April 6, 2015—I meditate. Nearly every day since 2008, I’ve pulled out a blue meditation cushion given to me by a friend, crossed my legs and closed my eyes to focus on my breath. My practice started in 2008 when I attended my first two meditation retreats. The second one was a 10-day retreat in Occidental. The recorded voice of S.N. Goenka taught us how to pay attention to our breath as it came and went through our nostrils. At the end of the retreat, which involved sitting for at least 11 hours… [Read More…]
Mindfulness continued: Stress
April 4, 2015—The evidence is piling up. In study after study, researchers are finding that mindfulness meditation not only promotes overall well being, but can actually improve outcomes for people suffering from certain conditions such as depression or HIV infection. The studies out of Carnegie Mellon University are another remarkable testament to how body and mind are directly related. The question in the case of disease is how meditation works to achieve this. The Carnegie Mellon researchers believe it may have to do with stress levels. In a 2014 paper published in Current… [Read More…]
Mindfulness is everywhere, Part III: Sleep
March 12, 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. _____________________________ Waking up in the middle of the night, tossing and turning and unable to get back to sleep, is one of life’s more frustrating experiences. Insomniacs know the drill. You lay there, tired, and stressed, sometimes for hours, knowing that you’re doomed for exhaustion and crankiness the next day. It’s especially common among older adults. Sleep hygiene classes offer tips for the weary on how to promote… [Read More…]
Mindfulness is everywhere, Part II: Aging
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…]
