Stress reduction is workshop focus> Seminar designed to rejuvenate bodies

SOUTHWEST HARBOR — They explored their energy fields, the area that puts the body in touch with the inner self.

Working with meditation, massage, breathing, movement and the ancient Chinese science of Chi Kung, participants in the 11th annual Maine Hospice Seminar on Saturday experienced the mind and body as a unified energy field and learned simple ways to rejuvenate positive life energy in the midst of emotional stress.

The seminar was intended to teach hospice volunteers ways to alleviate the stress they encountered in their work, but it was apparent that the simple exercises could be a great help to anyone in today’s stress-laden work world. Its content attracted some nonhospice workers to the three-day event.

Hospice means “place of shelter for travelers on a difficult journey.” In 1967, Dr. Cicely Saunders founded St. Christopher’s, England’s first hospice. The first hospice program in the United States began in New Haven, Conn., in 1971. The role of the program is simple, to help alleviate the physical, psychological and spiritual pain of dying patients and provide support for their families.

Deborah Parker, program administrator for Hospice of Hancock County, said the all-volunteer support group did not charge for its services.

The group provides companionship for the patient while giving the family a respite from day-to-day care, assists families with social and health resources available in Maine, and provides bereavement support.

The theme of this year’s seminar, “Healing Body and Soul,” was demonstrated through an eclectic array of workshops that included “Healing our Body and Soul with insights from near death experience,” “Macrobiotics for Health and Vitality,” and Paul Weiss’ two-part workshop on “Rejuvenating the Energy Field of the Body.”

In the Weiss workshop, participants practiced breathing and movement exercises to alleviate stress. They ranged from simple, rhythmic arm movements to exercises where participants gyrated their hips, pumped their arms and screeched a high-pitched “Eeeee … .”

When he urged the participants to rub their hands together to create an energy flow, the sound of 30 pairs of hands rubbing against one another was reminiscent of crickets on a hot summer night. When they stretched their arms above their heads to trace the outline of the universe, most were amazed to discover that the stress of their lives, their jobs and their volunteer work almost evaporated. Some had arrived as skeptics; most left as converts.

To the accompaniment of Indian and Peruvian music, they raised their arms in winglike movement, their fingers floating like a soft wind through sheer curtains, and absorbed the new energy they had tapped.

They reclined on the floor and practiced how to breathe deeply from their abdomens instead of from the tops of their chests, where stress-laden people tend to breathe. As the participants practiced, Weiss walked among them to help each individual capture the right rhythm.

During the meditation exercise, Weiss said thinking was part of the meditation process, but thoughts and judgment did not have to dominate.

“Let your thinkingness be there, don’t shut it out there, don’t make a big deal about it. Let it be part of the whole scenery,” he told the group.

He invited them to let their mind’s eye view the insides of their eyes and smile at them. As they did, relaxed smiles graced the faces of the participants.

Pam Bridges of Calais, a participant in the Weiss workshop, said the experience had been invaluable.

“I think we carry a lot of tension around, not only as a hospice volunteer, but in the personal things that weigh you down. It teaches you relaxing techniques that you can take back and use in your everyday life. At least I hope we can,” she said.