By UC Health Provider Referral Only

When: Wednesdays 1-2 p.m.

Mindfulness Meditation for Restorative Health is a supportive, therapeutic series designed specifically for individuals living with chronic health conditions. This four-part program offers practical mindfulness tools to support coping, resilience, and self-regulation in the context of ongoing health challenges.

Mindfulness meditation involves intentionally paying attention to the present moment with openness and without judgment. Through guided practices and reflection, participants are invited to cultivate awareness, emotional balance, and a greater sense of ease in daily life.

The series meets for one hour once a week and is offered virtually, creating an accessible and supportive learning environment.

Series Overview

• Week 1: Getting started with mindfulness
• Week 2: Preparing for mindful living
• Week 3: Building resilience, compassion, and creativity
• Week 4: Cultivating acceptance

Through regular mindfulness practice, participants may develop skills that support:

• Coping with chronic symptoms and stress
• Attention, focus, and emotional regulation
• Resilience and self-compassion
• Portable practices that can be used in daily life and during symptom flare-ups

Instructor: Led by Barbara Walker, PhD, Licensed Integrative Health & Performance Psychologist. Dr. Walker brings extensive experience in mindfulness-based practices and a warm, inclusive approach to supporting individuals navigating chronic health conditions.

Who This Class Is For: This series is designed for adults diagnosed with chronic health conditions who are seeking supportive, evidence-based tools to manage stress, build resilience, and enhance overall well-being. No prior mindfulness or meditation experience is required.

Cost & Registration
No cost. Participation requires a UC Health provider referral.
For more information, speak with your UC Health provider or call (513) 475-9567.

Class Location
Virtual via Zoom (link emailed the day before class)

What You Need
A computer, tablet, or phone with internet access. No additional materials are required—just show up and be.

Support Our Classes: Your generosity helps make these programs possible. Click here to make a gift. To support a specific program or explore additional ways to give to the Osher Center, please contact  Katie.Arce@foundation.uc.edu or 419-348-8437.

Practical Tools for Starting a Mindfulness Practice (Virtual 5-Week Series)

This 5-week virtual mindfulness course will help you understand how to incorporate mindfulness practice as a consistent habit in a way that is right for you.

Series Topics

• Practical application of mindfulness techniques in the workday
• Developing a personalized mindfulness routine
• Identifying barriers and overcoming challenges to continued mindfulness practice
• Enriching physical and social environments that lend themselves to sustained practice

When: Mondays 8:30-9 a.m.

Mindful Mondays offers a supportive space to step out of the busyness of your day and reconnect with yourself through guided mindfulness practice. This is a time to slow down, turn your phone off, and simply be.

Each session includes gentle guidance to help you bring awareness to your breath, body, and present-moment experience in a way that is accessible, grounding, and practical for daily life. Sessions are thoughtfully guided to meet participants where they are with no prior experience required.

Mindfulness, as defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, is “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, non-reactively, non-judgmentally, and as openheartedly as possible.”

Through regular practice, participants are invited to build skills that can be integrated both at work and at home, such as:

• Creating space between yourself and stressors
• Resetting between meetings or tasks
• Cultivating calm and clarity during the day
• Supporting rest and mental ease in the evening
• Bringing mindful attention to everyday activities and movement

Regular mindfulness practice can support: Coping skills, attention, focus, stress management, self-regulation, portable practices

Instructor: Led by Barbara Walker, PhD, licensed Integrative Health & Performance Psychologist, dedicated to helping you achieve optimal health, and brings experience in mindfulness-based practices and a warm, inclusive approach to supporting well-being.

Who This Class Is For: Mindful Mondays is open to anyone looking to better manage stress, increase focus, and cultivate greater presence in their day. Whether you are brand new to mindfulness or have an established practice, this class offers a welcoming space to pause, practice, and reconnect.

Cost: No-cost thanks to generous donors to the Osher Center for Integrative Health

Click here to support our classes, or if you are interested in supporting a specific program or learning more about ways to give back to the Osher Center, please contact Katie Arce at Katie.Arce@foundation.uc.edu or 419-348-8437.

Class Location: Virtual via Zoom (link emailed the day before class)

What You Need: You will need a computer, phone, or tablet with internet access to join the virtual class. Nothing else is needed – just show up and be!

When: Thursdays 8:30-9:30 a.m.

Foundations and Practice of Mindfulness Meditation is an experiential, discussion-based offering designed to cultivate a deeper understanding of mindfulness through both practice and reflection. Each week, participants will engage in guided meditation practices and meaningful dialogue centered on one of the nine attitudes of mindfulness, offering a focused “deep dive” into the qualities that support mindful awareness in daily life.

This offering emphasizes embodied learning - participants will explore how attitudes such as non-judging, patience, beginner’s mind, trust, and self-compassion are not just concepts, but practices that can be cultivated on and off the cushion. Sessions will include guided meditation, inquiry, group discussion, and practical ways to integrate mindfulness into everyday experiences.

Through regular participation, this class may support:

• Increased present-moment awareness
• Stress management and emotional regulation
• Greater clarity, focus, and self-compassion
• Confidence in sustaining a personal mindfulness practice
• Integration of mindfulness into everyday activities

Who This Class Is For: This class is open to all levels of experience, from those new to mindfulness meditation to seasoned practitioners seeking to deepen and refresh their practice. A supportive, inclusive environment will be fostered, encouraging curiosity, reflection, and shared learning.

Cost: ALL studio and virtual classes are FREE in March! Plus, buy a 5-Class Pack and enjoy 10 classes for the price of 5, this month only!

Regular Class Pricing: Sliding Scale Fee
Per Class: $5 Community Care, $10 Sustainer, $15 Supporter
Per 5-Class Pack: $22 Community Care ($4.40/class), $45 Sustainer ($9/class), $70 Supporter ($14/class)

Class Location: Gathering Room located in the Osher Wellness Suite on the 5^th Floor of the Blood Cancer Healing Center (3232 Healing Way, Cincinnati, OH 45229) with free, on-site parking available in the attached garage. If entering from the parking garage, enter on Level 1, head straight back past the registration desk to the elevators (on your left). Take the elevators to level 5. Once off the elevators, enter through the double doors and head to the Gathering Room on the right, directly in front of the Learning Kitchen.

Bus stop (lines 51, 46, 36) available in front of the building (3229 Burnet Ave, Cincinnati OH 45229). If entering from front of building off of Burnet Ave., head straight past the registration desk and take a left to the elevators (on your left). Take the elevators to level 5. Once off the elevators, enter through the double doors and head to the Gathering Room on the right, directly in front of the Learning Kitchen.

What You Need: All supplies are provided.

Support Our Classes: Your generosity helps make these programs possible. Click here to make a gift. To support a specific program or explore additional ways to give to the Osher Center, please contact  Katie.Arce@foundation.uc.edu or 419-348-8437.

When: Tuesdays 12:30-1:30 p.m.

This class offers a gentle, practical introduction to mindfulness meditation to support stress relief, calm, and mind-body awareness. Guided practices focus on noticing the breath, body sensations, and thoughts with curiosity and clarity, helping to observe stress and approach it with greater ease. The group setting fosters connection and shared support, creating a welcoming space to explore mindfulness together. The class provides practical tools to bring calm, focus, and awareness into everyday life.

Through regular participation, this class may support:

• Increased present-moment awareness
• Stress management and emotional regulation
• Greater clarity, focus, and self-compassion
• Confidence in sustaining a personal mindfulness practice
• Integration of mindfulness into everyday activities
  

Who This Class Is For
This class is open to all levels of experience, from those new to mindfulness meditation to seasoned practitioners seeking to deepen and refresh their practice. No prior experience is needed.

Cost: ALL studio and virtual classes are FREE in March! Plus, buy a 5-Class Pack and enjoy 10 classes for the price of 5, this month only!

Regular Class Pricing: Sliding Scale Fee
Per Class: $5 Community Care, $10 Sustainer, $15 Supporter
Per 5-Class Pack: $22 Community Care ($4.40/class), $45 Sustainer ($9/class), $70 Supporter ($14/class)

Class Location: Gathering Room located in the Osher Wellness Suite on the 5^th Floor of the Blood Cancer Healing Center (3232 Healing Way, Cincinnati, OH 45229) with free, on-site parking available in the attached garage. If entering from the parking garage, enter on Level 1, head straight back past the registration desk to the elevators (on your left). Take the elevators to level 5. Once off the elevators, enter through the double doors and head to the Gathering Room on the right, directly in front of the Learning Kitchen.

Bus stop (lines 51, 46, 36) available in front of the building (3229 Burnet Ave, Cincinnati OH 45229). If entering from front of building off of Burnet Ave., head straight past the registration desk and take a left to the elevators (on your left). Take the elevators to level 5. Once off the elevators, enter through the double doors and head to the Gathering Room on the right, directly in front of the Learning Kitchen.

What You Need: All supplies are provided.

Support Our Classes: Your generosity helps make these programs possible. Click here to make a gift. To support a specific program or explore additional ways to give to the Osher Center, please contact  Katie.Arce@foundation.uc.edu or 419-348-8437.

Mindfulness practice, rooted in ancient practices of attention training, reduces stress, cultivates attention and expands awareness.  It teaches us to observe ourselves and situations with calmness, clarity and presence.   Using mindfulness, we can quietly tap into our inner life in the midst of a busy world, and be in wise relationship with our thoughts, emotions, and with others.  We can become less reactive, and have improved health and well-being.

When mindfulness is practiced regularly, it teaches us to acknowledge our thoughts objectively and with kindness, to notice what is happening in the body, and to come back to the breath as a centering anchor.

A growing body of research demonstrates that mindfulness can not only reduce stress and anxiety, but also foster emotional regulation, impulse control, and increased positive states such as awareness, empathy, perspective-taking, gratitude, happiness, and overall social-emotional intelligence. Practicing mindfulness can build new neural pathways in the brain that increase attention skills, affecting the prefrontal cortex, the seat of attention which is responsible for executive function and working memory.

Three-Minute Breathing Space

Find a comfortable position, with your head, neck and spine aligned and comfortable, and, if you wish, close your eyes, or allow your gaze to shift slightly downward.

And let’s begin by simply starting to notice what is here for us, right now. So maybe just ask yourself “what is my experience right now.” Notice any thoughts … notice any emotions you have … or any sensations in your body.  Not trying to change anything here, not trying to get anywhere, just notice and take inventory.   You may even tell yourself, “whatever my experience is…it is already here … just let me feel it.”

*Allow some silence for them to notice what is present—spending about one minute total on this part*

And now, let me invite you to gather your attention and notice your breath.  Focus all of your attention on your breathing.  Notice the air going in and out of the nostrils in your nose.  Notice your abdomen moving up and down as you breathe.  Just take a moment to FEEL the breath... …And as your mind wanders off, gently bring your attention back to your breathing as best you can.  Use the breath as an anchor to center yourself in the present moment….

*Again, allow for some silence- spending one minute here*

And now, expand your attention to be aware of your entire body…So, perhaps as you breathe in….visualize the air filling your entire body….move from your head, down to your chest….to your abdomen…. all the way down to your toes. …Sense your entire presence and being in this moment….

*Allow for silence and spend one minute here*

And when you are ready, slowly and gently bring your awareness back to the room, back to present…and at your own pace, open your eyes slowly.  And as you slowly come back into the room….notice what you are feeling…..and notice how you are…..alert…awake….calm….relaxed….whatever you are feeling, that is what is happening right now….for you.

Raisin Meditation
I’m going to go around the class and give each of you a few objects.

Now what I would like you to do is focus on one of the objects and just imagine that you have never seen anything like it before.

Imagine you have just dropped in from Mars this moment and you have never seen anything like it before in your life.

Taking one of these objects and holding it in the palm of your hand, or between your finger and thumb. (Pause)

Paying attention to seeing it. (Pause)

Looking at it carefully, as if you had never seen such a thing before. (Pause)

Turning it over between your fingers, (Pause)

Exploring its texture between your fingers. (Pause)

Examining the highlights where the light shines … the darker hollows and folds. (Pause)

Letting your eyes explore every part of it, as if you had never seen such a thing before. (Pause)

And if, while you are doing this any thoughts come to mind about “what a strange thing we are doing” or “what is the point of this” or “I don’t like these,” then just noting them as thoughts and bringing your awareness back to the object. (Pause)

And now smelling the object, taking it and holding it beneath your nose, and with each in-breath, carefully noticing the smell of it. (Pause)

And now taking another look at it (Pause)

And now slowly taking the object to your mouth, maybe noticing how your hand and arm know exactly where to put it, perhaps noticing your mouth watering as it comes up. (Pause)

And then gently placing the object in the mouth, noticing how it is “received” without biting it, just exploring the sensations of having it in your mouth. (Pause)

And when you are ready, very consciously taking a bite into it and noticing the taste that it releases. (Pause)

Slowly chewing it … noticing the saliva in the mouth … the change in consistency of the object. (Pause)

Then, when you feel ready to swallow, seeing if you can first detect the intention to swallow as it comes up, so that even this is experienced consciously before you actually swallow it. (Pause)

Finally, seeing if you can follow the sensations of swallowing it, sensing it moving down to your stomach, and also realizing that your body is now exactly one raisin heavier.

Audio Recordings

Tracks (MP3) of meditations from the mind-body program, guided by Dr. Sian Cotton

• Deep Relaxation Practice
• Loving Kindness Meditation
• Breathing Space
• Guided Sitting Meditation

Tracks (MP3) of meditations from Meriden McGraw, Center Mindfulness in the Workplace

• Holiday Senses Meditation
• 7-minute relaxation practice
  
• 3-minute breath practice for stress reduction
• 1-minute grounding practice

Pre- and Post-Surgery Meditations from Drs. Sian Cotton and Barbara Walker

• Pre- and Post-Surgery Meditations 

YouTube Guided Meditation from Tina Walter

• Beach Guided Imagery

Mindfulness Audio Recordings from Barbara Walker, PhD

• Metta Meditation 
• Mountain Meditation 
• Three Minute Breathing Space 
• Peaceful Place with soft music 
• Peaceful Place without music 
• Passive Muscle 
• Progressive Muscle 
• Metta Meditation 

Simple Breathing Meditation

• Relax and sit up with your spine straight, feet on the ground, hands in your lap, listening on purpose with the attitude that there is no place is more important than this present moment.
• Relax every muscle in your body and focus on your breath.
• Notice the feeling of air through your nose as you breathe in and fill your lungs.
• Slowly let the air out like a straw through your mouth.
• Use the breath as an anchor, and notice how your body feels. Where do you feel tension?
• If your mind wanders, if you have thoughts or hear sounds, notice them like passing waves, and return back to the breath.

Mindfulness/Meditation Apps

• Calm
• Headspace
• Simple Habit
• Insight Timer

Mindfulness and Meditation Resources

• Mindful Music Moments
• LAM Foundation Wellness Portal, Meditation Exercises
• From Movers & Makers Magazine: 5 Cincinnati Creatives on Mindfulness
• An Introduction to Meditation & Mind-Body Medicine For Kids
  by National Institute of Integrative Medicine
• UC San Diego Health Center for Mindfulness - Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Audio
• Ohio State Integrative Medicine Relaxation Recordings
• Ohio State Integrative Medicine Mindfulness Recordings
• Palouse Mindfulness Online Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction
• Mindful Awareness Research Center
• Dr. Richard Sears
• Garrison Institute
• Still Quiet Place
• Wellness Works in Schools