Mindfulness changes at the level of neurons

In the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, researchers at Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital have shown that after eight weeks of practicing meditation for 30 minutes a day, participants showed real structural changes to parts of the brain involved in memory, emotions and stress.

This isn’t the first time science has backed the effectiveness of meditation and specifically the practice of “mindfulness,” which involves focusing on the here-and-now and elements of a person’s immediate experience or environment. As Sindya Bhanoo reports in The New York Times, a 2009 study suggested meditation reduced blood pressure, while a 2007 study found people who meditate have longer attention spans.

Here are the brain changes shown by the current study and how you might incorporate these ideas into family life: Continue reading »

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Meditating on-the-go

We tend to spend a lot of time worrying about the future or ruminating about the past. When I work with people in my therapy practice, I see it a lot (and I’m guilty of it myself). It can make us feel disconnected — and no doubt the people around us feel it too. We don’t always need to be “present,” but sometimes it helps to dial back into the moment to reduce stress or feel grounded.

I’m not a big meditator, (in the quiet-room, lotus-position kind of way), but I think weaving certain exercises into daily life can really help people with focus, emotional regulation, and more.

I loved reading Kelly McGonigal’s (she’s a health psychologist at Stanford) short but sweet on-the-go mediation today. So I’ll share it with you, along with another short mediation I learned recently and have been trying to practice myself.

Hers starts with walking… Continue reading »

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Toddlers are about as Un-Zen as you can get. They zoom from the moment they wake up until they crash into a wall of sleep at the end of the day, leaving exhausted parents and teachers in their wake. Some day, it can be tiring just to look at a toddler at play.

Can these kids be taught to meditate? Should they be? Some folks think so. There’s a wave of meditation classes for kids sweeping the nation. What parent wouldn’t love their preschooler to pick up a hobby that keeps her sitting still and quiet for long stretches, and leaves her feeling emotionally balanced and refreshed.

Unlike yoga for preschoolers, though, meditation is generally a sitting still activity. One little kids may have a hard time adopting. That doesn’t mean teaching them meditation techniques is a lost cause, though.

Continue reading »

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The U.S. Department of Education recently awarded a major grant to help fund teachers’ training in contemplative practices such as meditation. Known as Cultivating Awareness and Resiliency in Education (CARE), the program that received the grant uses mindfulness meditation to help teachers recognize emotional patterns–both their own and their students’–so that they can more skillfully respond to classroom social problems like bullying. Continue reading »

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