Today we’d like to introduce you to Alejandro Chaoul.
Alejandro, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Meditation is a Medicine for the Mind, Body & Spirit.
Meditation has been a wonderful tool for me in dealing with existential anxieties as well as bringing calmness and clarity to my personal and professional life.
I was first introduced to the practice of meditation in high school. I continued with meditation and yoga in college, finding my way to India after college. This trip to India changed the course of my studies and career from communications and philosophy during my undergraduate years to religious studies, focusing on India and Tibet, while pursuing my Masters and Ph.D.
While completing my Ph.D. program at Rice University, a series of circumstances led me to volunteer at MD Anderson, starting a meditation class for patients and caregivers, continuing with being involved in research studies using meditation and Tibetan yoga for people with cancer and their caregivers.
In parallel to that medical students became interested in meditation and started a weekly class at the University of Texas McGovern Medical school, and then also in other places of UT HEALTH.
During these almost two decades, through our research, we found interesting and positive results of meditation and other mind-body practices in patients and caregivers.
Staff and faculty who attend the meditation classes, share how these practices help relieve stress and re-invigorate them for their daily work.
Hearing this, and recognizing the high rates of burnout and suicide among healthcare professionals and trainees, I have decided to begin a new venture: a Mind Body Spirit Institute (MBSI)!
This new institute to support the health of body, mind, and spirit is within the Jung Center of Houston, which has been a resource for Houstonians for 60 years. I have been teaching at the Jung Center for over 15 years. Through MBSI, we offer programs both in situ, located in the Museum District, as well as in different locations, including medical centers and corporations.
I often prefer to begin with addressing acute stress utilizing a program that I call ‘CPR’ or Compassionate Professional Renewal. This program includes simple practices to cope with stress and empowers professionals with tools that can be used at work and at home to thrive, flourish and promote a healthy work-life balance.
The next one at The Jung Center will be this October.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been a winding road, that gave me the opportunity to learn with each curve or up and down.
When I was writing my Ph.D. dissertation in religious studies but on the topic of health, one of my advisors told me that it was great that I was touching many people’s lives, but it will be hard to get a job in religious studies.
That was true, but fortunately, I did get a job in the Texas Medical Center and over the last decade a faculty position between UT Medical School and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
And I was happy to see the change in perspective on meditation, since I started teaching classes for patients and caregivers in 1999, when people looked at me: ‘why this in a medical center?’ until today, that through the research and people’s experiences, meditation has become so much part of an integrative approach to health, and much more accepted by the medical community.
The Jung’s Center Mind Body Spirit Institute – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Jung Center Mind Body Spirit Institute (MBSI) brings a new approach to helping individuals flourish through unique wellness and emotional health experiences. MBSI’s thoughtful selection of experience- and academically-based classes and seminars are aimed at reducing stress, improving health and nourishing the human spirit. MBSI provides a renewal, response, and remedy to the hectic pace of modern life and high demands of workplace expectations. From long-term, in-depth certificate programs to insightful single session workshops, MBSI offers solutions to those looking to refresh their approach to life, embrace their own potential and experience greater meaning and satisfaction in their work.
MBSI’s Compassionate Professional Renewal (CPR) classes and workshops take the notion of employee self-care from a vague concept to an obtainable reality – guiding employees and management teams through academically-informed instruction and experiences. Meditation, lecture, peer discussion, and movement techniques are utilized to identify the effects of stress in the workplace and the means to reduce them.
Open to groups of any size, this accessible programming is offered onsite at The Jung Center or offsite at a location of choice, with online classes to be available in the future. Compassionate Professional Renewal classes are completely customizable and can be constructed to last anywhere from an hour over lunch breaks to day-long, retreat-like events. Multiple sessions of the same class can be scheduled throughout the same day to accommodate alternating groups of employees within larger organizations.
CPR hopes to help turn the tide of job-induced stress and workplace burnout in the medical industry with its clear methods for improving quality of life, clarifying personal values and reimagining success – to the lasting benefit of healthcare providers, patients, and hospitals.
And for participants who find meaning in their CPR experience, the option to continue with additional programming at an individual level is available as well.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Seeing how I can be of help to people in some dire moments of their lives by teaching them meditation tools.
Amongst many moments I remember a recent patient from California who got stuck here during Harvey. As she related her story, she told me she ‘freaked out’ and found herself in a closet of her hotel. Luckily, she had a cup of tea in her hand. After a while, she remembered our meditation and tea class and used the tea as a source of inspiration for her meditation. She says it transformed her mood and brought a new perspective on how she engaged with the situation. She excitedly called us at Integrative Medicine, telling us how our work and the meditation and tea class had helped her in her time here during Harvey.
Moments like these motivate me.
Also, two more related to family:
-My dad, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999, and came to my classes, recently, told me that he is still using the meditations I taught in class.
-My son, now in College, meditates every day.
Contact Info:
- Address: The Jung Center’s Mind Body Spirit Institute
5200 Montrose Ave.
Houston, TX 77006 - Website: mbsihouston.org
- Phone: 713.524.8253 ext. 15
- Email: achaoul@junghouston.org
- Facebook: Alejandro Chaoul
- Twitter: alechaoul
- Other: alechaoul.com
