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“What I have grown to recognize about myself is that I spend a great deal of time taking care of everyone…This class…taught me about my origin and my environment, and the role it all played in how I have learned to survive and cope with life. I feel better about my existence and it has allowed me to engage in self care.”
—Recent Participant

Dr. Vera Moura

Instructor:
Vera Moura, MD, MS-MBM

Sessions are 2 1/2 hours, held once a week for ten weeks, focused on experiential practice and self-reflection.

For more information or to register for upcoming sessions, email to: vera_moura@med.unc.edu or call her at 919.320.8285.

About the Program

Mind-Body Skills Group (MBSG) is a meditative group process, and is one among a variety of programs worldwide involving Mind Body Medicine theory and practice. MBSG is based on principles identified in Dr. Jim Gordon’s book, Manifesto for a New Medicine. According to Dr. Gordon, a psychiatrist and founder of the Center for Mind- Body Medicine in Washington DC, “self care is the true primary care” and “health promotion is a way of life”. Dr Gordon advises health care professionals and patients to embrace a holistic, individualized approach to health and draw upon the wisdom of ancient medical traditions.

The mind-body skills group program is an educational program designed to help people embrace a unique approach to health and wellness and adopt new attitudes about health and healing. In this program, group participants have the opportunity to learn and practice a variety of mind-body techniques:

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  • Meditation
  • Guided Imagery
  • Breath Work
  • Movement
  • Journal Writing
  • Drawing
  • Autogenic Training (self-hypnosis)
  • Biofeedback (using the body’s natural abilities to relax)

There is growing evidence of the immense healing potential of this program for diverse populations. These include healthy people who want to enhance self awareness and well being as well as those with clinical conditions, such as cancer, depression, anxiety, chronic pain and severe stress, particularly when used in combination with conventional health-care services.

This program has also been proven to assist medical students and health care professionals in “preventing burnout, re-instilling fresh purpose in their work, understanding their purpose in serving and healing their patients, and providing a transformational experience” for them within a safe peer-support group.

More testimonials from participants:

“Deep concentrated breathing and meditation allows for me to be in the here-and-now and focus on what is really going on in my body. I have been using the techniques to allow me to be able to cope with very stressful situations. I feel that I have become more tolerant of others and their expressions of self awareness.”

“This group has meant…a return to…my older wiser intuitive self…I will be anticipating being part of a group again in the future after this fulfilling experience.”

“The growth I experienced in the group was somehow an enhancement of self esteem and also a new reverence for the spiritual power inherent in sharing and opening up to self, to others, and to the unknown. I feel grateful and empowered by the experience of being in the group. The techniques were mostly known to me, but now I am more and more comfortable sharing them with others in my practice and in my personal life.”

“Listening to everyone in the group talk about themselves, I realized how different what they said was from what I thought I might hear…I know that I have grown, mostly in my ability to look inside myself, but also in my ability to really hear other people.”

“… I was able to feel comfortable being myself and sharing what I was truly feeling. I enjoyed hearing the other group members’ experiences with the practices and felt accepted and respected by everyone in the group, which in and of it self was healing.”

“…The group process was magical. Not only were the tools that were taught useful to me at various times during the program, but my life’s experiences seemed to be heightened and intensified…These life experiences were not always easy or enjoyable, but they were definitely learning experiences. I am sure I have much more to learn, but this was a big step along the way.”

Inquiries and Registration

Contact Vera Moura, MD, at 919.320.8285 or vera_moura@med.unc.edu via email. A personal interview is required before admission to the program. Each group is limited to eight participants.

Deposits and Tuition Fees

The cost for the program is $495.00, offered at a reduced rate as compared to comparable programs around the country. A partial scholarship is available. (No one will be turned away for financial difficulties.) Additionally, you may wish to check with your employer about available funding/reimbursement for continuing education (staff development) expenses.

About the Facilitator

Vera Lucia Moura, MD, MS-MBM, is a Brazilian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst with up to two decades of clinical practice in her country prior to immigrating to the United States. In the United States she worked at the University of Michigan Michigan, including Michigan Integrative Medicine, for 10 years. Afterward, she joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Program on Integrative Medicine, as a research instructor, and more recently, as an adjunct instructor. She is certified by the Center for Mind-Body Medicine and has completed a Master of Science degree in Mind-Body Medicine at Saybrook University in California. She also completed Michael Harner’s three-year program on advanced shamanism; she was an apprentice of Kichwa elders from the Andes area of Ecuador for up to 10 years, and continues her shamanic apprenticeship with Sandra Ingerman. In the last 15 years she has facilitated Mind-Body Skills Groups and conducted research on Mind-Body Medicine and Ancient Ways of Healing. She has worked with healthcare professionals, students, women with a history of abuse, burn survivors, people with chronic illness, as well as with healthy people who want to engage in wellness and lifestyle change for well-being, spiritual development, and disease prevention. In her private practice the focus of her work is on Mind-Body Medicine, Shamanic Healing, and Integrative Wellness Coaching.

About the Program on Integrative Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

The Program on Integrative Medicine (PIM) was founded in 1998 with the mission of enhancing health through the informed integration of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) with mainstream health care. Faculty, staff and affiliates collaborate on CAM-related research, education, clinical practice and community initiatives, with the aim of understanding theoretical and philosophical bases of CAM systems; exploring efficacy of CAM practices; improving access to patient centered integrative care; furthering communication and collaboration with CAM providers; and disseminating evidence-based information on CAM and integrative care. Funding for PIM currently is provided through a state appropriation that originated with the UNC Division of Health Affairs in 1997, as well as federal and foundation grants. For more information, please see the PIM website.