Tabla de contenidos para April 2018 en Mindful

Editor-in-Chief barry@mindful.org Our must-read story this issue: “Constant Craving” maps out how we get hooked on bad habits—and how mindfulness can help us break them. On page 60. MOMENTS FROM OUR FIRST 5 YEARS The present moment. It’s a wondrous thing. From some perspective, it’s all we’ve got, since nothing happens that doesn’t happen within it. And yet, somehow, we’ve managed to almost ruin it. Like an overzealous parent at his son’s or daughter’s tee-ball game, we’ve put too much pressure on it. So modest, so ordinary, so simple—the present moment has been forced to become a really big deal. Supposedly, you arrive there and everything is beautiful, all problems are solved, and all cares float away. It’s no wonder all the hype surrounding mindfulness has spawned more than a…

NUTRITION INFO Carrots are extra rich in beta-carotene and other phytonutrients that benefit your heart and bones. They’re also high in vitamins A, C, and K, as well as dietary fiber and potassium. source: whfoods.com Springtime yields incredible carrots: small, sweet, served up at farmers markets and grocery stores with bushy tops still intact. Their youthful skin hasn’t developed the tinge of bitterness that motivates us to peel autumn and winter carrots. Give them a quick rinse and a scrub and they’re ready to use. Spring carrots are delicate, juicy, crunchy, and—let’s be honest—super cute. TRY THIS A delicious and easy way to prepare spring carrots is to roast them whole. Caramelized on the outside, tender on the inside, whole roasted carrots feel oddly fancy for something so simple. Toss…

At the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, Canada, doctors use the full arsenal of conventional weapons to fight cancer, from chemotherapy to the latest cellular and genetic therapies. They also use mindfulness practice. After diagnosis, patients and their caregivers are offered an 8-week course in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. “When people are diagnosed with cancer, they struggle with anxiety, uncertainty, loss of control, and the real possibility of dying,” says Linda E. Carlson, PhD, a professor of psychology and oncology at the University of Calgary, who started the mindfulness program. “It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. It’s easy to regret the past and fear the future. And in addition to all that psychological distress, patients are dealing with the symptoms of cancer, such as pain and fatigue, and the side effects…

Almost two decades ago, a young family doctor named Ronald Epstein published a modest proposal in the prestigious Journal of the American Medical Association that would go on to spark a quiet revolution in medicine. The practice of mindfulness, Epstein argued in 1999, could help physicians weather the growing stresses of the profession, rediscover the human element in the increasingly impersonal nature of high-tech medicine, and in short be better doctors. At the time, most physicians weren’t even aware of the term mindfulness. Those who were often dismissed it as New Age nonsense. But Epstein’s notion of “mindful practice” resonated. “Today, if you ask 100 physicians, 90 are familiar with mindfulness, and most have very positive associations,” Epstein says. “It’s mind-blowing, really, how much attitudes have changed.” Epstein continues to…

If there’s a patch of open lawn at a corner, children will cut through, and grass soon becomes hardened ground. Ancient people created paths walking from one place to another; horses and oxen widened them; and today they’re paved roads. When we want to go someplace, we choicelessly take these well-trodden paths. It’s the same with our brain and the muscles and organs that respond to its commands. As neurons keep firing in a particular configuration, a path is created and it’s just easier to go there. Neurons that “fire together, wire together.” It’s how we learn to talk, to play guitar, to paint, and to smoke and overeat. As Judson Brewer points out in The Craving Mind, laying down memories (pathways to return to) is as ancient and ingrained…

DESIGN MATTERS WITH DEBBIE MILLMAN Episode: Tim Ferriss His 4-hour-everything followers may be surprised to hear Tim Ferriss open up about his experience with depression and suicidal ideation while still a postgrad at Princeton University. But, just as with the more hackable areas of life, Ferriss has a straight-up view of exactly what the struggle is: “It’s very difficult to think your way out of things that you didn’t logically think your way into.” He shares some of his favorite ways to stay well, including: “curating” his social circle, a writing exercise for overcoming fears, and working out really, really hard. Another of his keys to maintain recovery? Daily meditation, as an opportunity for “observing your thoughts without getting tumbled by them.” Q Episode: How Sarah Slean’s musical and philosophical…

What's your preferred meditation practice? 73% PREFER SEATED MEDITATION, while 5% like walking meditation best, and 10% like the body scan best. 12% would rather use other meditation methods, including running, breathing exercises, or lying down. Do you own a meditation cushion and/or bench? How often do you meditate? 62% OF SURVEY PARTICIPANTS meditate at least once per day. 12% meditate every other day, and 12% once or twice a week. The remaining 14% do so occasionally or have never meditated. Do you meditate regularly? Do you encourage others to meditate? 85% OF PARTICIPANTS RECOMMEND to others that they try meditation. Maybe the other 15% see it as something that’s better to discover for yourself. Have you ever received instruction in a mindfulness technique? What's your favorite place to meditate?…

mindful Brands like Target and Tommy Hilfiger are embracing diversity by designing custom clothing lines for people with physical disabilities. The adaptive clothes offer features like one-handed zippers and magnetic or Velcro closures. Researchers in the UK found typical patient manuals use too much jargon, so they had 4th-graders rewrite them. The kids produced concise, clear instructions—suggesting how health organizations can do better. A British journalist screwed with TripAdvisor by posting rave reviews of a fake restaurant—located at the shed he lives in. “The Shed at Dulwich” rose to the top-rated spot in London, so he opened it for a night, serving microwave dinners. mindless Engineering students in Singapore built a cyborg beetle: Its movements can be directed by neuromuscular stimulation of the wing and leg muscles. Once the design…

Q What should I do if I have a cold and can’t breathe without coughing and sniffling? A I’m not a physician, but I’d recommend treating your cold and its symptoms wisely, and consider mindful coughing and compassionate sniffling! The practice of mindfulness is unique in that there are no right conditions for doing it. The intention is that mindfulness is practice independent of conditions, as long as we are capable of being aware. Which is pretty much that period of time between your very first breath and your very last. If you’re reading these words, this applies to you! (Funny story: I once attended a mindfulness workshop where the facilitator announced at the very end of the workshop, “So, let’s all pause one last time and take our final…

ESSENTIALS You, and something to sit on: Whether you use a cushion or a chair, your seat should provide proper support. And don’t shy away from extra support cushions and bolsters—when it comes to meditation, your body is priority number one. ADD-ONS Some things you don’t exactly need, but are mighty useful to have on hand: a timer, a glass of water, a cover-up (e.g., a sweater, shawl, or blanket) and socks. ENVIRONMENT Even if you don’t dress up your space at all, you’ll want to consider noise level, comfort, and temperature.…

Most people who meditate have an intuitive sense that, by reducing stress, mindfulness practice probably helps keep our blood pressure down. But proving that hasn’t been easy. In 2013, the news looked encouraging. A randomized controlled study of 56 patients with prehypertension, published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine, reported that mindfulness meditation brought their numbers back down to a healthy level. But within a year, results from a Canadian trial threw cold water on those hopeful findings. In a study called “Hypertension Analysis of Stress Reduction Using Mindfulness Meditation and Yoga,” or HARMONY, published in 2014 in the American Journal of Hypertension, researchers tested mindfulness in 101 men with hypertension. The results found no difference in the blood pressures of people who did mindfulness meditation compared to a control group.…

These days, there’s little debate about the stress-reducing benefits of mindfulness meditation. In a report published in 2015 in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, researchers reviewing findings from 29 studies concluded that MBSR has a large beneficial effect on stress and moderate effects on anxiety, depression, distress, and quality of life And while some researchers look at the psychological benefits, others measure physiological changes linked to stress. In a 2017 report in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, Australian researchers reviewed findings from 45 studies. Together, they concluded, the results provide strong evidence that MBSR is associated with lower levels of the stress-related hormone cortisol. “There are many ways that mindfulness meditation helps reduce stress,” says Eric Garland, PhD, director of the Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development at…

In the heat of an argument, when we feel defensive or under attack, our reaction is often to speak louder, interrupt, and verbally attack the other person. You may feel a rush of energy, a surge of epinephrine and norepinephrine—the hormones that are released when riding a roller coaster. The stress hormone, cortisol, is also released when we feel stressed, afraid, or attacked. Other physical symptoms of a stressful argument may include a faster heartbeat, shortness of breath, and a feeling of tightness in your chest. According to Judith Glaser in The Harvard Business Review we get addicted to the rush of battle, especially if we win the argument. When we feel victorious, the “feel-good” chemicals adrenaline (also called epinephrine) and dopamine are released in the brain, making us feel…

PARTING THOUGHT SMALL MOMENTS MATTER You don’t need a big “aha” moment to spur you to meaningful action. How can you make a difference right now, where you stand? Maybe you can show up at home tonight as a role model for your family. Or perhaps become a mentor at work. “Meaning can find you anywhere—in a park with your kids or in a lunch conversation with a coworker— just be open (and willing) to be found,” Chip Conley writes. 1 SET AN INTENTION Purpose isn’t always obvious as we go through our day. In fact, the routine of daily life sometimes feels like the antithesis of meaning. That’s where intention comes in, says Parneet Pal of Wisdom Labs. “[It] can help you align your conscious thinking with a primal…

Marking unprecedented support for the role of mindfulness in health care, the University of Massachusetts Medical School announced in December the creation of a new division dedicated to its academic study. The Division of Mindfulness, the first of its kind, encompasses the university’s existing Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, started by Jon Kabat-Zinn in the 1980s. Within a medical school, a “division” indicates that an area, such as endocrinology or psychiatry, is designated as something requiring long-term focused study in order to develop increasingly more effective treatments. By creating “the infrastructure to support researchers and clinicians to further the scientific knowledge of mindfulness and of how the mind works,” this new designation greatly increases the opportunities for research (as well as sources of funding for such…

IRENE AU is a digital designer who has spent more than two decades bringing empathy to the internet. With her background in human–computer interaction, Au and her design teams have crafted user-friendly digital experiences for leading web service providers. In her work, Au has posed and re-posed one fundamental question: “How do we design experiences that work the way people work?” During six years at Google, Au managed a team of 300 designers and researchers. Currently, she is an operating partner for a Bay Area venture capital firm, Khosla Ventures. Introduced to yoga and meditation when she was a teenager in South Carolina, Au didn’t establish a consistent practice until 2009, when, with a stressful executive role at Google, young children, and a struggling first marriage, she returned to yoga…

THE MIND OF THE LEADER How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter • Harvard Business Review Press For years, Rasmus Hougaard and Jacqueline Carter have been tirelessly promoting mind training as the secret sauce for those who want to lead people in the pursuit of big aims. All great aims, be they commercial or societal, require great leadership, and The Potential Project, a global leadership and corporate training group, tries to foster better leadership through mindfulness. Hougaard is its founder and managing director, and Carter its North American director. They teamed up on a first book in 2015, One Second Ahead, which focused on how a culture that equates moving fast with productivity can cripple our brains and hamper creativity…