Mindful Living Thursdays

“Mindfulness as a Path to Resilience” is a six-week series for people who are new or new-ish to concepts of Mindful Living.

Each facilitated session is designed to help participants expand their capacity for overall wellness by exploring practical strategies that cultivate and strengthen resilience by activating the body’s natural calming system. 

Whether you’re seeking greater calm in your daily work or tools to manage stress during challenging seasons, this program provides a supportive environment for inner growth. Together, we’ll explore how mindfulness can form and inform resilience.

You can pick and choose one or a few sessions, or come to all six :

• Jan. 15 = Defining & Redefining Resilience / led by both Jose and Susanna

• Jan. 22 = Resilience & The Stress Cyle / led by Susanna

• Jan. 29 = The Intersection of Mindfulness & Resilience / led by Jose

• Feb. 5 = Resilience through Reflective Writing / led by Susanna

• Feb. 12 = Emotional Resilience / led by Jose

• Feb. 19 = Resilience through Mindful Movement / led by Susanna

Through simple but powerful (and accessible) practices, this Mindful Living series offers tools to calm the mind, reduce stress, and foster clarity with compassion. Ideas and techniques include breathwork to anchor attention and gentle chair yoga to release tension and reconnect with the body. 

In addition to movement and breathwork, the series incorporates reflective writing prompts that encourage deeper self-awareness and emotional processing. These practices, combined with the concepts lifted up in group discussion, equip participants with a template that can be applied in everyday living to create space for thoughtful responses, rather than impulsive reactions.  

Dates & Registration information:

• Thursday Evenings, January 15 - February 19

• 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM

  • No registration is required. You may just drop in before 6:30 on Thursdays and pay $15 at the door.

  • However, this season, package program pricing is also available. You may buy a package of 6 sessions for $60. You may purchase this package here.

  • Come to one or come to all. It’s your choice - even last minute.

  • If you would like to help with Hospitality, click here.

• Location: The beautiful and newly renovated Threshold Center at 3794 Crosshaven Drive, Vestavia Hills/ Cahaba Heights, AL 35223.

• Parking is free. Handicapped parking is available at the door.

Meet Jose

The Rev. José R. Fernández, PhD, began his ministry as the Rector of Grace Episcopal Church in March 2023. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Father José overcame the challenges of a disadvantaged background through education. He earned a BS in Biology from the University of Puerto Rico, an MA in Secondary Science Education from Columbia University, and a PhD in Biobehavioral Health from Penn State University.

Rev. José pursued a successful academic career that combined research and education in the field of genetics of obesity and nutrition, serving as a faculty member and administrator in the Department of Nutrition Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. In 2017, after a decade as a mentor for the Education for Ministry (EfM) program, he felt a calling to explore ordained ministry. This led to seminary training at the Alabama Integrative Ministry School for bi-vocational priesthood, culminating in his ordination as an Episcopal priest in December 2021.

_____________________________________

Meet Susanna

Susanna Whitsett is the Founding Executive Director of Founders Place, a ministry of Saint Luke’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham, Alabama, offering respite and community for adults living with dementia and their caregivers.

Susanna spent many summers at Camp McDowell (the camp and conference center for the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama), where she says she was “formed and transformed” by the camp community. Those experiences inspired her to return years later as Camp McDowell’s Summer Camp Director and then as Faith-Based Program Developer, creating programs that brought people together in meaningful ways—like inclusive summer camps for children of all abilities, grief retreats for teens and caregivers, parent-child weekends, and family farm-to-table gatherings.

Susanna also served for over a decade as the director of the Sawyerville Day Camp, a free summer camp for children and youth in Hale and Greene Counties, AL.