I was just reading about the abnormally severe winter that folks in Europe are currently enduring. Last year at this time, my house was surrounded by six-foot snow piles and topics of conversation were about how to shovel snow off the roof. At any rate, my exercise regiment had fallen by the way-side, with snow […]
Healing Trauma with Our Dreams
We’ve all heard of ‘restful’ sleep . . . but what about ‘healing’ sleep? Is it possible that dreaming could help reduce the pain of traumatic memories? Researchers at UC Berkeley have found that when dreams occur during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage of sleep, our stress responses shut down, and the neurochemicals responsible […]
Ditch the Dreaded Diet: Try Three Small Changes Instead
Just a few weeks ago, I was having breakfast with my family. It was a rare opportunity to be together with both of my siblings, their spouses, and my parents – all of whom live out of state. As we got to talking, it turned out that both my sister Priscilla and my sister-in-law Susan […]
Meditation in My Life
For the last two years, Fall has become a special mindfulness time for me. Speaking with mindfulness experts, reading new scientific studies on the effectiveness of mindfulness, and revisiting mindfulness materials helps me look at my own life to see were I could improve my own practices. It also doesn’t hurt to look around at […]
Can Meditation Lengthen Your Life (or Just Your Telomeres)?
I’m going to share a not-so-secret secret with you: I love telomeres. If you follow my blogs, you may remember me mentioning telomeres in the past, because, well…they just fascinate me. Telomeres reside at the end of chromosomes in order to protect them from deterioration. When cells replicate, telomeres are cut and become increasingly shorter. […]