Our Name
We chose the name “The Healing WELL” through a collaborative process with participants and volunteers. Often at the center of a village or community, the well is the place where people gather. It is a source of water — essential to life - providing both vitality and refreshment. At The Healing WELL, people come together to access what they need to move forward in life. Additionally, the presence of simple and declarative “well” in the name signifies well-being. We express an intentional inclination towards being well even during challenging times, with an understanding that a sense of well-being does not demand an absence of all difficulties. Finally, the acronym WELL stands for:
Wellness
Empowerment
Liberation
Love
Wellness
We believe in a holistic view of wellness that encompasses mind, heart and body. We believe that all human beings wish for well-being and that those who have found themselves suffering in cycles of addiction, poverty and social dislocation because of emotional, psychological and physical pain require community support and encouragement as they work their way to wellness. Science now recognizes that a crucial component of well-being is happiness.
Watch the US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy prescribe happiness.
Empowerment
Mindfulness practices enable people to take to an active role in their own well-being. We are committed to energizing participants, equipping them with tools and techniques they can carry out of classes and into real challenges in their lives so that the work they do each day lays the foundations for a happier healthier future. Our practices at The Healing WELL are inspired by Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
Read more about the history of MBSR.
Liberation
A crucial component in programming at The Healing WELL is liberating participants from crippling personal and social stigmas around worthiness and capacity. We believe that all human beings wish to be free from suffering and that every human being, without exception, is worthy of freedom from suffering. This freedom from suffering doesn’t mean there are no difficulties. The programming at The Healing WELL trains participants to see the difference between reactivity and response-ability in their own bodies, hearts and minds. Advances in scientific research revealing "neuroplasticity" indicate that we can change our own brain patterning.
Watch Dr. Rick Hanson talk about “Hardwiring happiness” at TEDxMarin 2013.
Love
We are fundamentally interconnected. This feeling of connectedness, love, is vital for us to thrive. At The Healing WELL our programming is infused with a deep appreciation for the nourishing quality of love, whether it’s in the form of self-care through yoga and lovingkindness meditation, the laughter and tears shared in a poetry class or simply the genuine and warm welcome at the door each and every day. A core element of our mission at The Healing WELL is to open our hearts, re-creating a sense of connection, with spirit, with self, with others in community, with the mystery and wonder of life itself. Research from the University of California at San Francisco indicates that empathy and loving relationships influence our mood and stabilize and maintain overall health.
Banner photo by Chelsea Tucker, ChelseaSees.com