There has always been a deep commitment at Mind & Life toward understanding what an ethical life can and should mean in today’s world. By becoming more aware of our deep interdependence and the need for mutual care, a proper foundation for ethics is possible – one that allows us to better address the global …
Topic Archives:
2016 Mind & Life Dialogue XXXI
While the notion of power can be seen as a neutral concept, neither harmful nor beneficial by definition, the western historical perspective links it to concepts such as domination, instrumentalization, or sovereignty. This idea of power as power over is apparent in political, societal and interpersonal spheres, as indicated by problems such as the wealth …
2020 President’s Call
Earlier this year Mind & Life completed a strategic visioning and planning process, to guide our expanding work through a lens of interconnection. We also began developing our digital efforts to have wider reach and greater impact on pressing contemporary issues. As such, Mind & Life is primed and eager to show up fully and …
Could COVID-19 be the Catalyst Whole Student Education Needs?
No one quite knows where education is headed in the era of COVID-19. Students grapple with when, and if, they’ll return to school this year, while teachers struggle to master online instruction. Parents, too, stress over how to support kitchen table learning, while working from home. And it’s not just about when and how schools …
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#MomentsofCompassion
At Mind & Life, we deeply feel today’s suffering during COVID-19. We are also reminded of our interconnection and shared humanity. Here’s a peek into how we are sharing compassion. We invite you to respond with your #MomentsofCompassion here, or on Facebook or Twitter. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=151… Twitter: https://twitter.com/mindandlife/statu… Musicbed SyncID: MB01RLV345LPVPJ
Mindfulness, loving-kindness, & compassion meditation in group couples therapy for combat veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan and their spouses
Combat deployments by military personnel such as to Iraq (OIF) and Afghanistan (OEF) involve long separation from spouses, financial / social strain for the partner at home, and often combat trauma to the deployed partner. These can cause negative effects on relationship quality in some couples. Our clinical research group and others across the country …
A test of the efficacy of compassion cultivation training for veterans with PTSD
Though a breadth of existing theory and some early empirical evidence point to the need and potential benefits of compassion treatment for veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), there has yet to be a rigorous test of the efficacy of structured compassion training for this population. The proposed study aims to fill numerous gaps in …
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Compassion training for emotional numbing in post-traumatic stress disorder
For individuals suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the emotional numbing and isolation that are core aspects of their suffering often remain after initial treatments. The proposed study examined whether CBCT (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training), a secularized compassion program based on the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist lojong tradition, is effective for reducing emotional numbing and enhancing social connectedness …
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Short and long-term behavioral, physiological, and brain changes resulting from compassion meditation training as an intervention for stress due to difficult interpersonal relationships
As Compassion meditation specifically fosters positive feelings such as equanimity, joy, and compassion towards others, it may be ideally suited to reduce the stress and negative emotions related to stressful encounters. Pilot data for a neuroimaging dataset obtained with a prior Varela Award shows that Compassion training, more than Relaxation training, increased positive ratings of …
Contemplative practice, emotional well-being, and the transformation of hostility in the lab and real world
This project examined the extent to which meditation can promote compassion and well-being, even in the face of conflict. Specifically, we examined whether compassion and mindfulness training can produce compassionate tendencies that act as an enduring inoculation against the negative effects of anger, using measures of subjective experience (e.g., anger, compassion, well-being) in daily life …
