“For a very small investment, we can prevent tragic future costs and heartaches in our communities. How much will we save in preventing substance abuse? How much we will save in preventing suicides and mass shootings because children feel isolated and alone? My goal is to get us to focus more on mental health and well-being in the most important asset we have in America – well-functioning human beings.”
Published May 1, 2018 Copyright (c) 2018 The Miami Herald
Rep. Tim Ryan
Congressman Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat, recently visited several inner city schools in Miami-Dade to raise awareness on the importance of using the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Program as a tool to combat stress, aggression, bullying and school violence.
Ryan visited the Academy for International Education in Miami Springs, Mater Academy of International Studies in Miami, and Arcola Lakes Elementary School in Liberty City. His visit was organized by Valerie York-Zimmerman, founder of Miami Mindfulness, which provides professional training of the program to teachers and counselors, who then teach students in the classroom. The training aims to increase attention and academic achievement, reduce stress and increase performance, improve impulse control and increase teaching time in classrooms, develop emotional regulation and teach students to respond instead of reacting, and build empathy and compassion.
“For a very small investment, we can prevent tragic future costs and heartaches in our communities. How much will we save in preventing substance abuse? How much will we save in preventing suicides and mass shootings because children feel isolated and alone? My goal is to get us to focus more on mental health and well-being in the most important asset we have in America — well-functioning human beings,” Ryan said.
U.S. CONGRESSMAN TIM RYAN, AUTHOR OF ‘A MINDFUL NATION,’ TO SPEAK ABOUT MINDFUL PROGRESS IN CITIES, SCHOOLS, HOSPITALS, HALLS OF JUSTICE, and BUSINESS
YOU ARE INVITED TO MEET CONGRESSMAN TIM RYAN (D-OHIO) WHOSE PUBLIC SERVICE IS FOCUSED ON:
long-term economic recovery and growth across the U.S.;
getting people back to work through innovative and high-tech initiatives;
a transformational approach to mental health across America;
Safe Schools that foster learning and healthy students;
a just and mindful approach to criminal justice and immigration;
long-term public policy for our future and environment;
and other important issues impacting our families and our community.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HIS INSPIRED WORK IN EDUCATION – HEALTHCARE – MENTAL HEALTH – CRIMINAL JUSTICE and BUSINESS WITH LEADERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
Prior to Reception in his honor, Representative Ryan will visit South Florida inner-city public schools to talk about Safe Schools – Importance of Mental Health – Ending Bullying, Aggression and Violence – Improving Learning Environments – Fostering Happy, Healthy Students.
JOIN US FOR MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE TO CONSIDER WHAT WE CAN DO IN OUR OWN MIAMI and FT. LAUDERDALE COMMUNITIES!
RECEPTION IN HONOR OF CONGRESSMAN TIM RYAN
At the home of SHARON and MITCHELL BERGER
(Founder of South Florida Berger Singerman law offices)
Ryan says mindfulness practice gives him a feeling of calm that allows him to manage his day, especially necessary in an increasingly bitter Washington.
Rep. Tim Ryan
It’s 95 degrees, I have sweat in my eyes, and I’m squinting at four women in brightly colored Spandex tops and cropped pants. That’s when I spot the guy who suggested I try this yoga class. The congressman has flipped his dog.
He’s turned his downward dog almost inside out—back bent, belly up. The moment offers one answer to the central question of this story: How does Representative Tim Ryan truly live his mindfulness practice? As I stick with downward dog, he looks like he could hang out upside down all day, and the more I get to know him, it’s clear his steadiness is not limited to the yoga mat.
Ryan, 39, is not one of those bomb-throwing members of Congress, the type who generates sensational headlines on Hardball. No, he’s not that Ryan, the one who was on the Republican presidential ticket. He’s the Democrat.
The one who has quietly continued winning races in his Ohio district.
The one with “that mindfulness thing,†as one of his fellow members put it. Ryan’s book, A Mindful Nation: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Reduce Stress, Improve Performance, and Recapture the American Spirit, reads a bit like what presidential candidates publish two years before they start to show up at the Iowa State Fair, full of broad statements like this one from the close: “It’s helping us all recapture the spirit of what it means to be an American. Join us.â€
By Christina Bellantoni;Â Photographs by Mark Mahaney
