Tiverton's Amicable Church Offers Free Community Wellbeing Workshops

Amicable Congregational Church in Tiverton wants to help the community improve its mental and physical wellbeing this Lenten season

In the seven weeks leading up to Easter, Amicable Church will offer a unique program of activities including yoga and meditation classes, walking and running groups, diet/nutrition classes, expressive arts, discussions about spirituality and more.

The Mind, Body, Spirit Lent & Easter Program 2013 runs from the beginning of Lent (Wednesday, Feb. 13) through Easter Sunday (March 31) and was designed to give community members a practical way to achieve optimal
health and well-being in all areas of their lives. Everyone is welcome to participate in the program, regardless of religious affiliation, if any.

A full schedule of the classes are available on the Tiverton-Little Compton Patch calendar of events.

Like many churches today, Amicable has been grappling with the
question of how to meet people’s needs in a meaningful way at
a time when declining attendance at churches would perhaps
indicate that religious institutions haven’t stayed in tune
with a changing society. An outreach committee of staff and
parishioners at Amicable noticed, though, that at the same
time that churches have been declining, the practice of yoga,
meditation, and holistic healing modalities have been growing
rapidly. In addition, prominent voices in the world of health
care, such as Dr. Oz, Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Dean Ornish and
many others point to studies demonstrating the powerful health
benefits of meditation, yoga and other mind, body, spirit
(MBS) practices. As the committee realized that most of these
activities come from Eastern faith traditions that emphasize
the connection between mind, body and spirit, it became
apparent to them that this same emphasis could be incorporated
into Western faith traditions as well. With the help of yoga
teachers, expressive arts therapists, nurses from Saint Anne’s
Hospital, etc., the Mind, Body, Spirit Lent & Easter Program
2013 was created to allow Amicable Church’s parishioners and
others in the community to have an experience of the MBS
connection and its effects on health and well-being. A “Health
Stats” station at the church will allow participants to check health markers such as pulse rate, blood pressure and weight during the course of the program to see tangible evidence of their progress.

Amicable Congregational Church’s services during Lent and
on Easter Sunday will feature mind, body, spirit themes,
expressed through spoken word and a variety of music.
While all are invited to attend these services, community
members may sign up for MBS classes and activities without
participating in the religious services. Those planning to
attend classes and workshops are asked to preregister by
February 10. Those who are interested in registering or
learning more about the Mind, Body, Spirit Lent & Easter
Program 2013 may find details at Amicable’s website at
www.amicablechurch.org or by calling the church office at
(401)624-4611.