Hospice of the Valley’s Dementia Care and Education Campus offers opportunities to practice mindfulness, which can help people relax, focus and breathe, thus calming the mind and body.

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training has been found to improve physical symptoms (such as chronic pain, high blood pressure, shortness of breath and insomnia) and to decrease emotional and psychological distress (such as anxiety and depression). Brain MRIs before and after an eight-week course show growth of temporal lobe areas (memory, emotional stability) and shrinkage of the amygdala (anxiety, anger, fear).

The free mindfulness sittings are held weekly for the public and HOV staff on Thursdays from noon to 12:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. There also is an audio recording available online for those who would like to experience a relaxing session at their convenience. Thursday and Saturday classes are held via Zoom, and all are welcome. No registration is required. just drop in.

For more information, call 602-767-8300 or visit https://hov.org/our-care/mindfulness or https://dementiacampus.org.