It’s the end of a long day. Your pain is higher than usual, your fatigue is heavier, and the 20-minute meditation you’d planned to do feels out of reach. Then, your phone buzzes with a message: “I know it’s been a hard day. You might try a three-minute breath practice before you go to bed.” …
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Brief and Built to Last: The Case for Micropractice
Many of us know when something’s not right—there’s a familiar, heightened sensation: blood rushing, mind racing, gut dropping. Maybe you’ve just received an unwanted email from your boss, a hefty text from a family member, or a heavy headline running across your television screen. And in the moment, bringing a hand to your chest, closing …
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United & Present: Inner Capacities for Cooperation in a Polarized World
Mind & Life periodically invites guest contributors to the blog to deepen dialogue and understanding around themes central to our mission. The following post is adapted from Mara Lisa Arizaga’s presentation at Mind & Life’s 2026 Summer Research Institute. We live in a time of profound polarization. Across societies, communities, and institutions, disagreements can quickly …
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What Can Eco-Anxiety Teach Us About Finding Meaning in a Time of Crisis?
Mind & Life periodically invites guest writers to contribute to the blog. Below, climate emotions researcher Panu Pihkala reflects on eco-anxiety and the emotional and existential dimensions of the climate crisis—and how meaning, community, and contemplation can help us navigate them. Panu served as a member of Mind & Life’s earth awareness working group in …
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Parent-Child Mindfulness: Why Families Should Practice Together
While working with stressed adults, and especially women, struggling with the long-term effects of early life adversity, contemplative researcher Joanna Guan had a recurring thought: we could have intervened earlier. But implementing early mindfulness interventions for children hasn’t exactly been straightforward. School-based mindfulness programs have proliferated in recent years, yet studies like the massive My …
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Connecting with Nature’s Healing: Forest Therapy for Cancer Patients in Chile
Mind & Life periodically invites guest writers to contribute to the blog. In this post, a Mind & Life Contemplative Changemaking grantee shares her experiences and insights gleaned through the grant. In 2018, I was diagnosed with cancer. From then on, I chose to complement my medical treatments with a deep connection to nature and …
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Cultivating Resilience: The Power of Mindfulness Training in War-Torn Ukraine
February 24 marks the grim three-year anniversary of the Ukraine War. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, more than a million people have been killed or wounded on both sides. The conflict has devastated critical infrastructure and shattered livelihoods, precipitating an environmental crisis that will take decades to remediate. Those working to serve their …
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Teaching Yoga in Africa: The Silent Revolution
Originally intended for 10,000 inhabitants, the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi now hosts over 60,000 people, with new arrivals exacerbating already strained conditions. A majority of residents suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, with daily life characterized by relentless stress and anxiety. Yet despite these challenges, thousands of refugee children and teens here are finding hope …
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