Please watch the following TED video before coming to the meeting. See you guys on Saturday.
Questions for Discussion:
Session I
1. According to this neuroscientist, how does deep breathing help us calm anxiety?
1.1 If you’ve tried or are practicing meditation, please share us how meditators breath and what the role of breathing is in meditation.
2. According to the speaker, how does moving your body lead to reduction of anxiety?
3. When in a bad mood, for known or unknown reasons, have you tried doing some body movement to boost your mood? What other approaches have you taken?
4. The speaker suggested several ways of moving our body. Which one might work the best to you?
- take a short walk around the block in the office
- dance around in the living room to your favorite songs
- a quick session of power vacuuming a la Mrs. Doubtfire (https://youtu.be/AqNEZ_QgvI4?si=MvfcWeMnvJxOp2qg)
- do a set of jumping jacks
- get off the elevator one floor early to do a power walk up that last flight of stairs
Session II
5. In your everyday life, what event or situation makes you feel the most anxious? How do you deal with the anxiety? Please share with us your personal countermeasures.
6. The speaker said that once the volume of our anxiety has been turned down to normal levels, two important things will happen. What are they?
7. The speaker claims that once we keep our anxiety at bay, we’ll be more likely to detect others’ anxiety and have the potential for becoming more empathetic to others. Do you agree with that? Why or why not?
8. In the speaker’s opinion, anxiety isn’t necessarily a bad thing but can be potentially helpful. The main problem with anxiety is we have too much of it. What’s your stand on this?
Agenda:
3:45 ~ 4:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
4:00 ~ 4:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
4:10 ~ 4:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
4:50 ~ 5:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
5:10 ~ 5:15pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
5:15 ~ 5:55pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
6:00 ~ 6:20pm Summarization (20 mins)
6:20 ~ 6:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements
Meeting Date: As shown on the Subject Line
Meeting Time: 4:00pm – 6:30pm
Meeting Venue: 丹堤咖啡 Dante Coffee (Minimum Order $85)
Address: 台北市濟南路三段25號[MAP]-捷運忠孝新生站3號出口步行3分鐘
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 for two times. After that, we hope you will consider becoming a YoYo English Club member. We charge a NT$1500 lifetime membership fee, or NT$1000 for students.
