Just a few weeks ago, I was having breakfast with my family. It was a rare opportunity to be together with both of my siblings, their spouses, and my parents – all of whom live out of state. As we got to talking, it turned out that both my sister Priscilla and my sister-in-law Susan […]
Meditation in My Life
For the last two years, Fall has become a special mindfulness time for me. Speaking with mindfulness experts, reading new scientific studies on the effectiveness of mindfulness, and revisiting mindfulness materials helps me look at my own life to see were I could improve my own practices. It also doesn’t hurt to look around at […]
Meditation or Medication?
I heard Dan Siegel once say, “Why not try a ‘t’ instead of a ‘c’? Meditation instead of medication.” When I heard this, it got me thinking. . . is there another way? Could we use fewer side-effect laden prescriptions and find a solution that doesn’t involve so many pharmaceuticals? For instance, in some cases, […]
What Will the White House be Serving for Halloween?
Tuesday night on Jay Leno, President Obama shared that the First Lady has been handing out fruit and raisins for the last couple years on Halloween. He added, “The White House is going to get ‘egged’.” Michelle Obama’s preference for healthy Halloween snacks is not surprising – she has been campaigning for healthy lifestyles with […]
Reading, Writing, ‘Rithmatic and…. Mindfulness?
What if we learned meditation at an early age? Could that possibly help buffer the inevitable stressful events in childhood as well later in life? This morning I was thinking, what if a mindfulness practice came as natural as say, multiplication tables or spelling? What if it was taught in schools? Is there a chance […]
Can Meditation Improve Your Rational Decision-Making?
Meditation is in the news a lot, especially with so much exciting research being conducted on the effects of meditation on the brain. I recently read one such interesting study by Virginia Tech’s Read Montague, PhD in Frontiers in Neuroscience. Dr. Montague et al. looked at the differences in decision making between Buddhist meditators and […]
Can Meditation Lengthen Your Life (or Just Your Telomeres)?
I’m going to share a not-so-secret secret with you: I love telomeres. If you follow my blogs, you may remember me mentioning telomeres in the past, because, well…they just fascinate me. Telomeres reside at the end of chromosomes in order to protect them from deterioration. When cells replicate, telomeres are cut and become increasingly shorter. […]
Asperger’s Syndrome and Mindfulness: One Dad’s Story
A recent edition of Mindfulness had an interesting application story that I wanted to share with you. A father wrote about his experience using mindfulness to help both himself and his twin sons, who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. As you know, Asperger’s Syndrome has numerous symptoms, including difficulty transitioning between activities, an inability […]
Cool Mindfulness Resources for the Younger Set
One of my staff has a young daughter who is learning about meditation and breathing awareness. Four-year old Nadia will lie on her back, put a Snoopy stuffed animal on her chest, and try to rock Snoopy to sleep with her deep breathing. Does Snoopy fall asleep? Well, that’s another story. Like most things, meditation […]
Take Up a Mindfulness Practice, Lose the Cane?
Is mindfulness effective with chronic pain? Many practitioners asked this question in a recent survey. They also wanted to know how they could convince their skeptical clients to give mindfulness a try. The connection between mindfulness and healing emotional pain, like stress or anxiety, may make more sense to your patients. But physical pain? That’s […]