By Irene Kraegel, PsyD
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 ...
Continue Reading →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 ...
by Ashley Bovin
I’ve noticed a phrase floating around on the internet lately, on mugs and t-shirts for sale and colorful social media feeds, meant to promote a positive attitude: “No Bad Days.”
The first few times I saw this phrase, I thought it was rather dismissive. I feel confident saying that I’ve had plenty of bad days in my life. And this trendy new ...
Continue Reading →by Lori Schermers, RD
The holidays are filled with the warmth of love from family and friends, brilliant decorations, and an abundance of food and traditions. Many of us eagerly anticipate the traditional foods of the season while worrying about how to manage the numerous social events.
The stress of the holiday season combined with the abundance of seasonal foods, including desserts and treats, creates understandable challenges for eating ...
Continue Reading →by Carol Hendershot
“Your hand opens and closes and opens and closes
If it were always a fist or always stretched open
You would be paralyzed
Your deepest presence is in every small contracting and expanding
As beautifully balanced as birdwings” Rumi
I remember the first time I felt my breath. No, it wasn’t as a child ...
by Carol Hendershot
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” – Hopi Elder
Anyone who has spent as much time as I have in the self-help section of a book store can tell you that there are innumerable opportunities to improve upon this thing called “me/you.” The possibilities of self-fixing are mind-boggling and endless. Self-improvement is our ...
by Carol Hendershot
There is a story about a group of blind men who came upon a strange and wondrous creature called an elephant. None of them had ever heard of such a strange beast before and decided to check it out. With some trepidation, they approached the animal from different angles. One approached from the front and touched the elephant’s trunk, proclaiming that this creature resembled a very thick snake. ...
Continue Reading →Remaining open to life and what it can teach us
By Ashley Bovin
When we start to practice mindfulness, we’re invited to adopt some new tools and attitudes. One of the most important is curiosity.
Have you ever heard the aphorism, “Interested people are interesting people?”
I don’t suggest we should seek for others to think we’re interesting, but consider the ...
Continue Reading →By Carol Hendershot
The brain is an amazing, simplifying mechanism. It loves to automate as much as possible; otherwise, how would we make it through our lives (or even one day)?
The more automatic our brain can make our life, the more energy it can conserve for the hard work of meeting new experiences and figuring out how to make them more automatic.
by Carol Hendershot
We meditate to learn to be kinder to ourselves and others and to understand things.
Whenever I run into an old friend and ask them how they are doing, the standard response is “busy; really busy.” And as much as I ...