Wellness | Awaken Wellness Resources

10 Simple Ways to Invite Mindfulness into the Present Moment

October 8, 2015/in Acceptance, Anxiety Relief, Awaken, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Choice, Contemplation, Creativity, Culture, Ethics, Happiness, Healing, Health, Life Management, Living, Logic, Meditation, Memory, Mind/Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Non-Doing, Non-judgment, Optimists, Pain Management, Politics, Presence, Religion & Spirituality, Resiliency, Spirituality for the Practical, Spontaneity, Stress Reduction, Style, Wellness

Mindfulness is not reserved for only those times when you are “formally practicing.” While taking the time to close your eyes and follow your breath, or taking a mindful walk can be enormously helpful, we can build our awareness by bringing our full attention to our everyday daily activities. These are the tasks that have been so ingrained by repetition , so habitual that they are often times performed on autopilot. It can almost be like we are sleepwalking. We sometimes don’t even remember doing them! Read more

Practical Applications of Mindful Leadership

September 23, 2015/in Acceptance, Anxiety Relief, Awaken, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Choice, Contemplation, Creativity, Culture, Ethics, Happiness, Healing, Health, Life Management, Living, Logic, Meditation, Memory, Mind/Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Non-Doing, Non-judgment, Optimists, Presence, Resiliency, Stress Reduction, Wellness

Much of what I do each day entails fostering and facilitating mindfulness training for leaders of industry, academia and healthcare. Many of these leaders have already enjoyed an illustrious track record of success and innovation in their field. And some are just getting started. But wherever they are on their journey, they tend to share certain qualities: a quick mind, high emotional IQ, substantial educational backgrounds and varied and impressive work experience. Rarer still but counted among them are the managers who display true adeptness at leading by example, championing team members’ accomplishments and having a bold vision for their organization. Read more

THE MUSE, MINDFULNESS WEARABLES

August 24, 2015/in Acceptance, Anxiety Relief, Awaken, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Choice, Contemplation, Creativity, Culture, Ethics, Happiness, Healing, Health, Life Management, Living, Logic, Meditation, Memory, Mind/Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Non-Doing, Non-judgment, Optimists, Pain Management, Politics, Presence, Religion & Spirituality, Resiliency, Spirituality for the Practical, Spontaneity, Stress Reduction, Style, Theology for the Rest of Us, Wellness

What about a headpiece to help you to train your brain? As mindfulness continues to gain acceptance as an integral part of a healthy lifestyle, it too has become lucrative fodder for inventors and investors who see its potential amidst the big business wellness industry.

Like the Fitbit wristband that measures your movements towards the goal of physical fitness, the latest gadget to help you meditate and improve your focus is called the Muse. At a price tag of about $299, this headband uses electroencephalography sensors to measure the activity of your neurons to detect when your mind is focused and when it’s not. Read more

MINDFUL WALKING

July 13, 2015/in Acceptance, Anxiety Relief, Awaken, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Choice, Contemplation, Creativity, Ethics, Happiness, Healing, Health, Life Management, Living, Logic, Meditation, Memory, Mind/Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Non-Doing, Non-judgment, Optimists, Pain Management, Politics, Presence, Religion & Spirituality, Resiliency, Spirituality for the Practical, Spontaneity, Stress Reduction, Uncategorized, Wellness

On certain days and for a variety of reasons, the idea of mindfully sitting for any length of time may evoke a strong sense of aversion. Of course, if this occurs, you always have the option off choosing to be curious about that aversion, working with it, as well as being receptive to any other strong feelings, thoughts and attending sensations that may arise. Read more

MINDFUL HUGGING PRACTICE

May 11, 2015/in Acceptance, Anxiety Relief, Awaken, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Choice, Contemplation, Creativity, Culture, Ethics, Happiness, Healing, Health, Life Management, Living, Logic, Meditation, Memory, Mind/Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Non-Doing, Non-judgment, Optimists, Pain Management, Politics, Presence, Religion & Spirituality, Resiliency, Spirituality for the Practical, Spontaneity, Stress Reduction, Style, Theology for the Rest of Us, Uncategorized, Wellness

There is truly no greater gift to give someone than your full, pure presence. We intuitively know this to be true. Perhaps you can recall a time in your own life when you’ve had the experience of someone’s complete and undivided attention. What did it feel like? The feelings may have been profound or subtle, but are almost universally life-affirming.

How were they embodying that presence? We often recognize that the body is relaxed and quiet; the emotional energy is clear and focused. Their shared thoughts back to you reflect a deep state of listening.

Yet we also know this is a rare occurrence. How often do we really give our full attention to someone? Our child is sharing their day and we are only partially listening while we cook dinner, fold laundry, return a work text. We are having a conversation with a friend or a coworker and simultaneously remembering a task undone or impatiently waiting for them to finish so it’s ‘our turn’. This is a human tendency. Fortunately, we can choose to communicate in a more skillful, even transformative way. Read more

THE COMMUNITY OF CONTEMPLATION

February 20, 2015/3 Comments/in Anxiety Relief, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Contemplation, Creativity, Happiness, Health, Meditation, Memory, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Pain Management, Resiliency, Spontaneity, Stress Reduction, Wellness

Last November, I attended the International Symposium for Contemplative Studies in Boston. There were lots of luminaries in the fields of neuroscience, psychology, education, philosophy, and the humanities. Counted among these were the Dalai Llama, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Daniel Goleman, Arianna Huffington, and so many more who are well-known to those in the field, reflecting the explosion really of mindfulness into all aspects of our modern society.

Some presenters shared results of mindfulness programs they have implemented in particular clinical settings or in business. Several neuroscientists provided the latest in their research on what is happening in the brain during contemplative practices and where in the brain it is happening. The goal of all this being the very mission of the conference: to “advance our understanding of the human mind, reduce human suffering, and enhance our well-being.”

EFFORTLESS ACTION

February 20, 2015/in Anxiety Relief, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Contemplation, Creativity, Happiness, Health, Meditation, Memory, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Pain Management, Resiliency, Spontaneity, Stress Reduction, Wellness

You may be familiar with the adage “Try, try, and try again. Then, at last, youwill succeed.” And there can be some truth in that. Preparation, practice and experience are vital ingredients to success. But we also know that constant pushing, striving, and doing in a largely effortful way is stressful and often, self-defeating. Philosophers and neuroscientists alike agree that our most productive, creative self emerges when we are in the flow. Engaging with our lives in a relaxed but keenly receptive way. Author Edward Slingerland in his book “Trying Not to Try: The Art and Science of Spontaneity” calls this “embodied cognition.” It’s often referred to as being “in the zone” or acting spontaneously: it is a state of complete mental focus and ease.

REWIRING YOUR BRAIN

February 7, 2015/in Anxiety Relief, Awareness, Being Present, Brain Plasticity, Contemplation, Creativity, Happiness, Health, Meditation, Memory, Mindfulness, Neuroscience, Pain Management, Resiliency, Stress Reduction, Wellness

Usually we start a new personal development program (whether that be practicing mindfulness, getting physically fit, eating more healthfully) with a great burst of enthusiasm. Yet after the initial “excitement” wears off, and despite our best intentions, we sometimes find we don’t follow through on our commitment. We don’t persist. Perhaps we don’t see immediate results so we become disheartened. Our efforts dwindle or we stop altogether.

And the not so helpful habits…they’re right there. So instead of feeling bad about this, perhaps even a little guilty, what to do? How do we re-engage in this moment our commitment to be more present?

We can remember that we are re-wiring our brain and that this takes time. Mindfulness practices are among the most powerful agents of brain change known to modern science. Practitioners have know this for centuries from their own lived experience: feeling less stress, having a better memory, enjoying greater happiness. And now in a growing number of research studies, we are seeing actual changes in brain structure that confirm these experiences in the lab, in a relatively short period of time. The first study to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain’s grey matter was led by a team at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Participants in an 8 week program who practiced mindfulness an average of 27 minutes a day at least 6 days a week were shown in MRI imaging to have measurable changes in brain structure, the regions associated with learning, memory, self-awareness and compassion were growing (grey matter increasing), and those regions involved with stress and anxiety were shrinking (grey matter) decreasing.

I DON’T KNOW

April 11, 2014/in Acceptance, Awaken, Healing, Meditation, Mind/Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Non-Doing, Non-judgment, Stress Reduction, Uncategorized, Wellness

Whether your brand of faith is organized or something more organic, practicing an attitude of trust in whatever is happening in your life right now without the certainty about what it means or how it will turn out, takes a willingness to be okay with these three little words: “I don’t know.”

We know that it is true that we don’t REALLY know how things will turn out, but it is still hard to not run from this reality. Security is in many ways hard wired into all of us. But saying and meaning “I don’t know” provides you with a little space to pause for a bit. In response to any sense of inner or outer urgency you may be experiencing, you can wait and get a little comfortable with the unknown. Without reaching for the metaphorical security blanket, a blanket that comes in a million forms, you begin to see things as they are.

LOVING KINDNESS MEDITATION

April 1, 2014/in Acceptance, Awaken, Healing, Meditation, Mind/Body Medicine, Mindfulness, Non-Doing, Non-judgment, Pain Management, Stress Reduction, Uncategorized, Wellness

There is an ancient and transformative meditation that the Buddha encouraged that elicits a gentle spirit, towards ourselves and others.

It is a practice that opens the heart toward forgiveness, even towards those who we may have deemed enemies. We may have people in our life who have caused us great pain or we may feel have stolen from us our essential self. This, of course, is an illusion (though it can hold a powerful and long lasting spell on us if we are not awakened to it). With loving kindness meditation, we can be restored to remember who we are, to listen our own good heart, our own best Self.

We can discover the wisdom to open the doors and windows of the Spirit. It begins, always, with a loving kindness towards ourselves. It is after all, almost impossible to truly love others…until we know, love, and accept ourselves. From this touchstone, we can spread our ability to love towards those in our inner circle, and then out into the wider world.

Begin with the breath of mindfulness, it is the breath that calls us to this moment. It is life’s breath. It is the breath that breathes through you, that you do not have to control, that you do not ultimately control. Be in your body. It is a good body, and worthy of your care and respect.

Each day, for as many days as you can be present, repeat these ancient words:

“May I be filled with loving kindness/May I be well in body and mind/May I be safe from inner and outer dangers/May I be happy/Truly happy and free”*

*(taken from Jack Kornfield’s Audio Meditation on Loving Kindness)

I do this, dear reader, and it is changing me. I watched a woman laughing on a 100 degree day in Charlotte, NC with her labrador retriever, getting cooled off in a beautiful fountain in the park. She was directing her dog to the places that he could catch a drink of water. She maneuvered him so deftly, so joyfully…it was only as I left that I realized that she was blind, and that this dog was her eyes. Or perhaps something more?

With loving kindness, we are given eyes to see. She was seeing, though not without the aid of natural sight.

And last night, I caught a glimpse of early summer evening light on two church steeples and the glint of their brass weathervanes…signs of old New England, and felt blessed, blessed to be exactly where I was. Steeped in love and kindness towards myself, the ones I have been given to love, and towards those who crossed my paths…all bathed in this light.