The fifth seminar of the Excellent Mediterranean Net (MEN) Interreg project was held on 26th May at the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s . The topic of the seminar was Health and Quality Life. In her presentation, Dr. Bernice Sant, a qualified Performance, Sport and Exercise Psychologist and a keen fitness and sports enthusiast.talked about performance anxiety, resilience, mindfulness, sport injuries and rehabilitation. She emphasised the importance of exercising on a daily basis and stressed upon motivation as a key factor to a better quality of life. Dr Sant also engaged all present through an ad hoc short physical exercise session. Following Dr Sant’s presntation, Ms Fiorella Borg, a lecturer at the Institute of Community Services within MCAST, spoke about her research about participants’ perceptions on their quality of life. Mr Jean Pierre Sant, a food safety and qualitymanagement consultant, stressed about the importance of knowing the food we eat and making the right decisions in food consumption. The seminar was also addressed by Mr Jacob Cachia, an owner of a coffee shop, who spoke about his life experiences and his motivation to help others. Indeed, Mr Cachia’s coffee shop follows the pay-it-forward concept – the idea that the person who benefits from a good deed repays the kindness not to the benefactor but to others. In this case, the profits from the coffee shop are fed into Survivors Malta. Mr Aniruddha Das, from the Indian High Commission in Malta, spoke about how India has changed throughout the years and how both life expectancy and the quality of life are now major factors for the country. He also spoke about Yoga as a traditional and time honoured Indian holistic system of personal, physical, mental and spiritual wellness focusing on all-round unification of body, mind and soul. Mr Richard Curmi, MCAST project leader, thanked all participants and invited them to attend the sixth and last seminar of the MEN project to be held on the 16th June.
