JoAnn Saccato

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3/23/2020

Helpful Tools for Self-Regulation

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Besides a mindfulness practice, that helps balance and re-regulate heart, mind and body, here's a few more ways to support yourself during sequestration from the Covid-19 situation:

  • Be mindful of information: We can easily get overstimulated with the amount of information available today. Limiting exposure to once or twice a day for brief periods can keep you in the know while not overloading your nervous system.
  • Ground into your body: Information can take us into our head and disconnect us from the wisdom and experience in the body. Start and end your day with embodying practices (like yoga, meditation, qi gong, etc.) that help you stay connected in your body throughout the day. Take mini embodiment breaks to check in and reconnect.
  • What are you cultivating? Taking time for a brief check in through out the day can help you notice what is being cultivated by your actions and attention. Add to that a brief inquiry of what you'd like to be cultivating to help you reset your intention for the rest of the day.
  • Structure: Most of us are used to a scheduled life, but even if not, adding a little structure to your day can create a sense of safety and security during these times of not knowing.
  • Solitude: We may not be used to being together with our family or friends 24/7. Taking time out for just yourself can help you gather thoughts, reflect on your own experience and decide what you need to take care of yourself. Quiet time outside, journaling or resting can be a nourishing break.
  • Connection: Chosen solitude is different than isolation. If you are alone, or you know someone who is, reach out for meaningful connection. Co-regulation is important for our nervous system and is best when it includes sight and sound. Whether you can or can't see each other, use your voice and words to create soothing conversation. "I'm here," "I'm present with you right now," "It's good to be with you right now." If you can connect with face and eyes being seen all the better.
  • Soothing supportive touch: Hugs, shoulder rubs, and gentle caressing can create a sense of ease and connection. Alone? Gentle touch, holding or caressing with a conscious attention and intention of kindness can bring a cherishing warmth. Bringing hands to the heart, cradling the face or holding yourself in a hug while offering soothing self-talk can bring relief to tensions and concern.  
  • Guided meditation or mindful talks: When the mind is busy or scattered, it can be difficult to practice. There are thousands of options for guided talks or meditations online. Find a voice and topic that resonates and give yourself this gift. Here's one to get you started...Guided Meditation to Help Calm Anxiety.


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JoAnn Saccato, MA, is a certified teacher with the Mindfulness Training Institute, life coach, author and consultant. She is the author of Companioning the Sacred Journey: A Guide to Creating a Compassionate Container for Your Spiritual Practice and Mindful and Intentional Living: A Path to Peace Clarity and Freedom.

Mindfulness is an umbrella term used for a large body of popular health and wellness practices based on purposefully bringing a curious, kind and non-judgmental attention to moment by moment experience. It is a scientifically proven approach that helps reduce stress and stress-related illnesses, increase focus and attention, decrease incidences of and relapses with depression, reduce anxiety, reduce relapses in addiction, and aids in sleep and digestive disorders. It has also been shown to increase well being, life satisfaction and happiness, as well as improved social relationships.

You can reach JoAnn at JoAnn@MindfulAndIntentionalLiving.com. To follow her visit: www.MindfulAndIntentionalLiving.com

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3/18/2020

Flexibility is Essential During Rapidly Changing Conditions

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You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.
In light of the recent Corona Virus pandemic and the rapidly changing conditions and requirements for safety, I am moving all of my offerings online for the time being. It quickly changed from just a few days ago offering an OPTION for online participation to needing to cancel all my in person engagements. It's a matter of safety for us all.

The flexibility required during this time reminds me of when I was a passenger on a friend's 40-foot sailboat for a two-week inter-island sailing adventure in the state of Hawaii.

We launched from Honolulu towards Moloka'i on a calm sea and within moments I felt nauseous. I grasped onto the boat rails and stiffened my legs and arms, intent on holding on and stopping the motion my body was experiencing.

It wasn't working and within a few minutes upon seeing my struggle, my good friend, Jake said, "Just let go. Holding on actually makes it worse."

But, I couldn't! I had to control this or I was going to throw up. Jake knew better, being a seasoned seaman, explained that by letting go, and, yes, possibly throwing up, I would eventually feel better and be more likely to withstand the journey.

Needless to say, within a short time, I threw up all over the tiny head in the cabin and, embarrassed, laid on the floor, stomach empty but churning, cleaning up the vomit as the boat tossed and turned as we made way to the open waters of the Pacific.


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3/14/2020

There has never been a better time to practice mindfulness!

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Photo by Philippe Moes/Biosphoto/Minden Pictures
It's unthinkable to believe there is anyone on the planet not affected by current world events. Whether it is Covid-19, the wild swings of the stock market, the impact of each of these on availability of food and household items, the environmental crisis, the upcoming elections, the social, political and economic divide in the United States--the list could go on and on and this doesn't even include personal circumstances and situations!

One of the major truths of our nature--that we are wholly interdependent and connected--may have never before been so readily apparent as it is today. And sometimes it takes a crisis of global proportions to bring this to light.

Learning to distinguish and discern accurate information and appropriate response takes the very best our mind, heart and being has to offer. Yet, when we are triggered into fear and anxiety about the future, we end up operating from the part of our being that is least equipped to make reasoned decisions. Those reactions are excellent when the threat is imminent, but can fail us miserably when it isn't.

This is why a mindfulness practice can be our saving grace in times like these. Not only does it anchor us to the present moment, lessening the likelihood we drift off into scenarios of catastrophic proportion that most likely won't occur but will trigger us anyway into fight, flight or freeze, but it gradually increases the space between our experience and our reaction.


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3/1/2020

Insights from Italy: Il mio Cognome é Saccato (Part II)

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View from our room overlooking the Piazza Cavour. The Supreme Court is to the right and the theatre is to the left. Rome, Italy. December 25, 2019.
Epiphany #1: Christmas evening we're watching the new release of Pinnochio at the cinema on the edge of Piazza Cavour near our hotel. It's all in Italian, but knowing the story, we follow along, recognizing a few words and phrases here and there. Roberto Benigni plays Geppetto and I'm transported back to the version of the story I learned as a child. I don't even remember that it is an Italian story until it unfolds on the screen.

Surrounded by caring and kind Italian families both in the cinema and for the week we've been touring around, I get a sense of the warmth I experienced from my grandfather and on occasion my father. There's a tenderness about the interactions. Protective and caring. And then it dawns on me...

I'm in Rome.

Italy.

I'm in Rome, Italy.

This is where my family is from. This is where their family is from. Generations of Italian families growing up with this warm, kind attention and affection. With this caring.

I can remember it from my grandparents. I can remember it whenever I see loving and caring families, but this is different. Because everyone looks a lot like me. A lot like I did as a child. A lot like I'm beginning to look as a mature adult.

This. This culture of warmth is what I remember in my earliest childhood memories. The togetherness. The food as love. The guidance. The looking up to my parents with awe and reverence.

They wanted this for us. They wanted to give us this container of compassionate caring. This is what they were trying to build in the American culture of their time and place. In northern California, specifically in the Sonoma and Napa valley region.

I well up with tears during the movie and by the time we exit, I'm holding back sobs. Important sobs. I'm feeling embarrassed, as I usually do when I can't control or name what's happening. I finally stammer to Jim, "I don't know what's happening, but I need to just sit and experience it until it passes."


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  • Home
  • Events
    • Ongoing
    • Free Workshops
    • Mindful Resilience Course
    • A six week introductory course in mindfulness
    • Half Day Retreats
    • Full Day Retreats
    • Self-paced opportunities
    • Scholarships
  • Working with JoAnn
  • Blog
  • About
  • Books
  • Donate
  • Tambo Elephant Fund
  • About Mindfulness
  • Contact