Researchers can measure brain changes both as function (how well our brains perform certain actions, and the interactions or connections between different brain regions) and structure (the physical make-up of the brain). Previous research on brain structure has found an increase in gray matter volume (GMV) and gray matter density (GMD) in various brain regions of participants who have completed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. Humans need gray matter to learn and remember, make decisions, and regulate emotions....

“It’s hard to separate yourself from the worries that come with divorce, like money, custody, and visitation, change of lifestyle, and loss. If you’re lucky, many of these things go smoothly, but it’s still an enormous transition, especially for the children involved. A more difficult divorce can be filled with a lot of animosity, sadness, guilt, and other intense emotions,” says Verde. However, if you can try to sit with your experience and not judge yourself, you can navigate through a divorce mindfully....

I don’t begrudge the natural desire to take holiday or party pictures. But I’m interested in how much our relationship with photography has become like our attitude to food and so much else: Speed has gained ascendance over everything. Today’s cameras are remarkable devices. It is easy to take hundreds or even a thousand photos in a single day. I don’t know how you’d count, but I suspect that as many photos have been taken over the last decade as in all of human history preceding....

This retreat is designed for those interested in exploring teaching Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting (MBCP) and mindfulness in other settings and for medical and mental health professionals seeking an introduction to mindfulness meditation and understanding its complementary relationship to obstetrics, midwifery, nursing, pediatrics, medicine, particularly family medicine and clinical psychology. Obstetricians, pediatricians, family practice doctors, midwives, labor and delivery and postpartum nurses, doulas, childbirth educators, lactation consultants, prenatal massage therapists, infant massage instructors, pre and postnatal yoga instructors, infant mental health professionals, early childhood educators, marriage and family therapists, clinical social workers, counselors, educators or anyone interested in the health and well-being of families may well find this program of value to their work–and their lives....

That was my story, too, until about two years ago. Now I meditate daily, almost every day in some form of “formal” meditation, and every day in “aware of this moment” mindfulness. I’m able to sustain my practice with the help of some people, now friends, who join me regularly in meditation. After a five-day silent retreat in Vermont, year 2000, with Thich Nhat Hanh and his monks and nuns, I returned to Sarasota with the plan to start a meditation group....

Pain abounds, and it’s often so hard to look at. Anyone who has practiced introspection—meditation, psychotherapy—has had to work to separate revelation of their damaging emotional patterns from humiliation about them. They’ve worked to not add shame to challenging states, to keep love and compassion toward themselves the predominant environment within which they can then keep looking.It seems easier, and more automatic, to project that pain outward, to declare someone the “other” and at fault, to feel safe in the certainty that some view you hold is superior to all others, to finally feel you amount to something....

The Japanese Red Cross reports sending out “62 NDRTs (National Disaster Response Teams) with more than 400 staffs including Doctors, Nurses, Admins sent to the affected areas for Assessment, First Aid, Health, possible PS (Psychological Support Programme).” The American Red Cross is providing shelter, provisions and comfort to those in Hawaii and the West Coast who were forced to evacuate their homes. It will also be transfering financial aid to the Japanese Red Cross to support their efforts....

The Salford Business School and the University of Salford conducted a study on 298 participants. The study looked at the relationship between people and their technology, from smartphones to computers and social networking sites. The majority of participants reported that they use their devices primarily for socializing. Slightly more than half of the participants said they noticed a negative change in their behaviour when using their devices, from confrontations at work and in relationships to not being able to relax or sleep well after using their tech....

Shaan, a Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication student, will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the University of Dayton where she will observe classes, check out the Center for International Programs and meet with American and international students to discuss what it’s like to study in the U.S. Shaan beat approximately 130 others whose goal was to write an essay about “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: Wake-up call for India Inc....

Participants took part in 12 group MBCT sessions and then were assessed after treatment and again at a three month follow-up. The researchers found that participants showed increased mindfulness, lower residual depressive mood symptoms, less attentional difficulties, and increased emotion-regulation abilities, psychological well-being, positive affect, and psychosocial functioning at the end of the therapy sessions and at the three month follow-up. The findings suggest that treating residual mood symptoms with MBCT may be another avenue to improving mood, emotion regulation, well-being, and functioning in individuals with bipolar disorder, say the authors....

He recently sat down with Ali Smith, executive director of the Holistic Life Foundation. Ali has helped develop and pilot yoga and mindfulness programs at public and private schools, drug treatment centers, juvenile detention centers, mental crisis facilities, and retreat centers, both nationally and internationally. In this episode, Michael and Ali discuss how he got schools to believe in his mission, and the ways in which the foundation has made a big impact in many kids’ lives....

Ask your child to lie down on his or her back with arms and legs stretched and flat on the floor or bed. Now lead him or her through a simple body scan starting with the head and moving down the body to the toes. Here’s what you might say: See if you can focus on how the back of your head feels against the floor. Now your shoulders, your upper back, your middle back, your arms, your middle, your rear, your upper legs, your lower legs, the back of your feet… Boy, I feel more relaxed just watching you relax....

It’s often exhibited behind closed doors, not on a public stage: A father telling a third bedtime story to his son, a dancer waiting for her injury to heal. In public, it’s the impatient ones who grab all our attention: drivers honking in traffic, grumbling customers in slow-moving lines. We have epic movies exalting the virtues of courage and compassion, but a movie about patience might be a bit of a snoozer....

Do you own a meditation cushion and/or bench? How often do you meditate? 62% of survey participants meditate at least once per day, 12% meditate every other day, and 12% once or twice a week. The remaining 14% do so occasionally or have never meditated. Do you meditate regularly? Do you encourage others to meditate? 85% of participants recommend that others try meditation. Maybe the other 15% see it as something that’s better to discover for yourself....

What’s your favorite pet name? Our top picks: RomulusTater TotBert and ErnieSpearmintBozleeMiso and TofuMerlinSnickersBoomerangSirius How would you describe your relationship with your pets? “Symbiotic.”“Unconditional.”“Obsessive.”“Family.”“Fun, loving, and caring.”“Respectful and loving.”“One way, LOL: I have a cat.”“They’re my TRIBE.”“Gentle, kind, and in the moment.”“Fellow sentient beings. Respectful of our differences. Mindful and loving in our relationships. I try to treat them as the species they are and not as humans.”“Maternal.”“Complicated.” Did you grow up with pets?...

During this time, I came home from school one day to find a beagle puppy waiting for me. Only a week later, I came home to my mother’s heartbreaking news that my father had died. Years later, she shared with me that a therapist had told her to get me a puppy to help with the suffering that was to come. I bonded something fierce with that beagle and, ever since, I’ve been a philocynic—“one who loves dogs....

More: CNN Health Archives of General Psychiatry 

A less talked about but perhaps more important area of growth is what’s happening on the inside: our fluctuating emotional life. In this video from School of Life, philosopher Alain de Botton explains how our emotional development influences our desires and our overall contentment. Our emotional side is composed of two primary motivations, de Botton says. The first is to achieve connection, the second it to reach self-expression. Connection: Connection can be understood as a desire to move away from loneliness, shame, and isolation, and toward opportunities for understanding, sincerity, and communion....

Chade-Meng Tan, Google’s Jolly Good Fellow and author of Search Inside Yourself, will be presenting at USC on October 22. Students can get more information about the program and sign up for classes on the initiative’s website, mindful.usc.edu. And if you’re looking for more information on colleges that offer mindfulness to students, check out “Mindfulness Programs in Colleges” on Mindful’s resources page. Photo: flickr.com/Geoffrey Chandler