March 11, 2015—This week, we’re focusing on meditation and recent studies that suggest it may be good for your health in all sorts of ways. _________________________________ There’s more good news for meditators. A publication out of UCLA suggests that meditation may slow down the aging process. Researchers at the UCLA School of Medicine and the Centre for Research on Ageing Health and Wellbeing in Australia compared the grey matter in the brains of meditators versus non-meditators, and found the brains of those who sit on the cushion deteriorated less. The meditators practiced all… [Read More…]
MIndfulness is everywhere, Part I
March 10, 2015—Here in the Bay Area we may have a distorted picture of how much mindfulness meditation has penetrated the mainstream. It’s hard to imagine that another part of the country can out compete us for meditation centers per capita, or the number of people who seek out spirituality in this way. Instead of telling their kids to be careful, I hear parents asking them to be “mindful.” And it seems almost everyone knows that when you’re stressed, you should tune into your breath. But it turns out the West Coast isn’t… [Read More…]
Meditation distracts depression, scientist says
March 01, 2015—One of Buddhism’s core principles is that careful attention to the body can help the mind, especially in coping with difficult emotions and thoughts. Until a few decades ago, it was a concept that lived solely in the domain of religion and spirituality. But Catherine Kerr, an assistant professor medicine at Brown University says, “it’s actually a really powerful scientific hypothesis.” And, she adds, it’s one that wouldn’t have occurred to anyone sitting in a Western scientific lab on their own. For a long time, Western psychology focused on talk therapy… [Read More…]
Singing for spirituality
Feb. 9, 2015–Silvia Nakkach is an innovator. The singer and musician has lived all over the world, and studied under both the Eastern and Western traditions of music. Combining those elements naturally made for something new. Nakkach’s music has an original and ethereal, haunting quality. She’s also developed a philosophy about the voice. According to Nakkach, singing can be used to open a person’s spiritual life. The Argentine-born musician attended Mills College in Oakland before meeting the person who would become her teacher for more than 30 years: Ali Akbar Khan, a great… [Read More…]
A deep breath for PTSD
Jan. 13, 2015—It is typically hard to recruit veterans for a clinical study on PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). To admit to the disorder and seek treatment, which may involve some sort of psychotherapy, runs counter to the tough, stoic attitude embedded in military culture. But one clinical trial may be doing better than most — a collaborative study out of the UC San Francisco Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and the San Francisco Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC). Its secret? The study offers a chance for veterans to exercise — something they’re quite… [Read More…]
