Donna Rockwell, Psy.D.

Donna Rockwell, Psy.D.
Dr. Donna Rockwell, Psy.D., L.P. is a licensed clinical psychologist, adjunct faculty member, community outreach worker, columnist, and mindfulness meditation teacher. Dr. Rockwell specializes in both mindfulness and celebrity mental health. She works with clients in her private practice and teaches public meditation classes. You can watch Dr. Rockwell on YouTube or read more of her blogs at The New Existentialists.

Blogs by Donna Rockwell, Psy.D.

What Drew Me to Meditation

In her interview with PsychAlive’s Dr. Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about what drew her to the practice of meditation. Lisa Firestone:  When did you first become interested in mindfulness and what attracted you to that practice of meditation? Donna Rockwell: Well, it was quite interesting really because I was a journalist in Washington,… Read more »

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My Day with the Dalai Lama; A primer for happiness

The Dalai Lama smiled as he shook his head. There is no difference between the East and the West, he said. Everyone has the same “mind,” so every person has the chance to gain enlightenment – the ability to live a joyful life. He was sitting in a packed ballroom, talking to a group of… Read more »

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VIDEO: Meditation as a Way of Being in the World

In her PsychAlive interview, mindfulness expert Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about meditation as a way of “being in the world in an existential sense.” We don’t even know our own minds, you know, it’s interesting.  We live externally and it’s all about getting the right job and the right husband and the right house.  And… Read more »

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VIDEO: Dr. Donna Rockwell on Her Experience with the Dalai Lama

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about her experience with the Dalai Lama. I was part of that conference at Harvard Medical School and he is just, I mean, he personifies being natural and real in the moment.  Being alive and vital right now.  He’d be the first… Read more »

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VIDEO: Becoming a "Self-Scientist"

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about the impermanence and the freedom that arises when one becomes a “self-scientist.” Everything’s impermanent.  That’s what the Buddha discovered when he was sitting under the Bodhi tree for that whole night and said I won’t get up until I realize enlightenment. … Read more »

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VIDEO: Attuned Attachment and Healthy Attachment

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about the difference between attuned or healthy attachment and the negative types of attachment Buddhism often refers to. You know, you’re absolutely right.  So often a lot of the words that are used have a meaning in Sanskrit or in the Tibetan… Read more »

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VIDEO: Mindfulness as a Psychology of Being

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about mindfulness as a psychology of being. Lisa Firestone: So, you’ve talked about Buddhism in relation to mindfulness.  Do you see mindfulness as inherently as part of Buddhism? Donna Rockwell:  Yeah.  I don’t, I never really felt that even Buddhism was a… Read more »

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VIDEO: Teaching Children to Appreciate Life

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about engaging children in the appreciation for being alive. Donna Rockwell:  Another thing that I did with my kids all growing up is when they would go to sleep at night, I’d say, Before we go to sleep after we’ve read, I’d… Read more »

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VIDEO: Teaching Children to Be More Mindful

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about The Hawn Foundation and the benefits of teaching children to be more mindful. Goldie Hawn started the Hawn Foundation and she’s very active in teaching children in school what she calls focusing because mindfulness is too scary or meditation is too… Read more »

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VIDEO: Sitting Meditation Practice

In her interview with PsychAlive Senior Editor Lisa Firestone, Dr. Donna Rockwell talks about the significance and effect of the posture assumed during sitting meditation practice. The other thing that’s interesting in sitting practice is, you know, when we’re sitting on the cushion, we find that we’re either shlumping this way or this way and… Read more »

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