Sep 28, 2022
Awareness of Breathing: Stabilizing the Mind Awareness of Breathing is a go-to mindfulness practice you can do almost anywhere and anytime. Find a stable position for the body (sitting is traditional, but standing or laying down work too), and gather your awareness...
Sep 2, 2022
Last month I wrote about the practice of walking meditation and how this daily activity, or something similar, can be woven into one’s regular mindfulness practice. In this month’s article, I’ll expand on my explanation of walking meditation by presenting some...
May 1, 2022
One of the things I appreciate about the process of mindfulness training and living a more mindful life is the way we can learn so much about our human life when we engage the arts. The meditative practices are foundational and essential in this journey, but there is...
Apr 13, 2022
“April showers bring May flowers.” Or, as Thich Nhat Hanh put it, “No mud, no lotus.” Trials, which can be hard to bear, often spur growth. Beautiful blossoming, even. Yet when too much difficult stuff hits us all at once, we can feel swamped, sodden, struggling to...
Dec 3, 2021
Pain, especially chronic pain, is a complex experience of distressing sensations along with emotions and thoughts that ramp up the pain. By practicing three evidenced-based approaches to chronic pain relief – mindfulness, replacing negative with positive...
Nov 3, 2021
I’m on the plane for a brief trip to visit my young adult son. I’m excited about it. I’d left one work task to do enroute. Not ideal, but it happens. I’m usually pretty focused on the plane, I’ll get it done. Opening my backpack to start...
Oct 1, 2021
Definition: Reification: to make something abstract more concrete or real; to consider or represent something abstract as a material or concrete thing; to give definite content and form to a concept or idea. We humans come equipped with an amazing mind – a mind that...
Sep 3, 2021
Checking in to the Zoom room on a Saturday morning in August, I could tell the group was nervous about spending the next six hours in silence. Impressively, everyone in my class of health professionals – doctors, nurses, a researcher – had all shown up and...
Jul 21, 2021
Recently we were asked to provide a workshop for one of our clients on “Pandemic Fatigue” and I realized: yeah – that’s a thing now isn’t it? It’s been a long hard slog for all of us. For some, suffering the loss of someone close to...
Jun 4, 2021
instructions The Body Scan is the first practice introduced in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. It supports increased awareness of the body and integration of body and mind. The Body Scan is also a great way to start working with mindfulness of attention. The Body...
Jun 4, 2021
instructions Mindful movement or gentle yoga can develop strength, balance, flexibility and body awareness. Our mindful movement emphasizes awareness and balance. Move through the poses carefully and slowly, holding attention inside the body.Please consider the...
Jun 4, 2021
instructions Cultivation practices like Loving-Kindness and compassion meditations strengthen positive emotions and orientations towards self and other. Loving- Kindness is included in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, but not emphasized. In our Mindful...
