NEWS TODAY

WESTWOOD VILLAGE ROTARY CLUB

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President Benjamin Fisher presided over the in person/Zoom meeting at Hillel UCLA and began by indicating the 2023/2024 Rotary theme this year is “Magic of Rotary”.

President Benjamin asked for examples club Rotarians of using the 4-way test and Christine Clayburg offered an example.

President Benjamin thanked Janet Schwartz for greeting and Steve Day for leading the pledge of allegiance.

Robert Simon shared the thought for the day including historical events occurring on Oct 24^th and quotes from famous people including Mark Twain.

Past President Ed Gault led the singing of “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”.

Tom Barron presented some quiz questions on the Dodgers and Yankees prior to their upcoming game and Steve Day won some golf balls for answering the final question correctly.

Visiting Rotarians included Shirin Mosavl-Nejad.

Announcements included:

• Saturday, November 2^nd – District 5280 Rotary Annual Foundation Gala 12noon to 4 pm at Sofi Stadium in Inglewood. Tickets are still available.

• Steve Day announced the club had purchased $9,100 in opportunity tickets a new record compared with past years.

• Sunday, November 17^th – UCLA Rotaract Host Visit to UCLA for Interacts & High Schoo Students

• Thursday, December 12^th – Christmas Shopping with Westwood Transitional Village Children from 5 to 9 pm

Today’s speaker is Isabella Lai, MD sharing on the topic of Integrative Medicine Modalities for Pain. In the case of pain, doctors are considering methods to transition between human brain wave states (Beta, Alpha, Theta, Gamma, and Delta) using Meditation, Breathwork, Acupuncture, Movement, Vibroacoustic Theory and Hypnosis. The gamma state is the door to expanded consciousness and healing. Stress increases inflammation and pain sensitivity, exacerbates pain and then pain increases stress and accelerates telomere shorting, aging and disease risk. 

There are 100’s of types of medications today for pain resolution. In the case of Meditation Mindfulness practices can reduce chronic pain by 30 to 50%. Breathwork techniques include physiological sigh, 4-7-8 breathing, box breathing, holotropic breathwork and resonance breathing. Acupuncture is effective in pain relief including osteoarthritis, lower back pain and migraines. Movement reduces pain by swimming, walking, Tai Chi, and Yoga. Qi Gong improves mobility and circulation. Vibroacoustic therapy induces brainwave states for relaxation and pain relief. 

Hypnosis reduces pain intensity by 30 to 50% but only 80% of people are susceptible to hypnosis. Further research is being conducted with psychedelics in pain management. Integrative modalities can be helpful in switches between brain states. All individuals are different and will benefit from different integrative practices.

After the speaker we had a discussion on the audio quality for online access and we will be working in the future to improve the audio.

Next meeting is Thursday, October 31st at Hillel – UCLA with speaker Jennifer Noble Senior Librarian at Westwood Branch Public Library.

The meeting was adjourned by President Benjamin.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• If you do not have your Foundation Celebration tickets, go online now to the district website and purchase them. They will go fast as this event will be at So-Fi Stadium on November 2nd, 2024, from 12pm - 4pm, a wonderful venue for an event.

• November 17th, 2024, UCLA Rotaracts will Host Interacts from the surrounding high school for a day on the UCLA campus. Volunteers needed!

• December 5th, 2024, at Hillel is the District Governor Dinner beginning at 5pm.



• December 12, 2024, is the Westwood Villag Rotary Clubs Shopping Spree with the children from Westwood Transitional Village. Sign up with David Stover for this legacy and fun event.

FUTURE MEETINGS

• October 31st, 2024, at Hillel, Jennifer Noble, Senior Librarian at the Westwood Branch Public Library. Her topic will be "Los Angeles Public Library: More than books."

WVRC 2024/2025 Leadership Team