A Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Workbook

Recently I wrote a post about the second wave of mindfulness, moving from an approach to support us individually, to something that is being applied throughout multiple sectors in our culture including education, politics, government, business, the military, our prisons, and is at the forefront of healthcare and science. This is where we’re headed. Recently, New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg put out a challenge to the cities of America to find solutions to our most entrenched challenges. Santa Monica, California put out a compelling response, forming for the first time a “Well-Being Index” that measures the well-being of an entire city.

What would be different if we moved beyond our awareness of personal well-being and could see the well-being of an entire city? How would this inform decision making at a governmental level? This is the piece that is missing in helping people make change. It sounds fascinating to me.

Here’s the short video they made that lays it out:

In this case, now city governments play a role and take responsibility for the social aspect of their constituent’s well-being.

Now, some people might say that the less government the better, but we’re talking about raising our awareness city by city as to how we’re doing. Not to mention that anyone who knows anything about how change works, knows that our environments play a critical role in supporting us in making the changes we want to make.

In my mind this brings us together leading to greater connection and less disconnection.

Connection leads to balance and balance leads to happiness. It sure would be great if we had our local cities on board with this.

Want to create happier cities across America and the globe?

Maybe one place to start is with a well-being index. You can vote for it here.

There are many other cities who are putting out initiatives as part of the Mayor’s challenge and if you have the time check those out as well.

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

A while ago I walked into a particular publisher and saw every title of their upcoming books having “mindfulness” in the title and I was concerned that it was getting watered down. I couldn’t have been more wrong. As of today, mindfulness has evolved within America and has the potential to have a greater influence than we had ever imagined. Leaders around the country are implementing it in early child development, the military, education, politics, neuroscience, medicine, healthcare, business, the prisons, at-risk youth, and of course, psychotherapy. In this post I’m going to highlight a few key things that are happening that you may want to know about and how our culture is ripe for a second wave of mindfulness.

There’s a new magazine that just launched called Mindful that highlights all the latest people and developments around how this is changing our nation and the world as we know it. I highly recommend subscribing to this, there is a tremendous amount of credibility behind the team that is developing it.

There’s a movie that is coming out in summer 2013 called The Mindfulness Movie, by Paul Harrison, that puts together 35 of the world’s mindfulness leaders into one film looking at its effects in neuroscience, psychiatry, relationships, sports, psychology, and quantum physics. This also comes with a core training program.

Here is the current trailer:

Professor Joel Bakan wrote a book called The Corporation and in it he said if corporations were human, they’d be diagnosed as psychotic. Well, there may be a remedy for that. There has been a lot of talk about the integration of mindfulness in business and leaders like Janice Marturano, eMindful.com, among others are making it happen. Janice is Director of the Institute of Mindful Leadership and does live classes in companies such as General Mills and is making a big impact on leaders in corporations. eMindful is another company you want to know about that runs live online classes to the public and also directly into companies. Research on their 12-week Mindfulness at Work® program was published in the Journal on Occupational Health showing significant stress reduction for employees and also reduction in healthcare costs for companies. Further research has shown a return on investment of up to 25 to 1. Those are highly significant numbers impossible to ignore.

Elizabeth Stanley, Ph.D. runs the Mind Fitness Training Institute and they are currently part of a project training the U.S. Marine Corps in mindfulness. The boys at the Holistic Life Foundation are transforming inner city youth in Baltimore and have recently received significant funding to increase their efforts. Megan Cowen and her colleagues bring mindfulness into schools at Mindful Schools. My wife, Stefanie Goldstein, PhD and I recently started the CALM program – Connecting Adolescents to Learning Mindfulness and are seeing significant results. A number of others are bringing mindfulness to earlier education like Goldie Hawn, Daniel Siegel, Amy Saltzman, Gina Biegel, among others.

What you see above isn’t even the half of it. We’d need many pages to list the mindful heroes and sheroes out there making a significant impact in their respective field. Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan does a great job giving in overview in A Mindful Nation and there have even been many more who have cropped up since then. 

Interest in mindfulness has also ignited scientific interest in compassion and self-compassion. In my opinion, these are two primary elements toward healing ourselves, our relationships, and potentially the world. If we can learn to see each other as people, instead of objects, with greater understanding, caring and inclination to help ourselves and one another, that is going to be powerful.

The field is wide open like never before and I am really looking forward to it.

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Bonus: Here you’ll find some tips on how to weave mindfulness into your everyday life.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

One of most essential relationships in life is with the food we eat. What we bring into our bodies affects our level of energy, ability to pay attention, and general well-being. That is why being mindful in our lives has to integrate the food we eat. Brandt Passalacqua, author of the audio program Being At Peace With Food, is also a speaker who discovered yoga and meditation after struggling with his weight, food and substance addiction, and serious illness. Since founding Peaceful Weight Loss™ Through Yoga, his personal journey has served as an inspiration to countless others looking to make peace with food. You can also check out his webinar here.

Today, Brandt talks to us about what our most impactful bad eating habits are, how he developed a healthy relationship to food, a meditation to get us started and a little advice at the end. 

Elisha: Hi Brandt, to get us started tell us what some of the most impactful negative eating habits are that affect us today?

Brandt: I believe it’s mostly where and when we eat. We live in a culture that has completely lost its rituals. It’s pretty abnormal to live in a society that has such weak rituals around food. Many skip breakfast because we’re racing out the door. Many skip lunch because there’s too much to do at work. We eat in our cars because it’s fast and easy. We eat while we check our emails or watch TV. We don’t necessarily eat at the same time as our coworkers or spouse or ourselves on any given day. No wonder we are confused. Any one of these things are perfectly fine, but when you put it all together it adds up to a disorienting chaos. So when we find ourselves eating mindlessly directly out of the fridge between meals – why should we be surprised? Is it really that different than the rest of the day? The people I work with usually find some sort of consistent pattern of eating that they enjoy. This is often a huge relief. I know it was for me.

Elisha: You have a history of having been overweight. How did you develop a healthy relationship with food? 

Brandt: I fell into yoga practice after an illness. I tried yoga out of desperation trying to heal myself. After doing gentle physical practices – breath work and deep relaxation practice for many months – I noticed an amazing side effect: I lost weight. The practices encouraged present centered thinking, which in turn lessened my anxiety greatly. And with that anxiety gone I could see my behavior around food more clearly. With this clear vision I was able to begin to make choices about how, what, and how much I was eating. I had never experienced the freedom to choose like this. My past of broken promises to myself about losing weight faded – so in the present I was able to decide what was best for me. Over the next several years this way of being became more and more natural. Now I can generally make good choices for myself and when I don’t, it’s not a big deal because a moment of bad eating behavior is isolated and it doesn’t take over or spiral out of control.

Elisha: Can you give us an example of a meditation that can help us develop a healthy relationship with food?

Brandt: Sure. Change happens in increments. We love big dramatic ideas and change because fantasy is appealing. But real change starts here and now. Goal setting has its place and it can be inspiring at times to imagine ourselves happier and healthier. But really all of the changes that we need to make will begin in the present. Each moment we have the ability to choose what is best for us, and this translates to food.  In fact, we usually will make the right choice – if we are grounded in reality. The here and now. This takes practice. It’s not what we are necessarily used to doing. Despite our beliefs and stories to the contrary we are actually more at peace when we are in the present.

This simple breathing meditation is used for grounding, bringing us into the here and now. I suggest making this a regular practice. Possibly after waking in the morning but anytime of day would be perfect.

Find a comfortable position where you won’t be disturbed for 3-5 minutes. Take a big inhale and hold the breath for a moment – and breathe out of your mouth with a big sighhhhh.

Let’s take a couple more of these breaths. Find a nice big breath in – hold the breath – breathe out with a sighhhh. Find another big, full breath in – hold it at the top and breathe out with a sighhhh. Releasing tension from the body. Let the breath return to its natural state without controlling it.

Now watch the breath as it comes in and as it leaves the body for a few breaths. Breathing in, breathing out…

As you breathe in gently say to yourself – “I” and as you breathe out gently say to yourself – “Am”

Continue to breath in this way – Breathing in – I – Breathing out – Am This simple practice helps us start where we are no matter where that is. It can be used throughout your day and as often as possible.

Elisha: If you were sitting across the table from someone who has had a lifetime of struggle with negative eating habits and body image what would be the message you would give to them?

Brandt: That’s a big question! The main thing I would say is this: Transformation is possible for everyone. But be nice to yourself – change happens in increments. One or two small pieces at a time. Don’t rush the process even though you want to. Simply entering into the processes of present centered thinking is enough. Meditate or breathe, or learn to relax the body, or mindfully move. Do just one of these things that appeals to you.
The other thing to remember is that you are normal. There is nothing wrong with you. More than half our population has some sort of issue around food. Just start where you are. Find some peace every day. When the next move forward opens up in front of you, step through that door. We all make perfect choices in the present.

Elisha: Thank you so much Brandt, this was great and hopefully inspires many of us to have a wiser relationship with food and health! You can listen to a sample track of Brandt’s album here.

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction provides a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

It’s a dreaded day for some and a joyous for others. Whether we like it or not, Valentine’s Day is around the corner. Since the 11^th century it’s been a time representing romantic love and by the 15^th century it was a day to express love with flowers and greeting cards of some kind. But maybe there’s even another evolution that this day can take. Can it be that we can include romantic love but even make this day a day of greater meaning that transcends and includes romantic love?

In my mind it’s the case that all people, if not all beings, at the core want to feel like they belong and that they’re loved.

Why not make Valentine’s Day a day for all people in the greater relationship of humanity. This is a day where if you’re in a relationship you can have your romantic version and also a wider Valentine of all humanity, enhancing intimacy and compassion.

Here’s a rich three step Valentine practice for the couple, yourself, and for all people:

1. Romantic Couple Valentine:
   May you feel loved, May you feel accepted, May you feel free, and May you feel at peace.
2. Individual Valentine:
   May I feel loved, May I feel accepted, May I feel free, and May I feel at peace.
3. Everyone as a Valentine:
   May we all feel loved, May we all feel accepted, May we all feel free, and May we all feel at peace.

If you’re part of a couple do this with all three. If you’re not, you can do step one with a good friend in mind.

The meaning of Valentine’s Day has evolved through the centuries. We can make this the next evolution of it starting today, deepening intimacy with ourselves, our loved ones and the rest of humanity.

Practice this and see what you notice.

As always, please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com

I recently led a workshop focused on helping us develop a wiser relationship to our technology (Smartphones, IPads, computers, television, etc.). In the beginning of the workshop I explained how as much as we feel that technology is a part of our lives, historically, we’re really just becoming acquainted with it. We talked about how in many ways, the people who came to the group were like “Digital Warriors,” at the frontier of optimizing this new wiser relationship to technology.

Here are a five benefits we found and one thing that surprised me most about what would come in life we practiced more digital awareness.

1. Have More Balance – All participants felt that they didn’t have a balanced relationship with technology. Every single person interacted with their email or messages as one of the first things they did when they woke up and many felt that this primed the mind toward wanting to check for messages more during the day.
2. Master Your Cues – We discussed the importance of being aware of cues that instantly trigger the brain toward making the decision to engage. A cue can be a person, place, thing, time of day, emotion, sound, thought, etc… Many people said a cue was being alone or waiting. Others said, it was feeling stressed or in times when there was a transition from one event to another. It could also be the sound or blinking light that triggered a need to check. Awareness of cues is essential if we want to get back in the driver’s seat and sit in a space of choice, that Now Effect moment.
3. Open Up Possibility – If people were more aware of these “choice points” they said that they would rather rest, take a walk, be more intentional about connecting with people or go out in nature more. They might take a break checking Facebook for 20 minutes, instead of realizing there is a choice to do something more restorative. Get in touch with that choice point would be adaptive.
4. Nurture Intimacy over Connection – We discussed the difference between connection and intimacy and how we often go after connection at the expense of intimacy. We can be very connected, but online, the connections may not be fulfilling or intimate. Perhaps we need a bit more intimacy over having many connecti
5. Cultivate Sacred Space – We also talked about the importance of taking “sacred space,” times in the day that are technology-free, if that’s possible. Research shows that intimate connections around the dinner table are adaptive for our kid’s development. Maybe intimate conversations as adults with friends and colleagues have a similar effect. Or are there times when we can take a walk and not be connected and instead default to connecting with nature, our self-reflections or just the surroundings around us”

This is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater, everyone acknowledged the profound gifts technology is offering us, and it’s just about refining our relationship with it. In other words, a maturing process in the relationship.

Take Away

People in the workshop said that if they put digital awareness to work in their lives they would feel greater self-respect, more at ease, happier, more open to possibilities, less anxious, more mastery, and greater self-alignment with values.

What thoughts do you have about becoming or being a digital warrior?

Please share your thoughts, stories and questions below. Your interaction creates a living wisdom for us all to benefit from.

Reposted from Elisha Goldstein’s Mindfulness Blog on Psychcentral.com