Health Journal Online

Category: Mental Health

  • What Unexpected Chronic Back Pain Taught Me: 4 Takeaways That Matter

    What Unexpected Chronic Back Pain Taught Me: 4 Takeaways That Matter

    This year, for the first time in my life, I experienced intense chronic pain that turned everything upside down and lasted nearly four months. As someone who loves movement and lives a very active life, waking up one day with back pain that kept getting worse to the point where I couldn’t do simple daily tasks was one of the hardest experiences I’ve ever had.

    Fortunately, I did get better. And from this horrible experience, I’m sharing four lessons I hope I’ll return to if something like this ever happens again.

    How It Started

    It all started in mid-January. One day I woke up feeling great, taught a yoga class, then taught my middle school PE students. The next morning, I woke up with strange discomfort and an inability to bend forward. Literally. I could not bend more than one inch. Try washing your face without bending forward and you’ll understand how disorienting it was. I assumed it was a minor strain that would disappear in a day or two. I’d never had back issues before.

    But the pain didn’t go away. It got worse. Soon I couldn’t sleep in my bed. I moved to the floor. Then to my daughter’s room, thinking a firmer surface would help. When getting up caused violent back spasms that lasted 15 minutes or longer, I tried sleeping on a massage table so I could “slide off” and avoid spasms due to standing, but the narrow surface only led to more pain and sleep anxiety that I would somehow fall off. At one point I placed a folding table on top of my bed so I could sleep higher up on a wider surface. That didn’t work either.

    Sleeping was terrible. Sitting was unbearable. Lying down on the couch was impossible. Every position triggered more pain instead of relief. I even tried wearing adult diapers one night so I wouldn’t have to get up to pee. Did it work? Absolutely not. Nothing was working.

    I tried walking, because everyone says movement helps, but even that made little difference. I was taking Tylenol around the clock—1,000 mg every four hours, well above the recommended dose—because I didn’t know what else to do.

    I saw doctors and specialists and even agreed to pay $4,800 to a chiropractor who confidently said he could fix me in a few months. When you are desperate, you will try almost anything. But that, like almost everything else, just led to more spasms, more pain, and eventually… depression.

    Chronic pain isn’t just physical. It strips down your sense of self and disconnects you from the world around you.

    After three to four months of hell, I did improve. I can move again. I can sleep in my own bed again. I’m off all pain meds. I got my life back. And now that I’m finally on the other side, here are the four biggest takeaways I want to remember, and offer to anyone else navigating something similar.

    1. Meditation: A Lifeline in the Darkest Tunnel

    I kept meditating throughout the whole experience. Looking back, I probably should have meditated even more. The science on meditation as a tool for pain management and healing is strong, but when you’re in the middle of pain and fear, it’s easy to forget that.

    My mind was constantly spinning: 

    Will this ever stop? 

    Will I ever move normally again? 

    What if this is permanent?

    That stress response only made things worse. When the body is in a near-constant state of fear, cortisol rises, inflammation rises, and the pain cycle deepens.

    Meditation didn’t magically erase the pain, but it did give me something crucial: a sense of agency and grounding. It gave my nervous system micro-moments of rest when nothing else could. It helped me separate the physical sensation from the emotional storm on top of it, the fear, the frustration, the grief. Even when nothing else worked, meditation was something I could still do, and that alone gave me a small sense of power in a situation that felt completely out of my control.

    I could not have gone through this alone. I needed help getting dressed. Putting on socks became the hardest task of the day. I couldn’t wash dishes, cook, or do basic errands. I had to lean on friends and family in ways that felt very vulnerable.

    One of my coworkers started sticking medicated patches on my back every morning before class and hugging me while I cried. We had met only one month prior so this was truly something I’ll never forget. I didn’t expect that kind of intimacy or kindness, but I needed it.

    Chronic pain is isolating. The world keeps spinning around you while you feel frozen in suffering. And even when people ask how you are, it can feel easier to say “I’m fine” than to repeat the pain story again. I worried I was unloading too much on people, or repeating myself, or boring them, or even boring myself. But pain takes over everything. It becomes the soundtrack of your life. Pretending you’re okay makes it worse.

    Chronic pain is isolating. The world keeps spinning around you while you feel frozen in suffering.

    Let people in. Accept help even if it feels uncomfortable. If someone you love were going through this, you would want to support them. Let others do the same for you.

    3. Advocate Relentlessly for Yourself

    I went into this experience genuinely trusting that the medical system would help me. It was eye-opening to realize how many times I was offered narcotics within minutes, while no one seemed that interested in actually diagnosing the cause of my pain.

    I saw multiple doctors, but no one was connecting the dots. I had to push for every referral, every test, every possibility. In the end, I now strongly suspect there was a connection between my ulcerative colitis and this sudden, severe back pain. But no one suggested that. I had to piece it together myself. And it still isn’t officially confirmed, which leaves me with lingering anxiety that it could return.

    Our medical system is often set up to treat symptoms, not root causes. If I hadn’t kept questioning, kept insisting, kept searching, I might still be stuck in that pain. You know your body better than anyone. So my encouragement is to keep asking. Keep digging. Keep pushing.

    4. Treat Yourself

    Managing pain can drain the joy from daily life, but that’s exactly when it becomes most important to find small and big ways to bring joy back in. It might be as simple as stocking your shower with your favorite soap (Jason’s Rose body wash for example!), listening to a beloved album (“Dehd” on repeat), or ordering Thai three nights in a row because it’s the only thing that brings comfort (giant garlicky noodles please!).

    During my back ordeal, at one of the lowest points when I truly wondered if I’d ever feel like myself again, I made a promise: if I could move freely again, I would get my first tattoo. The design would be the mountain in the French Alps that my family’s home faces. I love that mountain with all my heart. Now it lives on my upper arm, and every time I see it, I’m reminded that I went through something hard, and grew because of it.

    The author with her promised tattoo

    The Road to Healing

    My journey lasted almost 12 weeks. What a wild beginning to 2025 that was! I came out the other side with a deeper understanding of what it means to live inside a body in pain, and how to fight your way back. Now that I am pain-free, I am overflowing with gratitude for something I once took for granted: simply being able to move.

    If you’re in your own battle with chronic pain, here is what I most want you to know: 

    • Anchor yourself to something that brings even a moment of relief: meditation, breathwork, visualization, prayer, music. 
    • Do not isolate. Let your people love you. 
    • Be loud in the medical world. Keep pushing until someone listens.
    • Invite more sensorial pleasure into your daily rituals. 

    Pain can take so much from you. It can strip away identity, joy, confidence. But it can’t take away your ability to keep moving toward healing, even if that movement is invisible from the outside. One of my close friends offered me a metaphor that really shifted my perspective. She told me to imagine I was a diamond miner, digging and digging, exhausted, convinced I was still far from treasure. But in reality, the diamond might be just inches away, even if it feels miles out of reach. Her reminder was simple: don’t give up. Breakthroughs can happen suddenly, and everything can change for the better, even when it looks like nothing is working.

    Pain can take so much from you. It can strip away identity, joy, confidence. But it can’t take away your ability to keep moving toward healing, even if that movement is invisible from the outside.

    You are still here. Even in your darkest moment, there is still a way forward. So line that yellow brick path that is your life with treasure chests of joy-bursts along the way.

    A Practice for When Pain Is Present

    When back pain is flaring, or any kind of tension or ache feels alive in the body, this gentle meditation can help ease discomfort and open the door to reconnecting with joy.



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  • Get It Done With Mindfulness: How to Be Productive with Attention, Kindness, and Wisdom

    Get It Done With Mindfulness: How to Be Productive with Attention, Kindness, and Wisdom

    Last spring, I struggled to finish my most recent book, Happy Relationships: 25 Buddhist Practices to Transform Your Connection with Your Partner, Family, and Friends. I missed two deadlines and spent many anxious nights lying awake, worried I might not finish the book at all—or that I would ruin it completely. Even though I was working hard, I constantly felt I wasn’t writing fast enough or well enough. I doubted my talent, questioned my worth, and procrastinated, all while criticizing myself harshly.

    In the past, I’d pushed myself through projects using force, pressure and fear. But this time, that approach wasn’t working. I knew I needed something different to genuinely be productive—something kinder and softer. So I turned to the tools and teachings of my Buddhist training: mindfulness, lovingkindness, and wisdom. As I began practicing them, my relationship to my work quickly shifted, and I felt less overwhelmed and more at ease, and it became easier and felt more natural to write. In a few weeks, I finally finished my book.

    Mindful Care Makes It Easier to Be Productive

    You can use these same practices to support your own work. They’re simple and accessible, and all they require is that you bring gentle attention to your body, mind, and heart. You don’t need to use every tool or follow them in a specific order. Just start with Mindful Listening, and then turn to the others as needed. The more you use them, the easier they become—and the more they can help steady, encourage, and support you and your work.

    Start with Mindful Listening

    When you feel overwhelmed or stuck, pause. Sit quietly and listen inwardly. Notice your body. Observe your thoughts. Acknowledge your emotions without trying to fix or judge them. You might realize that your procrastination isn’t due to laziness, but to something deeper—perhaps fear or a sense of being overwhelmed. Underneath your procrastination is often a tender part of you that needs care, not pressure.

    This practice of listening is the foundation of wise action. It helps you respond with understanding instead of reactivity. It reminds you that you can begin again, not by changing yourself, but by meeting yourself with compassion.

    Reconnect with Joyful Effort

    One of the most useful qualities you can cultivate is what Buddhists call “virya”—a Sanskrit term translated as energy, diligence, or effort. “Virya” doesn’t mean pushing or grinding – rather it refers to our wholehearted, joyful energy that we can direct toward what is beneficial, useful, and good.

    If you’ve been treating your work like a burden or obligation, pause and reconnect with your original intention. Your work—whatever it is—can be a meaningful offering, an expression of your values. When you remember why it matters, you can let it guide you, and use virya instead of force to create the words, the progress, or the result. You’ll be surprised at the power of gentleness and sincerity to drive your process instead.

    If you’ve been treating your work like a burden or obligation, pause and reconnect with your original intention.

    Build Confidence Through Wisdom

    Buddhism understands that it’s wise to understand the result of past actions, so recall other difficult tasks or projects that you’ve completed. Remember that you’ve met deadlines, kept commitments, and followed through even when it was hard. Buddhist wisdom teaches that confidence doesn’t come from perfection—it comes from recognizing and respecting your own experience. Keeping this in mind helps you know that you’ll complete this, too—not because you’re perfect, but because you’re reliable, trustworthy, and consistent.

    Cultivate Gratitude

    Throughout your work day, practice gratitude—not just for your own effort, but for the countless visible and invisible beings that make your life and work possible. Thank yourself for showing up. Remember your friends, mentors, loved ones, and even the workers who make sure you have electricity, water, food, and shelter. This sense of interconnection can help ground you in appreciation. It reminds you that you’re not alone—and that your work can benefit others, too.

    Work in Small, Steady Steps

    Rather than aiming for long hours or big breakthroughs, create a steady, manageable routine. If possible, try working for an hour or two each morning and then take a break. Let go of the need to hit a word count or finish a full chapter. Just begin.

    When worry arises, meet it with mindful attention. Don’t try to silence it or push it away, but don’t follow it into catastrophic thinking, either. Let the thoughts come and go. Remind yourself that fear doesn’t need to be conquered—it needs to be met with patience, kindness, and presence.

    Rest When You Need To

    As deadlines approach, you might notice old habits returning—the urge to push harder, to avoid rest. When that happens, pause. Close your laptop, put your hand on your heart, and take a few slow breaths. You may notice a long-held belief that resting is dangerous or irresponsible. Notice your own stories around what it means to “be productive.” Gently acknowledge this, then place a hand on your heart and say to yourself, “I’m here for you.” Repeat this lovingkindness meditation to yourself for at least a few minutes. Offer yourself your whole-hearted presence, right here in the midst of your stress. You may find—like I did—that rest doesn’t slow you down at all. In fact, it usually restores your heart and mind and enables you to return to your work with better focus and more clarity.

    Need Help Practicing? Try This Meditation.

    Next time you’re feeling overwhelmed and need a break, try this calming meditation. You might be surprised how just a simple pause can return you to yourself and help you be productive in a way that feels much more aligned and natural. 



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  • Busy Times, or Anytime: Nine Ways Mindfulness Reduces Stress

    Busy Times, or Anytime: Nine Ways Mindfulness Reduces Stress

    You’ve probably heard that mindfulness reduces stress levels. But how does it help? Shamash Alidina shares the research—plus, a meditation you can turn to anytime.

    You’ve probably heard that mindfulness reduces stress. But how does it actually help you do that?

    Mounting scientific evidence from hundreds of universities—including dedicated centers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in the United States and the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom—strongly suggests that mindfulness gently builds an inner strength, so that future stressors have less impact on our happiness and physical well-being.

    Here are nine ways mindfulness can help you manage stress, plus a guided meditation to start experiencing the natural calm that mindfulness can bring:

    Nine Ways Mindfulness Reduces Stress

    1. You become more aware of your thoughts. You can then step back from them and not take them so literally. That way, your stress response is not initiated in the first place.
    2. You don’t immediately react to a situation. Instead, you have a moment to pause and then use your “wise mind” to come up with the best solution. Mindfulness helps you do this through the mindful exercises.
    3. Mindfulness switches on your “being” mode of mind, which is associated with relaxation. Your “doing” mode of mind is associated with action and the stress response.
    4. You are more aware and sensitive to the needs of your body. You may notice pains earlier and can then take appropriate action.
    5. You are more aware of the emotions of others. As your emotional intelligence rises, you are less likely to get into conflict.
    6. Your level of care and compassion for yourself and others rises. This compassionate mind soothes you and inhibits your stress response.
    7. Mindfulness practice reduces activity in the part of your brain called the amygdala. The amygdala is central to switching on your stress response, so effectively, your background level of stress is reduced.
    8. You are better able to focus. So you complete your work more efficiently, you have a greater sense of well-being, and this reduces the stress response. You are more likely to get into “the zone” or “flow,” as it’s termed in psychology by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
    9. You can switch your attitude to the stress. Rather than just seeing the negative consequences of feeling stressed, mindfulness offers you the space to think differently about the stress itself. Observing how the increased pressure helps energize you has a positive effect on your body and mind.

    Try It Yourself—Stress SOS: A Quick Practice When You Need It Most

    1. Bring to mind a current challenge in your life that is the cause of some stress. A situation that you’re willing to work with at the moment. Not your biggest challenge but not so small that it causes no stress at all. A 3 on a scale of 1–10 is a good guide.
    2. Bring the situation vividly to mind. Imagine being in the situation and all the difficulties associated with it.
    3. Notice whether you can feel the stress in your body. Physical tension, faster heart rate, a little bit of sweating, butterflies in your stomach, tightness in the back or shoulders or jaw, perhaps. Look out for your stress signals.
    4. Tune in to your emotions. Notice how you feel. Label that emotion if you can, and be aware of where you feel the emotion, exactly, in your body. Just try to spot it as best you can. The more precisely you can locate the emotion and the more you notice about the sensation, the better. With time and experience, you’ll keep getting better at this.
    5. Bring mindful attitudes to the emotion. These include curiosity, friendliness, and acceptance.
    6. Try placing your hand on the location of the sensation—a friendly hand representing kindness. Do it the way you would place your hand on the injured knee of a child, with care and affection.
    7. Feel the sensation together with your breathing. This can promote a present-moment awareness and mindful attitudes to your experience.
    8. When you’re ready, bring this meditation to a close.
    This article was adapted from Shamash Alidina’s book The Mindful Way Through Stress



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  • A Meditation for Working With Our Self-Judging Voice

    A Meditation for Working With Our Self-Judging Voice

    A guided meditation to get familiar with our self-judging voice and how we relate to our flaws, so that we can cultivate compassion and recognize our own worthiness.

    Mindfulness is about paying attention to our present moment experiences with openness, curiosity, and a willingness to be with what is. Mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment with openness to things as they really are, as opposed to how we want them to be or how they could be, or wishing that they were different, which we do quite a bit. This includes our uncomfortable experiences—like being with our fear, grief, regret, and that self-judging voice that sometimes makes us feel so small.

    Self-compassion is the idea that even with all of our flaws, we can still care about ourselves.

    Self-Compassion vs. Self-Esteem

    I want to talk about the concept of self-compassion. Self-compassion is different from self-esteem. There seems to be this epidemic of self-judgment in the world, where people are often self-critical and have a lot of self-hating voices in their heads. Self-compassion is not the build up of self-esteem, because the build up of self-esteem tends to lead people to needing a lot of external validation to feel ok. Instead, self-compassion is the idea that even with all of our flaws, we can still care about ourselves, that we can make mistakes, that we can screw up, that we can have problems, but we’re still fundamentally a good human being. We can connect with that understanding and have compassion for ourselves, even with the flaws that we have. 

    What’s so amazing about mindfulness practice is we can use mindfulness to be aware when we have those self-critical voices, and we can label that voice as “judging”. We can notice when we have those judging voices because we have a mindfulness practice that allows us to have quite a bit more self-awareness, more ability to regulate emotions, and all of the positive things that come with the mindfulness practice. When these thoughts come we can be on top of them and not get so caught up.

    I sometimes talk about getting on the train – when you have a really powerful thought and you start thinking about it, and suddenly twenty minutes later you realize you’ve been on this train and were not in the present moment at all. However, the moment you recognize this, you can get off the train. Or, you can recognize this initially and not get on the train in the first place. You can stay at the platform and just let the thoughts go.

    A Meditation for Working With Our Self-Judging Voice

    1. Find your seat. Let’s begin by settling back into our comfortable posture, with your body upright but not too rigid or tight. Put your feet on the floor, hands resting on your lap, and your eyes can be closed. Most of us do this practice with our eyes closed but you don’t have to. You can keep them open but not looking all around, just looking downward. 
    2. Begin to notice your breathing. Begin with a few deep breaths letting you relax a little bit more. Invite in the possibility of relaxation with each deep breath. For this next period of time, you don’t have all of the worries and concerns. You’ve left them at the door, I hope. They may pop up into your mind but you can remind yourself that you don’t have to get on that train, and just come in to the present moment, feeling, or breath, while being present. 
    3. Focus on where you feel the breath most. Bring your attention to your stomach and notice if it’s tight or contracted. Take a deep breath if it is and just let it go. Notice your hands softening, and relax them. Notice your shoulders, jaw, throat, and face, and sense everything that’s obvious to you, maybe on the surface of the skin and maybe more internal. Do this with curiosity and with an eye out to relaxing a little bit.
    4. Let yourself be here right now, in this moment, and see if you can bring your attention to your breathing and to your breath in your body, wherever you feel your breath the clearest within your body. You might notice your abdomen rising and falling, or your chest rising and falling, expanding, and contracting with the breath. You might notice the tingling at your nostrils as air enters and exits. Some people notice the whole torso breathing with the air moving through their body, and that’s fine too.
    5. Shift attention to sounds. Now turn your attention to the sounds around you, just listen to sounds one after the next. Both the sound of silence, and the sounds that come and go. Don’t be lost in a story about the sounds, but just simply listen to them. 
    6. Find an object to anchor your attention. Find a focus for your meditation today. It could be your breath in your abdomen, or chest, or nose, or the full body breathing, or it could be listening to the sounds—any of those things work fine. Go to whichever one seems the most interesting to you, there’s no right way to do. If you can’t decide then just pick one, it doesn’t matter too much. 
    7. Notice the body breathing. Notice your abdomen moving up and down, chest expanding and contracting, air moving through your nose with each breath, full body breathing, or the sounds around you. 
    8. Stay with the sensations of breathing. We begin this mindfulness practice by attending to breath after breath, or sound after sound, staying with it to the best of our abilities, feeling the breath. 
    9. When the mind wanders, label your thoughts. At a certain point your attention will wander, and thoughts will come into your consciousness. When you notice that you’re lost in a thought, you can say a soft word like “thinking” or “wondering”, and come back to your main focus. Keep doing that again and again. This is emphasized for today’s practice because we are talking about how mindfulness can help us with self-judgment, and recognizing that you can notice the type of thought you’re having and give it a label.
    10. You can keep an eye out for judging thoughts, and every time you judge you can say in your mind a soft word like “judging”, or “self-judgment”, or “criticism”, or you can find the word that makes sense to you. It will help you to see the way in which the judgments arise. It’s not personal by the way; you didn’t set out to make yourself feel bad. It just happens. “That person is a better meditator than I am”, or “I’ll never get this right”, or “Why did I do that thing yesterday, it was so foolish”.  These are the kind of voices that come into our mind for some of us frequently. For others they may be rare; that’s fine too. 
    11. Notice self-critical thoughts as they arise. Use mindfulness practice to not judge yourself, to not judge yourself for being judgmental, and just notice judging. If you want to count the occurrences you can; for example “judging 1, judging 2… judging 20.” While you’re noticing these thoughts, you might get drawn to other types of thoughts. If so, you can use other labels like “planning”, “remembering”, “imagining”, and so forth. 
    12. Invite self-compassion. As you do this practice, please keep a quality of kindness towards yourself. Be curious. Notice how interesting your mind is without judging yourself. Maintain the spirit of kindness and investigation. 
    13. Reflect on the quality of your meditation. For the last few minutes of this meditation, just notice how you are doing with this awareness practice, with the mindfulness of breath, and with mindfulness of the way your thoughts operate. You can ask yourself, “Did I get on the train?”, “Did I get off the train?”, or “Did I stay at the platform maybe once or twice?”
    14. Did you notice many judging thoughts? I’m hoping you brought a kind attitude to yourself for the judging thoughts, if they were present. 
    15. Close with kindness. We will do a little bit of kindness meditation to conclude. Notice how you’re feeling, and see if you can also bring to mind someone you love, someone who makes you happy. It could be a dear friend, a child, a pet cat or dog. If you can’t think of anyone, it can be someone you’ve read about who you admire. 
    16. Repeat kind phrases. Say these phrases, and repeat them in your mind (or you can come up with your own). May you be safe and protected. May you be happy and peaceful. May you be healthy and strong. May you be at ease. 
    17. Send kind phrases to loved ones. Send these words and heartfelt feeling out to this loved one. Notice how it feels inside to make those wishes for them. Imagine that they send it back to you. May you be safe and protected. May you be happy and peaceful. May you be healthy and strong. May you accept yourself, just as you are.  
    18. See if you can “take” the kindness. Imagine the kindness moving through your body, wherever you are. Can you bring compassion to yourself exactly where you are, for whatever is happening right now? May I hold this with kindness. May I hold myself with compassion. Take a breath and notice if this is possible, to bring kindness to the best of your abilities wherever you are, however it makes sense to you. May I be with myself exactly as I am.
    19. Open your eyes. When you’re ready you can open your eyes, but take your time. 



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  • Attention! How Mindfulness Training Is Helping People Reclaim Their Ability to Focus

    Attention! How Mindfulness Training Is Helping People Reclaim Their Ability to Focus

    It seems that distraction is the oxygen we breathe nowadays, with infinite bits of information at our restless fingertips. Each time I open my Edge browser, captivating news headlines and flashy images assault me. Half the time, I forget where I was headed!

    Is the effort to maintain control of our attention a fool’s errand? Nicholas Carr, in his best-seller, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, notes that more than a few top journalists have stopped reading books because 1) they can easily find the information they need at Wikipedia and other online sources, and 2) their attention spans have withered.

    Mindfulness meditation nudges us in the opposite direction. Rather than surround ourselves with endless options, we simplify. The practice has us paying attention to this present moment, with curiosity, kindness, and nonjudgment. In place of multitasking and busyness, we discover present-moment attentiveness free from the relentless push to look for more. Mindfulness serves as a counterbalance—a grounding influence that keeps us very much here, on the spot.

    Mindfulness serves as a counterbalance—a grounding influence that keeps us very much here, on the spot.

    What Attention Training for ADHD Can Teach Neurotypical Practitioners

    For people living with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the need for attention training might be more pointed. In the winter and spring of 2025, two groups completed my six-week “Mindfulness for ADHD” workshop series, with the option to extend to nine weeks. 

    I wanted to track if and how these techniques were making a difference for workshop attendees. Participants completed a 19-question evaluation at the beginning and end of the program, and data was analyzed for those who completed both: 5 participants from the 6-week program, and 3 from the 9-week program.

    One evaluation statement read, “I get distracted easily, and have a hard time refocusing on a task.” With these negatively worded statements, greater disagreement shows improvement. The totals for both groups were pre: 14 and post: 20—a 43% increase.

    Henry, one of the participants, offered this reflection: “I realize the benefits from feeling more grounded and able to recognize when distractions are impacting me and how to handle them in order to get on with things that are most important.”

    One common misunderstanding of mindfulness is that we are cultivating a particular state of mind, like calm or bliss, and anything that interrupts this process (“monkey mind”) is a detriment. People who subscribe to this perfectionist view tend to become discouraged when their ideal doesn’t materialize. They often quit, concluding that mindfulness is not for them. 

    One common misunderstanding of mindfulness is that we are cultivating a particular state of mind, like calm or bliss, and anything that interrupts this process (“monkey mind”) is a detriment.

    The effort in mindfulness practice is not to exert oneself to keep the mind focused on a particular object, such as the breath. Rather, the aim is to recognize the wandering mind and return our attention to a stable anchor of awareness—such as our breath, or feet on the floor. This exercise develops attention, and builds resiliency. You might as well be falling down and getting back up again, over and over. 

    Starting With Simple Intentions

    In one of the weekly sessions, participants were asked to set their intention in the beginning of the day, on arising. They identify a priority, such as cleaning the living room, and then keep reminding themselves of this during the day when they get involved in other activities—an active application of the meditation technique.

    “I saw how often my mind drifted from the intention,” wrote Casey, a longtime mindfulness practitioner. “By the end of the series, I had a good grip on it and was able to take on the task of painting my bathroom using this approach, and now it’s finished. I was so used to not getting things done in the past!”

    The Multitasking Myth

    Our modern culture is wedded to multitasking: the belief that we need to be dextrous at paying attention to a bunch of things at the same time. Research, however, has dismantled this myth, as neuroscientists have shown that the human brain is best suited to paying attention to one task at a time. Any more than this creates stress, increases errors, and begins to erode productivity.

    The main dealbreaker is that when we shift our attention, say, from reading an article to looking up a website, our brain has to reorient to the new context, and then when we go back to the article, we have to reorient again. This chews up precious cognitive resources, a process that researchers refer to as “switch costs.”

    Replacing multitasking with mindfulness resonated with a third group of four “Mindfulness for ADHD” participants when they responded to the statement, “Multitasking is a great way to get a lot done.” 40% of them agreed starting out, and at the end of the program, 75% disagreed/strongly disagreed.

    The people living with ADHD in these three groups were relieved to hear that simplifying to one thing at a time conserves cognitive resources and reduces stress, while preserving attention. And this message strikes a chord with the general population as well. In a 10-week Workplace Mindfulness training conducted with 10 police officers, their response to: “Multitasking enables me to accomplish more” showed a major change of mind (significant disagreement) in the post evaluation.

    The “Mindfulness for ADHD” program included a pausing practice that we call “head and shoulders.” It’s a way to take an immediate break from a challenging situation—overwhelm, frustration, stress—connect with the big picture (open space), and then revisit the challenge with a spacious frame of mind. “Learning to pause before reacting and to stay present with one task at a time,” says Gloria, “has been especially helpful.” The group with four participants showed strong improvement  with regard to the evaluation statement, “I tend to be impulsive, taking action, and then regretting it later,” progressing from 75% agree/strongly agree (pre) to 50% disagree (post).

    Anxiety and stress are common in connection with attention difficulties. The evaluation statement that showed the greatest improvement with the first two ADHD groups was:

    “I get stuck with the storylines that can make me feel anxious or stressed, and I don’t know how to pause or interrupt this pattern.” 

    In the first two groups, disagreement increased by 70% (Total scores: pre: 17; post: 29). The third group progressed from 75% strongly agree/agree (pre) to 50% disagree (post).

    Mindfulness isn’t like a vending machine where you simply put in a coin and out pops a bag of chips. There isn’t a one-to-one relationship between the practice and outcomes, which derives from the non-goal orientation of the practice. Of course, we’d like to get something out of it, but at the same time we are encouraged to check our ambition at the door. That way, we can be present with the actual practice, following the instructions as best we can, without hankering for something outside this moment.

    When we’re stuck on storylines, it’s like our thoughts are amplified by loudspeakers, glued to our ears. Mindfulness practice has us noticing when this is happening, acknowledging that these are thoughts which come and go.  We don’t have to “fix” anything. We just return our attention to this world here. Some mindfulness folks see this back and forth activity as exercising a mental muscle. We learn that, through awareness, we can radically change how we relate to our thoughts, ranging from being mesmerized and trapped, to objective discernment.

    Noticing Thoughts Without Judging Them

    Relating to our thoughts without judgment is key. 

    Getting stuck understandably makes people feel anxious or stressed. When we’re trapped in a whirlwind of thoughts, stress and anxiety are not far behind. Their impact on the brain affects working memory, which is closely related to attention.

    “Research has shown that rapidly changing circumstances, worry, and anxiety can all have a significant impact on your ability to focus,” writes Kate Morgan in the BBC’s “How Anxiety Affects Your Focus.” It stands to reason that learning how mindfulness tools can help deal with anxiety can assist us in regaining attention capacity.

    Mindfulness is not about getting rid of stress and anxiety, but relating to them with openness and curiosity—seeing them as they are, without the varnish of habitual patterns, bias, and aversion.

    People’s sense of powerlessness often arises from the fact that they don’t know how to pause or interrupt this looping cycle of distraction, anxiety, compromised focus, and judgmental thoughts. That momentary pause to be with our self-critical thoughts in a new way seems like it might not do much, but it’s actually doing a lot of work. Since it’s so easy to habitually get drawn in, putting a pin in it and taking a mental step back, even just for a breath, becomes a game-changer.

    Attention Training Matters In a Distracted World

    The mindfulness elements of grounding, present-moment orientation, kindness towards oneself, and developing awareness, attention, and nonjudgment are of course not restricted to people with ADHD. In fact, a key reason for the growing widespread interest in mindfulness is the crying need for balance and well-being in the midst of our techno-addled consumerist-driven world. 

    These skills take time to develop, and the process isn’t linear. But a growing body of research is showing that these mindfulness practices work to strengthen our attentional capacity, reduce the attendant stress of constant distractability, and enhance our sense of personal agency in a noisy world that’s relentlessly trying to pull us out of the present moment.



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  • Thanks for the Stuff that Isn’t Just Stuff and Gratitude for What Matters Most

    Thanks for the Stuff that Isn’t Just Stuff and Gratitude for What Matters Most

    Barry Boyce, Mindful’s founder, reflects on the ravages of Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and is thankful for people who remember what matters most, especially in trying circumstances. 

    Something I’ve always loved about Thanksgiving is that we’re mostly thankful for the people (and some good food) and not for “the stuff.” Even with the attendant commercialization that marks the official beginning of The Holiday Season, this brief pause seems to focus on what matters most. 

    For a seemingly increasing number of people the blessed four-day weekend at this time does seem to involve some retail hysteria, but for many families I talk to, it’s still a few days that are focused on the most basic of values. One of my most favorite Thanksgivings was two years ago when I found myself alone with my mother at her nursing home. In a conventional sense, there may have been little for either of us to be thankful for. Her circumstances were reduced, the food could hardly be described as tasty, and other family members were in far flung places having their own Thanksgivings. 

    And yet, we were thankful. Thankful for the company, and just to be breathing air together. We took a long ride in the countryside and my mother opened up and talked about her own mortality in a way she had not before. That too was a thankful moment. We can give thanks for those times when we can be open with someone else about fears and thoughts that by custom we’re not supposed to reveal. Shortly after the next Thanksgiving, my mother did indeed die. I’m ever grateful for that last Thanksgiving with her and the frankness of the conversation 

    This year, I’m particularly inspired by the example of the clothing designer Eileen Fisher and the response of her company to the predations of Hurricane Sandy. Fisher, who launched her business in Tribeca in 1984, made a quality-of-life move upriver to the lovely, un-hectic bedroom community of Irvington in 1992. Known for being a values-conscious retailer and employer (and a mindfulness meditator), by all accounts Fisher has treated her people well, kept her eye on environmental values, and been very community conscious. Her spacious riverfront headquarters includes a second-floor space for yoga and whatnot and a ground floor space where a meditation group has been gathering during off-hours for a few years. 

    On the Monday morning Sandy hit, Fisher’s headquarters filled with water to the height of two file cabinet drawers in some places, her facilities manager told the New York Times. The large plate glass window of her nearby retail store and community gathering space were shattered by the storm. A strikingly beautiful red couch went floating freely and relocated itself to another part of the store. Mud was everywhere in headquarters and store alike. The company’s New Jersey warehouse was shuttered, as was the Manhattan design center, power was spotty, transportation was hampered by gas shortages, shipments were frozen. 

    Twelve dumpster-loads and eight mobile storage units of goods were damaged, to the tune of $1.5 million. And yet Ms. Fisher told the Times, “It was just stuff.” 

    Her composure and equanimity are inspiring, not to say that of her staff, who mobilized on all fronts, to make sure not only that a cleanup could begin quickly and the engine of commerce set in motion again, but also that employees could be paid and offered interest-free loans or advances if they needed cash during the crisis. With few desks to inhabit, they cadged meeting space where they could and car-pooled to save on gas. While everything is far from in full working order weeks after the storm, Eileen Fisher is back in business.

    As Stephanie Clifford wrote in the Times, there was “an almost out-of-body detachment on executives’ part to see past the emotion of sewage-soaked shirts and stained rolls of fabric to the prize of reopening a ravaged business.” That’s a great description of resilience. We might say it’s only a business, but businesses put food on the table and make life for communities. And when a business has a human face, even in crisis, that’s worth being thankful for.



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  • Thanksgiving All Year Long: 5 Simple Gratitude Practices for Daily Life

    Thanksgiving All Year Long: 5 Simple Gratitude Practices for Daily Life

    5 Simple Gratitude Practices for Daily Life

    1) Begin with Gratitude for Your Body—Elaine Smookler

    Some days I wake up and notice that my spring has already sprung and each movement has a kind of creaking quality. After years of practicing mindfulness, it makes me smile. Whatever experience I’m having—good, bad, pleasant, unpleasant—I will never pass this way again. 

    This is an invitation to explore the experience of the present moment in all its gory glory. You can do this practice sitting, standing, upside down or whatever way you find the present moment. 

    1. Let’s start by taking three nice big breaths. Breathe in for a count of three and out for a count of five. Do you notice? You’re alive. It’s actually kind of amazing. Can you bring your attention to the jaw-dropping wonder that is the human body?
    2. Let’s start with the toes, bringing attention to your feet touching the ground. You may be amazed by how many sensations there are to experience, whether it’s tingling, pulsing, restlessness, hot, cool, moist, dry, ticklish, itchy, numb, neutral. What do you notice about paying attention to these small experiences? Is it possible that they could help you cultivate gratitude for this body that’s going to accompany you through your life?
    3. As you move up the legs, what do you feel? Whenever I feel anything uncomfortable, I notice how much I want to make meaning out of it. Instead, I invite us all to just feel what’s here without making any meaning of it at all. It’s all so interesting. So this is what’s happening now. 
    4. Moving up the land of pelvis, I notice clenching the moment I go to explore sensations in my bladder. Do I dare? Again, reminding myself that it’s not about trying to relax or make anything easier or better. I use these moments of awareness to widen the palette of colors available to experience what it is to be a human. When you do this, what do you notice? 
    5. Continuing the journey up the body, eventually we encounter the beautiful belly filled with so many stories. Loss, longing, yearning, wanting. Can you be grateful for all that it’s experienced and send it love and appreciation? 
    6. Moving up through the torso, this luscious landscape which houses heart and lungs, you may picture an inner river pumping and flowing, bringing juicy life through the body.
    7. When you reach your shoulders, you can lay gentle hands on yourself, massaging some of the day’s stress away. Taking a moment to be grateful for all that our shoulders shoulder. Swooping down through arms to fingers, I thank them for allowing me to be independent in so many ways. Can you offer appreciation to your hands and arms that work so hard? 
    8. We visit the neck and face. Are lips dry or moist? Are your teeth clenched? What about the jaw? Can you feel the air moving in and out of your nostrils? Can you notice your eyeballs, top of head, back of head, side of head, and ears?
    9. On an out-breath, let go of focused awareness. On an in-breath, expand your attention around the entire body, noticing all the sensations reminding you that you are alive right now. What do you notice when you bring the spirit of gratitude into every precious moment that you and your body share together?

    2) Allow Gratitude to Connect You to All Living Things—Shauna Shapiro

    Mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude, and the practices that emerge from them help free us from the prison of isolation and the delusion of separation. These practices open our minds, awaken our hearts, and deepen our sense of connection with ourselves, each other, and our world. We begin to realize that we are never just practicing for ourselves. Transforming ourselves creates echoes in the universe, because as we heal ourselves, we heal each other, and our world. As renowned author Arianna Huffington beautifully puts it, “Living in a state of gratitude is the gateway to grace.” 

    1. Begin by settling the mind and body, taking a seat on a chair, on the floor, or wherever you can sit comfortably upright. Allow a soft smile to rest on your lips, not as a way to paper over how you are feeling, but simply to invite in rest and ease.
    1. Bring your awareness to the simple sensations of breathing. Feel how the breath is supporting you, oxygenating the body with each inhale, releasing stress and toxins with each exhale. Begin to sense the beating of your heart. Become aware of how the heart is supporting you, sending blood carrying oxygen and nutrients to all the trillions of cells in your body. Invite in a feeling of gratitude and kindness toward your breath, your heart, your body.
    1. Begin to feel your body in your seat, and let your awareness expand to include the earth below you, supporting you. Allow yourself to rest into the Earth, to feel held by the Earth. Feel how there is nothing more you need to do in this moment.
    1. Reflect on how the Earth is supporting all beings equally, and that gravity is keeping all beings tethered to the Earth. Reflect on how this planet is connected to a solar system and a vast universe. And that all things—all humans, all animals, the Earth, the sun, and the stars—are composed of the same matter, the same basic particles. We are literally all made of stardust.
    1. Feel the web of life into which we are born, from which we can never fall. Feel how you are part of this web. Nothing is separate.
    1. Feel yourself resting with gratitude in the heart of the universe. Begin to send your good wishes to all beings, gently and silently repeating, “May all beings be peaceful. May all beings be safe and protected. May all beings be happy. May all beings be filled with love and kindness.”
    1. And then recognize that you are contained within the good wishes for all beings. Rest your attention once again on this one being sitting here, and silently direct the good wishes to yourself: “May I be peaceful. May I be safe and protected. May I be happy. May I be filled with love and kindness.”
    1. As you breathe in, you are breathing in this loving-kindness, and as you breathe out, you are sending this loving-kindness out. May all beings here and everywhere dwell with peace. May the Earth dwell in peace. And close by offering: May this practice be of benefit for all beings.

    Excerpted from Good Morning, I Love You:  Mindfulness and Self-Compassion Practices to Rewire Your Brain for Calm, Clarity and Joy by Shauna Shapiro, PhD. Sounds True, June 2022.  Reprinted with permission.

    3) Awaken the Flow of Gratitude in Nature—Georgina Miranda

    Regardless of where I am experiencing nature—at a local city park, perched up high on mountain tops, or swimming in the sea—I’ve found it is always a good time to pause and be present with the gratitude I feel for our inherent connectedness to nature. Our breath is an anchor that can always bring us home. A few deep breaths, connecting with the space we are in, bring home a knowing that there is no separation between us. We need our Grand Mother, the Earth—her air to fill our lungs, her living things to feed us, her awe to keep our souls warm. She needs us too—to look after her, to shift our day-to-day ways of living, to treat her as one of our dearest friends.

    Next time you are in nature, see if you can shift from a state of doing into a state of being. The key difference between exercise and movement is that when you move with the intention of exercise, you quickly enter a state of doing. Movement is free-flowing and allows you to enter a state of being. The benefits are vast when you allow yourself to be one with the nature you choose, connecting and moving with gratitude.

    1. Give yourself permission to be. Go into nature without an agenda or expectations and just to be with it and move with it. If you are struggling with stress, anxiety, depression, or sluggishness, let movement outside help ignite an internal shift. 
    1. Breathe and pay attention. Bring all the attention to your breath, its rhythm, its ability to inspire a reset with each inhale and exhale. Notice the air you are breathing in, the smells, the temperature, the freshness. Let each inhale be an opportunity to connect you deeper with the nature you are in. Let each exhale be an opportunity to let go of anything that is not needed at this moment. 
    1. Breathe and feel deeper. When you’re connected to your breath, what else do you feel? As you take each step, what flows through your body? How does the sun, wind, snow, or rain feel on your skin? What can you hear? While you notice each breath you take, can you start to unite with the space you are in, versus be separate from it? Can you notice you are one with the earth, the air, the water, around you? 
    1. Breathe and open up to gratitude. Look around, and while staying connected to your breath, let your heart open to any gratitude that’s arising in this moment. Gratitude for the pause in the busyness of life and existence…to your body for its willingness to move freely…to this natural setting and the natural gifts from Mother Earth to you…for this moment of well-being…for knowing that this type of movement, state of awareness, and pause all in one is always available to you. 
    1. Surrender. Surrender completely with the help of the beautiful nature around you. Become one with it, one with your breath. Just be and soak in the feeling of liberation that can come from the present moment. 

    4) Counteract Resentment—Barry Boyce

    To begin this gratitude practice, I’d like to start by considering one of the biggest obstacles to gratitude: resentment. We can dress up our resentment with a sophisticated storyline about how others—one, or many, or multitudes—are doing us wrong, but what it simply boils down to is being upset because we’re not getting what we want.

    The world is too complex and multifaceted for us to continually get our way. It’s good to aspire for the best for ourselves and others, while nonetheless remaining committed to the journey more than the satisfaction of achieving a fixed outcome. If everyone gets their way, we can’t have a cooperative world. From time to time, we need to undercut our own perspective and see things from the other side—maybe even from all sides. Gratitude is a practice that can work with the tendency to cling to fixed outcomes and to feel resentful when we don’t get our way. 

    1. Bring to mind something that seems unlikely to change and that you do not accept. Perhaps it’s something that’s happened to you or it’s something that’s going on with a loved one or in the world at large. It can be big or small.
    2. Counter-intuitively say thank you for that. You’re not being thankful for the thing itself, you’re being thankful for the opportunity to let go. To accept how things unfold doesn’t mean we condone bad behavior or indulge in pessimism or martyrdom. Rather, the point is to use gratitude to undercut our resistance to working creatively with difficult situations. 
    3. For about 3 minutes, keep imagining things you resent, that you’re irritated about, things that you have trouble accepting or allowing.Try having an attitude that says, “Thank you for the opportunity to work with this.” When we open to deep gratitude for the opportunity to let go of our grasping to outcomes, we can foster a kind of embryonic openness that can lead to other more outward kinds of gratitude. 
    4. In this next step, let’s be grateful in concentric circles, moving out from our immediate situation, with prompts like the following: I’m grateful to have the necessities of life. I’m grateful to have people to love and to share love with. I’m grateful for friends and the companionship they offer. I’m grateful for the people who serve my needs, who pick up the garbage, take care of the roads, or fix my bicycle. I’m grateful for the people who provide energy and take care of the vast infrastructure that supports society and life. Thank you to the people who sell me food. I’m grateful to health care workers. I’m grateful to the people who are dedicated to keeping me safe. Finally, I’m grateful for the need to encounter those who mean harm, who are tormented by mental and physical pain that causes them to act badly or even violently. While I do not condone purposefully harmful actions, I am grateful that there is a spark of compassion available for those who do harm, and for all of us when we do harm, and the possibility of beneficial change emerging in time. Thank you very much. I’m grateful to share this with you.

    5) Nurture a Felt Sense of Gratitude—Gina Rollo White

    In this practice, we will be connecting ideas and thoughts with bodily sensations. I’ll walk you through all of it. Follow along and do what works for you.

    1. Choose a posture that’s comfortable for you: standing, sitting, or lying down. If you want to close your eyes, you can. Know that at any point, if you feel uncomfortable, you can always open them. If you are standing, sometimes closing your eyes can make you a little wobbly, so you can open them, adjust, and close them again. 
    1. Before we begin, take a nice big inhale. So inhale…and exhale. In this practice, we will be connecting ideas and thoughts with bodily sensations. I’ll walk you through all of it. Follow along and do what works for you. 
    1. Begin by noticing the length of your body. Just noticing the entire length of your body, from your feet all the way up to the top of your head. And bring to mind this idea of length, but also this idea of strength and pride. Feel yourself, standing tall or lengthening long, and connect with the sensation of your feet all the way up to the top of your head, so the entire length of your body is connected with the idea of strength and pride and length. 
    1. Now we’ll move to the back of our body. See if you can imagine what the back of your body looks like—the back of your head, your back, your seat, the back of your feet—and connect that with the idea of the past. Everything that’s behind you, your entire past, is connected with the backs of your shoulder blades, your seat. Maybe you can notice the space in between your shirt and your body, or the space in between your shoulder blades. Just bring to mind the back of your body, and connect it with the past. 
    1. Next, we move to the sides of our body. See if you can imagine the sides of your body from shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, outside edges of your feet, maybe ear to ear. Think of that as connecting with the outside world, connecting with community. Even raise your arms up and see if you can create a little circle around yourself. Connect the sides of your body with this idea of protecting yourself, so you can create boundaries. But also, if you can, open up and reach your arms really wide, reaching out to your community, to those around you. Notice how you can reach really far and feel connected with those around you, but also create the safety of boundaries, connecting with the sides of your body, your shoulders, your hips, the outside of your feet. 
    1. Take a moment to continue connecting with community by sending thoughts of love and kindness and gratitude toward others. Bring to mind someone or something, maybe a pet, that you have an uncomplicated relationship with, who you feel safe with. As you bring to mind someone who creates safety or something that creates safety, imagine sending these words to them: May you feel love and kindness. May you feel safe and secure. May you feel healthy and strong. 
    1. And now, broaden those kind thoughts to your inner circle or your local community or neighborhood. Bringing to mind your community, send thoughts of love and gratitude: May you feel love and kindness. Imagining. All those people. May you feel safe and secure. 
    1. Continue opening your arms and your circle of love and gratitude. Broadening your arms even more, maybe continuing it out to your nation, to your continent. Imagine all the people and beings on your continent, and then even further out, to the entire world: May you all feel love and kindness. May everyone, every being, every animal feel safe and secure. May you all feel healthy and strong. 
    1. And now, bring your arms in closer to your body. Making that circle smaller and smaller, you can come back to our neighborhood, your community, all the way back to that first person or animal that makes you feel safe and secure. Connect with the outside of your body, the outside of your feet, your hips and shoulders. 
    1. Bring your focus now to your internal world. What’s occurring inside of your body? Notice your heartbeat, your stomach digesting, your lungs as you inhale and exhale. Connect that with the idea of present-moment awareness. What’s occurring right now, in this moment? Your breath. Your heartbeat. And also yourself, connecting your awareness with all that you are. Take a moment to send yourself gratitude and love and kindness. If it’s available to you, put your hands over your heart. 
    1. Think to yourself as you’re standing here in this present moment: May I feel love and kindness. May I feel safe and secure. May I be healthy and strong. May I be happy. Place your hands by your side, and move from the internal once again to the external. From the front of your body, the tips of your toes to your belly, to the outside of your chest, the outside of your shoulders, your face. Connect the front of your body with the idea of forward movement, and with the idea of all that is before you. 
    1. Picture your entire body, connecting all the parts. The front of your body, the sides of your body, the back of your body, internal head to toe. Bringing it all into one thought, one image, and take a moment to send yourself some gratitude. You might say to yourself, Great job. Great job for practicing today. Maybe even put your hands over your heart again and saying, Thank you.
    1. Place your arms by your side, and then if you can, as you inhale, reach your arms up really high, all the way up. As you exhale, lower your arms. If your eyes were closed, you can open them. Just take a moment to look around and take in the colors, the sights, maybe even the sounds. 
    1. Get curious about what you feel right now. What is the quality you feel right now? And then as you close this practice, give yourself one final moment of gratitude, saying to yourself, Thank you. Great job.
    How to Practice Gratitude 

    Practicing gratitude has incredible effects, from improving our mental health to boosting our relationships with others. Explore ways you can be more appreciative in our mindful guide to gratitude.
    Read More 

    • Mindful Staff
    • September 21, 2023

    The Science of Gratitude 

    Research shows gratitude isn’t just a pleasant feeling—being grateful can also support greater health, happiness, and wisdom in ourselves and our communities.
    Read More 

    • Misty Pratt
    • February 17, 2022



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  • Workplace Wellbeing in This Digital Age: Mindful Guidance for Digital Fatigue and Burnout

    Workplace Wellbeing in This Digital Age: Mindful Guidance for Digital Fatigue and Burnout

    It’s 3p.m., and you’ve been at your desk for all or most of the day. Maybe you even worked through lunch, hunched over your keyboard while eating a sandwich. If you paused and tuned into your body, would you notice how your eyes are burning, how your neck and shoulders are tense and achey? Swamped at work, trying to stay on deadline, can you remain focused and calm your frazzled mind—or do you struggle with staying on task?

    Or how about when the workday is over? Maybe you crawl into bed, exhausted—but still can’t sleep through the night. And when you’re away from your office, how often do you remember to unplug and wander screen-free in healing green spaces? 

    All of these are extremely common symptoms and contributors to what we call screen-related stress, digital fatigue, and burnout—and they’re endemic in the workplace. 

    The good news is that you don’t have to keep living this way. We have the option to work more mindfully: by improving our computer station; learning on-the-spot de-stressing techniques; taking nature breaks to recharge; and establishing better tech habits.

    When we get serious about Digital Wellness, we can create healthier workplaces, be kinder to our bodies and minds, and engage in activities that actually replenish our energy and combat burnout when we’re not at work.

    Our Digital Wellness Best Practices: 4 Easy-to-Use Tips

    I’ve been fortunate to work with Dr. Michael Rich, Director of Harvard University’s Digital Wellness Lab, in developing these research-backed strategies for greater digital wellness. Dr. Rich contributed to our book Less Screen More Green, and we were truly blessed to have the late Dr. Jane Goodall write the foreword.

    The reality is, today’s digital workplace was not designed for our wellbeing, as you probably know all too well. It’s clear that we need to be intentional about fostering our wellbeing more than ever. Here are four essential places to start.

    1. Check Your Workstation Ergonomics

    How your workstation is set up has a significant impact on you and your work. Pamela Dempster, a Certified Professional Ergonomist and collaborator in our programs, cautions: “Laptops can be a health issue as they promote more neck bending/cervical flexing which should be avoided for extended periods of time. Also, poorly designed workstations, and the current trend of ‘hot desking’ [where workstations are continually rotated], significantly increase workplace stress.” So let’s look more closely at how a workstation should be set up to limit stress and promote better skeletal, muscular, nervous-system, and eye health.

    First, a good chair with lumbar (lower back) support and a good armrest is key. Supportive armrests are critical for upper body/upper extremity health, and they’re best if padded with soft foam underlay. Your screen should be an arm’s length away and at eye level so you are looking straight ahead into the upper part of the screen, not looking down and straining your neck. Monitors at eye height promote neutral head/neck positioning. This promotes downward eye gazing which is healthier for our near-sighted visual system and its ability to focus better on what it’s reading.

    As you probably know, staring at blue-lit screens and unhealthy tech habits, including poor ergonomics, increase our stress levels and our exhaustion. They drain our physical and mental fuel and contribute to burnout. To support eye health, invest in blue-light filtering glasses to ease eye strain, and keep lubricating eyedrops at your desk and remember to blink. (Yes, we “forget” to blink when we’re glued to screens!)

    2. Do Regular Deskercises

    It’s important to keep the body moving during the day, even when you’re right at your desk. This keeps us from developing muscle strain and repetitive injuries like “Tech Neck.” Regular gentle movement practices like Chi Gong, and intentional practices like mindfulness meditation and breathing exercises (yes, we “forget” to breathe, as well) help relax our bodies and calm and focus our minds. This not only increases ease and productivity at work, but also helps us sleep much better at night.

    Turn away from your screen frequently to refocus your gaze and take some deep breaths for on-the-spot relaxation and recharging. One of the easiest deskercises we recommend is called 20-20-20: Set a timer, and every 20 minutes, shift your gaze away from your screen—even better if it’s out a window. Look at least 20 feet away, for at least 20 seconds, and do some deep breathing.

    One of our Digital Wellness participants reported that since doing the Mindful Tech program, she’s rearranged her desk and computer setup, relieving tension in her neck and low back. She now also takes regular breaks to do the 20-20-20 practice and stand up and stretch. “It’s made me feel better with the amount of screen time in my work, and it’s non-negotiable.”

    3. The Nature Remedy: A Daily Dose of Nearby Nature

    In a world that is tech-obsessed, noisy, and chaotic, it’s so easy to forget that “nature” is not something out there in the woods. It’s not separate from us. We humans are part of nature! (Although this isn’t always evident by how recklessly we treat our environment.) Being in the forest, a city park, a patch of grass, or just pausing to turn inward for a moment and take some lungfuls of fresh air is coming home to our true selves, in some way.

    We call this intentional practice The Nature Remedy, and it is the ground of our workplace wellness program.

    Scientific evidence by researchers including Dr. Qing Li, the Scientific Advisor for The Forest Bathing Institute, supports the benefits of mindfulness in nature for many physical and mental health issues including: hypertension, anxiety, depression, empathy fatigue, and burnout. This Japanese practice of Shinrin Yoku is emerging as a key strategy for workplace wellness and is practiced by many eminent health professionals themselves.

    Our co-author Dr. Rich is an advocate of the healing power of nature as a key aspect of workplace wellbeing and was surprised by the effect of Shinrin Yoku: “Recently, at a conference in Aspen, I had my first experience with Forest Bathing. Surprisingly, it may seem that nothing is happening; there we were under the canopy of trees just focusing on specific senses. Yet somehow it is everything as we paused, slowed down, and listened to the trees. Most of this digital generation are so used to being hyper-stimulated that it takes them time to ease into the quiet that is so key to their mental health. Gearing down, being in nature, without our phones, is truly beneficial for us all.”

    Dr. Rich explains what is happening in this simple moment. Forest Bathing works, because when we shift from our habitually speedy and cluttered mind, this can have a profound impact on resetting our nervous system. We’re shifting from the sympathetic (stress) mode, to the parasympathetic (relaxation) mode. The mental health benefits are similar to clearing your mind in meditation. You’re connecting with an inner stillness that is usually drowned out by the noise of our highly urbanized workplaces.

    Remember, it’s important to do this screen free. Screens disrupt our sense of connection to time and place and our bodies, which limits our ability to settle into the quietness.

    We’ve found that this intentional reconnection with nature is resonating, even with people whose jobs require them to spend entire days on screens. One IT professional reported this experience after taking our Digital Wellness program and trying our Nearby Nature tip: “Instead of moaning about not being able to get out for a long hike, I take frequent breaks. Just walk around the block without checking my phone or listening to music. That’s a big change for me! I am seriously hooked, worse than my caffeine habit. Our boss is happy we’re taking fewer sick days. It’s a good reminder to do some of my mindfulness stuff outdoors when I can, without my phone.”

    4. Sleep Strategies

    The quality and duration of your sleep has an immense impact on your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. We need it for good immune function, to process thoughts and emotions, and to repair our bodies and balance our nervous system. But we don’t always make the connection between our daily screentime, digital fatigue, burnout, and our ability to get the very sleep we need to recover.

    One of the most helpful things you can do is just unplug at least one hour before bedtime. Leave your phone powered off; get a battery alarm clock to use instead. As you may know, there’s scientific evidence that wireless radiation affects our sleep, so you will also sleep much better in this tech-free sanctuary if you also turn off your WiFi. Avoid all caffeine in the late afternoon and evening, and consider natural supplements such as calcium, magnesium and low-dose melatonin. When you can’t get to sleep, fussing about not sleeping generally tends to make things worse. Instead, doing a sleep meditation or deep breathing can often help you sink into a deep rest.

    Reclaiming Our Right to Workplace Wellbeing

    Inertia is a strange thing. It’s easy to assume, just because most workplaces, by default, encourage unhealthy daily routines and habits, that this is “just the way it is.” The truth is that it doesn’t have to be this way at all. We can reclaim our right to workplace wellbeing.

    We’re also seeing positive signs every day that change is coming: A significant number of businesses and organizations are waking up to how crucial it is to have employees take care of themselves if they want workplaces that can actually function.

    If you’re inspired to take action for your own wellness, please try these practices for yourself, and check out the resources we offer.

    Details about our program: www.DigitalWellnessPrograms.com

    Our book: www.LessScreenMoreGreen.org

    Our nonprofit: www.GlobalHealthAlliance.ca

    More from Pamela Dempster and healthy ergonomics: www.DempsterWellness.com

    Details about The Forest Bathing Institute: www.tfb.institute 



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  • Henna as Mindfulness: A Creative Practice for Calm and Connection

    Henna as Mindfulness: A Creative Practice for Calm and Connection

    In this practice, mindful teacher Rose Felix Cratsley invites kids and caregivers to explore henna as an art form and as a gentle mindfulness activity that nurtures stillness, creativity, and cultural appreciation.

    A Mindful Ritual at Your Fingertips

    Children are naturally drawn to creative expression. The process of making and applying henna slows us down, encouraging presence, sensory awareness, and loving connection through touch and design.

    Rooted in South Asian, Middle Eastern, and African cultures, henna (or mehndi) is a sacred ritual of celebration, storytelling, and connection. This practice invites us into mindful moments: as we mix the paste, trace the lines, feel the coolness on our skin, and observe our thoughts. Whether it’s a quiet moment shared between caregiver and child, or at a community gathering rich with color and conversation, henna becomes a living reminder: we are here, together, in this moment.

    Henna Mindfulness Practice

    1. Begin with Breath

    Invite your child or group to take three slow, deep breaths. Feel the belly rise and fall. Notice how your body begins to soften. You might say: “We are here, we are calm, we are ready to create together.”

    2. Mix with Intention

    Mix 2 tablespoons of natural henna powder with lemon juice until a smooth paste forms. Optionally add a drop of essential oil and a pinch of sugar. Stir slowly and notice the texture and scent. As you mix, set a quiet intention: peace, joy, strength—whatever quality you want to hold in your design.

    3. Trace the Moment

    Before applying henna on the skin, practice simple shapes on paper. Spirals, dots, leaves, hearts—anything your child imagines. Encourage slowing down: 

    • How does it feel to trace that line?
    • What happens to your breath as you move your hand?

    4. Apply with Care

    Using a cone or small brush, apply a simple design to the hand or wrist. Notice the sensation of the cool paste, the stillness of the body, and the breath anchoring the experience.

    *Caregivers can gently apply henna to children’s hands, offering this as a moment of love, bonding, and grounding.

    5. Rest and Reflect

    Once the design is complete, let it dry naturally. Use this time for quiet reflection or journaling. Invite conversation:

    • What story does your henna design tell?
    • How did it feel to go slowly and focus?
    • What do you want to remember and cherish from this moment?

    6. Close with Gratitude and intention

    As the henna sets and your breath softens, invite a final moment of stillness. You might say together:

    “We are present. We are creative. We are calm. We welcome peace.”

    Let these words settle into your heart, mind, and body, like the design resting on your skin. This simple affirmation becomes a living mantra, carrying the essence of the practice forward: grounded in mindfulness, rich with cultural meaning, and full of possibility.

    While henna fades in time, the peace we create through these practices becomes cherished memories.

    Its Significance

    Henna, as a mindfulness practice, invites children into their senses, their heritage, their bodies, and their relationships with care. For caregivers, it’s an opportunity to share calm and culture in one breath.

    Rooted in tradition and adaptable for all ages, this ritual offers connection across generations—where stories, symbols, and emotions can live on the skin and in the heart.



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  • Foster Forgiveness With This 10-Minute Guided Meditation

    Foster Forgiveness With This 10-Minute Guided Meditation

    Explore this mindfulness practice to foster forgiveness and let go of the tendency to add to suffering during challenging situations.

    Two monks are walking down the road. They arrive at a muddy stream crossing, and a well-dressed woman declares without introduction, “Don’t just stand there. Someone carry me across this mess.“

    Without pause, the older monk lifts her across. She says nothing, not even a thank you.

    The two monks walk all day. The whole time, the younger one stews in his mind—How could he pick her up? We’re not supposed to touch women, or even talk to them. And she was so rude, someone should say something to her, she didn’t deserve our help.

    Finally, arriving at the inn for dinner, he can’t hold himself back. “What were you thinking?” he asks his friend. “She was nasty, and you broke the rules, and she didn’t even say thank you.”

    The older monk smiles gently and replies. “Wow, I put that woman down hours ago, but you’ve been carrying her all this time!”

    Why We Carry Anger and Resentment

    So what does that mean in real life? We make mistakes. Other people make mistakes. We do things to others. Others do things to us. There’s an actual experience that can be trivial or even traumatic. We add to the suffering with judgment, anger, and blame. It’s sometimes referred to as adding a second arrow after being struck by a first. Something unpleasant happens, but then we add more to the experience.

    With forgiveness, we make amends when needed but let go of the extra baggage. We give ourselves the same benefit of the doubt we’d offer a close friend.

    Forgiveness isn’t the same as condoning ourselves or anyone else for misbehavior. But we so easily hold ourselves infinitely responsible, often for experiences utterly out of our control or from decades past. With forgiveness, we make amends when needed but let go of the extra baggage. We give ourselves the same benefit of the doubt we’d offer a close friend.

    On the other hand, we sometimes allow someone else to influence our lives long after they’ve gone in a similar fashion. Another driver cuts us off in traffic, putting us in danger, and then speeds off. The driver arrives at brunch and relaxes, but we make our own coffee break bitter dwelling in our own anger. It’s a concept that holds across larger situations too. Anger and resentment simmer and grow, while compassionate resolve allows us to address what needs addressing without slinging additional arrows.

    A Forgiveness Meditation to Let Go of Added Suffering

    1. Find yourself a comfortable posture, or take a moment lying on the floor, or a bed.
    2. Bring your attention to the physical sensation of breathing, noting whatever is grabbing your attention, or whatever you’re feeling now, and without judgment, bringing your attention back to the rising and falling of your breath.
    3. Picture something that comes to mind that you judge yourself for. Maybe you feel regret, or irritation, or sadness. Notice how it feels even bringing it to mind. Then focus on these three phrases, not forcing anything but setting an intention: I forgive myself for not understanding. I forgive myself for making mistakes. I forgive myself for causing pain and suffering to myself and others.
    4. Bring your attention back again and repeat the phrases. For a few moments instead of the breath using these phrases as a focus for your attention. This type of practice may become too painful. At any time, without judging yourself, come back and focus on the breath. Allow yourself to settle and return when you’re ready, now or maybe some time in the future.
    5. Our mind naturally holds onto instances where we feel mistreated by others. There may be experiences that were entirely wrong or traumatic or that concretely require our attention or action. At the same time, we can practice avoiding the second arrow. I forgive you for not understanding. I forgive you for making mistakes. I forgive you for causing pain and suffering to me and to others. Letting go of the tendency to add resentment and judgment and everything related to challenging and unpleasant situations. Again, if it’s too much to consider, return to breathing, or if you prefer, focusing on compassion for yourself instead.
    6. Practices of this kind can be quite challenging, so in these last few moments, on each in-breath, noticing and accepting whatever you feel right now. On each out-breath, as you would for a close friend, offering yourself relief, or freedom, or strength, or whatever first comes to mind.

    Forgiveness doesn’t mean being passive or not taking action. It doesn’t mean standing down when we need to protect ourselves or someone else from harm. Do what needs to be done—that might mean taking a pause, settling the mind, and trying to see things as clearly as possible before taking skillful action. Continue to practice forgiveness, over and over again, letting go of whatever holds you back.



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