ARTS & CULTURE By David Lyman
The Well turns away from Facebook, toward serenity “WE’RE LEAVING FACEBOOK,” screamed the photo on The Well’s Facebook page. Perhaps “scream” is too extreme a word, especially considering that The Well is an organization dedicated to helping people find a quieter and more peaceful approach to life. The Well isn’t alone in abandoning Facebook. News sources regularly report that millions of subscribers leave Facebook every month. Of course, millions more join, meaning that Facebook remains one of the world’s most-used social media platforms. But that begs the question: Why would The Well want to abandon a mammoth – and mostly free – source of promotion and information-sharing? The more you know about The Well, the less surprising the decision is. The Well is the brainchild of author and mind-body educator Stacy Sims. “In the late ’90s, I got sober and started Pilates within the same week of one another,” Sims said. The discipline of the 12-step program brought a much-needed element of control to her life. But it wasn’t enough. “The Pilates work helped me recover not just my mind, but my body, too.” It began a journey that would become far broader and far more probing than she ever imagined. “I became interested in what are the sorts of things one can do to start to feel more fully engaged in the world.” So what does all this have to do with Facebook? In some ways, Facebook exemplifies the sort of influence that Sims has battled against for the past two decades. With the growth of the Internet, especially as powered by smart phones and other gizmos to ensure that we are never far from our music, films and “friends,” it has gotten increasingly difficult for many of us to focus on finding any semblance of balance in our lives. But Sims was determined to help. She began the True Body Project in 8
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2005. Initially, it was focused on teen girls, helping them be more aware of issues around body, body image, gender and media. Later, she would launch two other meditation-oriented programs, City Silence and Mindful Music Moments.
Stacy Sims Children in a Mindful Music Moment
Mindful Music Moments (MMM) has proven especially successful, recently winning an award for “Best Use of Music in Towns & Cities Under 500,000 Population” from a group called Music Cities Events. A year ago, Sims brought all three of her groups together under an umbrella organization – The Well. The idea was that each of the three disciplines could enhance the work of the others. Now you might imagine The Well to be a virtual sanctuary, a place for people to hide from the modern world. Not so. The Well has many of the same values as its founder. Sims is not a recluse. On the contrary, she is actively linked to the world outside her door. How else to share the messaging of her brands? But she also understands that there are many people “who want to feel better and do well in the world,” in the words of The Well website. Sims and her collaborators are savvy strategists. In the case of Mindful Music Moments, which is in 170 schools around the country, they wanted to grow the program to include adults. Sims didn’t want to alter the basics of the program. She realized that widening its reach was
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just a matter of presenting the idea this was something we could bring to differently. them to help them slow down, even if “Many adults still feel like they only for a few minutes.” couldn’t possibly sit still for three Beginning in October, a four-hour minutes – they have too much to do,” video loop of MMM will become an she says. “But when we tell them all option for all in-patients at the UC they need to do is listen to Medical Center, piped in through beautiful music for three patients’ televisions. minutes, they can do that.” Sims quickly realized that if they That is part of what sold could have an MMM channel at Sian Cotton on the idea of UC Health, why not at other places? bringing MMM into UC Senior centers, perhaps. Or senior Health, where she runs residences? Perhaps it could even the Integrative Medicine reach into workplaces. program. She is also director “I think we’re all hungry for conof Integrative Health and versations that are richer and fuller Wellness for the than the polarizing ones we’re having University of in social media,” says Sims. “But I Cincinnati. think it is beginning to shift. The In her dual reason is this toxicity. And it’s not just positions, she about Facebook. It’s on Netflix, too. oversees a variety And so many other platforms that are of programs, built around the attention-stealing including nature of technology. Here’s what I acupuncture, know. When I explain this, there is yoga and music no one who says ‘I don’t know what therapy, among you’re talking about.’ ” others. And as for missing The Well on “But when the Facebook, no need to fret. It will still pandemic began, be on Instagram, Twitter and at its we realized how website, www.thewell.world. limited we were in our ability to bring these services to patients who were very isolated,” says Cotton. She’d already introduced Mindful Music Moments into UC Health’s Multiple Sclerosis Suite a year and a half ago. Since MMM isn’t dependent The Well, ArtWorks and Wave Pool are on face-to-face encounpartnering with more than 40 Greater ters, she wondered if Cincinnati artists and organizations to offer there might be a way after-school and Saturday programming for to introduce it to the kids ages 6-12 through Camp cARTwheel, a rest of the medical community. virtual arts and cultural camp. Three months ago, Camp cARTwheel runs Nov. 2 through MMM became availDec. 19. able online to all emCampers join camp counselors and visitployees at UC Health. ing artists for a facilitated camp experience “Employees at every or explore their creativity on their own with level have been pushed the self-guided experience. to the brink during this Register by Oct. 17. past six months,” says www.artworkscincinnati.org Cotton. “The level of burnout was critical. So
Virtual art camp for kids 6-12
