Our daily lives are mostly under the control of our feelings. Most of these are negative feelings. In our minds anger, unhappiness, feeling insignificant and worthless are constantly growing by passing on this mission to one another. This, undoubtedly, is the most important cause of stress. Stress disturbs our behaviours, our relationships, our happiness and efficiency. Yet, feelings are fleeting just like everything else. The more we try to get rid of them, the more they grow with this energy. Mindfulness is a technique and philosophy that allows us to calm our negative feelings, and lets them evaporate. In Cognita Mindfulness Workshop, through mindfulness meditations, we get to learn more about our feelings and develop our skills of managing them.
Prof. Taner Damcı was born in Zonguldak in 1964, and completed his secondary education at TED Zonguldak College. He graduated from Istanbul Faculty of Medicine of Istanbul University in 1988, and received his post-graduate degree from the Department of Internal Medicine of Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine in 1993. In 1995 he received the “Young Investigator Award” of International Diabetes Federation and worked at the Diabetes Clinic of the University of Manchester in the UK.
He became an associate professor in 1997 and a professor in 2003. He is currently a faculty member of Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Endocrinology, Metabolism and Diabetes, and the chairman of the Turkish Obesity Foundation. He is also a member of the Turkish Diabetes Association, the Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism of Turkey, the Diabetes Obesity Nutrition Society, the American Diabetes Association, the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), and the Mediterranean Group for the Study of Diabetes (MGSD).
Prof. Taner Damcı ran ultra-marathons in various parts of the world, including deserts. These include races held in the Sahara, Atacama, and Gobi Deserts and the Antarctica. He is the founder and race director of the first international ultra-marathon in Turkey, “Lycian Way Ultra Marathon”, and another international ultra-marathon “RunFire Cappadocia”.
His interest in mindfulness began in 2004, and he participated in various educational programs on the subject in the USA. Since 2013, as a founding director, he has been working with COGNITA, which is a program that utilises “mindfulness”, to empower people who want to lead a healthy life to permanently change their way of life. The programme also has a “COGNITA business” module conceived to increase efficiency and success at work.
Number of participants: 50 people