Humana Neighborhood Centers provide more than a local place for seniors to gather over crafts or to exercise, they provide human connections that address unique needs of seniors. Neighborhood Centers focus on supporting the whole person, including physical, mental and social health. Classes and services offered at Centers help to provide education and support, reduce a sense of isolation and increase self-empowerment and a sense of control over your own well-being.
Meditation Moments is a Neighborhood Center class that often has an educational element, followed by a session of guided meditation. One of the best things about meditation is that there is no wrong way to do it. You don’t need to have experience meditating to find benefit from taking 15-20 minutes of your day to slow down your thoughts, deepen your breaths and find a little more openness and internal peace.
Skylar Griessel is a Humana health educator in Tampa, Fl., who first began leading online Meditation Moments sessions during the Covid-19 pandemic when in-person events were not feasible. Skylar recalls the transformation that one of her Humana members experienced during her very first class.
Ms. Linda’s first deep breath
“When the pandemic hit, Ms. Linda was one of the Tampa Neighborhood Center members I really kept in close contact with,” said Skylar. “We had talked about different stress reduction techniques and ways to manage anxiety during our frequent one-on-one sessions over the phone. Linda tuned in to my very first Meditation Moments, and we talked afterwards, and she said that it was the first deep breath that she had taken all week.
“We would physically do a breathing exercise together, practicing breathing in and exhaling out. And one of the things we learned to do together, or that we learned was helpful for her, was counting how many seconds to breathe in, maybe to four, and how many seconds to breathe out, maybe to six or to eight. And she found that that technique really helped her focus on the breath and kind of quiet some of those racing thoughts.”
