Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2020 i Mindful

We’re all being called to tap into our deepest wells of resilience and expand with skill and compassion. But how do we do that right now when there’s so much vying for our attention all at once? From the national trauma of racial injustice, to climate change, to cultural fragmentation, social unrest, and targeted, purposeful trust erosion at the highest levels of leadership—not to mention a global pandemic. Our brains are overloaded. Neuroscientist Amishi Jha has a name for moments like this. She calls them VUCA events: Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous. She’s been studying what happens to our brains under these circumstances. Hint: It’s not pretty. On page 44 Dr. Jha explains what her research says about how mindfulness can help protect you from the kind of constant stress…

An unlikely friendship began when four-year-old Camryn Radcliff of Colorado yelled “Black Lives Matter!” recently to a stranger at Home Depot. When that stranger—Sherri Gonzales— stopped to thank Camryn, she learned of their shared love for the Denver Broncos, and Camryn invited her for a sleepover. Since then, the pair have raised more than $2,000 for clean water and women’s education in Kenya, through Sherri’s organization: Sherri’s Girls Empowerment. At Drexell & Honeybee’s restaurant in Brewton, Alabama, guests can eat their fill with no expectation of a bill to be paid. Instead, they can leave a contribution, even if it’s just a token of thanks (monetary donations go back into the pot to help feed the hungry). For restaurateurs Lisa and Freddie Thomas-McMillan, “Feed the Need” is their mission statement.…

Q I’m struggling with adding movement to my day. How can I use my mindfulness practice to make exercise more intuitive? A Set a clear intention before you begin. An intention is like a compass: It directs your mind, keeping you motivated and focused. Here are a few examples of powerful intentions: I am going for a run to clearmy head. During this yoga class I will be kind to myself. On my walk, I’ll let these prickly thoughts fly. I’m going swimming to increase my strength. I won’t judge myself during this weight training class. Then, while you’re moving, start paying attention to the coolness, heat, tingling, or throbbing you feel. Doing so will help you tune in to when you need to modify, hold steady, or pick up…

MINDFULNESS OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS Earth, Air, Fire, Water Belonging is the sense of ease and joy we feel when we are truly present, and this is possible in any moment alone, or with others. Often, we don’t feel like we belong because we’re caught up in feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and doubt. Feelings of not belonging can be learned over time and lead us to think there’s something wrong with us, that we’re not enough—but, by the very nature of our birth and our existence, we are enough and we all belong. The global pandemic is revealing our interconnection as the whole world continues to be affected by the COVID virus. The recent uprisings for Black lives show us that the long history of racial injustice continues to impact…

DON’T TELL ME TO RELAX Emotional Resilience In the Age of Rage, Feels & Freak-Outs Ralph De La Rosa • Shambhala Spiritual bypassing, a term first coined in psychology, refers to misusing spirituality or wisdom teachings by zeroing in on their “feel-good” aspects, while minimizing the reality of pain (our own, as well as others’). But is the only alternative to feel paralyzed by raging despair? Don’t Tell Me to Relax, De La Rosa’s second book, arrives at the perfect time to inform a growing cultural awareness that neither approach will get us very far. “May we never forget: Often the deepest truths are the ones that challenge us,” he writes. Skillfully drawing on neurobiology, mindfulness teachings, and psychotherapy, De La Rosa acknowledges that suffering is caused by a multitude…

MINDFULNESS PRACTICE BENEFITS ADULTS WITH MS New research from Ohio State University suggests mindfulness training may help people with multiple sclerosis improve their cognitive function and regulate negative emotions. In the pilot study, 61 adults with MS attended either a mindfulness training (MT) group or an active cognitive training (ACT) group for four weeks, or were placed on a waitlist and received training at the end of the study. Those in the MT group practiced paying attention to the present moment and learned how to focus on their breath and do mental body scans. People in the ACT group played computer games that helped them to focus, plan, and organize information. At study’s end, adults in the MT group reported being better able to manage their emotions and showed greatly…

The practice of writing in a journal, a diary, or just scribbling notes to ourselves on pieces of paper, has both a rich history and present-day appeal. The famous 20th-century diarist Anaïs Nin believed writing serves “to heighten our own awareness of life…to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection.” She was on to something. Writing has a remarkable way of shifting our awareness—keeping a journal can be an accessible way to experience that shift. As a hobby, journaling is inexpensive, portable, and can brighten our quality of awareness, making sense of our thoughts, feelings, perspectives, our own developing story line as it happens. It gives us a chance to slow down, breathe, turn to a fresh page, and “get real” about what we’re thinking and feeling—also referred…

Jessica Morey was burned out. The executive director of iBme, Morey was leading a team of six office staff, sixty retreat staff, and about a hundred volunteers, doing work she believed in wholeheartedly—serving mindfulness and meditation practices to teens on summer retreats. Despite her love for the work, it was stressful. “I was overwhelmed and exhausted,” Morey recalls. And when she looked around at other nonprofits, she saw their executive directors in similar straits. “How are we going to find that person who’s going to do this?” she remembers thinking, of the job that required all the hours and energy she had available to pour into it—and more. “I’m only willing to do this because it’s the center of my heart.” And the situation at work was increasingly uncomfortable. “When…

In December 2019, I traveled to Washington, DC, to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC), at the urging of Ericka Phillips, a lifelong meditator, mindfulness meditation guide, and community organizer who also develops mindfulness-centered, community-focused workshops. She’s a rising thought leader in the mindfulness world, which is why she was asked to collaborate with the museum to design programming that incorporates mindfulness to engage audiences and enhance and support the visitor experience. “The museum,” Ericka told me, “is a representation of the journey of Black Americans and the story of America. And that story is one of liberation. It is a story of a journey toward freedom. Similarly, meditation is a practice of liberation. I want to help visitors see and experience meditation as a…

1 TAKE YOUR SEAT. Take a moment to close your eyes or keep a soft gaze toward the floor. Take a few deep breaths. 2 PICTURE A PERSON. Visualize a person in your life who has hurt you—maybe not the most extreme example, but it could be a family member, a coworker, or a stranger. Get a sense of the actual event or events that occurred that hurt you. 3 OBSERVE THE FEELING. Tune in to how the body feels in this moment, and also what emotions are present. Is there a sense of anger, or sadness? 4 SEE THE THOUGHTS. Be aware of the thoughts that are circulating around this person. Notice if there are thoughts of hate or spitefulness. Feel this burden that lives inside of you from…

Salvador Montes, a social worker at Oak Lawn Community High School, has been helping students deal with feelings of anxiety and overwhelm by offering video game meditation sessions. Montes streams feeds from games like Spider-Man and Destiny 2 and invites his students to focus their attention on the game—three things they can see, feel, and hear, all while taking steady deep breaths. The Holistic Life Foundation (HLF), a nonprofit based in Baltimore, MD, expanded to two satellite locations: the Saint Regis Mohawk Reservation in Akwesasne, NY, and Miami, FL. The efforts to branch out and bring the benefits of wellness to underserved communities started this summer in Akwesasne. Senior HLF staff will spend a year in the community facilitating yoga and mindfulness classes in schools. They’ll also be training 15…

What made Jessica Morey and iBme good candidates for the kind of transformational work you do with organizations? The utter willingness to learn, receive feedback, and be honest; the commitment to collaboration that is real and genuine, which means, in particular, the willingness to ultimately not be able to control the outcome; the capacity to engage with discomfort. The organization had almost complete staff turnover during the years-long process. What do you make of that? It’s not at all surprising to me that this happened, because the shift to fully collaborative functioning is a profound paradigm shift, and not everyone is ready for it. Sometimes “not ready” means not ready to make the commitment, and sometimes a person may have the commitment and the desire, and not the capacity to…