There is no doubt that everyone is and has been feeling a great deal of stress throughout the pandemic. So, St. Andrew’s United Church has teamed up with Spiritual Life Coach, Stacey Foley to present a six-week meditation series. Foley says that St. Andrew’s, “Wanted to do something that was going to help the community with the difficult times that we are currently going through. In an attempt to help people with mental health issues and introduce meditation to people who have not practiced.”
The meditation series will run every Thursday from October 7 to November 11 from 12:20 p.m. to 12:50 p.m. teaching meditation practices that can bring calm and peace into your day. It will also help people to engage with the world in a new way. The six-week series will set you on a journey of discovery and intention. Foley says, “Each week is actually themed around a different topic, so it’s not just meditation. The first week is meditation for beginners. Then we focus on gratitude, we focus on self-love, self-compassion. So each week has a different theme and each class is not just 30 minutes of meditation it’s a 30 minute class with 10-15 minutes of meditation and being a spiritual life coach, I’m also in there teaching spiritual wellness. So, we go over different breathing techniques we go over different things that you can do to help yourself connect yourself on a deeper level.”
Foley explains, “Meditation is a practice that allows us to find stillness and right now with everything feeling like a constant chaotic experience, meditation is something that allows us to silence all of the fears and all of the thoughts that we have in our mind the ego-based emotions that we live with. It [meditation] allows us to get centered into who we really are which is often something that people don’t do and when we are able to do that, that’s when we find ourselves feeling calmer. We live with more inner peace we’re able to feel less stressful we even handle stress better."
The stress of the pandemic and just everyday life can cause people to lose themselves with the constant bombardment of social media and news so finding stillness through meditation can be, "Hugely beneficial for helping people to be able to quiet their minds and get centered into themselves." explains Foley.
All COVID-19 precautions will be followed along with the regulations St. Andrew’s follows so proof of a double vaccination will be required.
As well, distancing and masks will be required to keep everyone safe.
Pre-registration is required and can be done by going to https://www.thestaceyfoley.com/sign-up.
When you register you can choose one, some, or all of the different themes which interest you.
You will also be required to answer some questions regarding COVID when you sign up.