Landmark Education Self-expression and Leadership » Health and Wellness

Making Organ Donation Easier in India

Julia Taylor — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:23:55 +0000

A campaign to allow an organ donation option on drivers’ licenses in the Indian state of Karnataka is Priyanka Shylendra’s project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Programme. According to Citizen Matters of Bangalore, Shylendra has been working with transport commissioners in the state and an NGO called Gift Your Organ Foundation (GYOF). India does not have an automatic option for drivers to be able to choose to be organ donors, and Shylendra and the commissioners hope a Karnataka program can be a model for the whole country.

From November 27th and 29th, in conjunction with International Organ Donation Day, a three day awareness programme took place which included media coverage and celebrity events. Soon Shylendra will be meeting with the health secretary and other organizations to move the project to the next level. Read more at The Bangalore Citizen.

Energy for Life

DJacoby — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:41:38 +0000

Barb Holland contacted Leadership and Self Development to let us know that her project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Programme is ‘Energy for Life’, out of her personal experience of watching a friend struggle with Stage IV breast cancer while at the same time having to figure out her treatment options and what resources were available to her. She decided to create an event that gave free energy treatments (Reiki, Healing Touch, Reflexology, Massage, etc) to women with breast cancer and their caregivers. The event is also designed for cancer patients to be able to network with local organizations, so as to receive products or services without delay.

The event is taking place at the Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center in Carefree, Arizona, on Saturday, February 11th from 9am – 5pm. To get involved, contact Holland at 480-760-3921, email energyforlife2011@gmail.com, or visit the Energy for Life Facebook Page.

Scary-Good

DJacoby — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 22:00:16 +0000

Last fall, David Bates put on a unique haunted house event in Brookline, Massachusetts, as a benefit for sick children. ‘Scary-Good’, his project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program, was both a haunted house and costume party held on Sunday, October 30, with a $10 fee that went to Milagros Para Ninos (Miracles for Children) Fund at Children’s Hospital. Bates has a strong connection to Children’s Hospital – his own son Andy was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and survived it thanks to treatment and care received at the hospital. Bates wants to be sure that all parents and children have access to groundbreaking research and care. The full story of the event is available at Wicked Local Brookline.

Flash Mobs Beats It For Diabetes Awareness

DJacoby — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 22:48:53 +0000

Veronica Spencer took a novel approach with her project from Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program. In an effort to raise awareness about Diabetes and encourage people to take actions to reduce their risk from the disease (November is Diabetes Awareness Month), Spencer arranged a Flash Mob dancing to Michael Jackson’s Beat It in Oak Harbor, Washington, at a Chamber of Commerce after hours event. The Flash Mob Project, titled ‘Beat It – Diabetes’, was made into a video for Youtube and reported on in The Whidbey News-Times.

Concert on the Lewin Supports Stroke Rehabilitation Ward

Julia Taylor — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:51:59 +0000

On Wednesday, November 9th, a concert event took place as part of Emily Bingley’s project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Programmme. The concert/recording event, titled ‘Concert on the Lewin’ took place from 6:00 – 7:30 in the evening and featured music by a variety of jazz, folk and classical music performers. Specifically, there was a the Cam Sax Quartet, a jazz group; Nicky Hair and Andrea Cockerton, a duo featuring jazz and folk violin; and classical music played by Classic Buskers ‘on unlikely instruments at unusual speeds’.

The event took place for patients at the Lewin Stroke and Rehabilitation Ward at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge – a recording was made, and proceeds went towards stroke and rehabilitation ward at the hospital.

Singles Event Attracts 190 People, Raises Money For MacMillan

Julia Taylor — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:50:59 +0000

In Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Programme, participant Ru Tee Block held a fun singles event that drew 190 people to London on the evening of October 21st.

She did so by having about 30 friends invite their single mates to the event for a fun, relaxing evening that went from 8pm to 1am. The event cost £10 in advance or £15 at the door. Proceeds from the event went to a very good cause – MacMillan Cancer Support – whose mission is to improve the lives of every person living with cancer.

Molalla Church Takes Aim at Breast Cancer

DJacoby — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 16:47:45 +0000

An event designed to promote breast cancer awareness and prevention is taking place Saturday, October 22 at the Molalla Church of the Nazarene in Molalla, Oregon. Created by mammographer Andrea VanHuizen as her project in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program, the event, titled ‘Take Charge, Take Aim at Breast Cancer’ will run from 9am-4pm and will feature a wide range of speakers, including doctors, breast cancer survivors, nutritionists, and many more. According to Van Huizen, the issue of breast cancer hits close to home for many of the church members.

“We wanted to do something to empower the women of the church because they’ve lost about four members of the church to breast cancer in two years,” she said. “I think that this may very well turn into an annual event.”

Van Huizen teamed with cardiac nurse Janna Liewergen to create the event. The event fits in with Liewergen’s plans to bring a holistic health ministry program to the community. The event costs $10 – attendees should RSVP the church at 503-829-3438. The full story can be found at the Molalla Pioneer.

Hutch School Kids Become Photographers

DJacoby — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:23:21 +0000

Children from the Hutch School in Seattle, a K-12 school that serves children who are being treated at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center or have family members being treated there, had the opportunity to become photographers, thanks to Deborah Kirsner’s project she created while attending Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program. According to an article in the Herald News, kids had the opportunity to attend a March 23rd photography workshop run by Kirsner, after which they were given film cameras to shoot what they liked. Their photographs were then framed and given to the kids on their April 12th Arts Day.

Kirsner, an award winning photographer who works coordinating events at the research center, is passionate about the difference photography makes:

“Every time I’m photographing, I’m happy and I get outside of myself. I want to share that passion with the students and experience the possibilities of healing and joy.”

Day of Hope Raises Awareness of Eating Disorders

DJacoby — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:07:06 +0000

From an article in the St. Petersburg Times, Joy Tapper has created a yoga day as her project out of taking part in Landmark Education’s Self-Expression and Leadership Program. Titled ‘Day of Hope’ and taking place on Sunday, April 10, the day features local yoga teachers demonstrating techniques, with the intention that people see how yoga can make a difference for people with eating disorders.

The story points to a 2009 study that found that yoga helped people with eating disorders break their obsession with food and achieve long term results in dealing with their disorder. Tapper says that yoga’s focus on mindfulness helps people in curbing their obsession.

Tapper talks in the article about dealing with bulimia for much of her life, and how she discovered late in life that yoga made a real difference in dealing with her obsession – the temptation to binge subsides as her mind becomes quiet through yoga.

Triathlon Club Makes a Splash

Julia Taylor — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:42:33 +0000

The following report comes from Rónán Mac Con Iomaire, one of the founders of TríSpórt, a new triathlon club in Conamara, Ireland. TríSpórt is one of Ireland’s newest triathlon clubs and was set up in order to fulfil a need for a sporting infrastructure in the Connemara Gaeltacht of Co. Galway, a place where there was no running, cycling or swimming club prior to TríSpórt’s inception.

The club was set up following one of the member’s completion of the Landmark Education Self Expression and Leadership course, and having enrolled some like-minded individuals in Connemara, put together the groundwork to create what has turned out to be a vibrant new force in the community.

Within the first two months of TríSpórt being established, the club has 25 members nationwide. It has had two victories at various races and four top ten finishes. It has held the TríSpórt Duathlon, a Triathlon Ireland-sanctioned race in the Connemara village of An Cheathrú Rua, which attracted participants from as far away as the US.

It has a member leading the National Adventure Race Series, and will host and organise a new cycling event, the Tour de Conamara, in May. HThe group has undertaken to hold Connemara’s first ever aquathlon this summer. It has organised multiple sponsorship deals with various companies, from local companies such as sports clothing provider, Velotec, to international companies such as the San Diego-based wetsuit manufacturer, Xterra.

It has organised swim coaching session with the former national French triathlon team coach, and is organising a new road race, the Conamara 10k, to be held in Carna, Co. Galway in October. It has launched a branch of the club on the Aran Islands. It has received extensive coverage both in local media and in national sports media, and it will have a member representing Ireland in the European Duathlon Championships in May. It has signed as a member the Irish women’s National Adventure Race Series Champion, 2010, and is working in conjunction with a local community gym in getting people involved in athletics for the first time.

We are looking forward to developing the club further over the coming years and creating a powerful force in our community!