Search Results for: mindfulness

Mindfulness Can Quiet Down the A**Hole Voice in Our Heads

…at the University of Toronto published a study that showed how practicing mindfulness meditation reduced activity in the part of the brain associated with a wandering and critical mind. This was also correlated with lower scores on the Beck Depression Inventory compared with a group who wasn’t practicing mindfulness. Could this cortical midline area of the brain be where the A-hole in our mind is? This is certainly a worthwhile doctoral dissertat…

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How Meditation Is Linked to Better Mental Health

…ther related disorders. Other studies have attempted to test the impact of mindfulness meditation on depression and anxiety disorders. One looked at how mindfulness meditation affected the anxiety and depression levels among the 22 participants of the study, noting that they were significantly reduced. What’s more, the majority of the participants continued to practice these mindfulness meditation stress reduction techniques at three months after…

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Experts at Home: Dr. Donna Rockwell on the Benefits of Mindfulness in Challenging Times

…  In our second Experts at Home conversation, Dr. Lisa Firestone talks with mindfulness expert Dr. Donna Rockwell. They discuss the many benefits of mindfulness during this challenging time, including how mindfulness can help reduce anxiety and expand our ability to “sit with the unknown” and face this moment. Watch Now: Subscribe to PsychAlive (it’s free!) to see more Experts at Home.    …

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Part II: Finding Calm in the Chaos

…circumstances. Moving on toward an understanding of the other elements of Mindfulness: Awareness and Present Moment Awareness: Usually when in a stressful situation, we are aware, or focused on, what we don’t like about that situation, ourselves, or another. In Mindfulness, the challenge is to expand our awareness beyond the story, beyond our ideas, beyond our judgments, in a sense, giving more room for our experience. When our attention is narro…

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3 Easy Things to Try to Immediately Improve Your Mood

…son, I like to dive a little deeper into one of its components. Practicing mindfulness can be a powerful way to not get too attached to each and every fleeting feeling that comes our way. Mindfulness can be practiced through meditation, but it’s also something we can connect with in specific moments throughout our day. While focusing on breathing or predictable, repetitive actions is helpful, the basic idea is to allow our thoughts and feelings to…

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Science Points to How Mindfulness Helps Us Break Bad Habits

…experience and community support, not as much through cognitive education. Mindfulness helps slow us down and creates space from the cravings (desires) and urges (feelings) that can control our attention and decision making. The reality is the greatest “bad habit” we have is our thinking. The snap judgment of whether something is good or bad, right or wrong, fair or unfair all happens faster than the blink of an eye and then leads to the behaviora…

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How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed

…d methods for living in the moment and coping with what life throws at us. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, which involves the practice of mindfulness meditation, has been proven to reduce stress and exhaustion and to increase psychological well-being, self-esteem and quality of life. In addition to reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety, MBSR has had beneficial effects on stress-related medical conditions and can play a role in reducing p…

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Finding the Calm in the Chaos

…erfect moment to sit in silence and meditate upon a mountaintop. Integrate Mindfulness within your day, and you might begin to discover the possibility in the pain or sense, where calm exists right there in the chaos. I will continue further into the other elements of Mindfulness: Awareness and Present Moment, with tips on practice in my next blog. Diane Renz, a licensed psychotherapist, founder of Your Gateway to Healing, writer, workshop facilit…

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how to move on

How to Move On

…move on. Learn more about the practice of self-compassion here. Practicing mindfulness Dr. Lisa Firestone describes mindfulness as “an incredible tool to help people understand, tolerate, and deal with their emotions in healthy ways.” Practicing mindfulness meditation has been shown to reduce stress by teaching us to accept our thoughts and feelings without over-identifying and being overwhelmed by them or judging ourselves harshly. Headspace is a…

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VIDEO: The Link Between Mindfulness Meditation and Compassion

…h or read the interview below. Lisa Firestone: Does consistent practice of mindfulness meditation lead to the development of compassion? Has that been your experience? Donna Rockwell: Absolutely. And it’s because of what we were saying before which is that you start having compassion for yourself. It’s like, “Oh my God, will my mind every shut up?” You know, you start saying, “This is absurd, you know. You’re sitting there and this movie keeps goi…

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