What is Mindfulness? Mindfulness is the practice of paying attention to our present moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with that experience in a non-judgmental way. By practicing mindful awareness we cultivate our capacity to connect with the experience of calm, ease, and well-being. Mindfulness is a first-person investigation into the architecture of our own inner landscape. The more gently we come to awareness and accept and befriend our inner landscape, the more kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity we manifest into the worlds we inhabit. Mindfulness and heartfulness are synonymous. Research suggests that the practice of mindfulness lowers blood pressure; boosts the immune system; reduces inflammation; strengthens focus and increases attention (particularly supportive of those suffering from ADHD); helps with difficult mental states such as anxiety, rumination, and depression; fosters emotional regulation; reduces emotional reactivity; increases self-awareness and well-being; and improves the functioning of the brain responsible for decision making, emotional flexibility, and empathy. 

2023 Offerings – Held virtually

UCLA MAPs I - For Daily Living Classes

• Dates: Wednesdays, March 15 - April 19, 2023.  6-week course. CE Credits Available. 
• Time: 4:00p.m. - 6p.m. (PST/California) 
• Location: Virtual/Zoom Classroom

New Year’s Day Retreat, 2023
Meditations on Forgiveness: Setting Intentions to Set Ourselves Free – Sunday January 1, 2023 (9:15a.m. – 12:15p.m./PST)

Mindfulness Drop-ins (Free)
​Thank you for your interest in Mindfulness. There are currently no drop-ins scheduled between June-August. Please check back early September for the Fall drop-in schedule.

 Podcasts

• UCLA Hammer Podcasts: Drop-in Meditations at UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center. To listen click link below. You can find Dr. Ali’s Podcasts on Oct. 24, Aug. 29, Aug. 22, and May 9 (2022).
  https://www.uclahealth.org/programs/marc/free-guided-meditations/drop-meditations-hammer-podcast

Workshops, Lectures, Presentations​

• The J. Paul Getty Museum: Professional Development for K-12 Teachers
  “Mindfulness in Nature: Presence as Self-Care”
  Live/On-sight – Saturday May 6, 2023, 10:30am, 11:30a.m., & 1:30p.m.
  https://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/professional_dev/prof_dev_index.html
• University of La Verne: La Fetra College of Education/Keynote address to Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership students “When the Heart Pays Attention Nature is Life: A Mindfulness & Wellness Exploration for Leaders”
  Live/On-sight – April 22, 2023, 3p.m.
• Ventura College: Diversity in Culture “Mindfulness, Self-Care, and Resilience” (Nature/Nurture Series)
  Live/On-sight – Thursday April 13, 12:30p.m.
  https://www.venturacollege.edu/community/diversity-in-culture/diversity-culture-festival-2023-events
• UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center & Psychiatry 175 “Nature/Nurture: Fieldnotes on Mindfulness in Nature”
  Live/Zoom – Wednesday March 8, 2023, 7:00 – 8:30p.m.
  https://www.uclahealth.org/programs/marc/classes-events/workshops#nature-nurture 
• Claremont McKenna College: Psych 154 Class “Mindfulness and Well-Being: Theory, Practice, Science”
  Live/On-sight - February 1, 2023, 2:45p.m.​

2022 Offerings – Held virtually

UCLA MAPS I Classes

• NEW MAPs CLASS (Nov - Dec): UCLA MAPs I Class (Tuesdays, Nov 8 – Dec 13, 2022) 10a.m. - Noon/PST. CE Credits Available
• ​MAPs CLASS (July-August): UCLA MAPs I Class (Tuesdays, July 5 – August 9, 2022) 10a.m. - Noon/PST.  CE Credits Available
• MAPs CLASS: UCLA MAPs I Class (Thursdays, May 12 – June 16, 2022) 10a.m. - Noon/PST.  CE Credits Available

• UCLA MAPs I Class (Sunday January 16 - February 20, 2022 - 10a.m. - Noon/PST.  CE Credits Available​

Summer Day-Long Retreat: Live via Zoom

• Longing and Belonging: A Day of Mindfulness, Poetry & Reflective Writing – Sunday July 31 (9:30-a.m. – 3:30p.m./PST). 

Free Mindfulness Drop-ins and Podcasts

• MONDAY – Weekly guided meditations (11:30a – Noon/PST) 
• WEDNESDAY – Weekly Sangha group (6:30a.m. – 7:15a.m./PST)
• SATURDAY – Weekly Sangha group (6:30a.m. – 7:15a.m./PST)​

Mindfulness Currents in Academia: UCLA Lecture Series
Workshops - UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center

• "An Intimate Alchemy: Longing as the Gateway to Belonging"
  Live on Zoom - Thursday, July 21, 2022 - 7:00 – 8:30 pm PST
• Cultivating Borderland Consciousness as a Decolonizing and Liberatory Praxis: Mindfulness and the Malleable Texture of Perception
  Live-Online Via Zoom - Thursday, February 10, 2022 - 7:00 – 8:30 pm PST

New Year’s Day Retreat, 2022

• Setting our Intentions…Meditations on Love, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Joy - Saturday January 1, 2022 (7a.m. – 10a.m./PST)

"The Intuitive mind is a sacred gift, the rational mind a faithful servant, we have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift." 
​- Albert Einstein

"Direct your eye right inward, and you'll find a thousand regions in your mind yet undiscovered. Travel them, and be expert in home-cosmography." 
- Henry David Thoreau