Category: MBSR

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Let’s Prevent More Tragic Heartache

U.S. Representative Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a 2020 candidate for president and advocate for mindfulness, said in his book, “A Mindful Nation”:

“For a very small investment, we can prevent tragic future costs and heartaches in our communities. How much will we save in preventing substance abuse? How much we will save in preventing suicides and mass shootings because children feel isolated and alone? My goal is to get us to focus more on mental health and well-being in the most important asset we have in America – well-functioning human beings.” 

More: TimRyanForAmerica.com

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Research: Workplace Mindfulness

INCREASE EARNINGS 
and
IMPROVE PERFORMANCE
by reducing employee stress

Labor organizations estimated that 30% of all work-related illness is due to stress accounting for $6.6 billion of losses in the U.S. alone!

Chronic stress has a serious impact on physical and mental health increasing risk for heart disease, some cancers, diabetes, depression, anxiety, and obesity. According to Mark Bertolini, Chairman and CEO of Aetna, where Mindfulness-Based Programs provided for thousands of Aetna employees nationwide have demonstrated

  • increased productivity of more than $3,000 per person per year
  • improved quality of life: reduced levels of stress and pain and improved sleep.

JOIN LEADING hospitals and health systems, U.S Marine Corps, U.S. Army, Seattle Seahawks, NBA , major corporations and businesses of all kinds in diverse settings like:  Google… Aetna… General Mills… IBM… Apple… Ford… Proctor & Gamble… Eileen Fisher… and more

Research in healthcare shows that reducing stress through Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) has a positive impact resulting in:

• Improved performance • Better decisions
• Reduced costs • Improved teamwork
• Reduced absenteeism • Improved communication
• Better customer satisfaction • Kinder, happier workplace
• Healthier, more fulfilled staff • Fewer errors, wasted time

 

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60 Minutes: What it’s like to try to achieve “mindfulness,” by Anderson Cooper

This article is cross-posted from 60 Minutes on CBS News.

Anderson Cooper reports on what it’s like to try to achieve “mindfulness,” a self-awareness scientists say is very healthy, but rarely achieved in today’s world of digital distractions

The following is a script from “Mindfulness” which aired on Dec. 14, 2014. Anderson Cooper is the correspondent. Denise Schrier Cetta, producer. Matthew Danowski , editor.

Our lives are filled with distractions — email, Twitter, texting we’re constantly connected to technology, rarely alone with just our thoughts. Which is probably why there’s a growing movement in America to train people to get around the stresses of daily life.

It’s a practice called “mindfulness” and it basically means being aware of your thoughts, physical sensations, and surroundings.

Tonight, we’ll introduce you to the man who’s largely responsible for mindfulness gaining traction. His name is Jon Kabat-Zinn and he thinks mindfulness is the answer for people who are so overwhelmed by life, they feel they aren’t really living at all.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: There are a lot of different ways to talk about mindfulness, but what it really means is awareness.

Jon Kabat-Zinn
Jon Kabat-Zinn

Anderson Cooper: Is it being present?

Jon Kabat-Zinn: It is being present. That’s exactly what it is.

Anderson Cooper: I don’t feel I’m very present in each moment. I feel like every moment I’m either thinking about something that’s coming down the road, or something that’s been in the past.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: So ultimately all this preparing is for what? For the next moment, like the last moment, like, and then we’re dead (laugh) so in a certain way…

Anderson Cooper: Oh God, this is depressing.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Are we going to experience while we’re still alive? We’re only alive now.

Jon Kabat-Zinn, is an MIT-trained scientist who’s been practicing mindfulness for 47 years. Back in 1979, he started teaching mindfulness through meditation to people suffering from chronic pain and illness. That program is now used in more than 700 hospitals worldwide.

Anderson Cooper: So how can you be mindful in your daily life?

Read the full text at CBS News.

Content Copyright (c) CBS News.

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Buddha Lessons (Newsweek)

by Claudia Kalb, Sept. 26, 2004

For decades, Dalia Isicoff has suffered the agony of rheumatoid arthritis–joint pain, spinal fusion, multiple hip surgeries. Painkillers dull the aches, but it wasn’t until she took a course at the University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Medicine that Isicoff discovered a powerful weapon inside her own body: her mind. Using a meditative practice called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, Isicoff learned to acknowledge her pain, rather than fight it. Her negative and debilitating thought patterns–“This is getting worse,” “I’m going to end up in a wheelchair”–began to dissipate, and she was able to cut back on her medication. The pain hasn’t gone away, but “I view it is an ally now,” she says. “Mindfulness is transformational.” Continue reading “Buddha Lessons (Newsweek)”