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06/05/2019 08:00 AMA day at the beach is a respite in itself, but spending some time there practicing mindfulness and meditation might help beachgoers take some of that relaxation away with them.
This summer, Old Saybrook residents with beach passes can participate in free, half-hour mindfulness and meditation classes offered by Old Saybrook Youth & Family Services (YFS). The classes, offered on Tuesdays in July from 11 to 11:30 a.m., will be taught by YFS clinician Samantha Steinmacher, LPC.
YFS offers similar classes to Old Saybrook students and teachers to “implement coping skills and emotional regulation skills,” Steinmacher said. Offering a mindfulness class to the general Old Saybrook public is something she’s been wanting to do for several years, and the beachside class is being offered as a pilot project. If successful, it may continue at the beach, or be offered in a more public location, like a park, open also to those who live in other towns.
For the beach class, Steinmacher’s idea is that people are already on the beach at that time, so might be interested in trying mindfulness and meditation practices.
“We might be able to attract people because it’s just there, it’s set up, it’s just easy,” Steinmacher said.
Some people might not go if the class were offered elsewhere and required a special trip, she explained. She hopes people will see that the class is going on and say, “Let’s drop by and try it out.” Registration is not required. The class is open to anyone age 13 and older.
“Maybe [an adult at the beach will] have a teenager with them who could benefit from it, too,” she said.
Mindfulness and meditation do more than simply help people relax, Steinmacher explained.
“More and more, we’re finding that having some sort of mindfulness practice or doing meditation—which are two distinctly different things—help you to manage stress,” which affects the body physically, she said. With mindfulness and meditation exercises, “you’re training your brain and training your body to just calm down. Everybody, especially in this day and age, can work at that and practice that.”
The practices “help us to look at our thoughts differently, interact with our minds differently, to allow certain thoughts to pass by, because not every thought needs to be attended to. Not every thought needs our attention. That’s another thing meditation teaches us.”
While mindfulness and meditation are distinct things, they are intimately connected, Steinmacher said.
A simple of explanation of mindfulness, she said, is “the act of noticing. Noticing what’s around us, noticing what we’re feeling, noticing our experience without judgment. You’re basically just bringing your full mind to an object or experience.”
There are many types of meditation, Steinmacher pointed out, such as guided imagery, or focusing on a particular feeling or concept like gratitude. Unlike mindfulness, which can be practiced at any time in any setting, meditation requires deliberately setting aside time for its practice.
“Being mindful of your breath is often used in meditation,” she said. “The reason [the terms] are used interchangeably is because they are connected.”
Acceptance and commitment therapy guides Steinmacher’s work as a licensed professional counselor. Mindfulness, she said, is used more and more often in mental health and wellness practices.
Even those who are resistant to the ideas can benefit from them, she said.
“Some people aren’t really into Buddhist teachings or don’t want to do something that’s too new age-y, like yoga,” she says. “There are ways that you can acclimate to that person’s needs or personality.”
A rainbow walk, for instance, is a tool for coping with nervousness or anxiety that Steinmacher teaches to both children and adults.
“It’s basically a kind of mindfulness, where while you’re walking, or even just sitting in a room, and you look around and find the colors of the rainbow in the right order,” something red, then orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, she said. “If you’re feeling really anxious or really nervous, you’re now not anxious...You’re putting your attention to something that will stop the thoughts. It’s really tangible, something everybody can do, and nobody knows you’re doing it. It’s incredibly helpful.
“The more we know about neuroscience and mindfulness and meditation, the more we know that any kind of rhythmic pattern, repetitive action, calms the brain,” she continued. “Stuff like going for a walk or petting your dog—these are ways that you can relax yourself [and] regulate your emotions, because it tells the brain you’re safe, you’re okay.
“When you’re doing mindful breathing, that’s a repetitive, rhythmic activity,” she said, noting that the beach adds an extra element. “When you notice what you’re seeing, hearing, feeling, or smelling at the beach, you’re connecting to something rhythmic, patterned, and repetitive: the waves.”
The class will have a practical benefit for students.
“I’m going to give people exercises so that they can integrate them into their lives. Whether they go to all [the classes] or one, they have something they can use,” Steinmacher explained.
“Not everyone is going to meditate regularly,” she said. “But they can try a rainbow walk or noticing their breath, even for a few minutes. There are apps now that people can integrate into their lives, realistic tools that they can use.”
Steinmacher will adjust the class according to the experience, or lack thereof, of those who turn up.
“Guided meditation, guided imagery, connecting to the present moment, connecting to the senses, [and] mindful breathing—there’s a lot of different activities that I’ll have in my back pocket, depending on who’s there and what they want to get out it,” she said.
Mindfulness & Meditation at the Beach will take place on Tuesdays in July at Old Saybrook’s Town Beach from 11 to 11:30 a.m. The class is free and open to Old Saybrook residents with beach passes. Registration is not required and no experience is necessary. For more details, contact Samantha Steinmacher at 860-510-5046.