Mindfulness is one of the recommended mind-body approaches for managing chronic pain. There are some good studies suggesting significant benefit of of practicing mindfulness after just a few weeks. But what is it? I struggled recently to write a clear description. Those who think of mindfulness as a religious/spiritual concept, are missing some important and […]
You Are Not Your Pain– Book Review
September 12, 2015 by
This is a wonderful book if you would like to learn to approach your pain with mindfulness. This 8-week program step by step teaches you to use mindfulness to relieve pain, reduce stress, and restore well-being. ” Every Moment Is a New Chance”, the title of the first chapter is a hope-filled reminder that we can […]
Meeting daily life
June 17, 2014 by
I like to listen to talks by Tara Brach, meditation teacher and psychotherapist. When the weather allows I do the weeding in my flower garden. This last talk touched on so many experiences and skills that I highly recommend listening to it. If you are working with meditation, or mindfulness, or meeting daily life with […]
Everything changes
March 24, 2014 by
Wow, this is my favorite photo of last year– and I have been waiting for the right topic to use it. Do you love and hate change? Opportunity knocks and we are terrified or exhilarated, like these baby ducks on leaving the nest. My dog waits patiently in her little round bed until I get […]
Yoga for Pain Relief– Book review
March 4, 2014 by
This excellent book was written by Kelly McGonical, a professor at Stanford University, who has chronic pain herself. If you think yoga cannot be for you, then this is a good book to start with. It introduces you to the mind-body benefits and practices of yoga–what yoga really is about–not just physical poses, but there […]
Kids love these…
February 28, 2014 by
Finding the time and energy for meditation, yoga, imagery and some of the other ideas I suggest, may sound completely overwhelming if you are a parent. But what if you did these self-care techniques with your children? What if you could lower your stress level and your pain by sharing some of these activities with […]
The Mindfulness Solution to Pain- Book review
February 21, 2014 by
This book is new to my bookshelf and I am enjoying reading it. It came at a time when my body is pretty cranky and I needed a kind reminder why mindfulness and meditation can be so helpful. I love that the authors encourage daily meditation, even if you start with only 5 minutes. Both […]
Chronic pain and what’s Enough?
January 20, 2014 by
Chronic pain and being enough I just realized that I do not often write directly about pain in these blogs. So this blog is about the struggle with feeling that we are NOT enough and do not DO enough. This is often a challenge when we have chronic pain. I had a deeply humbling period […]
Fake it ’till you make it
January 14, 2014 by
What nine months does for the embryo Forty early mornings Will do for your growing awareness Jelaluddin Rumi This post is about my meditation practice and is clearly not written for the practiced meditator. One year ago I participated in the meditations offered by The Winterfeast for the Soul (the above quote is their motto, as […]
Book Review: More Language of Letting Go
January 4, 2014 by
This book with 366 “Meditations” by Melody Beattie has been a companion for over a year now. Each day offers a personal reflection/story, a short meditation and an occasional “activity”. As is so often true with books like this, I continually find that Melody speaks to a current issue, just where I open the book. […]