Health Journal Online

Category: Mental Health

  • Let Your Pain Be a River: Vidyamala Burch on Living and Teaching With Chronic Pain

    Let Your Pain Be a River: Vidyamala Burch on Living and Teaching With Chronic Pain

    Based out of the UK, Vidyamala Burch is an award-winning teacher whose courses and work in the field of mindfulness and pain management have been recognized for the measurable ways they have served the common good. She recently launched a new program, HEALS, which offers a comprehensive, holistic approach for managing and living with chronic pain and illness.

    As a writer who loves interviewing, I came to my conversation with Burch with my list of questions and a healthy dose of journalistic curiosity. I felt a little starstruck to get to meet her. 

    If I’m honest, though, these weren’t the only things I brought, because this conversation also felt personal.

    So many people I know, myself included, have had experiences living with chronic pain and illness. I was nearly 40 years old when I finally found healing from more than 20 years of recurring and increasingly debilitating low back issues. I have many friends, some just in their 30s or 40s, who deal with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, recurring migraines, and other adrenal and nervous-system challenges.

    My mother survived polio as a young child and lived with relentless chronic conditions for her entire life as a result. She passed away suddenly a decade ago, at the young age of 67. Polio wasn’t technically the thing that killed her, but I knew from many conversations with her in her final years that the long slogging decades of complications, disability, and pain made her long for relief. I was with her when she took her last breath, and I felt the surrender in her body, finally.

    To suffer ourselves, or to watch people we love suffer over long periods of time, often without real answers or effective treatments—the questions that bubble up aren’t academic. They sit close to the bone and the heart.

    Why did this happen?
    Why did it go on for so long?
    Why does it feel so lonely?
    Where do these ailments come from, and why are they often so mysterious and so intractable, even in the face of intense medical interventions?
    Can practices like mindfulness     really offer anything meaningful into this complicated, messy world of living with chronic illness and pain?

    Yes, I wanted to talk to Vidyamala, the expert on mindfulness and pain management. But I also didn’t want to waste the opportunity to talk to Vidyamala, the human being who has traveled this long road herself, and who understands intimately that the clinical ways we think and talk about physical suffering can’t meet us fully where we need to be met.

     The clinical ways we think and talk about physical suffering can’t meet us fully where we need to be met.

    Siri Myhrom: I’m curious about where the HEALS Program got its start for you. How do you see it as unique from and also working together with your other programs?

    Vidyamala Burch: I developed Mindfulness for Health, which is our eight-week mindfulness program for people living with chronic pain and long-term health conditions. So the seeds for HEALS were way back in 2000, when I started running that [Mindfulness for Health] as an experimental course in 2001.

    In my own experience as somebody who’s lived with chronic pain and disability for nearly 50 years now, mindfulness has been absolutely crucial to that journey because my life, my quality of life now, is really pretty good, notwithstanding my disability.

    So mindfulness is foundational. And when I look at my own journey of reclaiming my quality of life, I realized that it was mindfulness-plus. So what I’ve done is I’ve worked on my nutrition. I’ve worked on how I move. I’ve looked at my sleep habits. I try to have time in nature. So if I looked at what’s worked for me, it was mindfulness plus these other dimensions. I felt that it would be really helpful to come up with an applied mindfulness program. 

    This is my vision, that people come through either doorway. You might come through the HEALS doorway or you might come through the Mindfulness for Health doorway. I see them as definitely complementary and as two doorways into the same room.

    SM: Mindfulness talks a lot about awareness, and I have a question around that that’s maybe more personal. The people I know who live with chronic pain would likely say, I’m already very aware of my pain. I’m curious how you understand that word awareness, especially within a mindful context, and how does that serve to alleviate the suffering, rather than creating a focus on it?

    VB: That’s an excellent question because it’s very counterintuitive. People might think, I’m very, very aware of it. And I don’t want to be more aware of it. And maybe people might think, The last thing I want to do is become aware of my body. My body is my tormentor. I want to just split off from my body.

    So those are all very reasonable things to think about. What we do is right up front in both Mindfulness for Health and HEALS, we talk about how by using awareness, you can investigate this experience that you label pain. Investigate that and realize that it’s got two components. One component is your basic unpleasant sensations.

    The other component is all things that you do to create extra suffering when you resist those basic unpleasant sensations. What most people call pain would be that whole set of sensations, plus resistance, plus depression, plus anxiety, plus secondary tension, plus breath holding, plus poor sleep.

    Most people think that’s what their pain is. But actually, the only thing that’s a given in any moment are the unpleasant sensations. Everything else is added through our reactions. So you’re learning to accept the unpleasant sensations with kindliness, tenderness, to soften the resistance, and a lot of that secondary stuff can fall away. You’re just left with unpleasant sensations. People find that a very optimistic message.

    We put that right up front in all our programs. Week one, we talk about primary and secondary suffering. The other thing about awareness that we really strongly emphasize— again, in week one—is that it’s awareness that gives us agency. If we’re aware, we have choices. If you’ve got no choices, you know, you’re just swept along by this thing that’s ruining your life as if it’s a kind of enemy.

    Awareness doesn’t make it pleasant. I think this is one of the ways people misunderstand this: that if I’m mindful, I’m aware, then suddenly I’m going to love my pain. You probably aren’t, because your pain is unpleasant, but you’re going to learn to relate to the unpleasantness with much more spaciousness, much more kindliness, more acceptance. 

    One of the things I say is by coming closer and examining this experience, you realize it’s a process, not a thing. One of the ways I talk about that is to experience it as a river rather than a rock, because everything is changing all the time. Most people relate to their pain as a solid lump, like it’s a big boulder that’s kind of taken up residence. But it’s amazing to be able to experience it as a river rather than a rock. Just let it flow through the moments and then have this less-reactive mindset. That’s very liberating. 

    SM: Do you attract people who already have experience with mindfulness, or is it a mix of people?

    VB: I iteratively develop my programs with potential audiences. The first one was a six-week program with people who know about mindfulness, who have a health condition and have worked with us before. I really wanted them to have a sense of co-creation. They gave me lots of feedback. Out of that, I made it longer, 10 weeks. 

    My second cohort was with people who didn’t know anything about mindfulness, but did have a health condition. It was people who were recruited from a cancer charity and a fibromyalgia charity, and that was very interesting as another test case. It went down very well with both those audiences. 

    Then the third pilot was with physicians from a primary care medical center. A lot of them didn’t know anything about meditation, didn’t have a health condition, but were trying it out for themselves, thinking about their patients. Again, very positive feedback. So I feel confident now that you don’t need to know anything about mindfulness to do this program. 

    SM: Where does HEALS fit into general medical care?

    VB: I don’t know what it’s like in the States, but certainly over here there’s a crisis in our healthcare system—not enough money, aging population, multiple chronic health conditions. 

    Western medicine is particularly good with acute care. But with multiple chronic conditions all happening at the same time, Western healthcare isn’t brilliant. There’s more of a move towards a recognition that lifestyle has an enormous impact on our health and well-being, particularly with people being sedentary, eating a poor diet, scrolling on their phones late at night, not being able to sleep, all these kinds of things. There’s a whole field emerging of what’s called lifestyle medicine over here, which is called integrative care in the States. So we’re very well placed to be able to offer this program. 

    What’s unique about our program is that it’s got mindfulness as the foundation. I think a lot of people know what they should be doing for their health and well-being. They’ve got the information, but they don’t know how to make it stick. So my thesis is that mindful awareness is really crucial to that, because you have to know what you’re experiencing to have some facility and agency, instead of just being swept away by habitual behaviors. These people in general practice who tested the program said, “You’re absolutely on the right track. You’re ahead of the field. Keep going.”

    SM: I notice, again relating to other people I’ve known with chronic conditions, that there’s an emphasis on tiny steps. Why is that effective?

    VB: This has come out of my experience, and what I’ve observed is that a lot of people think you need to make big changes all at once—get another job, change your diet, change the way you exercise. When you do these big changes all at once, you don’t sustain any of them. You don’t know what’s affecting what because you’ve changed too many variables all at once. Very often you just need to change a tiny thing. In the program, I use a model called Tiny Habits, which is developed by B.J. Fogg. It’s a lovely model where you have a prompt, a behavior, and a celebration.  

    For example, for me to do a little bit more strengthening in my arms outside my office, I’ve got some straps. Every time I go in and out my office door, that’s the trigger. I go to my straps. It might be three to five movements, just a few. That’s the behavior. Then the congratulations, and you get a little dopamine hit, and then you’re going to want to do it again.

    One of the things I’ve really learned from my own life, and this is a very important point, I think, is that you can bring about major transformation through tiny little nudges across a broad front for a long time. I always say to people that we won’t do any of these things perfectly, but if you’re doing all of them adequately, you’re going to experience change. 

    SM: It looks like the most recent cohort for HEALS is October 25th? Is that right?

    VB: Yes, the first course booked out in 24 hours. That seems to be going very well. One of the things we’re doing in this program is using buddy groups testing. We divide into groups of four or five people based on geography. They decide for themselves how they want to keep in touch. Most of them are using WhatsApp. The idea is that they will contact each other daily, ideally so they can let people know how they’re getting on.

    SM: Is the buddy system partly addressing the sense of isolation that can come with being in pain?

    VB: Yes, I think so. Also, with these online programs, it helps to have something that’s more intimate, a daily reminder so that people are really forming connections. I think that’s very helpful in this tiny-habits method for behavior change.

    SM: If someone came to you looking for help, but they were feeling skeptical, how would you describe this work in a way that would open up the possibility for them? 

    VB: We’ve used validated questionnaires in our three pilots and we’ve got hard data. Doing this work has measurable results. It makes people catastrophize about their pain less. It makes people able to function better in daily life. They’re less depressed, less anxious. 

    For people who live with chronic pain or health conditions, I say just try it and see what you think. You can have your pain and your illness and be miserable and have a very difficult life. Or you can have your pain and illness and be happier and have a more fulfilling life. So which one would you rather have? 

    By doing these very simple, evidence-based approaches, we know that it can help you reclaim your life. It doesn’t take long, 10-15 minutes a day, with a very supportive group for 11 weeks. We know that people are experiencing quite a strong improvement in quality of life. So it doesn’t seem like a big risk. It’s training and getting your mind working with you rather than against you. Most people don’t even realize that their mind is working against them. In the untrained mind, 75% of our thoughts are negative. It’s staggering. 95% of our thoughts, we’ve had before. We’ve got the same old undermining rubbish, just going around and around like the spin cycle on a washing machine, and you can do something about that. You can do something about it through these small changes across a broad front. 

    Would that be convincing to you if you were skeptical? 

    SM: Well, I dealt with chronic low back pain for about 25 years. I went to all kinds of different doctors. I tried all sorts of different modalities, and it was not an uncommon experience to go to an allopathic doctor and kind of feel like they don’t quite believe you. Especially in the US, there’s a tendency to prescribe opiates or recommend surgery, which I knew had a very low success rate. 

    For me, finding contemplative practice really did make a difference. But I think being able to speak to the exhaustion is important, because a lot of people who have been dealing with chronic issues, especially for a long time, it’s not that they want to give up. It’s that they’ve already tried 10 or 15 different things that haven’t worked.

    VB: Yes, absolutely. Something we do at Breathworks is we believe people first, because I’m not interested in your diagnosis. I’m interested in your experience. With chronic health conditions, it’s sometimes hard to get a diagnosis. People are often not believed, and it’s awful. If someone says they’re suffering, I believe them. I think it’s really important that it’s an experience orientation rather than a diagnostic orientation.

    We all have our habits of sort of resisting and fighting our experience. We can all learn to be more at peace with whatever’s happening. In my own case, you know, I’ve still got disability, I’ve still had all the surgeries, I’ve still got pain, but my overall pain has massively improved. 

    A lot has gradually fallen away over the years. My breathing is much more regulated, soft, and open. I’m fitter, I’m stronger. You get out of a downward spiral into a more opportunistic spiral.

    You don’t have to be stuck with what you’ve got. There will be small changes you can make that will have an impact on your quality of life, because this quality of life is the thing that I think is most important, not whether you can walk or run. You know, I can’t walk and run, but I have a quality of life. I find that deeply, deeply moving. It’s unimaginably better than it was 30, 40 years ago.  

    SM: Yes, being with people who can just be with you and see you—that in itself is humane and tender and can initiate healing.

    VB: Absolutely. One of the things that we hear again and again at Breathworks is that there’s a quality of lightness. One woman who came back the second week said, “I feel I’m learning to laugh again.” 

    She’d done awareness practice. She was in a lot of pain, had a difficult life, quite a lot of sadness, I think. It wasn’t like, Well, I’m becoming more aware. It was, I feel I’m ready to laugh. 

    I thought, that is so good, because we have a big group of people, many of them with really difficult circumstances. If we can help them find a way to bring some lightness into how they deal with their heaviness, they’re getting a great gift. I think particularly when one lives with difficulty, it is healing to find a way to relate to it in a more light, but not trivial way.  

    SM: In the process of discovering meditation and studying more deeply, did you have a moment where you thought, I really want to teach this to other people? Or did it happen in a more subtle way? 

    VB: I always go back to when I was 25 in intensive care in hospital, and I had this really big experience about the present moment, which changed my life. I knew that my pain was only happening one moment at a time and that most of my torment was about the future or the past. 

    That’s the very short version. I thought, I really, really want to figure out what it means to be present. How can I train in that, and how can I train my mind?

    And interestingly that experience rose up out of hell. It was not an experience that happened in the bliss of a meditation retreat. No, it was an absolute existential kind of moment. 

    I had a social worker who was wonderful. She got me some tapes in the library, sort of beginning to meditate. I became a Buddhist a couple of years later, moved to England to live in a retreat center, and I was finding as I wasn’t really getting much guidance on how to meditate in the painful body. There weren’t many people around who seemed to know how to do that. I was always having to figure it all out for myself. People were very kind and very helpful, but the specifics of, how do you meditate when your back is absolutely screaming? It was a really hard thing to do. 

    Gradually I worked out how to do that with the help of Jon Kabat-Zinn. Actually, when I came across his book Full Catastrophe Living, that was massively helpful. I realized that I needed to learn to tend towards my experience and soften around it and release all this kind of extra suffering that I’m bringing through my evasion and my craving, really in my grasping for a different experience and my aversion to this experience. 

    With those two things together, I figured something out here, painfully and slowly over decades. And there’s going to be lots of other people like that young woman in hospital in intensive care, not knowing what the hell to do. There wasn’t any medical solution for my spine at that point. It was just like, we’re going to have to learn to live with it. 

    That’s why I wanted to teach, because I wanted to offer these to other people who were in  the situation I was in so they didn’t have to have this 15 years of long, lonely journey. I was surrounded by incredible friends, and people couldn’t have been more supportive—but the specifics of how to meditate with pain, I wasn’t getting much. 

    When I started, I just wanted to help people. Now, 25 years later, I just want to help people. It’s a very, very simple motivation. And if I can help one person suffer less, that’s my journey. 

    When I started, I just wanted to help people. Now, 25 years later, I just want to help people. It’s a very, very simple motivation. And if I can help one person suffer less, that’s my journey.

    SM: And it seems like it’s working. The response is there.

    VB: It’s just very meaningful. It reframes all my suffering. More importantly, it helps others. 

    And what I really love about Breathworks and the HEALS program is, it’s not rocket science. It’s not some sort of advanced, metaphysical, complicated teaching. It’s: Be present. Know what’s happening. Let go of aversion and clinging. Release into the flow of love. Breathe and breathe out. And relax your bum. That’s my highest teaching now: Relax your bum. 

    That’s the whole. That’s it. You don’t really need much more than that. It’s very practical, very pragmatic. You don’t meditate to have a good meditation. You meditate so that you can cope with the moments in your daily life with a little bit more ease and grace and kindness and connection with others. 

    You don’t meditate to have a good meditation. You meditate so that you can cope with the moments in your daily life with a little bit more ease and grace and kindness and connection with others.

    People quite rightly say, It saved my life, and I know it saved mine. 



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  • Take Three Minutes to Bring More Mindfulness to the Holidays

    Take Three Minutes to Bring More Mindfulness to the Holidays

    It’s tempting to put off self-care to the New Year. Explore these three practices to help you build resilience during this busy time of year.

    When did December 1st become a finish line? Get your presents wrapped, house ready, parties lined up. This quick mindfulness practice—moving, breathing, and sitting—helps you to shift your state to less stressed and more calm, especially in the next few weeks, as things can get a bit ridiculous. What can you do about this time of the year, about our cultural conditioning, that has us running all over the place?

    We can do daily short daily practices to help us manage the overwhelm and shift ourselves into a place of feeling more clear and awake yet also relaxed and at ease.

    We can do short daily practices to help us manage the overwhelm and shift ourselves into a place of feeling more clear and awake yet also relaxed and at ease. Being mindful doesn’t mean being so chilled out all the time that nothing fazes you. This sense of “being mindful” is about being clear and alert in life and also calm and at ease so when we meet someone in the street in the hustle and bustle of December, you actually pause to look them in the eyes and ask, “How are you doing? How is your mom?”

    Build Resilience over the Holidays with this Mindful Movement Sequence 

    1. Dynamic Mountain

    Stand with your feet hip-width distance apart and your arms hanging loose down by your sides, palms forward. As you inhale, extend your arms forward and up toward the ceiling. Exhale, and spin your palms open as you reach out and down. Repeat for 3-5 breaths.

    2. Side Sways

    Now, inhale and reach your arms forward and up toward the ceiling and exhale toward your right side, tilting gently with your left arm overheard. On an inhale, come back to center, with both arms overhead. Exhale, sway to your left, allowing your left arm to reach down by your side with your right arm overhead. Repeat for 3-5 breaths.

    3. Side Bends

    Bend your knees and bring your hands on your knees like a baseball player. On the inhale, reach up to the ceiling, bringing your arms up and return to a standing position.  Repeat 3-5 times.

    4. Twist

    Inhale, reach up again toward the ceiling and twist from your ribs toward the right, keeping your hips as square to the front as you can. As you twist, exhale, reach your arms out and let them fall to the sides. As you return to center, lift your arms back up and twist to the left. Inhale and “windmill” back to the right side. Repeat 3-5 times.

    5. Seated Meditation

    Take a seat, either on the floor in front of you on or a chair if that’s more comfortable. Place your feet on the floor and your hands on your knees and just notice your body for a moment. Notice any tingling or other sensations that surface. Now, shift your attention to your breathing. Inhale for a count of four, and exhale for a count of four. Do this counting for a minute or two. Rest your attention on the rhythm of breathing, the experience of breathing.

    This post was adapted from a Facebook Live guided mindfulness practice on Mindful.org.



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  • The Top 10 Mindful Articles of 2024

    The Top 10 Mindful Articles of 2024

    Our goal at Mindful is always to bring you the very best from the science, deep experience, and big questions of mindfulness. This past year has been filled with so much uncertainty, and we believe more than ever that mindfulness is designed to meet us exactly where we are to help us live better and experience stronger connections with ourselves and others.

    The top articles of 2024 demonstrate the breadth and depth of all these shimmering, unexpected places that mindfulness can find us: anywhere from a children’s television show and our closets and to the books we read and the heavy spaces of disconnection, loss, and healing we’re navigating in our lifetimes.

    1. The Whole Child Matters—What It Means to Have Mindfulness in Schools

    In an age of increasing anxiety, introducing the mental resilience skills of mindfulness to young minds seems more important than ever. Writer Leslie Garrett went directly to teachers and mindfulness leaders to learn how it supports students, teachers, and their wider communities.

    2. What to Do When You Feel Like You Don’t Have Enough Time

    Free time can feel like a rare commodity these days. Dr. Diana Hill explores what free time really means to us and how our experience of it has more to do with how we’re spending our time than the amount of it we have.

    Images on an alarm clock, hour glass and a girl looking at her watch.

    3. Mindfulness for Racial Healing

    The May 2020 killing of George Floyd is still having reverberating effects around the US. Educator and leader Tovi Scruggs-Hussein walks through six key ways that mindful practices can facilitate deeper connections by addressing the core emotional experiences at play in racial bias.

    Mindfulness for Racial Healing

    Mindfulness for Racial Healing

    Mindfulness can serve as the foundation for powerful conversations, transformational growth, and self-awareness when it comes to race and racism.

    4. Nanalan’: The Viral Show That Models How Mindfulness Looks and Feels

    Since 1999, Nanalan’ co-creators Jason Hopley and Jamie Shannon have been sharing mindful concepts like empathy, awareness, and acceptance with their young audience. Discover how this heartfelt show (that’s only technically for kids) found TikTok fame and is now reaching and healing people of all ages.

    Modeling Mindfulness: Nanalan' Shows Kids (and Adults) How Mindfulness Looks and Feels—Screen grab from the Nanalan' opening sequence with Mona and Nana outside in the garden.

    5. How Meditation Supports Health and Healing

    Even in an era of unprecedented technical “connection,” the percentage of people who report that they’re struggling with depression, anxiety, and loneliness continues to rise. Studies show that mindfulness is ultimately an effective, low-cost way to manage (and maybe even improve) physical and mental health and well-being.

    How Meditation Supports Health and Healing

    6. Cultivating Mindfulness Beyond Meditation: How 8 Skills Empower Us in Everyday Life

    One of the most common questions people ask about mindfulness is, What does this have to do with my actual life? Shalini Bahl explores eight key ways that mindful practices can impact your daily thoughts, interactions, and choices.

    A happy woman sits in the flower and waters it. Smiling girl cares about herself and her future. Concept of love yourself and a healthy lifestyle.

    7. Decluttering—Outside and Inside

    Letting go is hardly ever easy. Here Barry Boyce examines how decluttering physical spaces can offer gentle insight into how we can also create more lightness and freedom inside our minds.

    Illustration of the back of a woman looking into a messy closet, full of laundry, accessories, and storage.

    Decluttering—Outside and Inside

    Sorting through and letting go of physical objects we no longer need teaches us about all the things we’re holding onto. As Barry Boyce realizes, it can also help us find kinder, wiser ways of decluttering our mind.

    8. After the Funeral: When Grief is Part of Daily Life

    Grief is a universal human experience that’s also not talked about with much openness. In her own uniquely compassionate and humorous way, Elaine Smookler shares her personal grief journey and offers comfort and wisdom for others on the long road of loss.

    Artwork_After the Funeral- When Grief is Part of Daily Life: Illustration of a woman giving herself a hug

    9. Mindful Reading Guide: Contemporary Authors to Deepen Your Practice

    We don’t often think of fiction, non-fiction, or poetry as being an integral part of growing our own mindful practices. Using examples from her own library, poet Angela Stubbs walks readers through how we, too, can identify and connect with mindful themes in our favorite books.

    A Mindful Reading Guide -- A woman in a white sweater holds a stack of books up in front of her face.

    10. Q&A: How Connecting With Our Senses Supports Mental Health and Resilience

    Modern Western culture is notoriously disconnected from the body, and this fragmentation has far-reaching effects on our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Authors Norman Farb and Zindel Segal talk about their new book Better in Every Sense and how reconnecting with our senses can help get us unstuck and find real healing.

    A woman sitting in the park smelling a flower; mental health and resilience



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  • A 12 Minute Meditation to Come Home to Your Heart

    A 12 Minute Meditation to Come Home to Your Heart

    Jenée Johnson welcomes us home to our hearts with a guided meditation to rest, replenish, and renew.

    This is a practice to usher us home for the holidays—“home” meaning to our inner selves, with love and care. In her book, Real Love: The Art of Mindful Connection, Sharon Salzberg says, “awareness and love are qualities we can rely on moment to moment…They protect us during whatever storms or blow outs we undergo.” 

    Awareness and love are qualities we can rely on moment to moment

    Jenée Johnson, mindfulness, health, and racial healing innovator, and the founder of the Right Within Experience, guides us in this seven-minute meditation. We will explore a HeartMath practice called Quick Coherence that helps to synchronize the heart, mind, emotions, and body. This practice can help us work on being present with ourselves in an aware, kind, and loving way to take respite from the storms and renew strength and resilience. 

    A 12-Minute Guided Meditation to Come Home to Your Heart

    1. Please be seated in a relaxed, upright position. Drop your gaze or close your eyes and sit with ease. Take a deep breath in and an audible sigh out.

    2. I invite you to come home to yourself, come home to your own heart. I invite you to acknowledge any sadness, loss, or uncertainty you may be experiencing. Hold it gently, and hold it tenderly. I invite you to acknowledge your discoveries, your hopes and passions. Hold them lightly and with kindness as well. 

    Welcome home. Welcome to our hearts to heal, replenish, rest, and renew.

    3. Focus your attention on the area of the heart. Imagine your breath is flowing in and out of your heart and chest area a little slower and deeper than usual. Inhale to the count of five and exhale to the count of five, or find a rhythm that is comfortable.  If you would like, you can place a hand gently over your heart. This can help you center and invite inner ease and coherence.

    4. Meet yourself in a compassionate and easy way with language like, “I’m so glad you’re here,” “It’s good to be with you.” Stay with slow, deep breaths through the heart or chest area. Rest here.

    5. Now, let’s create an experience of renewal. On the next breath, make a sincere attempt to experience a renewing feeling such as appreciation or care for something or someone in your life. Re-experience the feeling you have for someone you love, a pet, a special place, or an accomplishment.

    6. Simply focus on a feeling of calm or ease. Stay with calm easy breaths through the heart and chest area.

    Welcome home for the holidays. May you have calm in the storms, ease, and grace.

    A Guide to Practicing Self-Care with Mindfulness 

    Making sure our own needs are met is as important as taking care of those we love most. When turning your attention toward yourself feels challenging, there are simple ways to move through the discomfort. Explore our new guide for tips, practices, and reminders on how to engage in self-care.
    Read More 

    • Mindful Staff
    • December 18, 2020



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  • Game Over? Tips and Techniques for Mindful Gaming

    Game Over? Tips and Techniques for Mindful Gaming

    Playing video games can help you feel energized and engaged, but they can also be a huge drain on your well-being. Here’s an intro to gaming mindfully, using simple habits to help you keep playing (and feeling) your best.

    Video games offer endless sense-rocking pleasure, welcoming you into an incredible multiverse of art and story, the dopamine rush of points, the pure escapism of an all-consuming on-screen experience. It can be hard to pull yourself away from the screen, even when you really need to. Here’s what’s important to know: Constant sensory super-charge is like constantly revving your engine, without giving it time to cool down. Mindful strategies can help you game the game by learning how to rev down, which will help you sleep, which will help you feel less exhausted, making you stronger and more savvy in the game of life.

    In life, and in the game, when something comes your way that you don’t want and can’t avoid, you might feel powerless, cornered, or destabilized. The key to regaining strength and agility—health points, if you will—is seeing what is right in front of you, ready to be used to help you bounce back. This might include super-simple and highly effective rejuvenators like standing up once an hour, stretching and walking around the room, going to work or class, talking to people you love, petting your dog, cuddling with your goldfish, and generally maintaining your connection to the vividness of life, on and offscreen.

    The key to regaining strength and agility—health points, if you will—is seeing what is right in front of you, ready to be used to help you bounce back.

    This is mindfulness. Other mindfulness practices include the following ways to help you keep your eye on the prize when life is pwning you.

    3 Mindful Gaming Techniques

    1. A simple breath technique can help you be more present, stable, and energized, in and out of the game. Bonus points: Training yourself to focus on breathing can help when upsetting thoughts threaten to bring you down.  

    Try This: Once you take a seat at your monitor, take a moment to feel what happens when your body breathes in and out. Notice the belly rise, the back expand and any ways that you experience your body breathing. Focus your attention, as best you can, on feeling yourself breathing in and out three times.

    Level up: To bring deeper calm, engage the body’s relaxation response by experimenting with making your out-breath longer than your in-breath. Extending your out-breath soothes the parasympathetic nervous system, which will also help you feel more relaxed and focused. 

    Try breathing in for a count of three and breathing out for a count of five. Do this for three or more breaths. Find your ideal ratio: Is it two breaths in and four breaths out?  Or maybe five breaths in and seven breaths out? 

    Explore the ratio that brings you greatest calm.

    2. Tuning in to your senses is another technique that’s great for gaming. Give yourself five seconds throughout your day to intentionally focus on one or more of your senses. Five seconds of acute listening. Five seconds of feeling your body being held by the chair.

    Level Up: When you leave the familiar and welcoming world of the game, you might find it can take time to transition from that sensurround world to being able to joyfully and fully connect to life outside of the game.  Paying close attention to your senses, rather than the burbling of your mind can give you somewhere to anchor other than terrified thoughts about an uncertain future or negative chatter about the past.  Your senses can only be experienced in the here and now. If you start to feel overwhelmed in daily life, regain ground by diving into touch, taste, smell, sight, and hearing to increase a feeling of okayness.

    Try This: A 5-Second Sensory Mission 

    Explore Sound

    • Bring your attention to your ears and deeply listen to the sounds in the room for five seconds. 
    • Then, bring your attention to fully listening to the music and immersive soundscape of the video game.
    • Heighten awareness by noticing how the creators have used adaptive music and sound to create a fantastical world.  

    Seeing Is Believing

    • Look around the room or at your screen and find something that’s been right in front of your eyes this whole time, but you never noticed it. 
    • For five seconds, take in the artwork, the colors, the impressive detail. Don’t just rush by. Appreciate what you are seeing. (This helps increase the flow of dopamine, endorphins, serotonin, and oxytocin—the feel-good chemicals.)
    • Notice what happens to your busy mind when you take five seconds to tune in to what you can see, or any of your other senses. 

    3. Try a little IRL movement. Feeling fidgety? Been sitting playing all night? Just Died and waiting for the scene to load again? Don’t forget you have a body that also needs refreshing to support your AAA game. 

    Just Died and waiting for the scene to load again? Don’t forget you have a body that also needs refreshing to help support your AAA game.

    Try This: Stand up and walk around your room. While you are walking, bring your attention to the ordinary sensations of movement that you normally wouldn’t take the time to notice. Feel yourself walking: picking up a foot, moving it through the air, feeling the foot touching the ground. Just keep bringing your attention back to the feeling of picking up your foot, moving it through space, and putting it down. Easter Egg: You’ve just unlocked the synergy between body and mind. 

    Level Up: Going outside to catch at least 5-15 minutes of morning sun every day will feed your bones, help you sleep, and keep you buff.

    Try these short mindful gaming exercises, using your senses to connect you to the present, to help you to feel more alive and give you more game. Feel your feet touching the ground as you walk to your gaming chair. Be gently alert, because going gently allows you to be more precise and takes a lot less energy than wasting fire power that isn’t needed. You are cultivating mindfulness and focus by gathering your energy before you even sit down. Well Played.



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  • Collective Healing Starts with Deeper Understanding

    Collective Healing Starts with Deeper Understanding

    In today’s interconnected yet paradoxically divided world, the path to understanding each other requires more than just good intentions or calls for unity. While practices like loving-kindness meditation can help soften our hearts, true bridge-building demands something more: the cultivation of a deeper understanding.

    What Is Deeper Understanding?

    Mindfulness practices, including compassion meditations, settle the mind and prepare us to see the bigger picture beyond our immediate judgments. Yet a common mistake we all make is that once we feel calmer, we rush back into our worlds and don’t make time to gain a deeper understanding of the dissatisfactory situations we find ourselves in. If we don’t know the root causes for these situations, we can’t find the right solutions to resolve them.

    Meditation is an important first step. It’s like shining a light on the surface of a lake—it illuminates our immediate thoughts, reactions, and judgments without our getting caught in them. This initial glimpse brings us closer to our present moment experience and is a starting point for discovering what is underlying our reactions.

    Deep understanding is like diving below the illuminated surface to deeper waters, where light gradually dims. Through patient listening to ourselves and others, we begin to uncover hidden layers of meaning:

    • The root causes of our behaviors
    • The subtle biases that shape our views
    • Our needs and intentions
    • The complex web of interconnections between our experiences

    As we venture deeper, each level reveals new insights previously concealed from view, from our personal patterns to our shared human experiences.

    When we take time to listen with genuine openness, we can trace surface reactions back to their sources, examining the assumptions and beliefs that lie in deeper waters. This patient exploration helps us understand not just the immediate situation, but the broader context that created it: the historical patterns that shaped it, the various perspectives that surround it, and the potential consequences of our responses to it.

    This process of illumination and deep listening creates space for transformation. By understanding both what floats on the surface and what lies in the depths, we can begin to shift our habitual patterns and make choices that arise from genuine wisdom rather than reactive impulses.

    The Power of Understanding

    We are all shaped by our experiences, fears, and hopes. Our inherent biases may cloud our ability to see our interconnectedness, but they don’t negate it. The path forward isn’t about eliminating differences—it’s about building bridges of understanding across them.

    The path forward isn’t about eliminating differences—it’s about building bridges of understanding across them.

    What might change if we could:

    • Stop rushing to judgment and truly listen?
    • See our own fears reflected in others?
    • Recognize that everyone is acting from their best understanding?
    • Look beyond political labels to our shared humanity?
    • Address the root causes of our divisiveness?

    Pausing to step back for a deeper understanding is particularly important in the modern world to step out of our echo chambers.

    The Echo Chamber Effect

    Our modern information landscape often amplifies our differences while obscuring our common humanity. Social media algorithms, targeted advertising, and news feeds tend to create echo chambers where we mainly encounter views that confirm our existing beliefs (known as confirmation bias). This is not to say that there aren’t real and significant disagreements around some social and political issues. Yet in many cases, this digital architecture of division can transform different lifestyle choices or policy preferences into seemingly unbridgeable moral chasms.

    Breaking free from these echo chambers requires both personal boundaries and intentional engagement. While working with a group of researchers, I studied the lived experiences of young Black women to understand how to navigate these digital spaces more effectively. Together, we created educational materials including a freely downloadable handbook—“The Intentional User”—for empowered social media use.

    While the handbook was designed for young Black women, it contains useful strategies and skills for everyone to benefit from the opportunities social networks offer for skill building, connecting, and getting our message out while creating boundaries to protect our time and psychological well-being. The handbook also shares crucial skills—curiosity and compassion—for engaging across differences, helping users step outside their algorithmic bubbles while maintaining healthy digital boundaries.

    This dual approach—setting personal limits while reaching across divides—offers a path toward using social media in service of both individual growth and broader understanding. However, shifting the ways we engage with social media is only the beginning.

    Deeper Understanding to Intentional Action: A Three-Step Framework for Collective Healing

    In polarized times, meaningful change starts with how we show up in our communities. We don’t have to wait for the elections or the next big incident to start taking action, individually and collectively.

    If the above statement feels impossible for you right now, know that it’s OK to feel this way. When emotions run high and uncertainty prevails, we first need a framework for processing our experience and beginning to heal within. And, as we know, true healing also calls us to move beyond self-care to engage in dialogue and intentional action based on deeper understanding.

    Below, I share a mindful framework to return, listen, and begin taking practical steps to move from division to connection. The three steps are cyclical and work together.

    Step 1: Return to Non-Judging Awareness

    The first step, before responding on the spot or making decisions, is to return to our non-judging awareness of our present moment experience. Depending upon the situation and available time, choose from mindfulness-based practices such as the ones below:

    i. Pause and Center

    This is an invitation to simply pause and return to centered awareness before responding:

    • Take a few conscious breaths. 
    • Feel the breath moving and creating spaciousness in your body
    • Ground yourself physically—for example, feel your feet on the ground
    • Practice mindful walking, stretching, or being in nature

    ii. Inner Awareness 

    Turn your attention towards your inner experience with non-judgment and curiosity: 

    • Notice physical sensations (tension, racing heart, clenched jaw)
    • Observe thoughts without getting caught in them 
    • Name emotions as they arise, without trying to avoid, justify, or fix them (“There’s anger,” “There’s fear”)
    • Watch for automatic reactions and habitual patterns

    iii. External Awareness

    Once you feel centered in your own experience, direct your attention outward, with non-judgment and curiosity:

    • Observe others’ facial expressions and body language
    • Notice tone of voice and choice of words
    • Pay attention to the broader environment and context
    • Watch for collective emotions in groups
    • Notice what’s being said and what’s left unsaid

    Step 2: Listen for Deeper Understanding

    Once we feel connected with our inner and outer awareness, we can start to listen for a deeper understanding beyond surface reactions. When we hear someone express views that differ from ours, our first instinct might be to argue or dismiss. Instead, try these approaches:

        i. Practice Active Listening

    We use the filters, or default biases, shaped by our past conditioning to listen and react. It is helpful to rehearse strategies for disrupting your default biases and listen with an open mind:

    • Count to five before responding
    • Use phrases like “Help me understand…”
    •  Use phrases like “What I hear you saying is…” to check understanding
    •  Notice when you’re planning a rebuttal instead of truly hearing
    • Ask follow-up questions that deepen understanding rather than pose a challenge

         ii. Acknowledge Valid Concerns and Shared Values

    In my capacity as a town councilor, I worked in a community that was highly polarized on many critical issues. Yet, we shared legitimate fears of change and uncertainty, along with care for our loved ones and the community. In that, we were more similar than different. Experiment with the following suggestions:

    • Instead of “They don’t understand,” ask “What experiences shaped their view?”
    • Shift from “They’re wrong,” to “They’re responding based on their lived experiences”
    • Focus on common desires: safe communities, good schools, economic security
    • Identify mutual concerns: healthcare costs, environmental changes, children’s future

    Instead of “They don’t understand,” ask “What experiences shaped their view?”

       iii. Move Beyond Stereotypes

    No matter how good our intentions are to view situations in a balanced way, each of us brings a conditioned lens which automatically focuses on certain aspects of the situation while leaving out others. Here are a few practical ways to disrupt our stereotypes:

    • Question your assumptions about “those people”
    • Look for individual stories behind group labels
    • Remember times your own views have evolved
    • Seek out diverse perspectives intentionally
    • Notice binary thinking and expand possibilities

       iv. Explore Creative Solutions  

    When we let go of our attachments to our beliefs and assumptions, we make room for new possibilities. Trust that you will know what you need to know. Here are a few suggestions to engage fully and intentionally:

    • Engage with both/and instead of either/or thinking to explore new possibilities
    • Consider multiple truths existing together
    • Focus on shared aspirations
    • Build on others’ ideas

    Step 3: Begin Taking Action

    While our good intentions and deepening understanding are essential, the challenges we face call for engaged action aligned with our intentions and insights for collective healing. In our fast-paced, polarized culture, it’s natural to feel overwhelmed and step back from difficult situations. We might find ourselves avoiding uncomfortable conversations or disengaging from collective challenges that feel too complex or contentious.

    The challenges we face call for engaged action aligned with our intentions and insights for collective healing.

    Yet each of us has the capacity to contribute to positive change, even in small ways. By bringing mindful awareness and a deeper understanding to our various roles—as consumers, leaders, and community members—we can take meaningful steps toward building more connected communities. Here are some practical ways to begin:

    As Conscious Consumers

    Often, we may not see how our daily choices as consumers connect to our deeper values and impact our communities. Yet each purchase we make is an opportunity to support the kind of world we want to create. Our spending decisions ripple out to affect local cultures, environments, and the well-being of our neighbors. 

    Even in times of national division, we can strengthen our local communities through mindful choices about where and how we spend our resources. Here are some ways to align our consumer choices with our values:

    • Support local businesses across community divides
    • Join community-supported agriculture programs
    • Use local financial services that reinvest in your area
    • Participate in resource-sharing networks
    • Consider the values and consequences of the business on suppliers, employees, consumers, and the environment before giving your purchase dollars and attention to that business

    As Leaders

    Leaders have unique opportunities to create environments that foster understanding and bridge divides. Whether leading teams, organizations, or community initiatives, we can use our influence to build structures that support both individual growth and collective healing. Drawing from a deeper understanding of different perspectives and needs, here are ways to lead with intention for collective healing and growth:

    • Model respectful disagreement
    • Build diverse, inclusive teams that bring multiple viewpoints together
    • Create forums for open discussion
    • Implement fair policies that respect different viewpoints
    • Make time and space for developing skills for deeper understanding through workshops, training, and practice sessions
    • Allocate resources for ongoing learning and healing practices within the organization

    As Community Members

    We can seek out opportunities to build bridges across divides by aligning our thoughts, speech, and actions with our insights and intentions based on a deeper understanding of our shared humanity and unique journeys:

    • Join cross-cultural community projects
    • Participate in local government meetings
    • Start neighborhood initiatives that require cooperation
    • Create and join spaces for regular dialogue

    Moving Forward

    True resilience grows through consistent, intentional action emerging from a calm mind and deeper understanding. Each time we return to our non-judging awareness, listen deeply for a deeper understanding, and begin taking action, we create ripples of positive change throughout our communities. The goal isn’t to eliminate differences but to create spaces where differences contribute to our collective strength.

    Remember: Small actions, emerging from deeper understanding and repeated consistently, create lasting change. Start where you are, with what you have, and build from there. Each step toward understanding, no matter how small, contributes to our collective healing.



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  • The Power of Running and Meditation: A Guide to Mindful Movement

    The Power of Running and Meditation: A Guide to Mindful Movement

    While this article has been reviewed for accuracy and fairness by Mindful editors, some material in this article was generated by AI. To learn more about our AI practices and why we sometimes use AI to generate content, please see our statement here.

    Combining running and meditation can create a powerful experience known as mindful running, which enhances both mental and physical health. This article will explore the benefits of integrating mindfulness into your running routine, offering insights into how this practice can improve your well-being and overall quality of life.

    Whether you’re a seasoned runner or new to the concept of mindfulness, this guide provides practical tips and techniques to help you embrace the power of running meditation, stay focused on the present moment, and enjoy a more fulfilling running experience.

    Key Takeaways

    • Mindful running is a powerful tool for improving mental and physical health, and can be adapted to suit individual needs and goals.
    • By incorporating mindfulness into your running routine, you can reduce stress, improve focus, and enhance overall well-being.
    • Remember to stay present, focused, and mindful, and to enjoy the journey of mindful running.

    What is Mindful Running?

    Mindful running is a practice that combines physical movement with mindfulness techniques to cultivate a greater sense of awareness and presence in the present moment.

    It involves paying attention to your breath, body, and surroundings while running, allowing you to stay focused and fully engaged in the experience.

    Combining mindfulness with physical activity like running can enhance mental and physical health, reduce stress, improve emotional resilience, and increase body awareness. Mindful running can be done anywhere, at any time, and can be adapted to suit individual needs and goals.

    Benefits of Running Meditation

    Enhanced Focus and Clarity

    Running meditation sharpens your focus by training your mind to stay present. This heightened awareness can translate into improved concentration in everyday life, allowing you to tackle tasks with greater clarity and efficiency.

    Increased Pain Tolerance

    Engaging in running meditation strengthens the connection between your mind and body. By paying attention to how your body feels during each step and breath, you develop a deeper understanding of your physical and mental state, fostering a sense of harmony and balance. 

    By practicing mindfulness during your runs, you become more attuned to your body’s sensations. This awareness can help you manage discomfort and increase your pain tolerance, making it easier to push through challenging workouts.

    Improved Cardiovascular Health

    Combining the physical activity of running with the calming effects of meditation can lead to better cardiovascular health. The rhythmic nature of running meditation promotes healthy heart function, improving circulation and reducing the risk of heart-related issues.

    Greater Emotional Resilience

    Running meditation helps build emotional resilience by enabling you to process and release negative emotions. As you focus on your breath and the present moment, you learn to navigate stressful situations with a calm and balanced mindset, enhancing your overall mental well-being.

    Strengthened Mind-Body Connection

    Engaging in running meditation strengthens the connection between your mind and body. By paying attention to how your body feels during each step and breath, you develop a deeper understanding of your physical and mental state, fostering a sense of harmony and balance.

    Incorporating these additional benefits into your running routine can further enhance your mental and physical health, making running meditation a valuable practice for overall well-being.

    Running Meditation Can Help Boost Mood

    Participating in moving meditation while running can immerse you in a sense of positivity. Running naturally triggers the release of endorphins, those mood-enhancing chemicals that can boost your spirits. By incorporating meditation into your run, you intensify this positive effect, which has been proven to help reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.

    By anchoring yourself in the present moment and concentrating on your breathing pattern during running meditation, you foster a deep sense of well-being and emotional upliftment, making it a powerful method for improving mental health.

    Running Meditation May Provide More Energy

    Engaging in aerobic exercise, such as running, increases your heart rate and circulation, providing an energy boost. By combining running with meditation, you can keep your mind sharp, potentially altering your perception of the run’s difficulty. Staying fully aware of your body’s natural rhythm and taking deep breaths can help you tap into more energy during your run, enhancing both physical and mental performance.

    Running Meditation May Improve Performance

    Running meditation can help you find your flow during a workout. By staying mindful, you can connect with your body, discover a pace that feels comfortable, and lower the risk of injury. Being present and in tune with how your body feels can enhance your running routine and lead to better outcomes. This approach not only improves performance but also supports lasting heart health.

    Running Meditation May Lower Stress Levels

    Everyday stress can feel overwhelming, but running meditation provides a much-needed respite. As you immerse yourself in your run and focus on the present, the typical worries that clutter your mind begin to fade away. By integrating mindfulness into your running practice, you can effectively reduce stress and anxiety, leading to a calmer and more balanced mental state. This approach not only helps you manage stressful situations more smoothly but also improves your overall quality of life.

    Running Meditation Could Lead to Better Sleep

    If you find yourself tossing and turning at night, incorporating running meditation into your routine might be the solution you need. This practice not only helps expend excess energy but also cultivates a tranquil mind, making it easier to slip into a restful sleep. By blending mindfulness with your running routine, you’ll not only enhance the quality of your sleep but also reap the physical and mental benefits that come with a rejuvenating night’s rest. This approach supports overall well-being, making you feel more energized and balanced in everyday life.

    The Science Behind Mindfulness

    Mindfulness practice can change the structure and function of the brain, increasing gray matter in areas related to attention, emotion regulation, and memory.

    It can also increase the production of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, and reduce the production of stress hormones such as cortisol. Aerobic exercise like running can enhance mental alertness and cognitive function by increasing blood flow and heart rate.

    The rhythmic nature of running can help induce a meditative state, making it easier to practice mindfulness.

    Running Meditation Techniques

    • Focus on your breath, taking deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth.
    • Pay attention to your body, noticing how it feels with each step and movement.
    • Use a phrase that you repeat to yourself or a physical sensation to help keep your mind focused and present.
    • Practice walking meditation as a way to transition into running meditation.

    Running Meditation for Beginners

    Running meditation is a wonderful way to blend physical movement with mindfulness practice, helping you stay focused and present in the moment. If you’re new to this practice, it’s important to start with the basics and gradually build up your routine. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you get started with running meditation:

    1. Start with Walking Meditation: Begin by practicing walking meditation. This involves walking slowly and mindfully, paying attention to each step and your breath. This will help you get used to the idea of combining movement with mindfulness.
    2. Focus on Your Breath: As you transition to running, keep your focus on your breath. Take deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth. This will help you stay centered and calm.
    3. Pay Attention to Your Body: Notice how your body feels with each step. Are your muscles tense or relaxed? How does the ground feel under your feet? This awareness will help you stay present and connected to your body.
    4. Use a Mantra: Choose a simple word or phrase to repeat in your mind as you run. This can help keep your mind focused and prevent it from wandering.
    5. Start Slow: Begin with short runs and gradually increase your distance and intensity. This will help you build endurance and get comfortable with the practice.
    6. Stay Patient: Remember, running meditation is a practice. It’s normal for your mind to wander. When it does, gently bring your focus back to your breath or your mantra.

    By following these steps, you can start to incorporate running meditation into your routine, helping you stay focused, reduce stress, and enjoy the many benefits of mindful running.

    Preparing for Mindful Running

    Start by incorporating mindfulness into your everyday life, such as through meditation or deep breathing exercises, and recognize the importance of physical activity in enhancing both mental and physical health.

    Begin with short runs and gradually increase distance and intensity as you become more comfortable with the practice.

    Find a safe and comfortable running route, and consider running with a buddy or joining a mindful running group.

    Overcoming Challenges

    Don’t get discouraged if your mind wanders—simply acknowledge the thought and refocus on your breath or body.

    If you’re feeling tired or struggling with motivation, try incorporating physical training exercises into your routine.

    Remember that mindful running is a practice, and it’s okay to take breaks and rest when needed.

    Mindfulness Practice for Runners

    Practice meditation before or after your run to help calm your mind and prepare your body. Engaging in physical activity, such as running, enhances both mental and physical health by reducing stress, improving emotional resilience, and increasing body awareness.

    Use mindfulness techniques during your run to stay focused and present.

    Mindful Running in Daily Life

    Incorporate mindfulness into your daily routine through meditation or deep breathing exercises to cultivate a sense of calm and balance.

    Use mindful running as a powerful tool to reduce stress and enhance mental health, allowing you to navigate life’s challenges with greater ease.

    Apply the principles of mindful running to other areas of your life, such as work or relationships, by staying present and fully aware of your thoughts and emotions, leading to improved communication and emotional resilience.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is the difference between mindful running and regular running?

    Mindful running focuses on staying present and aware, unlike regular running, which targets physical training and performance. Regular running often involves goals like speed or distance, while mindful running emphasizes breath, body sensations, and surroundings to maintain a meditative state. Mindful running enhances mental health, reducing anxiety and boosting well-being, making it a holistic exercise approach.

    How do I get started with mindful running?

    Starting mindful running combines the physical benefits of running with the mental clarity of mindfulness. Here’s a quick guide:

    1. Set Your Intention: Before running, decide on a goal, like staying present or reducing stress.
    2. Choose a Quiet Place: Pick a peaceful route outdoors, if it’s available to you, to connect with nature and avoid distractions.
    3. Focus on Breathing: Maintain a comfortable pace, focusing on nasal breathing to stay calm.
    4. Be Aware of Your Body: Pay attention to sensations, from your feet hitting the ground to muscle movements.
    5. Stay Present: Redirect wandering thoughts to your breath or body, using a mantra if needed.
    6. Reflect Post-Run: After running, consider any changes in mood or energy.

    By following these steps, transform your runs into a moving meditation that boosts well-being. Remember, it’s a practice, so be patient and enjoy the journey.

    Can I practice mindful running if I’m not an experienced runner?

    Absolutely! Mindful running is for everyone, no matter your experience level. Focus on the present moment and integrate mindfulness into your run, without stressing over performance. Start at a comfortable pace, paying attention to your breathing and body sensations.

    You can begin with walking meditation and gradually transition to running. Mindful running is about self-discovery, reducing stress, and improving mental well-being, offering benefits for beginners and seasoned runners alike.

    Mindful Running and Technology

    Use apps or online resources to help guide your mindful running practice. There are numerous applications available that offer guided meditations, mindfulness tips, and running plans tailored to enhance your mental state and physical performance.

    Consider using a fitness tracker or running watch to track your progress and stay motivated. These devices can monitor your heart rate, pace, and distance, providing valuable insights into your running routine and helping you maintain a comfortable pace.

    Be mindful of your use of technology, and avoid distractions such as music or social media. While technology can aid your practice, it is essential to stay focused on the present moment, paying attention to your breathing pattern and how your body feels during the run.

    Mindful Running Communities

    Engaging with a mindful running community can significantly enhance your practice and motivation. Joining a local mindful running group or club offers a wonderful opportunity to connect with fellow runners who share your interest in combining physical activity with mindfulness. This sense of community can provide encouragement, shared experiences, and tips to help you stay focused and inspired.

    Additionally, participating in online forums or social media groups dedicated to mindful running can expand your network, offering a platform to exchange ideas, discuss challenges, and celebrate achievements with like-minded individuals from around the world. For those looking to deepen their practice, attending a mindful running retreat or workshop can be incredibly beneficial. These events often provide structured guidance, immersive experiences, and expert insights into the art of mindful running, helping you to refine your techniques and enhance your overall well-being.



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  • Curb Your Inner Critic Over the Holidays with Self-Compassion

    Curb Your Inner Critic Over the Holidays with Self-Compassion

    When we’re caught up in the rush to create the perfect holiday experience, showing ourselves a little self-compassion actually helps us show up for others.

    ‘Tis the season for self-judgment! During the holidays, the comparing mind kicks into high gear as we measure ourselves against our friends, family, colleagues, as well as the “ghosts” of past and future visions of ourselves and find that we are coming up short. In Charles Dickens’ famous Christmas Carol, the stodgy and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge learns to embrace gratitude and attunement for those around him. How about we take a page from Dickens’ book and not only attune to others this holiday season, but do so toward ourselves as well.

    As a clinician, I’ve been trained to spot and address the unhealthy mental habit of repetitive and negatively-toned inner chatter that broils in our minds and bodies from the inside. Rumination (or repetitive and passive thinking about negative emotions) has been shown to predict the chronic nature of depressive disorders as well as anxiety symptoms. Another study suggested that people with a ruminative style of reacting to their low moods were more likely to later show higher levels of depression symptoms. When we ruminate about our shortcomings and failings, we spend too much time in our heads instead of living our lives. We focus on berating ourselves internally instead of actually enjoying the holiday.

    When we ruminate about our shortcomings, we spend too much time in our heads instead of living our lives. We focus on berating ourselves internally instead of actually enjoying the holiday.

    And it’s not just my patients who ruminate negatively about themselves—it could be me, for instance, telling myself over and over that I’m an “absolute failure” as a therapist for not paying attention to a patient for a split second during a session. Or eviscerating a future version of myself based on a minor faux pas last week. Rumination is the run-on self-talk of the mind that has agitated energy as both its fuel and its output. Ruminative thinking is toxic to our well-being and clarity of mind. 

    So how do we work with rumination? One way forward is self-compassion. Self-compassion is far more than chasing rainbows and skipping after unicorns. According to psychologist and researcher Kristin Neff, self-compassion is self-kindness (versus self-judgment), combined with a sense of common humanity (versus being alone with what’s hard) and mindfulness (versus being over-identified with bad feelings). Self-compassion is seeing our pain as part of the larger, universal picture of being human, and seeing ourselves as worthy of kindness and care. And it’s not weak or passive, or narcissistic and self-indulgent. It takes guts to practice, and science shows that it can do much to lower anxiety, stress reactions, depression, and perfectionism. It can open you up to your life whereas your old patterns or reaction and self-judgment close you down.

    In a 2010 study examining the levels of reported self-compassion, rumination, worry, anxiety, and depression in 271 non-clinical undergraduate students, results suggested that people with higher levels of reported self-compassion are less likely to report depression and anxiety. The data showed that self-compassion may play the role of buffering the effects of rumination. In some of the practices that follow, we learn how to unhook from rumination and cut ourselves (and others) the slack requisite for increasing clarity and ease of being.

    Sidestep Self-Judgement: Three Mindful Practices for Self-Compassion

    The following brief self-compassion practices are drawn from my co-authored card deck (along with clinicians and authors Chris Willard and Tim Desmond) “The Self-Compassion Deck” (PESI Publishing & Media). What follows are three cards from our deck laid out in a sequence that is intended to help you sidestep the self-judgment/ ruminative cascade and build a foundation of self-compassionate, flexible space—something much needed this time of year!

    As with many mindfulness practices, this one is best conducted in a quiet space, with your body in a comfortable, alert posture. Take in a few slow, deep breaths and then read these three cards in order. Pause for 30 seconds or more with each card.

    Watch what arises in your body and mind as you come to rest on the words (and underlying meaning) of each practice. Just allow yourself to observe what shows up, and if your mind goes into its loops of rumination, just gently come back to the card and its self-compassionate intentions.

    1) Send kind wishes to your past and present self

    Pause and take in what emerges for you about giving kind wishes to yourself at various stages of your life. At what points in your life is it easier/ harder to conjure self-kindness?

    2) Choose an act of self-care

    Notice what ideas show up when you think of what might do to legitimately take care of yourself today. Does your ruminating mind immediately throw up any roadblocks? Any “well, but’s …”?  Are you willing to “thank” your mind for sharing these, and do the self-compassionate act anyway?

    3) Keep track of how often you criticize yourself vs. encourage yourself

    Perhaps your self-compassionate act for today would be to actually do what this last card suggests—keep track of how often you criticize versus encourage yourself.  I’m serious: perhaps you could keep track with tally marks on a scrap of paper or on a journal. Being honest and willing to pay attention this closely to yourself is itself a great act of self-compassion. We don’t often give ourselves this much time out of our busy lives. Instead of all the tally marks on holiday to-do lists, perhaps we can tally up our relationship with ourselves?



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  • A 12-Minute Meditation for Tuning Into the Present Soundscape

    A 12-Minute Meditation for Tuning Into the Present Soundscape

    This week, Melli O’Brien guides us in a practice that invites us to pause and reconnect with the simplicity of being.

    In the midst of life’s noise and distractions, this soundscape meditation creates space to step back and truly listen. By exploring the sensations of the body, the natural rhythm of the breath, and the sounds surrounding us, we’re reminded that peace is found in awareness, not in controlling what’s around us.

    A Guided Meditation for Tuning Into the Present Soundscape

    1. Prepare for this practice by settling into as comfortable a position as you can find. Allow the body to be settled and as relaxed as possible here and at the same time seeing if you can remain upright rather than slouching. Let the way that you place your physical body reflect your intention to be alert and engaged in the practice for the next ten minutes. 
    2. Allow your eyes to lightly close now, if that feels okay for you, or simply lower your gaze. Then bring awareness into the physical body and into the sensations at the contact points between your body and the surface beneath you. Move awareness in close and explore those sensations at the contact point. Then shift the focus to just feeling that gentle rhythm of the breath moving in the body and how the body is being gently rocked and cradled by the natural breath. 
    3. Now, expand your attention out from the breath and bring the focus to the sounds all around you in this particular moment. Take in the sounds in all directions. Sounds in front. Sounds behind. To the sides. Above and below. Take in the whole surrounding soundscape at once.
    4. As the sounds continue to unfold and change, notice if there’s any tendency to mentally label the sounds as they come, or to judge whether you like them or not. Notice how easily sounds can create a story. If you notice this, see if it’s possible to drop any mental commentary and come back to listening to the sounds themselves. Listen as if hearing for the first time, as if each sound was totally new to you. Observe how each sound arises out of stillness. It unfolds and then dissipates back into stillness. Coming and going, constantly changing. Notice the transient nature of sounds. 
    5. Now let go of listening to sounds and bring awareness to your internal world of thoughts. No need to try and control your thoughts in any way. Just let them come and go on their own, just as you did with sounds. Thoughts coming and going, like clouds passing across the sky of your awareness. Thoughts arising, unfolding, and dissipating back into stillness. 
    6. As you continue to be aware of these mental events, notice that these thoughts are coming and going in your awareness. You are the observer, not the thoughts. You can even say that: Here I am watching. I am not the thoughts. I am not the mind. 
    7. Now see if you can withdraw attention from observing the thoughts and simply sense into the awareness of the silent field in which all things come and go. The awareness that you are. This is not something you can grasp with the mind. You’re sensing into that silent beingness, that silent awareness that’s at the very core of all experience. 
    8. Now, let yourself relax back into this silent center of your being. Drop into that still, unchanging depth of being. Allow everything else to arise and pass. Let life flow through you. Rest in the depths of being. It’s like you’re way down deep at the bottom of the ocean in this timeless space, and all that’s coming and going is surface phenomena. Things arising and passing, arising in passing.
    9. In these last few moments of practice, come back to gently focus on your breathing. Take a long, slow, deep breath in. As you breathe out, begin to wriggle the fingers and toes. Take a moment to notice how you feel after making this time for meditation. When you’re ready, open your eyes. 
    10. Remember that no matter what happens today, you can always reconnect to the stillness and peace within by just taking a moment of mindfulness. Wishing you a great day.  



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  • 7 Steps to Relax Your Body

    7 Steps to Relax Your Body

    When was the last time you gave your body a break? And we’re not talking about sleep. Take ten minutes and try the body scan practice.  

    Time: 10–20 minutes

    When was the last time you noticed how your body was feeling? Not just when you have a headache or you’re tired or you have heartburn after that spicy taco you ate for lunch. But just noticing how your body is feeling right now, while you’re sitting or standing or lying down. How about noticing how your body feels while you’re sitting in an important meeting or walking down the street or playing with your children?

    In our busy, high-tech, low-touch lives, it’s easy to operate detached from our own bodies. They too easily become vessels we feed, water, and rest so they can continue to cart around our brains. We don’t pay attention to the information our bodies are sending us or the effect that forces such as stress are having—until real health problems set in.

    Let’s take a small and simple step in the direction of paying our body the attention it is due. Consider spending just a few minutes—every day, if you can—to notice your own physicality. Not to judge your body or worry about it or push it harder at the gym, but to be in it.

    Here’s an easy body-scan practice with just 7 steps to relax your body. It will tune you in to your body and anchor you to where you are right now. It will heighten your senses and help you achieve greater levels of relaxation. You can do it sitting in a chair or on the floor, lying down, or standing.

    Mindfulness Practice: 7 Steps to Relax Your Body

    1. Settle into a comfortable position, so you feel supported and relaxed.

    2. Close your eyes if you wish, or leave them open with a soft gaze, not focusing on anything in particular.

    3. Rest for a few moments, paying attention to the natural rhythm of your breathing.

    4. Once your body and mind are settled, bring awareness to your body as a whole. Be aware of your body resting and being supported by the chair, mattress, or floor.

    5. Begin to focus your attention on different parts of your body. You can spotlight one particular area or go through a sequence like this: toes, feet (sole, heel, top of foot), through the legs, pelvis, abdomen, lower back, upper back, chest shoulders, arms down to the fingers, shoulders, neck, different parts of the face, and head.

    6. For each part of the body, linger for a few moments and notice the different sensations as you focus.

    7. If you get distracted, gently bring your attention back. The moment you notice that your mind has wandered, return your attention to the part of the body you last remember.

    If you fall asleep during this body-scan practice, that’s okay. When you realize you’ve been nodding off, take a deep breath to help you reawaken, and perhaps reposition your body (which will also help wake it up). When you’re ready, return your attention to the part of the body you last remember focusing on.

    This article also appeared in the February 2014 issue of Mindful magazine.



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