By Pam Walatka
Have you ever sat in rush-hour traffic and just wanted to scream at the world? Have you ever felt tense when the person you are caring for screams at you? What about that annoying coworker who always cuts you off during team meetings?
These are all potentially stressful situations. Many people take steps to reduce the overall tension in their lives - through exercise, yoga, meditation, music, sports or art - but few people are aware of the “in the moment” methods that can help deal with a difficult situation as it unfolds.
Your yoga class may be a great way to decompress, but you can’t get into a downward dog pose when you’re stuck in traffic. Your morning run may bring out the Zen in you, but you can’t jog while you are taking care of an elderly relative.
The Pacific Graduate School of Psychology has launched the Inner Resources Center, which equips participants with tools to combat demanding situations as they occur. Over eight weeks, students learn how to manage circumstances so that they can work through the stress right then instead of being overcome by it.
Nationally renowned psychologist Lynn Waelde (pronounced WAL-dee) offers Inner Resources Center classes through the Gronowski Clinic at El Camino Real and Rengstorff Avenue in Los Altos.
The Gronowski Clinic uses only research-based techniques, that is, techniques that have been proven by research to be effective. Waelde has published research on meditation as a means of learning to deal with stress. Her “Pilot Study of Yoga and Meditation Intervention for Dementia Caregiver Stress” was published in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (Wiley, 2004).
Waelde teaches small classes - just six to eight people in each - with an emphasis on meditation. The small class size gives all participants a chance for individual attention and to talk if they want to.
A flexible schedule and sliding-scale fee make the classes accessible. Classes meet for eight weeks, with eight 1-1/2 hour meetings and one three-hour retreat.
Waelde emphasizes techniques for dealing with stress when it happens, and for keeping the good feeling of meditation wherever you go. The class is about how to access the meditative state in the moment when you are stressed.
Participants receive home study materials including a manual, guided reading and CDs.
Waelde, a professor at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, specializes in techniques to relieve the stress of caregivers of patients with dementia or movement disorders such as Parkinson’s, but the classes are open to anyone. Each class is made up of people with similar issues.
A variety of methods, including meditation, are taught. “Different people need different methods,” said Waelde. “Also, different methods at different times.”
Meditation, as defined by Waelde, is “a particular way of paying attention, with an inner focus. As a result, your mind becomes calm, your emotions are soothed, and your body becomes quiet. …
“It’s not dissociation from reality; rather it’s an enhanced awareness of what is going on around you. If someone is using meditation to reach a zombie-like state, they may need some advice on how to meditate.”
For more information on the Inner Resources Center, call 843-3519 or e-mail IR@pgsp.edu.
