We’ll meet here twice a month to introduce you to some of the teachers, thinkers, writers, and researchers who are engaged in the mindfulness movement. You’ll hear all kinds of conversations here about the science of mindfulness, the practice of mindfulness—and the heart of it. I’m Stephanie Domet. I’m the managing editor at Mindful magazine and mindful.org. And this is Real Mindful. On this edition of Real Mindful, a real treat for you....

There’s a saying: “Not forgiving is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to get hurt or die.” The reality is holding onto resentment literally keeps our cortisol running and makes us sick. The wonderful thing about forgiveness is it really only takes one to tango. You only need one person to forgive—you! You don’t even need the offender. Right now, if you have someone you’re holding a grudge against or are resenting, imagine the two of you tied together in a tug of war and imagine the cord being cut…you no longer have the tension of the rope, you are free!...

5 Steps to Wind Down and Fall Asleep: How to stop tossing and turning and get some quality shut-eye. 5 Steps to a Better Relationship With Yourself: Want to be compassionate of others? Direct some of those feelings towards yourself first. The Art of Conversation: 5 steps to enjoying more empathetic and artful conversation. Tuning In: Tips on how to be a good listener to yourself so you can be a better listener to others....

Just to reiterate: The body is composed of more bacteria than it is cells. Collectively, the trillions of bacteria are called the microbiome. Most of the microbiome reside in our gut, and is sometimes referred to as the gut microbiota. We all have our own unique microbiome. A healthy gut can be different iterations of bacteria for different people, because it is this diversity that maintains wellness. A shift away from “normal” gut microbiota diversity is called dysbiosis, and dysbiosis may contribute to disease....

Looking at dozens of parent-child pairs in a community sample, Waters’ data pointed to a significant link between kids’ mindfulness and their experience of stress. Higher reports of mindfulness related to fewer report of stress. The more surprising finding was that children whose parents were more mindful were significantly less likely to report being stressed as well. Though further studies are needed to establish a causal link, this study hints at the role that parents’ own cultivation of attention and nonjudgmental awareness can have in reducing distress in their kids....

A relatively large number of studies have now examined the effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for people at different stages in the course of a depressive illness. However the new meta-analysis focuses on trials addressing the original intention of MBCT, to prevent relapse in recurrent depression and includes data from nine trials recruiting adults with a history of recurrent depression, comparing the effectiveness of MBCT with a range of comparators in preventing depression relapses over a sixty week period....

A team of researchers led by Professor Willem Kuyken from the University of Exeter, in association with the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and the Mindfulness in Schools Project, recruited 522 students, aged between 12 and 16 years, from 12 secondary schools to take part in the study. 256 students at six of the schools were taught the Mindfulness in Schools Project’s curriculum, a nine-week introduction to mindfulness designed for the classroom....

For six weeks, one group of study participants learned various mindfulness techniques and practiced for two hours a week—mindful sitting, eating, movement, and meditation. At the end of the study, researchers measured the sleep quality of all participants—those who tried mindfulness meditation and the control group that learned a standard sleep hygeine education program—and found that the group practicing mindfulness scored higher. The researchers speculate that mindfulness might play a role in improving the nervous system and cognitive processes related to stress and arousal....

Seeking to expand our knowledge around this question, researchers at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, examined the existing research on the relationship between meditation practice and changes in attention. They reviewed published studies of healthy adults who practiced focused attention (FA), open monitoring (OM), or both. Focused attention (FA) meditation involves being able to keep one’s attention fixed on a particular object, such as the breath. Open monitoring (OM) meditation emphasizes staying in the present moment while paying attention to one’s experience, without allowing the mind to get lost in thought....

Whippman’s article is part of an expected and welcome backlash on an ancient practice intended to assist people in the reduction of suffering. This work, of course, has been secularized and scientificized, therefore making it culturally congruent and palatable for this time and place. Where the uptake has been most striking and for which there is the most evidence is in the area of mental health. Mindfulness is not a panacea, and its adoption in schools, the workplace, over the sink, while rinsing Spaghetti-Os, or engaged in the drudgery of a mind numbing job far outweighs the evidence for its efficacy and effectiveness....

In the early 2000s I realized one day that I had about 10,000 days left to live. (That’s the average life expectancy for a male in his late forties.) Up until that point in my life I had been very fortunate and no particular need seemed unfulfilled. I took it upon myself to investigate what possibly could be the most rewarding and useful way to spend those 10,000 days. I ventured on to study the teachings of the Far East and New Age Spirituality as well as modern research on happiness set-points, genetics, neuroscience and evolutionary theory....

Listen as Kenison reads from her book, The Gift of an Ordinary Day. This video went viral, with more than million and a half views. Katrina Kenison spent many years working in publishing, first as an in-house editor at Houghton Mifflin Company in New Haven, New York, and Boston, and then, as the series editor of The Best American Short Stories. She’s written and edited several books. Her writing has appeared in O The Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Country Living, Family Circle, Redbook, and other publications....

Often, in my personal practice, I contemplate the fact that many people experience a great deal of stress while trying to focus on the breath and control their attention for long periods of time. In fact, mindfulness practices that instruct people to confront their inner world directly, and to quiet the mind, can feel very disorienting for BIPOC, trauma survivors, people from marginalized communities, and even those of us who are simply exhausted due to hardships and life....

In the video below, Goldstein goes through a short practice you can weave into your day to step into that space between stimulus and response. Stop: Get comfortable in the position you’re in, almost as if you’re relaxing into this moment. Take a breath: Take a few deep breaths, and as you’re taking these breaths, see if you can pay attention to the sensation of the breath coming in and the sensation of the breath going out as if this was the first time you’ve ever noticed this breath before....

Mindfulness meditation has shown great promise in treating the symptoms of a number of medical problems. This study tested the efficacy of a brief, simple meditation practice called Kirtan Kriya as an intervention for people with memory loss. The meditation practice was performed by each participant for only 12 minutes each day over an eight-week period. The results revealed positive results in both functional neuroimaging changes as well as an improvement in cognitive functioning....

The film was made solely by students and tackles the growing bullying issue. Alex Vander Vlugt wants his film to help “combat bullying and encourage teens to talk about the issue.” “The mission of Speak Out: The Documentary is to make a positive difference in the lives of children and youth and build a bully-free society for all students and community members,” Vlugt said in a press release. “Created by youth for youth, the film will help us speak out for those who can’t....

Because they’ve seen the evidence that mindfulness is profoundly healing, they’re taking it right into the middle of the American health care system, from prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, through cure, palliative care, and even health administration and medical training. With the help of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists and sponsor of the Lynn Lectures on integrative medicine, we brought together three of the world’s leading specialists on the healing power of mindfulness and the benefits of integrative medicine for a discussion of the present and future of mind–body medicine....