Could transforming our mental states create a better world? This audacious proposition lay at the heart of the Science & Wisdom of Emotions Summit presented by Mind & Life and The Awake Network Foundation on May 2-5. Reflecting growing interest in the cultivation of emotional well-being, more than 100,000 people in 140 countries gathered for …
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Inspiring Minds – April 2021
Our April conversation features Amishi Jha and Jon Kabat-Zinn, and cellist Barbara Bogatin. Learn more about the inner workings of the mind, and how to cultivate greater attention and wise action in how we conduct ourselves individually and collectively.
From Teacher Burnout to Teacher-led Reform
In honor of Women’s History Month, we’re pleased to profile Mind & Life grantee and Fellow Tish Jennings, a pioneer in mindfulness and education and social-emotional learning whose research over two decades has fostered greater teacher well-being and more compassionate classrooms. America faces a growing teacher shortage, made only worse by the pandemic. According to …
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New Framework Shows Why Mindfulness is a Foundational Capacity for Meeting the Challenges of Our Time
Mind & Life periodically invites guest writers to contribute their perspectives and experiences to the blog as a way of deepening dialogue and understanding around key themes related to our mission. What is it about mindfulness practice that underpins such diverse positive outcomes? And aside from less-tangible notions of awakening, what supports the widespread intuition that mindfulness …
From Argentina to South Africa: Contemplative Scientists Find Connection and a Home
With roots in North America and western Europe, the field of contemplative science is now expanding around the globe. Despite this growth, not all researchers have access to the same knowledge, resources, and networks. And for those advancing new areas of inquiry, the experience can be an isolating, if not lonely, one. Researchers pioneering new …
Inspiring Minds – March 2021
Our March conversation, “Transformative Change: Where Research and Action in the World Meet,” features Doris Chang and Reggie Hubbard, with musician Grant Jones. We discuss the tendency for research and ‘real-world’ practice to get siloed. What can contemplative scientists and changemakers working to advance social justice learn from and share with each other?
Coping with Loneliness & Stress: The Role of Mindful Acceptance
Even before the coronavirus hit, the United States was considered one of the most stressed out countries in the world. Fear and anxiety brought on by the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem, with 8 out of 10 adults citing the pandemic as a significant source of stress in their lives. Researchers have been studying …
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Assessing the Implementation of Integrated Mindfulness Programs in Schools: Case Study Evaluation of the Mindfulness Director Initiative
The Mindfulness Director Initiative, founded in 2019, is placing Mindfulness Directors in five schools across the US in Fall 2020, providing an ideal research opportunity to evaluate the implementation process of school-wide mindfulness programming delivered by a resident Mindfulness Director. The five participating schools include two middle schools, two high schools and a university community, …
Examining Individual Differences in Contemplative Practice Response
As an intellectual tradition that codeveloped with Tibetan Buddhism for over a thousand years, Tibetan medicine has cultivated clinically-focused knowledge around tracking individual differences related to cognitive-affective patterns and their contingent contexts that impact health and illness in body and mind across the life course. In particular, Tibetan medicine places specific attention on the role …
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Developing a Semantic Clustering Approach to Study the Effects of Mindfulness Training on Ruminative Thoughts
In our daily life, we encounter various people, objects, or environmental context that can evoke memories of unpleasant events. Some of us might be able to quickly move on from these memories, whereas others might get stuck repeatedly thinking about them. The tendency to repeatedly think about stressors is called rumination, which is closely linked …
