Hello Mindfulness Friends,

These are challenging times. Most of us may be experiencing all sorts of feelings as we grapple with the uncertainty of life these days. Speaking for myself, practicing mindfulness helps to re-establish my center, to ground myself a little more in the present moment, and to respond to life with a little more grace and kindness.

Perhaps you find the same.

We cannot meet at the library to practice mindfulness together as we have for the past five years. As a next best alternative, I am considering offering the mindfulness course online via the software application ZOOM. Many of you have probably used it before. For those of who have not, ZOOM is a computer application that allows people who are located in different physical spaces to see and hear each other online. For me, it is not the same as being together in the same room. But it is a lot better than just hearing a voice, and much, much better than nothing.

I hope you will be interested in giving this a try. We will still meet Tuesday evenings at 7 pm until 8:15 (planning to start April 7). It will still be free. You will have the option of just calling in on a regular phone in which case you can hear our discussion and participate in it verbally (and we can hear you) OR connecting to the meeting via your computer, laptop, or smart phone – in which case you will be able to see and hear everyone and we can all hear you if you speak (and we can see you if choose to be visible).

If you have never done this, believe me it is not that hard.

The first step is for you to email me at gregtopak@gmail.com so I can include you on the invitation list. If so, I will then send you an email with instructions about how to join the ZOOM meeting either by phone or computer. We can even schedule a practice ZOOM meeting if that would help people.

I hope you are healthy. Be safe. Best to you,

Greg Topakian

 Greg Topakian, Ph.D., is a long time educator and actuary. Over the past thirty years, he has balanced his professional life with a daily practice of yoga and mindfulness meditation. During that period Greg has participated in several long-term retreats to deepen his concentration and awareness. He has facilitated a mindfulness group in his home for the last fifteen years, and has taught several multi-week Introduction to Mindfulness courses at the Westborough Library. Now in semi-retirement, Greg teaches mindfulness to employees of local colleges, town governments, and corporations across the state.