Mindful Awareness is the moment-by-moment process of actively and openly observing one's physical, mental and emotional experiences. Mindfulness has scientific support as a means to reduce stress, improve attention, boost the immune system, reduce emotional reactivity, and promote a general sense of health and well-being.
The weekly "drop-in" sessions are led by UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center's Diana Winston, Marvin G. Belzer Ph.D, and other MARC-affiliated teachers.
Open to anyone interested in learning how to 'live more presently' in life.
You can access guided meditations at any time on the free app "UCLA Mindful".
There also are free guided meditation session recordings from UCLA's Hammer Museum.
| Day | Time | Location & Details |
|---|---|---|
| Mondays Join Zoom Room https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86551533429?pwd=NjdKM2g4c25iWVVrakVhM3p5Mlc3UT0
Meeting ID: 865 5153 3429 Passcode: 12021 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kd92zOdw0P | 12:30-1pm PST | Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center This drop-in is facilitated by Marvin G. Belzer as well as other MARC mindfulness teachers. |
| Thursdays Please sign up to receive the zoom link: https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events/2014/05/mindful-awareness-meditation | 12:30-1pm PST | Hammer Museum
This drop-in is facilitated by Diana Winston and Allyson Pimentel, EdD as well as other MARC mindfulness teachers.
Recordings of these sessions can be found HERE or on our app, UCLA Mindful. |
Marvin G. Belzer, Ph.D, Associate Director, MARC
Marvin G. Belzer, PhD, has taught mindfulness meditation for twenty years. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.
For many years he taught a semester-long meditation course in the Department of Philosophy at Bowling Green St. University, where he was an Associate Professor of Philosophy. He teaches an undergraduate course at UCLA (Psychiatry 175: Mindfulness Practice and Theory) and teaches mindfulness in many different venues in Los Angeles.
Allyson Pimentel, EdD
Dr. Allyson Pimentel, EdD is a psychologist, yoga teacher, and long-time meditation practitioner and teacher who works at the intersection of mindfulness, mental health, healing and social justice.
Allyson has been teaching mindfulness in clinical, secular and spiritual settings, as well as in her private clinical psychology practice, for over a decade. Formerly, Allyson was the Associate Director of UCLA’s Campus & Student Resilience and the Director of Mindfulness Programs at the UCLA Resilience in Your Student Experience Center. Prior to that, she worked at NYU-Bellevue Hospital in New York City, where she was a Clinical Instructor of Psychiatry and the Training Director of the Mind-Body Clinic, a service that brought mindfulness-based treatment approaches to people living with psychiatric and medical illness.
Allyson holds a BA from Brown University and a doctorate in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University. She first began meditating in high school when, inspired by her aunt, she became a practitioner of Transcendental Meditation (TM). During her graduate studies in psychology, Allyson was introduced to insight meditation at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center. She later became a dedicated practitioner at New York Insight and sat many retreats at Insight Meditation Society (IMS), Spirit Rock, and elsewhere. Allyson completed mindfulness facilitator training at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC), where she now teaches and serves as a mentor in the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation (TMF) program. Allyson also has participated in professional mindfulness training programs in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness (TSM), Mindful Schools, The Lineage Project, and the Urban Zen Foundation. She is a registered yoga teacher (RYT-200) trained at Laughing Lotus New York.
Allyson has served on the Board of Directors of Insight Meditation Society (IMS) and presently is a Board Member at Insight LA. Originally from New York City, Allyson now lives with her family in Los Angeles, where she has become an avid gardener and student of succulents and other native plants.
Thomas Davis
Thomas Davis is a Mindful Awareness practitioner who emerged from the Contemplative Faith Community, where he served as a Lay Minister for over 10 years. His orientation to the Mindful Awareness practice began at the East Bay Meditation Center in Oakland, CA, where he was introduced to the Theravadan tradition of Vipassana in 2012.
Thomas began his journey into Dharma Leadership in 2013. In 2017, Thomas graduated from the Spirit Rock Community Dharma Leader Training Program, The Sati Center Buddhist Chaplaincy Training, and was enlisted as one of the Spirit Rock Community Welcome Teachers for the Monday Night Dharma program; which offers meditation, and practice support to new practitioners and 1st time visitors to Spirit Rock Meditation Center. Thomas is also a Co- Founder and Teacher of the Insight Richmond Meditation Group (www.insightrichmond.com), which is a growing and diverse meditation community where Insight meditation, Dharma exploration, and Inclusive Community Building are offered and practiced.
Additionally, he is a visiting teacher at The East Bay Meditation Center and Alameda Sangha, and has served as a member of the Kaiser Permanente Spiritual Care team as Chaplain.
Thomas has an authentic passion for the sharing the Traditional and Non- Traditional expressions of Mindfulness and how they integrate into the unique and practical aspects of our lives.
Diana Winston, Director of Mindfulness Education
Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at MARC, the author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness, and the co-author, with Susan Smalley PhD, of Fully Present, the Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness. She has taught mindfulness for health and well-being since 1993 in a variety of settings including the medical and mental health field, and in universities, businesses, non-profits, and schools. At UCLA she has developed the evidence-based Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPs) curriculum and the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation (TMF), which trains mindfulness teachers worldwide. She is also a founder of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association. Her work has been mentioned in the New York Times, O Magazine, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Allure, Women’s Health, and in a variety of magazines, books, and journals. The LA Times calls her “one of the nation’s best-known teachers of mindfulness.” Diana has been practicing mindfulness since 1989, including a year a Buddhist nun in Burma (Myanmar) and is the mom of a preteen.
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