Free Introduction to Mindfulness course for University of Alberta medical students
Ongoing course, in-person:
Mondays, Sep 25, 2023 - Mar 18, 2024, 12:00 to 12:50, Mountain Time
Start date: September 25
Location: classroom tBA
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During the academic year, on Mondays (2 per month), there will be close to 12 sessions in which you will learn a pragmatic way to use mindfulness during your busy days in class, during lab, at the hospital, and in any other life activities. You will learn a handful of mindfulness techniques to reap some (or all) mindfulness practice benefits! Mindfulness benefits are very diversified and can be classified into five broad categories — FIRMS:
Fulfillment (e.g. find more tranquillity, be more present, more focussed)
Insight (e.g. know yourself at all levels; understand your "iOS")
Relief (e.g. stress reduction, decrease hardship from emotional, physical or mental discomfort)
Mastery (e.g. become more skillful, change behaviour or develop a professional skill)
Service (e.g. develop a spirit of love and service towards others)
All 50-minute group sessions will follow the same structure:
Questions and Answers from the previous week's practice
New techniques or new content
Guided practice
Review and Report
Suggestion for life practice during the following week
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During this course, students are invited to attend all sessions. Participants are encouraged to practice mindfulness daily for ten minutes. At the end of the course, participants are invited to write a short reflective essay about the personal significance of completing this course (a few paragraphs, max one page) and conduct a quick review of published research on a question, or area related to mindfulness, health and medicine, of particular interest.
Mindfulness can be learned at any phase of life. Even if life is chaotic, you feel overwhelmed with responsibilities, or you are struck by an illness, it is not too late to start a mindfulness journey. Mindfulness might help you to clear things up a bit.
Mindfulness is an inner tool available to all of us. Inspired by the rigour of science, I teach Unified Mindfulness that defines mindfulness as the interplay of three attentional skills: concentration, sensory clarity, and equanimity (the ability to not interfere with inner experiences as they arise and pass in a kind of hands-off relationship). Just as physical training increases your baseline strength, endurance, and flexibility, mindfulness training gradually increases your baseline of concentration, clarity, and equanimity.
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Course Objectives:
KNOWLEDGE
To identify the personal and collective benefits of mindfulness
To understand how the three core skills of mindful awareness are improved with mindfulness practice.
ATTITUDES
To use mindfulness to reduce your stress level, discover your own mind, enhance your sense of personal enjoyment and/or ability to help other people (your patients).
To recognize how mindfulness can positively impact the different roles of the medical profession, such as communication, collaboration, health advocacy, leadership, professionalism, and education.
SKILLS
To know when, why and how to perform a few different mindfulness techniques.
To implement strategies for enhancing mindfulness practice.
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Instructor:
Marc-Antoine Landry, MD, FRCPC, is a practicing neonatologist in Edmonton, Alberta. He is a Unified Mindfulness certified lead coach and teaches mindfulness to physicians, medical students and residents at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. He studies mindfulness in the care of the mothers of premature babies. He wrote a book on mindful eating. And, mindfulness is part of his daily medical and personal life.
Here are some reasons why other participants decided to join the course over the last few years:
Make peace with stress
Make peace with anxiety (Social anxiety, Performance anxiety or Specific anxiety)
Improve focus
Calm the mind
Become aware of the thinking process
Regulate emotions
Here are some benefits experienced by participants over the last few years:
Feel less stressed and own more tools to handle stress
Reduced anxiety (including during exams)
Able to relax, find tranquillity, calm down
Freedom for the agitated mind, able to think clearly, remove mental fog
Improved well being
Increase awareness of the thinking process
Improve emotional regulation
Ability to make better choices in certain situations
Here is what participants said about me:
He is very fun and interested in mindfulness. He is very open to all questions, comments. I like that his approach to mindfulness is very positive and welcoming.
Very open to questions, encouraging and supportive. Very knowledgeable and good at explaining techniques
I would describe Dr. Landry as gentle, calm and a wonderful teacher for mindfulness. He was respectful, elicited feedback and answered questions well.
The instructor was very kind and receptive to students. I really enjoyed the answers and discussions he had in response to participants’ questions. I felt like it was a very safe environment where we could freely express ourselves without judgment, and the online resources were very helpful
This was an incredible session that really has enriched my practice, has made me far more attentive to the world around me. Dr. Landry had patience with you, is thoughtful, compassionate, enthusiastic and really supportive in your growth.
Here is what I heard from many participants:
“I was beginning to get overwhelmed. On top of that, I had to go to mindfulness. That turned out to be the best thing I did for myself!”
Testimonials:
“Going through medical school has been such a privilege and a blessing for me. Yet, it is also busy, stressful, at times overwhelming and depending on the day, isolating. My personal journey through medical school has been unique in that I also have a family - a husband and 2 young kids. The mindfulness elective brought an hour to my day that provided with me with a sense of calm, confidence, and helpful tools to incorporate mindfulness into my daily life. Additionally, it was a chance to share some thoughts and feelings in a safe place and I came to realize that I was not alone in some of the struggles I was experiencing. Dr. Landry created a safe environment to learn skills on how to cope and incorporate mindfulness into everyday life - just a few minutes a day sometimes. It was a pleasure to get to know him in this capacity and I highly recommend the mindfulness elective!”
- Claudia
“The mindfulness elective helped me, first of all, to develop a deeper awareness of my own mind, thoughts and feelings. Whether I was experiencing an emotional state, like anxiety or happiness, or a physical state, like pain or hunger, I developed skills over the lunch-hour sessions to be able to recognize and address my attitudes towards these states. Developing this ability has been crucial for my outward interactions and has helped me to improve my listening and interpersonal skills. I feel an improved overall sense of well-being, and a better sense of connectedness with others through having learned and practiced mindfulness. I can see how these skills will be very beneficial to me throughout clerkship, residency and ultimately my professional practice in medicine.
I was also surprised at how little “work” it actually takes to practice mindfulness. I previously had the impression that mindfulness was a sort of inaccessible “zen” exercise that required total effort and concentration. Dr. Landry makes the sessions very conversational and fun, and teaches you that there is no single correct way to practice mindfulness and that it can be easily incorporated in your day-to-day life. You learn how to practice mindfulness while exercising, listening to music, or even during conversation, which ultimately, in my opinion, helps you to take more joy out of these experiences.”
- Janelle
“How mindfulness helped me; it is impossible for me to know what the first year of medical school in a new city with a very busy life would have been like without the tools and skills I learned through mindfulness. I imagine it would have been much more stressful than it was. The mindfulness elective was instrumental in learning to live in the moment and have equanimity in a rigorous academic program. It was also a protected time and space to practice mindfulness as I feel I lack the discipline and time to commit to practice on my own. It was also a small community where people felt open to share their struggles which was nice to support and be supported by others. Thank you for the elective Dr. Landry!”
- John
“I really enjoyed the mindfulness elective because it gave me tools to handle the stress and problems I came across in my first year. The sessions helped me refocus and reset especially when I felt extremely overwhelmed. Dr. Landry’s enthusiasm, passion and willingness to go above and beyond made this elective invaluable!”
- Vincent
"These sessions became more than simply an elective for me. I found the sessions to be a great respite from our busy days and Dr. Landry is a passionate and calming presence leading this amazing elective! The techniques practiced at school were easily applied in my daily life and it was wonderful to appreciate the different modalities that mindfulness can be practiced through."
- Usman
“I really enjoyed the mindfulness elective I had the opportunity to take part in. Having a session every week kept me accountable to my practice, and it was a welcome break from the busy lecture and exam schedule. I had tried different types of mindfulness practices previously, through yoga or apps or other modalities but I hadn't found something that I felt like I could use every day, throughout my day. The best part of the elective for me was learning different techniques that I could incorporate during my day (like microhits or see-hear-feel), instead of feeling like mindfulness was another thing I had to check off the to-do list before going to bed at night. I would highly recommend the elective to any student who is interested, regardless of your previous experience with mindfulness. Dr. Landry is a fantastic teacher who has lots of knowledge to share and can provide suggestions on how to make the practice work for you!”
- Caitlin
“It has been a great pleasure to participate in the mindfulness elective taught by Dr. Landry. The variety of techniques taught in class has deepened my emotional intelligence and improved my focus during long days of lectures. Perhaps most exciting, mindfulness has strengthened my active listening skills allowing me to connect deeply to patient’s illness experience. Last but not least, the community of people is kind and welcoming. I would highly encourage all students to give it a try!”
- Shankar
For any additional questions you can send an email to the course instructor: Marc-Antoine Landry