The first inaugural BC Mindfulness Summit took place from February 21-23, 2020 at the University of Victoria in Victoria, BC. Co-sponsored by the BC Association for Living Mindfully (BCALM) and UVic Continuing Studies the weekend provided an inspiring forum for the participating health professionals, educators, researchers, MBSR facilitators and community activists to gather, share, connect, practice and learn.
The theme of our conference was How to Create a Mindful Society and our event began with a panel discussion on the Friday evening that welcomed over 180 community members! Dr. Dzung Vo of the BC Children’s Hospital Centre for Mindfulness, along with Susan Woods, Patricia Galaczy and myself participated in the panel, offering short presentations on our own perspectives, and then encouraging a discussion on the importance of engaged mindfulness as a means to navigate some of the challenges we face today. How might the qualities of present moment awareness and compassion offer something important to meeting our challenges of global warming or poverty; biodiversity loss and political partisanship? How does mindfulness affect how we treat ourselves and each other; what we choose to eat, buy and do with our moments?
As the first province-wide conference gathering of mindfulness professionals in BC, the weekend was colored with shared purpose, gratitude, and a sense of community. The conference offered practical workshops on mindfulness based inquiry, self compassion, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, gratitude, teaching mindfulness to youth, as well as mindfulness facilitation in Nature, in education and through storytelling. It was inspiring to watch connection nurtured through conversation and laughter, and to witness the seeds planted towards shared offerings and future relationship.
I want to express my sincere gratitude to all of the presenters and participants from the Summit in being part of this inaugural event and it is our hope at BCALM that this is the first of many future conferences to come, and a bold step towards increased communication, shared advocacy and purpose in bringing mindfulness work to the forefront of education, health care, workplace wellness and research in British Columbia and beyond.
The BC Association for Living Mindfully was created with a vision towards facilitating mindfulness and compassion in schools, homes, health care settings and communities throughout British Columbia. How might you join us in making this vision a reality?
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Dr. Mark Sherman MD CM, CCFP is a family physician and the Executive Director of the BC Association for Living Mindfully (BCALM). He is also the founder and Executive Director for Living This Moment (www.livingthismoment.ca) where he works with physicians and health care providers to facilitate mindfulness in health care. For more information on the work of BCALM please go to www.bcalm.ca.