April 2019

Mindful

Taking Time for What Matters

Mindful3 min read
Please Excuse Me
Editor-in-Chief barry@mindful.org Our must-read story this issue: In “Wake Up to the Wild,” on page 40, renowned mindfulness teacher and wilderness expert Mark Coleman reveals why our relationship with nature is more important than ever in the age of
Mindful2 min readSelf-Improvement
Top of Mind
A professional association for lawyers in the UK announced in November that it will “offer facilities” for members to practice mindfulness, following a trend in legal circles throughout the UK and abroad. British Parliament has offered mindfulness tr
Mindful2 min readMedical
Research News
A study in Australia found that an online 8-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program helps employees feel more optimistic and engaged in their work, and may decrease levels of striving and need for recognition. “While the ‘human element’ may p
Mindful1 min readSelf-Improvement
Kathy Flynn-Somerville
Lack of focus, bullying, teachers stretched too thin—these are just a few of the challenges inspiring schools across the country to bring mindfulness into the classroom. Among those leading the charge is Kathy Flynn-Somerville. A classroom teacher fo
Mindful1 min read
Mindful Or Mindless?
Can a cold-blooded killer learn compassion from Walt Disney? One Missouri judge thinks so: He ordered a poacher, who’d killed hundreds of deer for trophy heads, to watch Bambi at least once every month during his yearlong jail sentence. The key to ro
Mindful2 min read
How May I Help You?
I’m on my fifth phone call to the customer service line when I finally get an answer. After what feels like an eternity of pressing extension numbers, getting transferred, and being forced to listen to hold music that feels like a deliberate torture
Mindful8 min read
Blood, Sweat, & Fears
“TUNE IN TO YOURSELF,” says Taryn Toomey, the latest étoile du jour to light up the fitness world, addressing a women’s retreat in upstate New York last summer. “Know there’s a part of you that really wants the suffering and part of you that really w
Mindful1 min readDiet & Nutrition
Creamy Contrast
Avocados strike a magical balance between creamy and light, their high fat levels paired with substantial water content. They grow around the world, from Australia and Indonesia to Peru and the US, but Mexico—where avocados are thought to originate f
Mindful3 min read
If It Doesn’t Kill You, Does It Make You Stronger?
TARYN TOOMEY steps in so close to my face I think she’s going to kiss me. And though generally not into women, I am fairly certain in that instant that I will kiss her back, until I realize that this is how she greets people, up in their grill, under
Mindful5 min read
Picking Up the Pieces
The Vietnam War veteran had enlisted when he was young, serving two combat tours and surviving multiple firefights. “To this day,” said psychologist Jack Tsai of the Yale School of Medicine, “his war memories are triggered by certain smells that remi
Mindful1 min read
WHAT IS “Trauma”?
Among psychiatrists, what constitutes “trauma” is controversial. Some define trauma based on the nature of the event: Psychiatry’s diagnostic manual, for instance, says a traumatic experience must be outside the range of what humans normally encounte
Mindful3 min readSelf-Improvement
Coming Full Circle
Dena Simmons, EdD, grew up in a one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx with her three sisters and her mother, an immigrant from Antigua who came to the US with $25 in her pocket. Simmons’ mother was fiercely dedicated to giving her daughters more opportu
Mindful10 min read
Wake Up To The Wild
It has been a long day at my desk, staring at a computer; my brain cells feel wrung dry with too much cogitation. Late afternoon, the fog has lifted on the hilltops above my house and I decide to venture out on a hike to clear my head and connect wit
Mindful12 min readMedical
Make Peace With Your Anxious Brain
It’s there when I wake up. Something’s wrong. I haven’t opened my eyes yet. A minute ago I was sleeping. But now I’m awake and it’s there, lurking: Something’s wrong. My breathing tightens. I stretch my legs beneath the sheets. I feel my heart beatin
Mindful2 min readSelf-Improvement
How Mindfulness Rewires the Anxious Brain
Anxiety from speaking in front of a crowd starts in either the amygdala (via fight-or-flight physical sensations) or the cortex (via thoughts). It ends up involving both. A person trained in mindfulness can short-circuit anxiety from both directions.
Mindful5 min read
BODY OF Knowledge
We know that it is possible to lose the felt sense of the body or parts of it through traumatic injury. In spinal cord injuries, the nerves communicating between the body and the brain can be severely injured or severed completely. In such situations
Mindful3 min read
Discover The Body Universe
Lying on a comfortable padded surface, either on a rug or pad on the floor, or in bed or on a couch, we might at first give ourselves over to the experience of being here like this, in this posture, whatever it is. We can also choose to keep our eyes
Mindful3 min readSelf-Improvement
Bookmark This
Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal, and Nicholas de Pencier • Goose Lane Editions It’s a museum exhibit, a movie, a podcast, and a book—all in service of a bold notion that shakes you into an appreciation for just what human life on this planet mean
Mindful2 min read
PODCAST Reviews
Episode: Wearables go beyond fitness tracking to help people with chronic health conditions Rapidly evolving technologies are revolutionizing health science, a prime example being wearable health trackers—think the FitBit, but capable of feats like t
Mindful4 min readSelf-Improvement
TUNE IN TO Mindful
from Carley Hauck Build Resilience. Uncertainty is like fertilizer for difficult emotions. This meditation reminds you that life is always in flux and the most courageous thing you can do is slow down, turn toward your difficult emotions, and meet th

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