Guest Author

4 Ways Mindfulness Helps My Anxiety

By Rachel E. Watson When my husband and I took the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction class at Grand Rapids Center for Mindfulness in 2013, we weren’t sure what to expect. I approached the class with trepidation. What if it’s too much work? What if there’s an Eastern religious angle that conflicts with my Christian faith? What if it doesn’t help reduce my stress? Won’t it be stressful to attend a class every week and do homework every day? Turns out, my fears were groundless. Yes, the class was a bit of work—maybe an hour a day, or up to two hours […]

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Live in the Conversation

by Jess Piszker Live in the moment, including the moment of a conversation. In today’s world, our minds are often thinking ahead. Our brains are visualizing our to-do list, keeping a mental note of what’s next. Even when we are doing the next item on the list, we are thinking about the item after. This is why we aren’t fully present in the conversations we are having. We are thinking about other things on our mind, texting someone else, or invested too deeply by something on the phone distracted continuously by ring tones, memos, and reminders that keep popping up

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Spiritual Bypassing in the Time of COVID-19

by Susan Duesbery, as originally posted in Elephant Journal The other day I was speaking with a woman who told me that she was “excited” about the positive changes the coronavirus was already ushering in. She went on to express the hope that a new world order based on love would replace current systems based on corruption and greed. After she spoke these words, I realized that I’d seen a lot of similar comments on social media lately. In many ways, I couldn’t agree more with such remarks. But there are two sides to this coin, and to ignore one

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Do Christianity and Mindfulness Go Together?

By Irene Kraegel, PsyD Mindfulness & Christians When I first started teaching mindfulness to students on the campus of a Christian university in 2013, I approached the topic with some trepidation. Would the community reject mindfulness as incongruent with Christian faith? Would I receive a deluge of emails from angry parents and freaked out students? Would there be suspicions and questions popping up at every turn in my conversations with faculty and staff about mindfulness meditation? I am happy to report that none of this was the case. Christian believers in my circles of faith—both at work and at church—have

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Your Life As a Meditation

by Lynn Rossy, PhD I have taught many people to begin meditating; and I am aware that there are a LOT of misperceptions about what it is and isn’t. Because I have found the practice so very beneficial in my life, I have spent my entire career helping people overcome their misperceptions so that they, too, can reap the joys that arise from understanding how you can bring meditation into your life—both formally and informally. There are many types of formal meditation practice such as sitting meditations, body scans, mindful yoga, mindful walking, and mindful eating. These practices ask that

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Mindfulness in Addiction Recovery

The following article was contributed by the editorial team at RehabCenter.net, which connects individuals with quality addiction treatment and care, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, we encourage you to seek professional treatment services before starting a mindfulness course. Once you are solidly in recovery, our 8-week mindfulness classes can be a valuable support for your continued healing. To some, recovering from addiction may mean a focus on healing from the physical effects and learning to stay away from drugs or alcohol. Yet, there is so much more

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Overcoming the Wanting Mind

By Lynn Rossy, PhD One of the most common statements I hear at the beginning of my mindful eating classes is, “I can’t stop eating because it tastes so good even when I’m full.” My question is “Are you listening to your belly or to your mind?” After a short pause, I hear “To my mind!” People get it. They can immediately recognize that we get different messages from our bellies (which register the amount of food we put in it) than we do from our minds (which is almost constantly seeking pleasure). Our bellies don’t want to have too

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Generosity Begins with You

By Patti Ward, M.Ed. December can easily be seen as a month of great generosity. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition for “generosity” is: the quality of being kind and generous. The meaning of “generous” is to show a readiness to give more of something, as money or time, than is strictly necessary or expected. What’s your definition of generosity? There is actually a “Science of Generosity Initiative” at the University of Notre Dame. In their research, a number of studies have demonstrated a relationship between generosity, happiness, and well-being. They also discovered a seeming paradox; freely giving of oneself makes us

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Mindful Mothering Moments (Mediocre, Marvelous and Miserable)

By Rachael Koeson My youngest is 3, and I am just beginning to have a regular sitting meditation practice. I have done lots of sitting meditation off and on through the years, but it is incredibly hard to actually meditate in a formal, regular way while living the reality of family life. For a long time I felt bad about myself for that, thinking that it was a flaw on my part. But there is so much more to it, like the reality that it is ridiculously hard to have a formal practice when you are with your children much

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Why Schools Need Mindfulness

by Patti Ward, M.Ed. I have been in the field of education for over 35 years. Over those years, I have witnessed schools becoming much more complex, more expectations for both teachers and students, and more pressured filled as each year has passed. Administrators, teachers and students are pretty much exhausted at the end of a school year. Higher expectations, more content, critical thinking, complex math skills, summative and formative assessments throughout the school year, teacher evaluations that rely on student performance, the list goes on and on. Wow, I am exhausted just talking about it. From what I have

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