Mindful: Can you share a bit about your journey and what brought you to mindfulness? Dr. Angela Rose Black: I spent over 15 years in academia as a health disparities scholar. My research focused on Black women’s stress-health pathways, identifying what kinds of life experiences produce compromised health outcomes, but also, what elements of our lives promote resilience. The irony of my research life was that across many “real time” data points—as a graduate student, postdoc, and tenure-track professor—I was presenting on and researching the intersection of Black women’s health and stress while being incredibly stressed and unwell myself....

This is one of the ways we here at Mindful keep up with what’s happening, and it’s part of the unique role we play. We’re the ones whose job it is to see the overview. We learn about the wide range of initiatives, and from that patterns and themes emerge. Seeing those patterns helps Mindful figure out what stories to tell, what initiatives to focus on, and in general how best to help....

In this practice, however, we want to focus less on formal periods of exercise and more on micro-bursts of movement throughout the day. After all, we know that exercise holds profound benefits for the mind and body and many of us have a regular program. However, the research on movement shows that peak mental and physical fitness isn’t just about exercise. It’s also about breaking up sedentary behavior with brief periods of movement as we go throughout each day....

The study, conducted by researchers at Deakin University in Australia, found that yoga can help obese women who struggle with binge eating. The 12-week yoga program included postures, breathing, relaxation, and meditation. All of the practices emphasized mindfulness, or non-judgmental awareness and acceptance of thoughts, sensations, and emotions. The women attended one 60-minute yoga class per week and were encouraged to practice at home for 30 minutes a day. By the end of the 12-week program, the women reported less binge-eating, higher self-esteem, and a more positive body image....

Today on the podcast, my guest is Dr. Amishi Jha. Amishi has been featured many times in Mindful and on mindful.org for her work with high-stress cohorts like first responders and military service members. We spoke with her in the early days of the pandemic about the military acronym VUCA, which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous—and how our brains react to VUCA circumstances, plus how mindfulness can help us regain ownership of our attention....

What friendship dynamic do you appreciate the most? “Being there for one another 24/7.” “We share a similar level of positivity.” “We have gone through many milestones together, so we can honestly confide in one another.” “My friends help me to see the high road.” “We understand what makes each other tick.” If you have pets, do you consider them your friends? Do you have childhood friends you keep in touch with?...

“In various Christian circles, anything “mindful” can be weighed down with Eastern baggage. Yet was it not our Master who prodded his disciples on the mountain — “Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life?” And was it not the Messiah who regularly withdrew to deserted places, restoring his attention span and empathy for the crowds he tirelessly served? Shouldn’t we strategize how we might make Jesus’ teaching and life a reality even in the most fundamental aspects of our lives?...

People around the world will be celebrating through workshops, meditation groups, or simply by taking a few minutes out of their days to be mindful. How to Celebrate Mindfulness Day Here are a few articles that show how you can incorporate mindfulness into your life, from full-out practice pieces to small ways we can bring mindfulness into our lives every day. What is Mindfulness: If you want to know what mindfulness is, it’s best to try it for a while....

“I’m convinced mindful breathing saved my life.” Doesn’t regular breathing save your life every day? “Those who live in poverty, it’s mostly not their fault…” Seriously? We never thought it ever was their fault. “It only takes one person to start a revolution.” Honestly, name a one-person revolution. “We need to create an army of compassionate soldiers.” Sounds like just another kind of war to us. “Breathe in peace, breathe out light — above you, below you, in front of you, within you....

As I write this, hanging out is discouraged and even outlawed during the pandemic, and we’ve relied on technological substitutes. Nevertheless, no virus can remove the human propensity to gather. Community is essential to life. And yet, our pull to community requires continual examination, because the very glue we use to hold ourselves together in community can fester into in-groupiness, where the key defining feature of the group is who is excluded....

According to the program’s flyer, “The intent is to provide Veterans with connection, community and tools that support them in using their strengths and experiences to find a meaningful and productive path in civilian life. Mindfulness-­based interventions have proven to be successful at transforming stress, anxiety and trauma in a number of diverse populations and are being used within the VA system for returning veterans as well as deployed soldiers....

That’s one of my favorite expressions from my days working in Washington. It’s a rich image. Yes, the hog is independent. He’s all by himself. Because nobody is going to come to the aid of a hog flailing around on ice, hurting themselves and not helping anybody else in the long run. The image speaks well to the limitations of over-celebrating independence and raising it to the highest of virtues, which we see displayed in the cult of the independent genius and personal freedom at all costs....

“It’s our view that humans pos­sess the capacity for emo­tion because it serves adap­tive pur­poses,” study author David DeSteno said. “That doesn’t mean that some­times emo­tions can’t lead you astray. They can, but so can reason.” To see if patience could be cultivated through emotions, the team studied gratitude. Here’s how the researchers tested gratitude and patience, from Northeastern: To test whether grat­i­tude really does improve our patience, specif­i­cally in the con­text of finan­cial rewards, his team con­ducted a simple exper­i­ment....

The study centered on mindful breath awareness training (M-BAT). Mindful breath awareness involves paying attention to the breath and observing thoughts, feelings, sensations and other experiences that arise without becoming fixated on them. No breath control or manipulation is required. For this study, 21 healthy adults received four hours of mindful breath awareness training and then were asked to practice breath awareness for 10 minutes per day, at least five days per week, for three weeks....

All parents endure stress, but studies show that parents of children with developmental disabilities experience depression and anxiety far more often. They are struggling to obtain support services, coping with the financial strain of various therapies, and worrying about how the future will pan out. Parents Robbie and Nicholas Pinter learned mindfulness techniques to cope with some of that stress. Robbie tells the New York Times that she focused on learning to breathe deeply and talk herself through crises, techniques she credits with helping her become more calm....

Through our chat, we’ll also get to know Elaine a bit more. She tends to face things with a sense of humor, even when she was diagnosed with uterine cancer. Armed with laughter, and a lot of resilience, she’s gained a great deal of knowledge about what makes her happy, and what drives her, particularly in moments of uncertainty, discomfort—and even in pain. ST: Elaine, you’ve been practicing mindfulness for over 20 years and you’re on the faculty at the Centre for Mindfulness in Toronto, but you were also in the broadcasting business for awhile....

Identifying distinctive types of intelligence allows us to discover that emotional intelligence is often a blindspot. For example, we could have a friend who is very clever, but has messy relationships; or know someone who has made millions of dollars, but remains unhappy. These people are intelligent in other skill sets, but they lack emotional intelligence. In this animation for the School of Life, philosopher Alain de Botton explains, “Emotional intelligence is the quality that enables us to confront with patience, insight, and imagination the many problems that we face in our affective relationship with ourselves and with other people....

The official theme for Black History Month this year is Black Health and Wellness. According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, “This theme acknowledges the legacy of not only Black scholars and medical practitioners in Western medicine, but also other ways of knowing (e.g., birthworkers, doulas, midwives, naturopaths, herbalists, etc.) throughout the African Diaspora. The 2022 theme considers activities, rituals and initiatives that Black communities have done to be well....

For some, the inner critic is a specific voice from the past—your mother, your aunt, a child, the boss who fired you. My friend Joseph Goldstein still remembers the first-grade teacher who gave him a big red F in cutting and pasting. (This was in the days when you mixed flour and water to make paste, and Joseph’s work was apparently very messy.) A friend or stranger may make an offhand remark that we take so deeply into our bodies and minds that they become part of our identities....