It was common for me to cross paths with wildlife in these woods, though the ravine was boxed in on all sides by dense suburbs. In the ten years I had been walking through this suburban forest I had spotted coyotes, foxes, rabbits, beavers and once, a majestic snowy owl hooting softly on the tallest branch of a tamarack. The trees showed their age, with climbing footholds that children had nailed onto the trunks over 50 years ago, now beyond reach of the next generation....

In the world of organizational leadership, this is also true and rarely taught or acknowledged. When we are so busy with the doing of “business,” whether it is non-profit, academic or corporate, we can lose the very thing we need to lead with excellence: ourselves. We lose who we are, what we truly believe in, what we are most passionate about. As a result, we are susceptible to being pulled along with someone else’s idea, or simply something that is neutral, good enough but not innovative or brilliant....

I’m learning to meditate. Perched atop a square, hard cushion in the corner of my bedroom, trying to pay attention to the movement of my breath, and this is what I’m noticing. It’s the same kind of anguish that’s accompanied every waking hour for the past two and a half years. The fear, the rage, the helplessness. But there’s a subtle and crucial difference now. I’m beginning to observe these patterns of thought and feeling from a different place, from somewhere I didn’t previously know existed....

George Mumford had just emerged from a detox center in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and it was the first time he could remember being sober for 21 days straight. George had been drinking pretty heavily since he was a teen and had gotten hooked on painkillers in college, which later morphed into a full-blown heroin addiction. For a long time, he’d been able to hide his habit and hold down his job as a financial analyst for a digital equipment manufacturer, but after his marriage fell apart, he turned to Alcoholics Anonymous and that inspired him to try to get clean....

Employers aren’t easily convinced that investing in stillness, openness and gentleness will improve productivity. We’ve come to associate business with busyness, and slowing down to notice more can seem at odds with a corporate culture of speed and acquisition. Yet this is actually what makes mindfulness so valuable in a business context. Workers are human beings, and we function better when we feel centered—all the anxious multi-tasking and plate-spinning doesn’t actually do us or our work any good....

In this study, individuals who were stressed but otherwise healthy participated in an eight-week program of MBSR. At the end of the program, each participant reported a significant decrease in their perceived stress, as compared to before treatment. MR images of each participant’s brain were obtained both before and after the MBSR program. The images showed a decrease in the density of the amygdala gray matter after the program, when the participants reported feeling less stress....

Headspace (on-the-go) This slickly designed app provides 10-minute meditation sessions, with the first 10 days available free of charge. (Then, you can choose a subscription. The annual option offers the best rate, $7.99/month.) You start with a brief body scan and then Andy Puddicombe, cofounder of Headspace, talks you through with easy banter and relatable instruction (“Don’t force your breath, your body already knows how to breathe”). The app provides animations about how the mind works and tips on how to sit and breathe....

Dr. Teasdale, one of the pioneers in the development of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, presented this new model at the International Symposium for Contemplative Studies, held in Denver in April 2012. At the core of the model, a product of nearly twenty years of work, is the idea that the human brain/mind has two ways to process information. One of these, termed “propositional,” involves using concepts and conventional logic. In this mode we divide the world into categories and use comparisons to make judgments and decisions....

The conference will feature some of the leaders in the field of bringing mindfulness to youth, as well as other notable thought leaders in the fields of mindfulness, education and neuroscience. Keynote speakers will include Susan Kaiser-Greenland, Rick Hanson, Amishi Jha, Pamela Seigle and Chip Wood. The intention of the conference, among other things, is to showcase some of the groundbreaking work being done in the area of bringing mindfulness to youth, as well as spur discussion and collaboration....

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience By Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi This groundbreaking book provides insight into what’s needed to get into flow, when time alters and you become so absorbed in whatever you’re doing that nothing else matters. The key, in Mumford’s view, is learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. “The best moments of our lives,” writes Csikszentmihalyi, are “when a person’s body or mind is stretched to the limits in a voluntary moment to achieve something difficult and worthwhile....

Santorelli will lead “The Healing Power of Mindfulness: Finding the Treasure Within You,” one of the breakout sessions at the Creating a Mindful Society conference to be held September 30–October 1, 2011 in New York City. To read some of Santorelli’s contributions to Mindful.org, click on the following links: Letting Ourselves Heal – Saki Santorelli says that healing begins when we uncover our vulnerable places. Practice: Befriending Self – Saki Santorelli, director of the stress reduction program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, offers some words of wisdom about practicing mindfulness, or “offering hospitality to ourselves....

In this video from Big Think, Robin says everyone gets caught up in consumer culture, and that paying attention to how we spend creates happiness. “Financial freedom is like freeing your mind,” Robin says. “It is understanding that I’m me, and there’s an economy out there and I have a relationship with it, but it doesn’t run my life.” Here are three tips Robin gives to halt the race to accumulate stuff and create a money mastery plan based on real well-being:...

Game Face On: Hockey enthusiast Geoff Eaton faces-off against leukemia—and plays the game of his life. Read Geoff’s story in “Trading in his Hockey Stick for a Walking Stick,“ a chapter from The Healing Circle, by Rob Rutledge and Timothy Walker. Practicing with Cancer: Barry Boyce explains how mindfulness teacher Elana Rosenbaum turned a cancer diagnosis into an opportunity to help others live. Coping with Cancer: Faced with cancer, mindfulness instructor Elana Rosenbaum had to put her practice to the test....

Whether you’re looking for insightful conversations with teachers, skilful advice for working through a challenge, or simply inspiration for how to approach life with a little more mindfulness, we hope you enjoy the following podcasts that stood out this year. The 7 Best Mindfulness Podcasts of 2021 1) Life Kit Episode: “Poet Maggie Smith On ‘Trying On’ Hope” Maggie Smith wrote Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change at a time in her life when everything felt unsure....

This year, we provided meditations on how to tame the inner critic, tune into the body, sleep better, sit with change, and practice loving-kindness. The Most Popular Meditations From 2019 1. A Body Scan for Beginners The body scan practice helps you reconnect and relax from head to toe. Elaine Smookler walks us through the basics in this beginners practice. 2. A Meditation to Tame Your Inner Critic The next time your self-doubt becomes too loud, explore this 12-minute meditation from Mark Bertin to confront the nagging voice in your head....

Traditional American The idea of the first plate is the American expectation of dinner for much of the past half-century: a big hunk of meat with a small side of vegetables. “It was never an enlightened or particularly appetizing construction,” Barber says, “and at this point,” for many chefs and discerning eaters at least, “it’s thankfully passé.” 2. Farm to Table The second plate represents, Barber says, “where we are now, infused with all the ideals of the farm-to-table movement....

As time goes on and we grow from children to adolescents to adults, for many of us, somewhere along the way life begins to become routine. Day in and day out, whether we’re walking, driving, talking, eating, going to the grocery store, or spending time with our families, our minds get kicked into autopilot and continue to develop their habitual ways of thinking, interpreting, expecting, and relating to other people....