In Ayurvedic teaching traditions, the role of the teacher is to share what he or she knows from personal experience and training with his or her students. It is their role, as learners, to discern what is of use to them in the teachings that they receive from their doctor, and to discard what does not feel helpful. Your HeartSong physician strives to provide you with education that will be of use to you, but it is up to you to decide which information makes sense to you, in your particular circumstances, and which is not. It is up to you to find your own personal path to optimal health using your physician-teacher as a resource, but not as an authority.

There are many social services available to you in your local community. In addition, the internet has exponentially increased your access to health care and information through virtual technologies that astound us daily with their ever-increasing capacity to bring the world to us with the touch of a fingertip.

Whether you prefer face-to-face individual meetings, face-to-face support groups, online social networking, information-gathering, reading books, listening to CDs, watching DVDs or television, or perhaps just a telephone call, you can always find the support that you need to achieve your personal health goals if you reach out -- look to see what is available and ask for what you need.

• problem-identification (figuring out what you want to know about),
• inquiry (asking what you want to know),
• resource identification (identifying where you can learn what you want to learn),
• direct experience (personal experience with what you want to learn about),
• observation (observing of oneself and other in that experience ),
• reflection (thinking about what you have experienced, seen, heard, or read),
• discernment(discerning what is of interest from the available information),
• comprehension(understanding what you have discerned),
• theory-making(building hypotheses about what you have discerned and understood), and
• experimentation(trying out what you have discerned and about which you have theorized).

Your HeartSong physician will help you use all of these skills to further your own learning about how to best care for yourself

Books

Click on the link to the right to see the recommended book list.

Community Programs

Fresh Start: Tobacco Cessation Program at BMH

The Fresh Start Tobacco Cessation Workshop is a free program open to anyone interested in becoming tobacco-free. Terri Kneipp, a facilitator trained by the Vermont Department of Health Access leads the program. Free Nicotine Replacement Therapy is available for Vermont residents. Brattleboro Memorial Hospital is located at 17 Belmont Avenue in Brattleboro, Vermont. Contact: 802-251-8456.

Strong Bones Elders Exercise Class

10:30 AM to 11:30 AM Mondays & Wednesdays, Instructor: Karen Bratton. Strength and balance program for older adults. 5:00-6:15 PM Mondays & Wednesdays, Instructor: Laura Smith. Strength and balance program for older adults. Appropriate for sedentary or active individuals. Location: Grace Cottage Hospital Community Wellness Center, 133 Grafton Rd./Route 35, Townshend. Contact: 802-365-3649.

Women, Infants and Children (WIC)

WIC is a nutrition program that helps pregnant women, new mothers, and young children eat well, learn about nutrition and stay healthy. WIC is the "Federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children." Our goal is to improve health by informing families about good health practices and by providing nutritious foods to eligible Vermonters. Every year, thousands of women, infants and children receive nutrition services from the Vermont WIC program. In addition to providing healthy foods, WIC provides nutrition counseling, breastfeeding support, health education, and connections to other community resources.WICWIC is designed to serve income-eligible pregnant women, women who are breastfeeding or who have a new baby, infants and children up to age 5 who are nutritionally or medically at risk. Contact: 800-649-4357

Stress Management with Mindfulness

Vermont Insight Meditation Center (VIMC) was established in 2005 as a nonprofit, nonresidential urban center for the practice of Insight (Vipassana) meditation. Located in South Eastern Vermont, VIMC is a Buddhist spiritual center dedicated to the study and practice of Insight meditation and to its applications in daily life. Regular open sittings are offered twice weekly in the mornings, formal teachings are offered three out of four Sundays a month, and evening classes are offered to deepen and strengthen the understanding of the teachings and the actual meditation practice. Insight (Vipassana) meditation is an ancient and direct form of practice that leads to clear seeing into the nature of our hearts and minds, revealing an inherent clarity, openness and ease. Through the continuity of mindfulness in all aspects of daily life, one inclines the mind toward the development of wisdom, compassion, and freedom. Contact: 802-254-7077. For sitting and course schedules:
www.vermontinsight.org/

Food

Agape Church (10 Canal Street, Brattleboro, 802-257-4069) offers free groceries and meals.For groceries, try their Food Pantry on Thursdays 6:30-8:00 p.m. For a free meal, their Soup Kitchen on Saturdays 1-3 p.m. is great.

Putney Food Shelf(10 Christian Square, Putney, 802-387-2120)has a great selection of dried and canned good, as well as fresh and frozen foods on Tuesdays 6-7 p.m. and Saturdays.

Our Place Drop-In Center(4 Island Street, Bellows Falls)serves free meals Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, 9:00-11:30 and 12:30-4 p.m.

Loaves and Fishes(Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street, Brattleboro, (802)257-1489) serves meals Tuesdays and Fridays 12-1 p.m.

Learn More

Support Groups

Alcoholics Anonymous. District Area 8 List of 70 meetings. Schedule: http://www.aavt.org/aamtg8.htm#

Overeaters Anonymous. Saturdays at 9 AM at Turning Point Center, 112 Hardwood Way, Brattleboro. Contact Ali at 802-275-7478.

Complicated Minds.    Tuesdays 6-8 p.m.  Facilitated by Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona at Otter Creek Associates, 80 Linden Street.  (802) 254-2291. Mindbody medicine for mental health.

Chronic Pain.  Wednesdays 5-7 p.m.  Facilitated by Dr. Lewis Mehl-Madrona at Otter Creek Associates, 80 Linden Street.  (802) 254-2291. Mindbody medicine for chronic pain management.

Websites

Smoking Cessation. Vermont Quit Network provides different types of support, depending upon your preferences: Support Online, By Phone, In Person http://www.vtquitnetwork.org/

Smoking and Weight. Information on why smokers tend to put on weight when they quit and how to manage this.
www.smokefree.gov/pubs/ffree3.pdf

Research

Coming soon!