Just a year into lockdown life, a time when many of us may feel at least a different kind of balance in our lives and in the world around us, the Somerville London Group hosted Cultivating a Balanced Mind: An Art and a Science, with Dr Clara Seeger (Modern Languages, 1987).
After modern languages academia, Clara worked in investment banking and then studied neuroscience and trained as a coach. Her aim is, in her words, to facilitate “human flourishing through cultivating the mind by way of meditation, mindfulness, applied neuroscience and emotional intelligence”.
Over Zoom Clara described the four functions of the mind: desire: what we are attached to; attention: what we attend to, and how; perception: how objectively do we perceive reality?; and emotions: which of our emotions are prevalent and how well do we regulate them? Each of these functions needs to be in balance. An imbalance may be too much or too little of any one of these, or dysfunction within them; and imbalance may lead to stress, anxiety or depression.
Clara’s pathway to a balanced mind is meditation and after her talk she guided us through a fifteen minute mini-meditation.
From the comments in the chat, many of us left with a desire to explore meditation further, being challenged or encouraged by the two hours a day which Clara devotes to her practice. We are grateful to Clara for sharing her valuable insights.
Clara Seeger’s talk was recorded and is available below. For more information, including about Clara’s books and some free resources see https://www.claraseeger.com and https://enlightened-leaders.com
In these exceptional times the SLG is hosting free online events but the College welcomes voluntary donations from alumni and friends to assist students suffering hardship due to Covid. If you would like to donate to the Covid Hardship fund, please go to www.some.ox.ac.uk/donate. Every donation, no matter the size, will make a positive difference to the College community in these uncertain times.
Thank you!