Ammi’s Adventures: Earth, Air, Fire, Water Listen to the Story: Hi! I’m Ammi. My name means “the whole world is inside of me,” and I think it’s true: I carry the whole world in my mind and heart and body. I know you do, too! I like to play games, explore, and discover what makes me, me. I’m so glad we’re together on this journey! A long time ago, people discovered that the whole universe was made up of four necessary things....

In this video for BigThink, he shares his toolbox of practices for expertly managing stress. Understand what scares you While blasting toward the unknown, Hadfield explains that astronauts have to prepare for what’s to come. Unshakable bravery is essential, which means understanding your fears is crucial. What’s Hadfield’s biggest fear? “When I think I’m at risk for something, but I don’t know what to do,” he says Astronauts handle fear of the unknown by training and getting familiar with all the dangers and risks they may encounter....

The short straw she’s referring to is a recent legal notice claiming that the Calmer Choice program “is dangerous for children and violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by promoting Buddhism.” This legal opinion was submitted by the National Center for Law and Policy (NCLP), a right-leaning, legal defense organization focusing on religious freedom and civil liberties. It calls for the Dennis-Yarmouth Regional School District to end its mindfulness program and cancel all contracts with Calmer Choice....

Loneliness is something that most of us experience from time to time, caused and exacerbated by stress, anxiety, depression, addiction and trauma, but you may not have known how staggering the statistics truly are. A recent survey taken from the AARP showed more than 44 million people are lonely and longing to connect with another living, breathing human being. There’s a difference between being alone and lonely. Pema Chodron, author of Taking the Leap, writes: Loneliness implies suffering, which means that it’s not just painful, there’s a way the mind is relating to that pain that is turning aloneness into loneliness....

Photo credit: IBI Nightingale This web extra provides additional information related to an article titled, “Minding Your Health,” which appeared in the October 2013 issue of Mindful magazine. Subscribe to Mindful‘s print edition or digital edition.

Reports of injuries to distracted walkers treated at hospital emergency rooms have more than quadrupled in the past seven years and are almost certainly underreported. A security camera in Philadelphia recently captured an incident involving a young man talking on a cell phone meandering along the edge of a train platform at night. Suddenly he stumbles, loses his balance and pitches over the side, landing headfirst on the tracks. Fortunately there were no trains approaching the station at that moment....

We’re learning that some social and emotional learning approaches simply aren’t as effective with teens as they are with children. When teaching relationship skills, teens can sometimes find direct teaching (in the form of lectures, videos, and homework) to be patronizing and heavy-handed. Why? Teens need more opportunities to dig deeper—to actively explore who they are, what drives them, and who they want to be in the world. So how can we better address teens’ developmental needs?...

And Ellison’s reporting didn’t stop there. She talked to others who aim to coax us to better tune into the world around us. We all spend a lot of time trying to block out sound—that’s natural, there’s a lot of it, and our hearing is one sense that remains active even while we’re sleeping. But when it comes to listening better—more intently, in a more focused way—Glennie says it best: it’s one great way to become more conscious and purposeful in our lives....

Researchers from Heriot-Watt University in the U.K. tracked the brainwaves of study participants, as they walked through an old shoping district, a park, and a bustling commercial area. Researchers found these participants entered a meditative state while walking through the park. The British study is the latest in a string of research on the benefits of spending time in nature. A study from 2011 found that a forest stroll could lower the stress hormone coristol by 12....

Dan Harris, anchor of ABC News, Nightline, and Weekend Edition of Good Morning America, recently wrote a memoir about his public breakdown and journey to mindfulness entitled 10% Happier. Harris was drawn to meditation despite massive misgivings about the way some people talk about mindfulness, and has since taken up the mantle of bringing meditation to the masses. Harris’ story was covered in the August issue of Mindful magazine. He recently sat down with renowned neuroscientist Richard Davidson in New York City to talk about using meditation to train your brain (watch the webcast)....

Some version of this battle occurred daily over a very long three weeks, during which I tried five different types of brushing implements—from wide-toothed combs to wet brushes—three different kinds of spray-on conditioners, myriad forms of distraction (songs, books, TV), and, of course, the promise of lots of rewards. Yet nothing worked, for this kiddo did not want to have her hair combed. It was no use. Quite often, we parent in what could be considered non-ideal circumstances—when we’re physiologically and emotionally running on empty and tending to many other demands....

My mother once turned to me in the middle of a busy street and told me to stop trying to take her over. Wha? All I was doing was insisting that I carry her heavy bag of books from the library. She’s in her 80s! Helping her is a good thing. Why was my helpfulness making her so testy? As I clung tightly to her bookage, refusing to give anything back to her, I suddenly noticed my dogged determination to do right, come hell or high water....

In our busy, high-tech, low-touch lives, it’s easy to operate detached from our own bodies. They too easily become vessels we feed, water, and rest so they can continue to cart around our brains. We don’t pay attention to the information our bodies are sending us or the effect that forces such as stress are having—until real health problems set in. Let’s take a small and simple step in the direction of paying our body the attention it is due....

On one of the first few days of camp, after circle time, introductions, and group norms, campers were off to play, picking up sticks, jumping on logs, and chasing each other around the park in joyful glee. The moment I began sensing energy that required in-the-moment, nonjudgmental, compassionate action (mindfulness) was when campers began to use the sticks as guns. The activity began to shift from kid play to violent acts, unbeknownst to the children....

As a hobby, journaling is inexpensive, portable, and can brighten our quality of awareness, making sense of our thoughts, feelings, perspectives, our own developing story line as it happens. It gives us a chance to slow down, breathe, turn to a fresh page, and “get real” about what we’re thinking and feeling—also referred to, particularly in therapeutic settings, as expressive writing. Although we refer here to writing, journaling is not only about putting words on paper....

The circuitry of this inner theater has been one of the major evolutions of the brain over the past several million years. It’s an extraordinary capability that helped our ancestors survive, and it aids and enriches our lives today. But it has some drawbacks, and it’s important to learn how to use it wisely and not let it use you. Watching Your Inner Movie Our powerful brains allow us to mental time travel and have a strong sense of self....