Video and Audio Contemplative Teaching and Learning promotes awareness of self, others and the world by infusing classroom life and teaching with experiential practices such as mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, reflective journaling and others. It deepens learning and builds inner strengths and skills including attention, self-regulation and compassion. Why Care for Teachers Matters Teachers and school administrators who attended one of the Garrison Institute's CARE for Teachers retreats took some time to tell us why CARE (Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education) matters so much in our schools right now. CARE helps teachers reduce stress and enliven their teaching by promoting the inner resources they need to help students flourish. Dr. Dr. Adele Diamond: Child Development and the Brain - Insight to Help Every Child Thrive In her talk, "Child Development and the Brain: Insights to Help Every Child Thrive," Dr. Pamela Seigle: Advancing the Science and Practice of Contemplative Education
UCSD Center for Mindfulness 5 Profound Insights On Success From A Wharton Prof Devoted To Understanding It If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. --Henry David Thoreau Last summer, Parade magazine and Yahoo! Finance jointly surveyed 26,000 Americans and discovered that nearly 60% of them fully regretted their career choices. That’s an incredibly sad statistic, of course--especially when you consider that job satisfaction has become the most critical factor to a person’s sense of well-being and overall happiness with life. So how is it that so many people have found themselves in careers that leave them feeling empty and unfulfilled? “I think that for a lot of these people,” says Shell, “they hadn’t thoughtfully defined what success would look like in their own terms before pursuing work that aligned more closely with family, social or cultural expectations. Shell speaks from experience. Here’s what I found to be five of the author’s most profound and helpful insights:
Residential Treatment Center for Addiction - Timberline Knolls "I learned to love myself again."– a former resident from Oregon "This will be the last time.” “I will make changes tomorrow.” These words have run through the head of almost every woman trapped in the vicious cycle of addiction. The effects of long-term substance abuse reach far beyond the physical to the depths of a woman’s emotional and spiritual core. But there is hope. The cycle can be broken, even if a woman has relapsed repeatedly following past addiction treatment or rehab programs. Timberline Knolls, a holistic residential treatment center for addiction, emphasizes spiritual renewal and restoring a woman’s authentic self. Each woman benefits from: Experts recommend Timberline Knolls' holistic, empowering approach to recovery from addiction and alcoholism. Equine therapy Art therapy Therapeutic yoga Dance Movement Therapy Pharmacologic therapy EMDR Volunteer opportunities in the local community
Increase in cerebral blood flow of right prefrontal cortex in man during orgasm Abstract The functional anatomy of human emotional responses has remained poorly understood, mainly because invasive experiments in humans are unacceptable due to ethical reasons. The new functional imaging techniques such as positron emission tomography and single photon emission computed tomography have made it possible to study the neurophysiology of living humans non-invasively. Keywords Single photon emission computed tomography; Man; Orgasm; Prefrontal cortex 10 Simple, Science-Backed Ways To Be Happier Today | Fast Company | business + innovation Editor's Note: This is one of the most-read leadership articles of 2013. Click here to see the full list. Happiness is so interesting, because we all have different ideas about what it is and how to get it. It’s also no surprise that it’s the Nr.1 value for Buffer’s culture, if you see our slidedeck about it. So naturally we are obsessed with it. I would love to be happier, as I’m sure most people would, so I thought it would be interesting to find some ways to become a happier person that are actually backed up by science. 1.Exercise more--7 minutes might be enough You might have seen some talk recently about the scientific 7 minute workout mentioned in The New York Times. Exercise has such a profound effect on our happiness and well-being that it’s actually been proven to be an effective strategy for overcoming depression. The groups were then tested six months later to assess their relapse rate. You don’t have to be depressed to gain benefit from exercise, though. 2. 3. 4. 6. 7. 8. 9.
Teaching Kids to Be Mindful “[I]f kids are over-tired, anxious or stressed out, it affects absolutely everything,” said Susan Kaiser Greenland, author of the book The Mindful Child: How to Help Your Kid Manage Stress and Become Happier, Kinder and More Compassionate. It affects everything from their ability to learn to how they feel, she said. “Teaching kids tools to manage what is now the norm, a hectic daily life, is as important as teaching them to read.” That’s where mindfulness comes in. As with adults, mindfulness helps kids “develop an awareness of what’s happening.” It helps them calm down. Kids can soothe themselves with everything from focusing on the sensation of their breath to petting the dog to listening to a waterfall, she said. Greenland has heard stories of kids using mindfulness to help them fall asleep when they’re nervous and stop arguing with their siblings, leaving the room to calm themselves. She shared these ideas for teaching your kids mindfulness. Practice mindfulness yourself.
Writing - for health and happiness? 17 August 2013Last updated at 01:11 GMT By Cathy Edwards Health Check, BBC World Service There are risks and benefits to sharing your emotions online Decades of research have shown that writing down your emotions has concrete health benefits - even helping wounds heal. But as more and more people publish their intimate feelings online, could they be doing themselves more harm than good? High-profile coverage of cyberbullying might make sharing your deepest emotions online sound like a bad idea, but when it comes to the risks and benefits of writing online, advice is mixed. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, suggests questions about social media are included in visits to the doctor, a move prompted by worries about cyberbullying, internet addiction and sleep deprivation. On the other hand, blogging about health problems has been shown to improve feelings of social support, especially when that support is lacking from family and friends. Traumatic experience 'Emotions bottled up'
Mindfulness meditation improves cognition: Evidence of brief mental training Abstract Although research has found that long-term mindfulness meditation practice promotes executive functioning and the ability to sustain attention, the effects of brief mindfulness meditation training have not been fully explored. We examined whether brief meditation training affects cognition and mood when compared to an active control group. After four sessions of either meditation training or listening to a recorded book, participants with no prior meditation experience were assessed with measures of mood, verbal fluency, visual coding, and working memory. Both interventions were effective at improving mood but only brief meditation training reduced fatigue, anxiety, and increased mindfulness. Moreover, brief mindfulness training significantly improved visuo-spatial processing, working memory, and executive functioning. Keywords Mindfulness; Meditation; Cognition; Working memory; Mood; Attention; Meta-awareness Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc.
How Mindfulness Can Help Your Creativity Much of the focus on mindfulness and meditation has been on stress management. Few things help one deal better with the stressors of everyday life. Meditation each day may reduce blood pressure, improve sleep, and mitigate the severity of episodes and symptoms of mental illnesses. But there is more. Meditation quiets the mind, and a quieter mind is more likely to have room for new and better ideas about the challenges one faces in life, business, and art. Researchers at the Institute for Psychological Research and Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition of Leiden University in the Netherlands found a tremendous impact of focused-attention (mindfulness) and open-monitoring meditation (observing without judging) on creativity. “First, Open-Minded meditation induces a control state that promotes divergent thinking, a style of thinking that allows many new ideas of being generated. The immediate implication for those with mental illness is suicide prevention. References Front.
Mindfulness meditation for the treatment of chronic low back pain in older adults: A randomized controlled pilot study Received 8 August 2006; received in revised form 12 April 2007; accepted 30 April 2007. published online 02 June 2007. The objectives of this pilot study were to assess the feasibility of recruitment and adherence to an eight-session mindfulness meditation program for community-dwelling older adults with chronic low back pain (CLBP) and to develop initial estimates of treatment effects. It was designed as a randomized, controlled clinical trial. .004) and SF-36 Physical Function (P .03). Keywords: Aged, Low back pain, Mindfulness, Meditation, Randomized, Controlled trial 14 Daily Habits That Are Secretly Stressing You Out 'Tis the season for completely losing it. The holidays are a worry-filled time for a lot of people, but it turns out that you might be partially to blame for your own pre-eggnog anxiety. But we know (or we hope) you're not purposely trying to sabotage yourself, so here's a quick rundown of things you might be doing without realizing they're actually making you feel worse. Take a deep breath and try to relax. You might be stressed because... 1. If you can't remember the last time you laughed so hard you were blinded by tears, you should reconsider your life choices. 2. Photo by Mike Rosenthal In a study on mice, those that had exercised responded to a stressful cold-water bath with a short spurt of anxiety followed by calm, suggesting brains are more equipped to deal with stress when the body has been physically active. 3. Multiple studies have shown the relaxing benefits of listening to music. 4. Consider your cleaning habits. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Stop that. 13. Also on HuffPost:
Frozen Yoga and McMindfulness: Miles Neale on the mainstreaming of contemplative religious practices Buddhist blogger/Shambhala SunSpace contributor Danny Fisher in conversation with Buddhist psychotherapist and meditation teacher Miles Neale. Rarely a day goes by when there isn’t some exciting news about the applications and possibilities of mindfulness, as taught in Buddhism, for our physical and psychological wellbeing. (Just this week, we posted about a recent study that showed how “mindfulness-based cognitive therapy has the same effect as antidepressant medication for preventing relapse among patients treated for depression.”) Of course, there is a shadow side to mining the world’s wisdom traditions for useful practices: also recently, The New York Times ran a story about this issue in yoga as it continues to grow into a giant industry independent from its religious roots. Miles Neale, PsyD, LMHC, is a Buddhist psychotherapist, meditation teacher and expert on the clinical applications of contemplative arts and sciences. Danny, think about the last time you went to yoga class.