiang and Stephanie Romero will be your hosts.
9 Weeks of Exploration: September 22, 2021 – November 13, 2021
Find out more and register here.
Mindful Connections™ for Wellness
Mindful Connections is Awaken Pittsburgh’s proprietary program designed to help you create a space for mindfulness and meditation in your own life. We are adapting it here to provide tools to deal with the stress and uncertainty during this unprecedented time of physical distancing. You will learn tools to help you stay focused and grounded and, in turn, positively impact your relationships with others. September 22nd through November 17th. This program is offered for 16 number of CE hours of social work continuing education through co-sponsorship of the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work.
Find more info and register here.
We are offering a separate Mindful Connections™ for Wellness to support people who are therapy clients in conjunction with Village Center for Holistic Therapy. If you are a therapist and would like to share this with your clients, reach out to Stephanie.
How Is Awaken Pittsburgh Impacting the Community?
- Awaken is thrilled to be offering our Mindful Connections for Workplace Wellness program to the Duckworth Haggerty Group at Merrill Lynch.
- We are also extremely grateful for the support of the Highmark, Staunton Farm, and Grable Foundations which is allowing us to collaborate with The Chill Project by AHN to deliver programming to the whole staff at both Clairton City School District and Carnegie Elementary. We also are happy to be engaged with the Health and Human Performance Lab at Carnegie Mellon University as our research partner on this project.
- We are grateful to be able to support the educators at ACLD Tillotson School this year by bringing them our Mindful Connections for Educators and Classrooms programs.
- Awaken Pittsburgh continues its collaboration with Pitt’s School of Medicine by delivering Mindful Connections for Helping Professionals to the faculty and staff of the Department of Medicine.
How Can You Support Our Work?
Do you make purchases through Amazon.com??? If you shop through smile.amazon.com and choose Awaken Pittsburgh as your charity, Amazon Smile will donate to us! It costs you nothing and helps to support our work. But you have to choose us! Sign in to smile.amazon.com on your desktop or mobile phone browser. From your desktop, go to Your Account and select the option to Change your Charity. Or, from your mobile browser, select Change your Charity from the options at the bottom of the page.
Donations of any amount are always much needed to continue to bring mindfulness practices to folks who cannot afford them. Did you know that you can make recurring monthly donations to support mindfulness coming to more folks in our community who can’t afford it? Check out how to do it here.