8/16 (Tue.) 1. About Meditation 2. Gloomy and More Uncertain (Host: Christine)

[jerryozoz]

1. About Meditation

Many unexpected things happened beyond our control in year 2022. The outbreak of Russia-Ukraine War has caused energy crisis and a lot of uncertainty in global economy. Honestly, it’s quite challenging to be mindfulness while we encounter uncertainty. Hence, I’ve been looking for the methods which might help us being more mindfulness when facing the challenges or difficulties of life.

Meditation is one of the hot topics which has been discussed by YoYo members not long ago. We even have some experts who have been practicing this and benefited by it. 

According to the article, meditation has been shown to help reduce stress and anxiety, but research suggests it can also change parts of one of our most important organs – the brain.

It also mentioned that people practice meditation for different kind of reasons. It can be used to make you more aware of your surroundings and yourself or to give you that much-needed break during the middle of a hectic day.

The benefits including the following:
Lowering blood pressure
Reducing stress
Managing anxiety
Controlling pain
Improving attention
Strengthening memory
Improving self-image
Enhancing self-awareness
Improving sleep

The practice of meditation typically involves the following elements:
A quiet location with few distractions
A comfortable posture
An open attitude, letting distractions come and go naturally
A focus on breathing
A focus of attention

It can be done by anyone and anywhere – whether at work, home, at school, or even in the car.
You don’t need any special equipment or a gym membership.
Try out different styles of meditation to find the one that works best for you and fits your lifestyle.
Our lives are often so fast-paced that it can seem impossible to find the time and space to meditate, much less to even believe that you can clear your mind completely.
But all you need is a few minutes to get started and silence, and the benefits to your brain can last a lifetime.

Reading materials for Session One:

How meditation changes the brain
https://psychcentral.com/blog/how-medit ... -the-brain
https://buildingabusiness101.com/17-fam ... -meditate/

Reading materials for Session Two:

2. Gloomy and More Uncertain
https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/WEO ... -july-2022


Questions for discussing:

Session One:
1.What’s meditation? Do you feel it’s hard to approach? Does your understanding about meditation change
after the discussion of today?

2.What are alternatives to release your stress? Among them, is there any one has the effect as meditation – change your brain structure?

3.Meditation has been shown not only to help reduce stress and anxiety, but also can change parts of our brain. Have you tried meditation before? If yes, do you really feel the benefits of practicing it? If not yet, are you convinced by the evidence or the stories shared by the famous CEOs? Would you be willing to try it if you haven’t done it yet? What effects would you expect to achieve from practicing meditation?

4.CEO is one of the stressful jobs in the world. Based on the article, all those listed CEO have the habit of practicing meditation and shared how they benefited from it. Can you describe any of their experiences from the article provided?

Would you be encouraged to try it after knowing their experiences?


Session Two:
5.Has your life been affected by the increasing CPI? How do you cope with the situation? Do you have any tips or advice to share with us?

6.How would the high CPI affect the global economy? Based on the revealed economic data, many experts predicted the potential economic recession occurred in the future. Are you worried about the coming economic recession? Is it possible to be well prepared for it in advance? What can be done?

7.What are the industries which are less affected by the global recession?

8.Some said that the global recession could be taken as an opportunity for wealth redistribution? Do you agree with it? If so, is there any advice to give to general publics?



.......................................................................................
Agenda:
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:00pm Summarization (10 mins)
8:00 ~ 8:05pm Regrouping / Taking a 5 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:05 ~ 8:45pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
8:45 ~ 8:55pm Summarization (10 mins)
8:55 ~ 9:00pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements

Meeting Date: As shown on the Subject Line
Meeting Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm

Online meeting:
* ZOOM ID: 848 6108 3035
* ZOOM PASSCODE: yoyo2022
* ZOOM LINK: https://tinyurl.com/yoyo2022-meeting
#YoyoEnglishClub

No on-site meeting for Tuesday night!!!

Important Notes:
1. We advise participants to print out the discussion questions and bring them to the meeting for reference. As for the supporting articles, feel free to print them out, as well, according to your preference.
2. We suggest that participants read the articles and think about the questions in advance.
3. Newcomers should prepare a two-to-three minute self-introduction in English to deliver when called upon by the host before the start of the discussion. The host may also ask you to give brief feedback about the meeting at the conclusion of the meeting.
4. We conduct the entire meeting in English. All participants should have at least moderate English-conversation skills and be able to articulate your ideas for each discussion question.
5. We welcome newcomers and other guests to attend the meetings and join the discussion freely twice (including on-site and online meetings). After that, we hope you will consider becoming a YoYo English Club member. We charge a NT$1,500 (NT$1,000 for students) lifetime membership fee.

[miller]

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