EASE INTO SLEEP THE GIFT OF LETTING GO Find the

with Mindfulness 9 Practices to Make Friends with Change Courage to

Live Your
Truth

◀ Jenée Johnson
Program Innovation Leader
On mindfulness, racial equity, and
healing trauma with the San Francisco
Department of Public Health

Resilience
You have the power
OCTOBER 2019 to thrive
 Find Calm,
Feel Renewed,
and Make an Impact

october
Join Mindful’s 3rd annual online
MEDITATION CHALLENGE
[Link]/m30

ON THE COVER FEATURES

48
Resilience
38
You have the Changing the Narrative
power to thrive Jenée Johnson shares how she is
bringing mindfulness to the San
22 Francisco Department of Public Health
Ease into Sleep and encouraging conversations about
with mindfulness race, trauma, and unconscious bias.

38
Find the Courage 48
to Live Your Truth
Lean In
54 Persevering in the face of adversity—
The Gift and getting back up when you
of Letting Go stumble—are essential to thriving in
9 practices to make tough times, writes Linda Graham,
friends with change MFT. No matter where you start, you
can train your brain to build resilience.

54
Let It Be
If there’s one thing life teaches us,
it’s that nothing stays the same. Yet we
find all sorts of ways to resist, deny,
and avoid this reality. Editor-in-Chief
Barry Boyce offers nine perspectives
to help us make friends with change.

62
Breath of Life
Think you know how to breathe? Some
experts say 9 in 10 of us are missing out
on the mental and physical benefits of
PHOTOGRAPH BY STEPHANIE DIANI

breathing well.

On our cover: Jenée Johnson, Program

Innovation Leader—Mindfulness, Trauma,
and Racial Equity. Trauma Informed Systems

38 Initiative. San Francisco Department of Public

Health. Photograph by Stephanie Diani. Hair
and makeup by Lindsay Eckardt. Wardrobe
by Danielle Gaito.

October 2019 mindful 1

 Take a deep breath
CONTENTS

october 62

DEPARTMENTS
20
Mindful Eating
A Taste of Intensity
In the right proportion, horseradish 4
can liven up a drink or a dip with its From the Editor
unmistakable nippy flavor.
6
22 The Mindful Survey
Mindful Health
Getting the Sleep 10
You Need Top of Mind
Strengthening your “mind muscle”
might be the key to sound slumber
18
at night.
Mindful–Mindless

28 73
How To Bookmark This
44 Let Nature Heal You 80

PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHANIE DIANI, DEEPOL BY PLAINPICTURE, AND MIKAEL OWUNNA. ILLUSTRATION BY CAROLE HENAFF.
We know that trees are essential for Point of View
the health of the planet. Turns out, By Barry Boyce
they play a role in our health, too.

30
Inner Wisdom
Life Is a Beautiful Buffet “Whether we’re facing
Every day, life presents us with a set a series of small
of ingredients. It’s up to us to turn
them into something delicious. annoyances or an utter
disaster, resilience is
54 34
teachable, learnable,
Brain Science
Seeing the Truth of and recoverable. It takes
Inequality practice and awareness,
We all want to believe that we’ve but that power always
earned what we have. True equality
begins when we’re willing to see how lies within us.”
the circumstances of our birth have
helped us along.
LINDA GRAHAM

38
VOLUME SEVEN, NUMBER 4, Mindful (ISSN 2169-5733, USPS 010-500) is published bimonthly for $29.95 per year USA, $39.95 Canada & $49.95 (US)
international, by The Foundation for a Mindful Society, 228 Park Ave S #91043, New York, NY 10003-1502 USA. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY,
and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mindful, PO Box 469018, Escondido, CA 92046. Canada Post Publication Mail
Agreement #42704514. CANADIAN POSTMASTER: Send undeliverable copies to Mindful, 1660 Hollis St, Suite 205, Halifax, NS B3J 1V7 CANADA.
Printed in U.S.A. © 2019 Foundation for a Mindful Society. All rights reserved.

2 mindful October 2019

from the editor

Resilience.
I used to think it was a kind of toughening up, a leather-
ing or weathering of our inner and outer resources that
hardened our weaknesses and made us less vulnerable to
the slings and arrows in life. Hemingway’s phrase about
being “strong in all the broken places” seemed to poetically
capture what I’d considered resilience.
But I don’t subscribe to that theory any longer.
No, I’ve come to see that resilience is the opposite. It
requires mental suppleness, flexibility, and a raw vulner-
ability that allow us to dive deeply into our psyche—espe-
cially the broken places—and see ourselves, our thoughts
and feelings, our beauty and longings, hurts and wounds,
shadows, worst delusions and misdeeds, and to hold all of
that with compassion, curiosity, and loving care.
And when we become more tender with ourselves, we
can see a path to becoming more tender with others, too.
As we see our full humanity with loving eyes—all of
it, the good, bad, and ugly—and learn to pause so we can
bind up our own wounds, see our illusions, recognize our
dreams, blow on the embers of our essence, and chart our
own way forward, we can also see that fullness in others
and recognize their triumphs, losses, delusions, misdeeds—
and maybe even see their wounds that need binding and
dreams that call out for nurturing.
When we understand resilience in that way, the world
opens up to us. It reveals the strong places, and the broken
Dig Deeper ones, too. It calls us to pause and commit to our true
human work. And that is the source of our thriving and
[Link] will be hosting a series of Q&As our real power.
and guided meditations on resilience and This issue, I hope you’ll join me in pausing and exploring
healing racial injustice with Rhonda Magee, some of the science and stories of resilience and vulnera-
bility, especially the deeply affecting interview with cover
author of The Inner Work of Racial Justice.
person Jenée Johnson and her declaration of sovereignty
Sign up at [Link]/Rhonda and personal courage.
I hope you will find encouragement to lean into your
mindfulness practice with clear, loving eyes. The slings
and arrows of life are inevitable, but mindfulness can
Anne Alexander is a longtime meditator, yogi, and editor. She is help us all to be magnificently resilient—and thrive—
the author of two New York Times best sellers and has had a hand in no matter what comes our way.
shaping magazines, books, apps, and websites for Rodale, National
Geographic, and more.
Love,
PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHANIE DIANI

4 mindful October 2019

the mindful survey

Holding Steady What does

resilience
mean to you?
Are you part
of a resilient
community?
When our inner resilience takes root, it allows
Yes
us to empower ourselves, strengthen our For some readers,

communities, and lead more meaningful lives.

being resilient
means they can
68%
Here’s what Mindful readers had to say about FIELD STRESS-
FUL SITUATIONS
the role that resilience plays for them.
AND DIFFICULT
EMOTIONS from
day to day. For
Who is the most resilient others, resilience
person you know and why? comes up mostly
in troubled times,
enabling them
MY HUSBAND. to SURVIVE
“My friend has been
However dark the ADVERSITY
problem may be, a Wellness Specialist OR TRAUMA. It
he can see past it can also include
to the sunshine on at a middle school for their readi-
the other side! over 32 years, and ness to ADAPT
TO CHANGE
MY MOM—she still shows up with and GROW

32%
took care of my STRONGER
dad with Alzhei- caring and laughter THROUGH LIFE’S
mer’s, as well as every day. She always CHALLENGES. No
other residents of
the nursing home. fights for the kids’
She carried on
with grace and
needs and radiates
strength, even a smile, even with Has mindfulness boosted
after she lost her your resilience?
love of 65 years. all that she’s been
through in her life.”
MY DAUGHTER. 71% Yes, definitely 19% I’m not sure
I can’t believe how 4% Not really 6% I don’t practice
strong she is. No mindfulness
matter what life ONE OF MY
throws at her, she HIGH SCHOOL
is able to look at it STUDENTS, who
through clear eyes. has had to face ME, from years
one adversity after of coping, and my
A FRIEND WHO another. Despite strong sense of
IS 35 YEARS continual set- duty to my family.
SOBER. She has backs, he keeps on
the skills and she track to achieve his MY SPOUSE. She
practices them! dreams. puts up with me!

definition
Resilience is the process of adapting well to adversity, trauma,
tragedy, threats, or other sources of stress. It means “bounc-
ing back” from difficult experiences. (Adapted from The Road
to Resilience by the American Psychological Association)

6 mindful October 2019

 PROGRAMS
Do you seek out people close to
you to strengthen your resilience?
& TRAININGS
With The Mindfulness Center at

Over half (53%) of Brown University

readers say they
do have a healthy
support network,
53% MAY 31-JUNE 2
while 39% say
they tend to hide
HOW TO TAME OUR
their struggles. CRAVING MINDS
And 8% say they
aren’t sure how
39%
JUNE 2-9
to reach out for
assistance. 8% MBSR IN MEDICINE,
PRACTICE & SCIENCE

JULY 14-19
What are your key
FRAMEWORK FOR LIVING
sources of resilience?
MINDFULLY: A 5-DAY
MBSR INTENSIVE
Life being the best For 47%, CLOSE
teacher, 77% of RELATIONSHIPS
readers say their also let them grow
AUGUST 2-4
resilience comes more resilient. 25% MINDFULNESS & TRAUMA
from their LIFE added WORKING CONFERENCE
EXPERIENCE ON IT THROUGH
SO FAR. The THERAPY helps.
next predominant AUGUST 18-23
source of resil-
ience is having a
THE PRACTICE OF
CONTEMPLA- RELATIONAL MINDFULNESS
TIVE OR SELF-
CARE PRACTICE
(64%), followed by OCTOBER 4-11
OPTIMISM AND MBSR INSIGHT
POSITIVE SELF-
MEDITATION RETREAT
REGARD (52%).

OCTOBER 20-25
FRAMEWORK FOR LIVING
MINDFULLY: DEEPENING PRACTICE

Next Question…
How is mindfulness practiced
in your community?
Send an email to yourwords@[Link] and let
us know your answer to this question. Your response
could appear on these pages.

Rhinebeck, NY
October 2019 mindful 7 [Link]/Brown | 800.944.1001
 Healthy Mind, Healthy Life
mindful magazine • [Link]

Welcome to Editor-in-Chief
Barry Boyce
Chief Executive Officer
Bryan Welch

Editor Creative Director

Anne Alexander Jessica von Handorf

Editor, Digital Senior Editor

Heather Hurlock Kelle Walsh

Did you know Mindful is a Production Editor Associate Art Director

nonprofit? We are dedicated to

Stephanie Domet Spencer Creelman

Editorial Assistant Senior Editor, Digital

inspiring and guiding anyone who Amber Tucker Nicole Bayes-Fleming

wants to explore mindfulness Contributing Editors

Sara Altshul
Editors-at-Large
Kaitlin Quistgaard

to enjoy better health, more Teo Furtado

Katherine Griffin
Hugh Delehanty

caring relationships, and a more

compassionate society. Director of Operations
Julia Sable
Director of Finance
Terry Rudderham

Consumer Marketing Director Accountant CPA, CMA

By reading Mindful and sharing it with others, you’re Leslie Duncan-Childs Paul Woolaver
helping to bring mindfulness practices into the world
Circulation Planning Director Human Resources Manager
where the benefits can be enjoyed by all. Catherine Flynn Cindy Littlefair

Thank you! Circulation Promotions Director

Alan Brush
Graphic Designer
Christel LeBlanc

Administrative Assistant
Sarah Creelman

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES

Advertising Director
Chelsea Arsenault
Toll Free: 888-203-8076
chelsea@[Link]

Print magazine & special topic publications

Editorial & Central Business Office Customer Service
5765 May Street, Subscriptions:
Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3K 1R6 Canada Toll free: 1-855-492-1675
mindful@[Link] subscriptions@[Link]
Retail inquiries: 732-946-0112
30 Day Mindfulness Challenge Editorial Inquiries
If you are interested in contributing Moving? Notify us six weeks
to Mindful magazine, please go to in advance. We cannot be
[Link]/submission-guidelines responsible for issues the post
to learn how. office does not forward.
FREE! Guided meditations & podcasts

THE FOUNDATION FOR A MINDFUL SOCIETY

Mindful is published by the Foundation for a Mindful Society.

The Foundation’s mission is to support mindfulness champions
Mindfulness video courses to increase health, well-being, kindness, and compassion in society.

Chief Executive Officer 228 Park Avenue S #91043

Bryan Welch New York, NY
10003-1502 USA
Visit online at [Link] Executive Director
James Gimian

Mindfulness in Education
Program Manager
Chris McKenna

Please make a donation to the

Get More Mindful donate foundation today by visiting
[Link]/donate

8 mindful October 2019

 MINDFUL. CONNECTED. ENGAGED.

Authentic Leadership Program

Become the Leader
the World Needs Now
Grow your capacity to face challenges courageously and to realize new
possibilities within yourself, your organizations, and society in this in-depth
experiential course. Explore the power of mindfulness and authentic
communication for leading collaborative change.

• Easy-to-Use Online Learning Platform • Action-Learning Project

• Two 5-Day In-Person Seminars • Personal Leadership Coaching

Sixteen Weeks Online and Two Five-Day Seminars

in Boulder, CO

Jan 13 - May 8, 2020

Onsites: Jan 27-31 and April 13-17

View full program information and apply at [Link]/ALP2020

 institutions. Bos-
ton and Jackson
Hole, Wyoming,
will also join this
pilot phase of the
Mindful Cities
Initiative.

MINDFUL AGING

How medita-
tion can support
healthy aging was
the topic of the
latest hearing held
by Britain’s Mind-
fulness All-Party
Parliamentary
Group, featuring
researchers and
experts from more
than 20 universi-
ties plus govern-
ment and other
officials. Presenta-
tions addressed
concerns of aging
including loneli-
ness, anxiety and
depression, man-
MINDFUL CITIES Leadership Insti- aging illness, and

Top of Mind
LAUNCHES tute mindfulness- supporting older
training program, people to continue
In May, Flint, created at Google. to contribute.
Michigan, became Supported by the Since form-
Keep up with the latest in the world of mindfulness. the first city to Foundation for a ing in 2014, the
adopt mindfulness Mindful Society— BMAPPG has
programming the parent organi- explored incorpo-
SITTING IN THE group meditations. Square, NYC. “As to support the zation of Mind- rating mindfulness
MIDDLE OF IT ALL “In public can be meditators, we’re community. Civic ful—and The Crim into education,
a richer place to trying to open up leaders took part Fitness Founda- mental health,
Meditation flash practice,” says C. T. to the world.” Many in Collective Wis- tion, the initiative criminal justice,
mobs are upending Tamura, founder of find that sitting dom, a two-day provides educa- and more.
the idealized quiet The Sitting Project, silently amid hustle gathering featur- tion and resources
and calm practice which hosts free sit and bustle is one ing the Search to city leaders
setting, with public sessions in Times way to do that. Inside Yourself and the public MINDFULNESS
about the benefits AS LIFE SKILL
PHOTOGRAPHS BY EDU CARVALHO, BTN

of mindfulness
meditation. It will “Adulting 101”
also connect city courses are pop-
leaders to experts, ping up at several
partners, and North American
programs to offer high schools.
mindfulness train- These give senior-
ing in hospitals, year students a
schools, and other leg-up toward
 mindful
FAQ
Q My teenage son has ADHD. I
think mindfulness would help
him, but he just rolls his eyes
when I suggest it. Is there any-
thing I can say to convince him
to try it?

A ADHD is a medical condition of

executive function, not attention spe-
cifically. Executive function includes
cognitive skills related to organization, planning,
and goal setting. It impacts more than routine
living on their own, to meditation MINDFUL YOUTH distractibility; it’s a “life management” disorder.
teaching skills on the verge of Teen ADHD creates a challenging develop-
such as sewing on burnout from Mindfulness and mental conflict. Teens typically want more inde-
buttons, balanc- a career as a meditation, says pendence. Perhaps because they don’t want
ing a budget, software engineer. Emily Brierly, first to feel “different,” they often avoid their own
and changing a The Afro-Latino helped her with medical issues. And since executive function is
tire. Teachers at man often found anxiety and panic integral to judgment and planning, teens with
E. J. Lajeunesse himself in mostly when she was 13. ADHD are behind in their capacity to manage
school in Windsor, white medita- In the wake of the life independently.
Ontario, upped tion spaces. After deadly May 2017 For parents, family mindfulness begins with
the ante with discovering a bombing of Man- living it ourselves. From that start, make it real:
another excellent people-of-color chester Arena, Think like a teen. Take advantage of his desire
category: mindful- sangha (commu- then-15-year-old for independence and reflect on his experi-
ness and stress nity) at the New Brierly leaned into ence as it happens. Worried about a test? Can’t
management. York Insight Medi- meditation. “Mind- sleep? I’ve found mindfulness helpful. Teens
tation Center, he fulness allowed also rely greatly on peers, which is why some
finally felt at home. me to let go of the mindfulness teachers see group programs as
MEETING A NEED He also realized need to control easiest for getting adolescents to practice.
he could cultivate the future,” she Behavioral therapy is a proven ADHD sup-
There was nothing a similar experi- told the Mindful- port, so a psychologist familiar with mindful-
like Liberate, a ence for others. ness in Schools ness can also be a great step. In the end, since
new free medita- The app features Project (MiSP) we can’t make anyone else practice mindful-
tion app for Black, BIPOC teachers 2018 Conference. ness, sometimes it still comes down to patiently
Indigenous, and and addresses In 2019, MiSP planting seeds for the future while remaining
PHOTOGRAPH BY ALEX “NEMO” HANSE, STEPHANIE DIANI

People of Color the complexity of named Brierly confident that our own practice influences our
(BIPOC), when living mindfully for one of their Youth family for the better.
Julio Rivera went those in the BIPOC Ambassadors,
looking. He came community. opening a new
door to share her
skills and passion Mark Bertin, MD is a
NERVOUS ABOUT CHANGE? for mindfulness developmental behavioral
pediatrician and an
Try to: Increase your acceptance with her peers. assistant professor of
of not knowing and not being in MiSP is a UK char- pediatrics at New York
control. Be open to ity that provides Medical College. His latest
book is How Children Thrive:
what happens. secular mindful-
The Practical Science
ness education for of Raising Independent,
young people. Resilient, and Happy Kids.

October 2019 mindful 11

 CRAZE
OR
CRAZY

DOG DAYS
With hundreds of
dogs at risk each
year of vehicular
heatstroke, car
manufacturer Tesla
presents: Dog
Mode. The feature
keeps the cabin
cool even while the
car is turned off,
while the touch-
screen displays the
cabin temperature,
along with a mes-
sage that the dog is
OK and the owner
will soon be back.
Pet welfare agency
PETA points out
technology often
fails, and dogs are
safest at home,
with lots of water.

SCREEN TIME
Drivers may opt for
“mindful mode,” in
a new vehicle from
Ford, which quiets
Three teens in southern the digital gauge-

ACTS OF
Ontario ended a night of screen to show
swimming with a more vigor- only the fuel level

kindness
ous workout. Finding a car and speedometer.
emitting smoke on a quiet The company
highway around 1 a.m. and a says: “Ford con-
driver who couldn’t afford a siders mindfulness
tow, the teens pushed while necessary for its
Staff at Gwinnett County the driver steered home, more Frustrated by the lack customers to help
Animal Shelter in Georgia than four miles away. “We of resources at the hospital reduce their stress
helped an evicted man and were raised to help no matter near Cape Town where she behind the wheel.”
his dog. Katie Corbett was what,” Billy Tarbett, 15, told worked in nursing for almost Stress that may
moved by the plight of Mr. the Canadian Broadcasting 30 years, Olivia Pharo quit, be fed by the
Williams, a disabled veteran. Corporation. cashed in her pension, and constant beeps of
Corbett found a foster for opened a health clinic nearby. the pre-collision
the dog, Lucky, and started She intends Sister Pharo’s assist and lane-
a GoFundMe that raised Clinic to be a low-cost, one- keeping options,
more than twice its goal of stop service. “Helping is not not to mention
$5,000. The money will help only a privilege, but also an the 10-inch
man and dog get back on honor. This is where my heart touchscreen that
their feet. and soul is,” she told South channels your
Africa’s News24. smartphone.

12 mindful October 2019

 Come for the meditation.
Stay for the community.
Leave feeling energized!

Yearning for a like-minded community

and human connection that is accessible
and convenient?

Challenged with creating a consistent

meditation practice?

30-Minute group meditations on Mind Oasis offer

next-level accountability, connection, and F-U-N!
Unlike apps and recordings, Mind Oasis group
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top of mind
PEOPLE TO WATCH

Mindful Museum Ashanti Branch

EVER FORWARD CLUB FOUNDER
Museums can be places of quiet
contemplation, so it’s fitting that many
now offer opportunities for mindfulness
meditation. Here’s a sampling: Ashanti Branch was the man of the house at the
age of seven. Growing up in Oakland, CA, the
Museum of Modern Art in New York oldest child of a single mother, Branch never met
City offers Quiet Mornings at 7:30 a.m. his father, who died before Branch was born. He
on the first Wednesday of the month, to remembers navigating the rules at home—help
“take time to look slowly, clear your head, out, be nice to your sister, be a man—and the
silence your phone, and get inspiration rules on the street. “You can’t be too nice, you
for the day and week ahead.” A guided can’t be too kind, you can’t let people walk over
meditation session follows. you. That’ll get you beat up.” Branch learned to
code-switch like a pro, “dancing between these
LA’s Getty Museum hosts Ever Present, different masks.” Taking on a parental role
“an invitation to explore concepts of didn’t leave much time for being a kid. “I was
temporality and permanence through the often exhausted and frustrated: I don’t have no
work of musicians, artists, dancers, and kids, why can’t I ever go outside and play?”
other cultural vanguards.” Branch sees himself in the young people he
works with through the Ever Forward Club, a
Manchester Art Gallery, England, youth-mentoring and educator-training organi-
hosts drop-in lunchtime mindfulness zation he started when he was teaching at San
sessions to give “city-workers...impor- Lorenzo High School, California, and trying
tant nourishment as well as respite from to figure out why his obviously bright students
the noise and over-stimulation of the were failing his math classes. “A middle school
modern world.” teacher caught me and got me on the right
track,” Branch says. But nobody had caught his
Institute of Contemporary Art at high school students yet. Branch decided he
the University of Pennsylvania hosts would try. He had learned mindfulness medita-
Mindfulness at the Museum drop-in tion while on a Fulbright Scholarship in India,
sessions with instruction in meditation and mindfulness was one of the tools he offered
techniques led by local teachers “to his students.
help our wider community...have access His once-skeptical students began to antici-
to tools to become more aware” and pate weekly meditation sessions, where they
so that participants may discover that gained tools for working with stress, anxiety,
this appreciation of the “here and now” and anger, and taking off their “masks”—
extends outside the museum. Branch’s way of describing the “too cool for
school” persona many of us adopt. “They think
Weekly at Bainbridge Island Museum they’re the only ones dealing with it. Everyone
of Art, retired psychotherapist and else is also wearing their masks, so there’s no
Insight Meditation Teacher Steve Par- safe place to take your mask off and recognize
sons offers a group mindfulness medita- that you’re not alone.” Ever Forward became
tion practice. that for the young men he taught, and eventually
for students of all genders across the country,
Monthly, the Denver Art Museum hosts including the 30,000 kids who have participated
Mindful Looking for patrons to “discover in the 100k Masks Challenge, drawing their
overlooked details, explore ideas, and masks on a postcard and writing three words
make connections as we linger, look, and that describe what they let people see, and
discuss” select pieces of art. three that describe what they don’t usually let
people see. “Kids tell us amazing things about
themselves,” says Branch, who now runs Ever
Forward full time. “They want to talk about it.
They want to be heard, they want to be seen.”

14 mindful October 2019

 BEHIND THE MASKS
Some of the more than 30,000 postcards
filled out as part of the Ever Forward
100k Masks Challenge. The front shows
students’ public masks, the back reveals
their inner selves. We asked Ashanti
Branch how he would have filled out the
postcard when he was a kid.

MIDDLE HIGH
SCHOOL SCHOOL

“I didn’t trust many “My intelligence

people in middle was my ticket. I
school, and since I was super intense
was being bullied about my grades. I
I really held back had to be care-
on the truth of my ful not to let any
existence.” craziness pull me
down.”
Front
• Friendly Front
• Caring • Smart
• Nice • Friendly
• Dedicated
Back • Focused
JOIN IN
Take Off Your Mask • Being bullied • Hard working
• Insecure, girls
Participate in the are not attracted Back
100k Masks Challenge to me • Home life sucks
by downloading the • Want to be liked • I can’t wait to
postcard and following • Hate my leave Oakland
PHOTOGRAPH BY MCNAIR EVANS

the instructions here:

home life • Unhappy,
[Link]/ unsatisfied
100kmasks • Insecure about
weight

m
October 2019 mindful 15
top of mind

Research News
by B. GRACE BULLOCK

Research gathered from Australian Catholic University,

University of Zurich, and Western Washington University

group medita- functioning four

tion retreat. On months later
day four, each compared to
received either a controls.
dose of psilocy- Of course, nei-
bin, or a placebo ther meditation
(lactose). nor hallucinogen
Before and use is a one-size-
after the retreat, fits-all proposi-
MIXING MEDITA- members of both tion. The study
TION AND MAGIC groups com- authors caution
MUSHROOMS pleted question- that taking mind-
In a new study naires about their altering drugs, for
published in experiences and people who are
NeuroImage, perception and either unprepared
scientists at the underwent an or with certain
University of fMRI brain scan, medical histories,
Zurich explore during which may do more
whether combin- they meditated. harm than good.
ing meditation Four months
with psilocy- later they filled
bin—the chemi- out a survey A LITTLE MEDITA-
cal in magic about changes in TION CAN GO A
mushrooms— their attitudes, LONG WAY
may impact moods, behav- Researchers at
brain function ior, and social Western Wash-
and alter self- experiences. ington University
consciousness After the conducted a study
even after the retreat ended, to see if mindful-
high is gone. mushroom- ness meditation
Thirty-eight assisted medita- could enhance
experienced tors reported less coping flexibil-
adult meditators self-conscious- ity—the ability to
were randomly ness and more pay attention to,
assigned to either illusions and and modify strat-
a psilocybin or hallucinations egies for dealing
placebo control than the control with, stress.
group. They then group. They They recruited
participated in also reported 115 students
a five-day, silent better social with no prior

16 mindful October 2019

 top of mind

DharmaCraf ts
M E D I TAT I O N S U P P L I E S

meditation prac- non-meditation the Institute for since 1979

tice and assigned group, along Learning Sciences

half to a medita- with a significant and Teacher
tion group, and boost in coping Education at Aus- [Link]
the other half to flexibility. Two tralian Catholic
a waitlist. Then weeks later, the University, educa-
everyone com- meditators’ cop- tors in 20 Aus-
pleted a survey ing flexibility had tralian schools Meditation Cushions
about their mind- increased further, volunteered to
fulness, stress, but had dropped participate in
and coping flex- among the a school-based Inspirational Jewelry
ibility. Meditation non-meditators. study. Eighty-five
group members teachers from 10 Home Furnishings
received two- schools attended
and-a-half hours an eight-week
of instruction, mindfulness-
consisting of half- based program.
hour-long guided Another 100
meditations and teachers from 10
body scans, and different schools
were given a CD did not.
of the practices. After eight
They were asked MINDFULNESS weeks, teachers
to meditate at FOR EDUCA- who’d practiced
home for six days TORS IMPROVES mindfulness
and record how WELL-BEING reported less
often they prac- Nearly 85% of stress, better
ticed, and their school teach- sleep, and more
mood and stress ers say they’re mindfulness,
levels. facing burnout. self-compassion,
After six days, Eight weeks of and ability to use
the meditation mindfulness- thoughts to help
regulate emo-
Students said they felt tions, compared
to controls. There
more connected to teach- were no differ-
ers who had completed the ences between
the groups in
mindfulness program than teachers’ percep-
those who hadn’t. tions of their
ability to engage
students, provide
group reported based instruc- effective instruc-
greater “disposi- tion may reduce tion, or manage
tional mindful- stress, increase behavior in class,
ness” (the ability sleep, and pro- but students said
to be nonjudg- mote health and they felt more
mentally aware well-being even connected to
of thoughts in the weeks later, a teachers who’d
present moment) new study finds. completed the
and less stress Led by program than
than those in the researchers at those who hadn’t.
Call for
Volume Pricing
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October 2019 mindful 17
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top of mind

MINDFUL OR MINDLESS?
Our take on who’s paying attention and who’s not

by AMBER TUCKER

At Germany’s Circus
Roncalli, it’s easier
to care about creatures
and enjoy the show. Roncalli
phased out all live animal acts
and uses cutting-edge tech-
nology to create a “perfor-
mance” featuring dazzling
holographic animals.

Jessica
Anderson, a nurse
in London, UK, beat
the Guinness World Record
for fastest woman to finish a
marathon dressed as a nurse.
But she was wearing scrubs, so
Guinness, which still considers a
nurse’s uniform to be a dress,
says her record doesn’t
count.

Climate change puts For her role in the Chris, a homeless A religious group
Africa’s baobab tree, a Broadway musi- man in Sydney, in the US deplored
source of food, medi- cal Oklahoma!, Ali Australia, was dis- Good Omens, a
cine, and shelter, at risk of Stroker made history as the traught when his pet rat, Lucy, fantasy story, for depict-
extinction. To combat this, in first wheelchair user to win a disappeared. A well-meaning ing “devils and Satanists as
northeastern South Africa a Tony Award. But theater has passerby had thought Lucy normal,” and thousands of
group of women called the a ways to go for inclusivity: was abandoned and brought members petitioned Netflix
Baobab Guardians nurture The Tony venue’s stage had her home. Thanks to a social to cancel it. This in itself was
and monitor young baobabs no wheelchair ramp. media post, though, Lucy was abnormal, as the miniseries is
for several years, then replant soon returned to Chris. owned by Amazon Prime. ●
them in the wild.

MINDFUL MINDLESS

18 mindful October 2019

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mindful eating

A Taste of
Intensity
By Claire Ciel Zimmerman

Horseradish is spicy for a

reason: The plant’s natural
defense mechanism, when
chewed, cut, or similarly
disturbed, is to release
chemical compounds that
make your eyes and nose
burn. The spiciness of
horseradish comes from
the chemical allyl iso-
thiocyanate, which is also
found in mustard and other
radishes, and is closely
related to the chemical that
makes you cry when you
chop an onion. While spicy
chilies get their heat from
capsaicin, which creates a
burning sensation when it
touches your tongue, allyl
isothiocyanate is released
as a vapor. The burn from
horseradish is therefore as
much about the sensation
in your nasal passages as
on your tongue. Too much TRY THIS:
horseradish can leave you Mix one part lemon juice,
hurting, but in the right two parts freshly grated
proportion it can add a horseradish, and three parts
spark to savory dishes like crème fraiche or sour cream.
roast beef and egg salad, or Add salt and pepper to taste. PHOTOGRAPH BY SERGEI CHAIKO / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

to a Bloody Mary. Often, Refrigerate, covered, for half an

horseradish is served as hour. Enjoy as a dip with veggies,
spread on a cracker, dolloped over
a condiment, grated and
a baked potato. As you eat, notice
combined with an acid. It is
how it feels on your tongue and in
also the feature ingredient your nostrils. Does the sensation
in many European sauces, change over time? Where do
added to a creamy base like you feel it first, and where does
sour cream or mayonnaise. it linger? How does the warmth
The cool, soothing creami- move through your body? ●
ness and bright acid round
out the pungency of the ABOUT THE AUTHOR
radish, allowing it to tanta- Claire Ciel Zimmerman is a former
lize without overwhelming. senior editor for Mindful.

20 mindful October 2019

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mindful health

Getting the Sleep You Need

Strengthening your "mind muscle" might be the key to sound slumber at night.

You can’t fall asleep, or maybe you wink. You need to be alert and ready to lead to unwanted weight gain and
drifted off a couple of hours ago, and tackle the day ahead, and you’re sure negative mood problems. In up to 15%
now you’re wide awake, feeling lonely that without enough deep, restful sleep, of adults, insomnia causes daytime
and a little desperate. you’ll barely be able to function. distress or impairment, with the risk
Lying in the dark, you start to panic: Your worry is well-placed, says for insomnia being greater in women
You know your alarm will go off in just Matthew Walker, PhD, professor of and older adults.
a few hours and you’ve barely slept a neuroscience and psychology at the When it’s happening to you, there’s
University of California, Berkeley, little consolation in knowing that in-
and director of the Center for Hu- adequate sleep, or insomnia, is a prob-
ABOUT THE AUTHOR man Sleep Science. He has studied lem shared by some 50% of all adults,
Sara Altshul is an award-winning journalist who the many ways a lack of sleep affects according to the American Academy
has covered natural and alternative healing for over
you. For example, your attention span, of Sleep Medicine. That means nearly
20 years. Her articles have appeared in magazines
including Prevention, AARP, Arthritis Today, and mood, and memory suffer. Over time, half of us have trouble falling asleep
Health. She is the author of Kitchen Cabinet Cures. he suggests, sleeplessness could also and staying asleep, wake up too →

22 mindful October 2019 By Sara Altshul

mindful health

early, or wake feeling unrefreshed aware of your thoughts and to be the Annals of the New York Academy
even when we’ve had plenty of time able to let go of those anxieties in- of Sciences in 2018.
and opportunity to rest. stead of getting stuck on them, says Mindfulness, Rusch learned, beat
Harris. “Strengthening your ‘mind standard insomnia treatments, such
muscle’ through daily practice helps as suggestions for improving sleep hy-
you better recognize the negative giene (eschewing TV and other screens
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY insomnia-inducing thoughts and let before bedtime is a prime one). And
them pass.” the benefit continued “both immedi-
What does a night of sleeping really ately after treatment as well as 5 to 12
well look like? According to the Na- months later,” she says.
tional Sleep Foundation, people who However, because mindfulness is
experience quality sleep spend at least MIND SOOTHER a relatively new concept in insomnia
85% of their total time in bed asleep, research, we don’t yet know how long
are asleep within 30 minutes of going Not only does it prepare your mind you need to practice before achieving
to bed, only wake once per night, and for drifting off to sleep, mindfulness better sleep. “We simply don’t have
remain awake for less than 20 minutes meditation can also significantly that information yet,” says Harris.
before falling back to sleep. improve sleep quality, says Heather “What is key is that you practice
The National Sleep Foundation L. Rusch, PhD candidate and re- mindfulness long enough to become
notes that most adults from age 18 to search fellow at the National Insti- aware of the thought processes you
64 can aim for seven to nine hours of tute of Nursing Research, National have that may get in the way of your
shut-eye each night, with adults over Institutes of Health. She reviewed sleeping,” says Harris. “Your daily rou-
64 needing slightly less. For teenagers 20 studies that evaluated the effect tine practice can be short or long—it
age 14 to 17, getting eight to ten hours of mindfulness meditation on sleep really varies! What’s important is the
is recommended. However, the qual- quality and published her findings in ability to be aware of your thoughts.” →
ity of sleep may be more important
than the quantity, say experts. Deep,
uninterrupted sleep is restorative to
the whole body: It’s when our brains
process what we’ve learned during the
day, storing information and memo-
ries. Sleep also lowers your pulse and “STRENGTHENING
blood pressure, letting the heart and YOUR ‘MIND MUS-
blood vessels rest. Our mental health, CLE’ THROUGH DAILY
immunity, hormonal balance, and me- PRACTICE HELPS
tabolism all rely on getting sufficient, YOU BETTER RECOG-
high-quality sleep. NIZE THE NEGATIVE
If you don’t meet those ideal sleep INSOMNIA-INDUCING
targets and tend to wake up under- THOUGHTS AND LET
rested, mindfulness could help you. THEM PASS.”
“Mindfulness can quiet the brain and
allows for deeper sleep,” says Shelby SHELBY HARRIS,
Harris, PhD, a clinical sleep psycholo- PHD, CLINICAL SLEEP
gist in private practice in Westchester, PSYCHOLOGIST
NY. One of the biggest problems her
clients share is dreading the night as it
comes and growing anxious about try-
ing to make themselves get sleepy. They
worry, she says, that they “won’t be able
to do X, Y, Z the next day” if they don’t
sleep. “That thought process makes you
stressed, worrying—often unnecessar-
ily—about the next day’s effects. That
cycle worsens sleep,” says Harris.
Mindfulness can set the stage for
sleep by allowing you to be more

24 mindful October 2019

mindful health

UNEXPECTED BENEFIT? toward yourself and let go of habitual as well as sleep, says Harris. The
rumination—including the worry that point isn’t to fall asleep in the midst
A surprising new finding about what your life will fall apart if you don’t get of your practice, but afterward when
happens in the brains of people who a prescribed amount of sleep. you return to bed.
have chronic insomnia was revealed Another expert tip: Don’t rely on
in a 2019 study by sleep expert Jason those ubiquitous sleep apps. “A lot
C. Ong, PhD, associate professor of DOS & DON’TS FOR of people use them as a sedative, but
neurology (Sleep Medicine), North- that’s not ideal,” says Harris. “You
western Medicine, Feinberg School
QUALITY SLEEP shouldn’t need to rely on anything to
of Medicine. If disturbed sleep is becoming your fall asleep—what happens if one day
Setting out to learn about the poten- new normal, you need a reliable way your phone is out of juice or the app
tial effects of mindfulness meditation out. Preferably a natural one, like mind- doesn’t work?”
on brain activity while people sleep, fulness, because sleeping pills can be When you need help drifting off
Ong discovered that after participating “blunt instruments that do not produce in the wee hours, don’t try to force
in an eight-week mindfulness course, naturalistic sleep,” says Walker. it. As every insomnia sufferer knows,
people experienced an increase in Maintaining a regular, daytime the more you lie there trying to make
brain activity that is usually linked to mindfulness meditation practice will yourself sleep, the more it won’t hap-
disturbed sleep. But the participants help you sleep better and longer at pen. Notice your worries about being
reported that their sleep during the night. However, it's best not to think unable to sleep, your noisy mind, and
study had improved. of it as a panacea if you wake up at 3 visualize them floating by. The more
“We are still trying to understand am. In this case, you might try a body you do this and accept that you cannot
this paradoxical finding, but one inter- scan while in bed, to relax any tension force sleep, the easier sleep will come.
pretation is that mindfulness actually you may be holding in your body. Finally, don’t watch the clock. Try-
stimulates the brain during sleep And if sleep still doesn’t arrive, you ing to calculate how many hours you’ve
without the anxiety or negative emo- can do a mindfulness practice, but been awake, or how many more hours
tions that typically come with insom- get out of bed and do it elsewhere. you have left to sleep, only worsens
nia,” Ong tells Mindful. Mindfulness Staying awake in bed for longer than insomnia, notes Harris. Set an alarm
can boost sleep quality, Ong continues, about 20 minutes creates an associa- for your wake time and don’t look at it
because it helps you feel kindness tion that the bed is for other activities until it goes off in the morning. ●

MEDITATION
A Body Scan
to Help
You Sleep

Explore this
research-backed
guided meditation
to calm your body
and improve your
quality of sleep.
[Link]/
sleep-meditation

m
26 mindful October 2019
 presents a FREE training with

JON KABAT-ZINN
Why Mindfulness Matters

In this FREE training, you’ll

discover how mindfulness can:
• Bring you closer to your
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• Unleash deeper creativity
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resilient in uncertain times

About Your Teacher

Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, is a best-selling
author and professor of medicine emer-
itus at the University of Massachusetts
Medical School, where he cofounded
the world-renowned Mindfulness-Based
Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic and the
university’s Center for Mindfulness in
Medicine, Health Care, and Society.

Sign up for your training today!

[Link]/JKZtraining
how to

Let Nature Heal You

We know that trees are essential for the health of the
planet. Turns out, they play a role in our health, too.

We all know intuitively that going myriad other sources maintain that
outside is good for us, and a growing the simple act of intentional, attentive
foundation of science and neurosci- time with trees:
ence underlies the health benefits of • Decreases fatigue
being outdoors. In the 1980s, the sec- • Increases the ability to focus, even
retary of Japan’s in children with ADHD
Ministry of Agri- • Speeds up recovery from surgery
VIDEO culture, Forestry, or illness
An Awe Walk and Fisheries • Regulates the endocrine (hormon-
in the Woods
coined the term al) system
Tap into a deeper
shinrin-yoku for • Enhances the ability to relax and
sense of purpose making contact get a better night’s sleep
and well-being with and being • Increases energy
with this VR affected—both Forest bathing is an active process,
forest meditation. physically and not just a matter of being near trees as
[Link]/ mentally—by static objects. Many species, including
awewalk the atmosphere pine, yew, hop hornbeam, and sugi,
of the forest. emit biochemicals called phytoncides,
Shinrin-yoku pungent essential oils with antimicro-
translates in the bial properties that interact with our
m West as “forest
bathing” and is
central nervous system and have calm-
ing, anesthetic qualities. They have
part of what I call been proven to boost the trees’ health
the green cure: connecting with the as well as our own immune systems.
natural world to help us thrive phys-
ically, cognitively, emotionally, and
PARTING THOUGHT
even spiritually.
Forest bathing incorporates many Earthing involves walking bare-
of the benefits of meditation while foot and connecting directly to the
getting us outdoors and in motion. In soil without the barrier of pave-
a study at the College of Landscape ment or shoes. It is a matter of
Architecture at Sichuan Agricultural contact with our soil, our planet—
University, 30 men and 30 women of truly touching Earth.
were given a route of the same length The science is still fairly new and
to walk in either a bamboo forest or an limited on this subject, but studies
urban area. The researchers measured have shown how the electrically
blood pressure as well as electrical conductive contact between human
activity in the brain using an EEG, and bodies and Earth’s surface seems
they found that, among those who to have an effect on health: It may
walked the forest path, blood pressure diminish inflammation, enhance
was lowered significantly as attention immunity and wound healing, and
and concentration improved. The may also lessen pain by altering the
people walking in nature reported less numbers of circulating white blood
anxiety and a generally happier mood cells (neutrophils and lymphocytes)
than the urban group. affecting inflammation.
The New York State Department
of Environmental Conservation and

28 mindful October 2019 By Alice Peck

 You need only the most basic equipment:
walking shoes and natural insect repel-
lent. Leave your camera, your journal,
and your guidebooks behind, and turn
off your mobile devices. Forest bathing is
about being, not analyzing.

1 Find some trees. This can be a forest

of ancient pine or a copse of paper birch,
or a single maple in your backyard. Of
course, spending more time with more
trees is better, because the effect is
multiplied. Studies have shown that
spending three days and two nights in
a thickly wooded area will improve the
function of the immune system for up to
seven days—but do the best you can. A
little forest bathing is better than none.

2 Find somewhere to sit or lean, where

you can be still for 10-20 minutes or
more without being in the way of bicycle
traffic, ants, or poison ivy.

3 Now do just that—be still. Be aware

of your breath, but don’t force it. Let the
experience come to you, don’t analyze.
See what you see, hear what you hear,
smell what you smell, feel what you feel.
Light through the leaves…skittering or
birdsong…blossom or decay…calm or
grounded…
PHOTOGRAPH BY SEBASTIAN UNRAU / UNSPLASH

4 As you walk home, check in with your-

Adapted with permission from The
self. Do you notice any changes in your
Green Cure: How shinrin-yoku,
earthing, going outside, or simply body? How about your state of mind?
opening a window can heal us, by What can you take from your forest bath-
Alice Peck, CICO Books, 2019. ing experience back to your daily life? Do
you feel more optimistic? More serene?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR How is that headache?
Alice Peck is drawn to finding the sacred
and science in nature, healing, and
everyday things. She is also author of Be
5 Repeat as often as possible. ●
More Tree, Mindful Beads, and The Secret
Language of Herbs.

October 2019 mindful 29

inner wisdom

Life is a Beautiful Buffet

Every day, life presents us with a set of ingredients. It’s up to us to
turn them into something delicious.

I love to cook. The kitchen was Spam or spaghetti. All contestants Today, for example, I noticed a
where, as a child, I first discovered that start with the same raw materials, feeling of joy as an early morning light
I could be a creator. As I explored and but they don’t know what they’ll get came into the room. At the same time,
experimented with all kinds of dishes, until the box is opened. Each chef I felt edgy about some tasks I needed
I came to appreciate that it’s not just draws upon the richness of their to accomplish. So joy and edginess
the ingredients, but how you work with culture, their culinary training, and were two ingredients in my day. No-
them, that makes a meal wonderful. their unique take on life to dazzle the ticing the ingredient of “enjoying the
That’s why, in addition to cooking, judges and win hearts and stomachs. sunlight” allowed me to connect with
PHOTOGRAPH BY BROOK LARK / UNSPLASH

I love watching cooking shows. One Everyone has the potential to face simple happiness, while the ingredient
of my favorites is MasterChef, with its glory or mishap. of edginess was like making a dessert
“Mystery Box Challenge.” The Mys- What a perfect metaphor for daily that featured jalapeños. I let myself
tery Box might hold durian or dogfish, life. Each moment offers us a rich feel how my body was responding
spread of ingredients and options. to the prickly heat of edginess. As I
We might find some experiences investigated its characteristics, instead
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
more delectable or desirable than of seeing it as a problem I was able to
Elaine Smookler is a registered
others, but it’s up to us to decide how enjoy watching my spicy edge keeping
psychotherapist with a 20-year mindfulness
practice. She is a senior faculty member at the we work with them, doing the best things perky. And because I brought
Centre for Mindfulness Studies in Toronto. with what we have. awareness to this peppery friend, I →

30 mindful October 2019 By Elaine Smookler

Focus. Connect. Innovate.
presents
MINDFUL
AT WORK • Overcome stress and improve performance
• Enhance communication, compassion,
and confidence
An 8-week online course • Apply mindfulness to decision-making,
teamwork, and leading change
to enhance well-being, • Cultivate a safe, respectful, and authentic culture
collaboration, and results • Demonstrate mindful leadership

Learn more and register: [Link]/mindfulness

 inner wisdom
Mindfulness
Coaching and awkward in a social
School EACH MOMENT OFFERS
situation, try a few sprinkles
of warmth and friendliness.
US A RICH SPREAD If you notice exhaustion
OF INGREDIENTS AND bubbling in the pot, you
Join mindfulness practitioners from around the OPTIONS. WE MIGHT might fold in some mindful
world for lively and contemplative online classes FIND SOME EXPERI- breathing, take a nap, or, if
and more. For coaches and non-coaches alike. ENCES MORE DELEC- you have time, maybe enjoy
TABLE OR DESIRABLE a movie. We each have our
THAN OTHERS, BUT IT’S own needs, our own tastes,
UP TO US TO DECIDE our own knowledge and ex-
HOW WE WORK WITH perience, and there is more
[Link] THEM, DOING THE BEST than one way to compose
WITH WHAT WE HAVE. a cassoulet. It’s all about
+1.505.906.6700
staying tuned in to what’s
cooking, and nurturing vir-
“MCS classes are unique. The experiential and tuosity in the balancing act
of flavor and savor.
cognitive teachings along with the practice of
was able to see that I could One of the fun things
mindfulness, wellness and somatic coaching
soften it with the soothing about MasterChef is that the
emphasize how to help clients tap into their milk of kindness. So I gave contestants aren’t profes-
own wisdom. The small classes provide per- myself space to pause and sional cooks. They’re ama-
sonalized attention and a nurturing community take a mellowing, nutritious teurs who aspire to develop
of peers. This training has made me a better breath (and I reduced my mastery in a new field. Few
coach and also enhanced my life personally - caffeine intake for the day). of us are born chefs (except
as we worked on ourselves along the way.” Just like with cooking, maybe Jamie Oliver). The
you invite deliciousness rest of us have to learn how
– Victoria Fontana, M.A. Ed., ACC and mastery when you take not to overmix the muf-
Madrid, Spain
a moment to assess the fin dough, undercook the
ingredients you have on beans, or burn down the
hand before diving into the kitchen. Don’t worry if you
action. If you notice edg- find some ingredients more
iness, irritation, or anger challenging to work with
in the mix, consider how than others. Relax, focus
you might moderate their on the main ingredient,
impact—or even, when the and let yourself tinker and
time is right, let them shine learn what works and what
with their characteristic doesn’t. When you welcome
zing. In the right proportion, whatever experiences arise
edginess can be motivating. you can relish them all, so
If investigated with kindness eat, burn, and pray!
and nonjudgment, anger As you come to recognize
can signal a line that’s being the ingredients of your days,
crossed or that you need you might become aware
some self-care. The famil- of moments when certain
iar taste of anxiety can be a encounters make you feel
reminder to reconnect with light as a soufflé, dark as
home and hearth, soul food, chocolate, or as earthy as
and soothing. a mushroom. You can be
As you create your recipe there for it all, invite an
for a nourishing day, you’ll abundant range of flavors,
want to check in with the and develop a whole reper-
seasoning, the textures, toire of tasty techniques to
the balance of flavors, and work with life’s sumptuous
adjust accordingly. If, say, pantry of strange and famil-
you find yourself alone iar delights. ●

32 mindful October 2019

brain science

BEING BORN INTO

ONE RACIAL OR
ECONOMIC GROUP
OR ANOTHER
OFFERS YOU
GREATER OR
LESSER ACCESS
TO INFLUENTIAL
NETWORKS
THAT CAN GIVE
YOU THAT ALL-
IMPORTANT LEG UP.

Seeing the Truth of Inequality

We all want to believe that we’ve earned what we have. True equality begins when
we’re willing to see how the circumstances of our birth have helped us along.

Back when my daily commute was a drivers sped through a yellow light Black people in North America—offers
two-mile power walk through Man- and blocked my crosswalk, I’d pound you greater or lesser access to influ-
hattan, my idea of “fighting traffic” on their trunk as I edged behind their ential networks that can give you
didn’t mean dodging cars or dashing bumper: “Nice going, idiot!” that all-important leg up. Accidents
across intersections seconds before And if they looked around for the of birth can improve or worsen the
a red light. It was more literal. When culprit, they never suspected it was odds of growing up in a safe, clean
me. Female, white, middle-aged me. neighborhood with good schools and
Getting away with pedestrian road cultural opportunities.
rage is the least of the privileges that These “accidents” also determine
ABOUT THE AUTHOR age, sex, race, accent, or wealth bring. your risk of someone calling the cops
Sharon Begley is senior science writer Being born into one racial or eco- on you for driving while Black, bar-
with STAT, a national health and medicine nomic group or another—what group becuing while Black, shopping while
publication. She is also author of Train
is privileged depends on the society, Black, or sitting in a college common
Your Mind, Change Your Brain and most
recently Can’t Just Stop: An Investigation but most of the research focuses on room while Black, to mention a few
of Compulsions (2017, Simon & Schuster). the discrepancies between white and recent news-making incidents. →

34 mindful October 2019 By Sharon Begley • Illustrations by Edmon de Haro

 Caring for teachers
is caring for our future.

FREE resources for teachers and parents

Expert guidance on bringing mindfulness into the classroom

Self-care practices to build resilience, focus and compassion

Designed to meet teachers’ needs

[Link]/educators
This project is generously supported by the Pure Edge Foundation
brain science

Unearned advantages go a long way

toward explaining why white people
in the US have greater life expec-
tancies than Black people (79 years
vs. 75.6), higher lifetime earnings,
higher average wealth ($919,000 vs.
$140,000), and higher median weekly
earnings ($935 vs. $737). And is it
really too much to wonder whether
the taken-for-granted, rules-are-for-
little-people sense of entitlement that
white people enjoy might have been a
factor in the 2019 college admissions
scandal, where it came to light that
wealthy, privileged, mostly white par-
ents had bought their kids’ way into
Yale, the University of Southern Cali-
fornia, and other selective colleges?
If you insist those real-world
advantages have nothing to do with
racial privileges starting at birth, but
instead reflect your personal merit
and hard work, keep reading and see
what you think.

Born to Privilege
Phillips is one of the leading PODCAST
“Most whites are blind to the exis- researchers trying to explain the Unpacking
tence of racial privilege,” says psy- causes of “privilege blindness.” This Privilege
chologist Taylor Phillips of New York is a form of something psychologists
University. “They deny it exists.” In call motivated reasoning, in which we Editor-in-
Chief Barry
fact, 55% of white people in the US perceive the world in ways that mesh
Boyce discusses
claim they suffer racial discrimination with our personal beliefs about what contemplative
and that racial minorities enjoy priv- is right and what we want to be true. ways to explore
ileges, according to a 2018 analysis by A series of surveys has found that racism and white
researchers at the Harvard T. H. Chan Americans of all races misperceive privilege and
School of Public Health. the wealth and income gaps between fragility with
Of course, racial preference and Black and white people: The average Rhonda Magee,
Ramaswami
affirmative action programs, aimed at white family has twenty times the Mahalingam, and
improving minority access to edu- wealth of the average Black family, Mirabai Bush on
cation and jobs, exist. But countless but participants guessed it was 80% the Point of View
studies have connected accidents of smaller than reality, according to the podcast.
birth, especially race but also sex, work of psychologist Jennifer Rich- [Link]/pov
to life’s outcomes. Some factors are eson of Yale University. The least
measurable—think parental education accurate guesses came from wealthy
and income (both of which usually white people: They are motivated
favor white people) and neighborhood
quality. Others are less so—for exam-
to believe society is fair, Richeson
explains, since acknowledging the m
ple, the ability to tap into networks of opposite would be to cast doubt on the
people (mom and dad’s friends, neigh- fairness of their wealth.
bors, parents of schoolmates) who can Privilege blindness seems to spring
offer an edge and an in. from two deeply human urges: to

36 mindful October 2019

 REFLECTION

maintain a belief in one’s innocence Real-life experiments, not only

and to feel meritorious. laboratory ones, bear this out. People
In Western societies, particularly who win a job through contacts rather
those that believe hard work brings
success, people want to feel that their
than hard work or merit “nevertheless
claim that their personal effort was
A LOOK
accomplishments are earned. “Mer- responsible for their success,” Phillips IN THE
itocracy is how we justify unequal
outcomes,” says Phillips. “We want
and Lowery wrote in a 2019 paper
analyzing privilege blindness. MIRROR
to explain them as the result of hard
work and talent.” That’s a difficult
position to maintain if being white
gives people a leg up. But class is White Fragility Recognizing our own privilege
another source of privilege that its starts with being dispassion-
recipients prefer not to acknowledge: Research on blindness to white priv- ately, mindfully open to the
The child who gets into Princeton ilege coincides with the recognition possibility that it exists. Some
because her father gave $5 million of what author Robin DiAngelo calls simple steps:
for a building is certain her success “white fragility.” It means that white
reflects merit, and the teens who got people “freak out” at the slightest 1 Ask yourself if you belong
prestigious internships thanks to the reminders of racism, she argued in to a privileged group. Societ-
intercession of their wealthy, power- her 2018 book White Fragility: Why ies differ as to their privileged
ful parents’ friends are sure they were It’s So Hard for White People to Talk groups, but in general, West-
the best candidates for the position. About Racism. ern societies privilege those
In one experiment by Phillips and DiAngelo reached that conclusion who are white and wealthy.
Brian Lowery of Stanford University, over the course of two decades running
white participants completed a survey diversity-training workshops for US 2 In daily life, when you get
and read essays about racial inequal- businesses, finding that white partici- away with something or get
ity in America (specifically, white peo- pants almost universally insist they are treated to a perk, ask if some-
ple’s advantages) and about childhood “color-blind,” talk about their minority one who looks different from
memories. They remembered many friends, and boast of all their anti- you would have gotten the
more “personal life hardships” com- discrimination activism. Challenged same treatment. For example,
pared to white volunteers who did not by unpleasant reminders of racism, if you’re white, you probably
read the essays, including agreeing they react with “anger, fear and guilt,” won’t be hassled for loitering
with such statements as, “There have DiAngelo writes, as well as “argumen- in an upscale store, complain-
been many struggles I have suffered,” tation, silence, and withdrawal from ing loudly in a restaurant, jay-
and “My life has had many obstacles.” the stress-inducing situation.” walking, or committing some
“Whites respond to evidence of That, too, might drive privilege other social infraction.
racial privilege by claiming their life blindness, but while DiAngelo
was filled with hardships,” Phillips is nearly despairing about white 3 Now think about whether
says. “We want to feel like we’re good fragility, Phillips is more sanguine. privilege has brought you
people, which presents a conundrum People can cast off their blinders something more valuable than
when we’re faced with the existence and be mindful of the existence a store clerk’s tolerance. If
of white privilege: It can make us feel of white privilege, but mindful- you have benefitted from net-
that we didn’t earn what we have. So ness extends past merely correctly working, academic or profes-
we say, ‘Privilege? What privilege?’” perceiving reality: It can facilitate sional recommendations from
In another study, Phillips and introspection, causing us to question influential people, or even
Lowery found that white participants why recognizing racial privilege is good schools, ask whether
who read about racial privilege and so threatening to those who benefit you got them, at least in part,
possible unearned advantage claimed from it, Phillips says. because of an accident of
to work harder than those who read Especially when a little introspec- birth rather than because
a completely unrelated essay. “We’re tion will likely reveal what some of you labored hard for them.
all motivated by a desire to attribute us can get away with, due to our race Not everyone who winds up
our achievements to personal merit,” and gender—well beyond pounding on third base hit a triple.
Phillips says. scofflaw cars. ●

October 2019 mindful 37

38 mindful October 2019
CHANGING
THE
NARRATIVE
Jenée Johnson shares how she is bringing mindfulness
to the San Francisco Department of Public Health and
encouraging meaningful conversations about race,
trauma, and unconscious bias.

INTERVIEW BY VICTORIA DAWSON • PHOTOGRAPHS BY STEPHANIE DIANI

Jenée Johnson wants the San Francisco Department of Public Health—all

9,000 employees—to take a deep breath. And another deep breath. And
another. She wants them—janitors and judges, IT technicians and social
workers—to find, in those breaths, the opening notes of a mindfulness prac-
tice. Those moments of calm, she believes, are the foundation of emotional
intelligence and its skills of resilience and compassion. In effect, Johnson’s
title—Program Innovation Leader: Mindfulness, Trauma, and Racial Equity
—positions her as the municipal agency’s chief mindfulness officer. In that
capacity, she is bringing mindfulness into the agency’s ongoing work with
trauma. That work includes mandatory training for every employee about
the prevalence of trauma; how it can affect both the agency’s clients and
its workforce; and how to take a systemic approach to foster wellness and
resilience. Johnson also forged the agency’s partnership with the Google-
bred Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, where she completed a
nine-month teacher certification program. Previously, Johnson served for
15 years as the director of the agency’s Black Infant Health Program, incor-
porating mindfulness into her intervention work with mothers. Johnson lives
with her husband in Oakland, where they raised their son.

October 2019 mindful 39

the mindful interview

T
ell me about the words in
your title at the Depart-
ment of Public Health:
mindfulness, trauma, and
racial equity.

Trauma and stress are chronic public

health issues. The department is
saying we need to address the ways
that trauma and stress affect us in the
workforce, so that we don’t end up
doing harm to each other and to the
very people we seek to help.

And mindfulness?

We are hoping we can become a more

mindful organization and that we can
nest our trauma work in being present
and conscious and kind. Learning to
reset, recognizing unconscious biases,
building resilience, helping the lead-
ership be more compassionate—these
are the things we want to encourage,
through mindfulness.

What about racial equity?

Racism is a form of trauma. To begin

to unravel the harm of racism—the
historical trauma, the microaggres-
sions, the white fragility that often is
a barrier to conversation—people need
to have a level of self-awareness, to
be able to sit, without judgment, with
what is uncomfortable, to be present
and aware, and to hold this inquiry
with curiosity and kindness.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Victoria Dawson is a freelance writer
based in Washington, DC. She regularly
contributes to Mindful.

40 mindful October 2019

 My hope is that in becoming a
mindful organization we will have
m
greater focus, emotional balance,
and the tools for the difficult conver-
sations that need to happen. Being VIDEO
mindful—knowing and being in touch Jenée Johnson
with what is going on with you—is on Trauma-
essential to undoing racism. Informed
Leadership
A complex and bureaucratic organiza-
tion like the San Francisco Department Learn how
of Public Health does not seem like the mindful leaders
most mindfulness-friendly setting. How can help
do you maintain your inspiration? uncover and
heal trauma.
Even within the confines of a bureau-
cratic system, I look for what is at the [Link]/
heart of human excellence. We work jenee
in an institution that is risk-averse,
but we want to flourish. We want to do
better for ourselves and for the com-
munities we serve. We want to bring
the fullness of our humanity to work.

What about trauma in your own life? a young Black boy. I would blow up Top left: Jenée’s contemplative practice each
my son’s phone: Where are you? On morning includes journaling, where she writes
When I think of my own life, the the bus? Well, where’s the bus? How down her reflections, gratitudes, and prayers
for the day.
thing that ends up being the most con- far away are you? Call me. Text me.
sistently traumatizing is racism. Answer the phone. It was ridiculous. Bottom left: Colleagues participate in a
I had to address the anxiety that was Mindfulness Meet-up at the San Francisco
Tell me more about that, will you? running through me. I was like, “This Department of Public Health. Led by Jenée,
cannot be my heritage, this lack of these bimonthly meet-ups allow SFDPH
Five or six years ago, I was in a small joy and constant worry. I’ve got to let employees to refresh their mindfulness
practice, review concepts from mindfulness
store—a home-lifestyle boutique— go of this.” Mindfulness helped me
and emotional intelligence, and build
with my son. He was about 16 at the to release—release it, Jenée—and to community.
time, a tall Black boy wearing what practice envisioning another way for
all kids wear: a hoodie. We drifted to myself and for my son. Above: One day of gratitudes that Jenée wrote
different sides of the store, and he was in her journal:
looking at the gadgets. I saw the store What does mindfulness offer “Discovering the potency of the feminine soul.
owner hone in on him, watching him people of color? Clarity and freedom in this decade.
intently. Is he profiling my child? “Hey, My loving son and husband.
hi, that’s my son!” I said to the owner. For me, it’s a practice to rest and My work.
Freedom, calling my name...I answered.
We laughed it off. But my blood replenish and restore my humanity,
The power of nothing to hide, defend, protect.”
pressure went up, because I thought which is one of the things that racism
not about that particular moment but strips from you. My practice around The photo shows Jenée and her son Khalid
in 2004.
about all the moments when I would mindfulness is a practice of recla-
not be there to say, “Hey, that’s my mation—an African principle called
baby, my boy, and he’s a good kid.” sankofa, reclaiming what was left
I know women who have lost their behind or what was lost. Mindfulness
sons. I know them. Even before that gives us the chance to rewrite that
incident, I had begun waking up in narrative. Mindfulness is a super- tion. I don’t have to be caught up and
the middle of the night. My natu- power. For people of color—partic- reactive. I can have self-compassion,
ropath said my cortisol levels were ularly Black people—the practice of and that self-compassion builds my
high, and I connected that and the mindfulness becomes a protective courage.
insomnia with the hypervigilance I factor. When microaggressions come
felt I had to have, as the mother of at me, mindfulness offers me protec- Can you give me an example or two? →

October 2019 mindful 41

the mindful interview

reactivity? Or do I take a breath, trained themselves to maintain their

assess the situation, and then choose composure. They sat at the counters
my response? while people poured food and drinks
“MINDFULNESS IS I paused, smiled at him, and kept over them and they maintained their
A BANNER THAT going. I went on to enjoy the day with equanimity.
my friend. Sometimes my response
GATHERS UP DIFFERENT
has to have more teeth in it, but it is Can you say more about mindfulness as
PRACTICES FROM A a response I get to choose, because I a tool for people of color?
VARIETY OF CULTURES. have a practice.
IT’S NOT JUST FOR ONE We know that deep relaxation is
CULTURE. THE HUMAN Do you have a daily practice? important for healing, but how do we
replenish ourselves? And rest? When
BREATH BELONGS TO I have a daily practice that includes you poll Black women, you find that
THE HUMAN BEING.” prayer, meditation, and journaling, we don’t rest well. Remember, we were
and often some scripture reading. brought here to work! I recently said to
Jenée Johnson Sometimes I’ll use a guided medi- someone, “I have been tired for years.”
tation. Right now, I really like the Mindfulness helps us to rest—to stop,
“Daily Calm” feature from the Calm sit, connect with our breath, close our
app; sometimes I’ll just sit quietly eyes, drop our gaze, sit upright but
with no guide. I journal—gratitudes relaxed, be still. That’s what mindful-
or affirmations or desires. I usually ness gives us—a chance to get quiet and
do this in the morning, sitting at the see what’s there and to hold it kindly.
I recently spoke at a conference, and kitchen counter, with a cup of hot This is the exploration of being human.
afterward a white woman came up water and lemon. For people of color, Black people in
to me. “That was so great,” she said. particular, our identity is constantly
“You’re a real ball buster!” No sister What are some of the deep roots of defined vis-à-vis white folks. Well,
would ever say that to me. I had to mindfulness in your own life? this quietness is putting an end to
say, “Excuse me? No, no, no.” I could that: I am sovereign of myself. Who I
have reacted with upset, but instead The notion of being quiet and still was am and how I define myself is not vis-
I chose to firmly correct her. That is a part of what my family did. My fam- à-vis white folks anymore.
where mindfulness came in: I chose ily is from the Caribbean, and I would This is also a YouToo movement.
my response. “I am not a ball buster,” observe the elders just shutting things The same way that I’m tapping into
I told her. “I am not a woman who down and sitting quietly or lying courage, white people can tap into
annihilates men. That’s not who I down. When I visited my great-aunts courage and end this hollow compas-
am.” When a Black woman shows up in the Caribbean, they would say, sion that shows up when they see Black
in her fullness and her vibrancy, when “Let’s go take a sea bath.” I remember pain, so they can go deeper and make
her frequency is high, a narrative gets the first time one of my great-aunts some decisions about how they engage
created: You’re too much. You’re too said that. A sea bath? I wondered, in a truly more meaningful way.
loud. You’re a ball buster. Not! It was What is that? You would just sit in the
so automatic for her to say that. That salt water—not swimming around, but What do you mean by hollow
is what goes on, for us, every day. just sitting, letting yourself be soothed compassion?
Another time, I’m in a department by the salt water.
store with a friend, and we’re carry- Mindfulness is a banner that Hollow compassion is the result of
ing bags—because we’ve spent quite a gathers up different practices from a white people not having the courage
lot of money. We’re laughing, walking variety of cultures. It’s not just for one to face their own racialization and the
to another department—to spend culture. The human breath belongs to harm it has caused. Land-grabbing.
more money!—and the security guard the human being. Genocide. Enslavement. Colonialism.
is following us. I look toward him and Black people have been practicing Imperialism. All these things that
he looks me dead in my eyes. I looked mindfulness forever. Think about white domination has forwarded and
back at him, stunned that this could the Montgomery bus boycott and that white people are benefiting from
be happening. After all, I had two how people walked for nearly a year, here and now. Compassion comes
shopping bags full of merchandise I gathering each night at churches to from owning that and sitting with
had paid for. sing and pray, so they could walk the discomfort of that, so we can then
In those moments, there is what the next day. That’s mindfulness. generate something different.
Viktor Frankl called a space between Think about the young people who When I talk about mindfulness for
stimulus and response. Do I choose integrated the lunch counters and Black people, I am looking at it as →

42 mindful October 2019

 Jenée and her son, Khalid Edwards,
23, near their home in Oakland,
California. A meditator himself,
Khalid prefers to meditate outside
in nature. From time to time, he and
Jenée also practice together, often in
their living room or kitchen.

m
PODCAST
Unpacking
Privilege

Editor-in-Chief
Barry Boyce
discusses
contemplative
ways to explore
racism and
white privilege
and fragility
with Rhonda
Magee,
Ramaswami
Mahalingam,
and Mirabai
Bush on the
Point of View
podcast.

[Link]/
pov

October 2019 mindful 43

 ILLUMINATE

INFINITE AS THE UNIVERSE

Mikael Chukwuma Owunna my engineering background I am here, speaking to you
is an award-winning, queer, I have augmented a standard through the page, on the
Nigerian-Swedish artist, pho- flash with an ultraviolet spiritual plane, our spirits,
tographer, Fulbright Scholar bandpass filter, to only pass our chis are also convening
and engineer, born and raised ultraviolet light. Using this together. Ultraviolet light is
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. method, in total darkness, not visible to the human eye,
Much of Owunna’s creative I click down on the shutter— and so we can illuminate and
work explores and celebrates ’snap’—and for a fraction find—albeit temporarily—the
identities among Black, immi- of a second, their bodies unseeable therein, the soul,
grant, and LGBTQ communi- illuminate as the universe.” the chi. It is on this plane of
ties. The photo project seen His print medium is aluminum, existence where, regardless
here, Infinite Essence, came “to reflect on millennia of of our experiences of oppres-
into being through a creative West African metallurgy sion on the physical plane, we
synthesis of his biomedical traditions and to connect the are infinite.”
engineering and photography sitters to the ancestors.” —Amber Tucker
expertise. Odinani, the spirituality of
“I’ve set about on a the Igbo people—native to
quest to recast the Black the region of southeastern
body as the cosmos and Nigeria—also figures into
eternal,” Owunna explains Owunna’s series: “We believe
on his website. “I hand-paint in the existence of a ‘chi’ in
the models’ bodies with every person. So just as you
fluorescent paints, and using are seated reading this and

sankofa—the principle of going back What is needed for Black people to heal about what happened. When you
and reclaiming what you left—but it’s from the harms of racialization? start with the history and have the
also an opportunity for us to stop doing courage to really face that, then it’s
the heavy lifting, to take off the burden You know that old experiment about hard to be hollow.
and lovingly hand it over to white the dolls: You show kids a white doll For example, [for assimilated
human beings and say “You have some and a Black doll and ask who’s the immigrants who pass as white], you’re
work to do.” My work is to heal. And bad doll. All of the kids, including the coming in and stepping on the backs
your work is to take a look at this stuff Black kids, point to the Black doll. But of Black people. Your ethnic identity
that is really hard, and I’ll hold the that’s the color of their skin and you fades to the back and you step in to
space and when you get done we can see their little faces trying to make the power and privileges that white-
come back and have this conversation. sense of this disruption. So what has ness is set up to have. Until we tell the
gotten internalized? That’s our work truth about that, how are you going to
What does that look like? as Black people: to undo the inter- dismantle, disrupt, and recreate? You
nalized oppression. That’s the lane can’t put the good on top of the bad.
It ultimately requires some kind of I occupy with mindfulness. Get free You have to tell the truth about it.
action. You know when something’s and be fully human.
hollow, it’s empty, right? It’s just a What about the idea that “pain is
facade of compassion. Part of what How do people do that? pain”? Why differentiate by skin tone—
compassion looks like is doing your isn’t that just perpetuating divisiveness
own work, because white people have First thing I always start with is when we should be looking for our
also been racialized. know the history. And tell the truth common humanity?

44 mindful October 2019

 Mindful learned about Mikael
Owunna’s Infinite Essence
project through Jenée. We saw
how it visually captures Jenée’s
loving reclamation of mindfulness
as liberatory for Black people.
Jenée says that she and Owunna
“are kindred in our respect and
love of Black life. I love how the
series uplifts Black people. I love
how Mikael wraps us in stars and
reclaims our Divine essence.”

Well that’s part of the white fragil- running away from it and keep run- As I think about it, “Program Inno-
ity conversation. Is it true that pain ning these stories about ‘my people vation Leader: Mindfulness, Trauma,
is universal? Yes, it’s true. But is it suffer too,’ then we’re never going to and Racial Equity” sounds like far
not also true that there’s been very get anywhere. Everybody’s people more than just a job title or 9-to-5
deliberate and aggressive white dom- have suffered. We know that human project for you.
ination worldwide? Just look at the suffering is universal.
historical acts and facts and the harm One of the things that I have gotten For me, it’s such a bigger and deeper
that’s caused. And if you don’t want from this practice of contemplation, conversation than what is happening
to look at that, fine, but that doesn’t quieting, prayer, meditation, and at work—that’s really just a small part.
mean that it’s not so. aging is knowing what’s your work, What I am here to do is to equip my
Mindfulness can be powerful for what to take on, when to say ‘I’m not people with tools and practices and
white people to examine their own doing that, but this I can do.’ Just skills. Emotional intelligence is train-
racialization. To look at the history moment by moment making those able, and it’s helping us to be better
full-on and then make some decisions decisions. I am committed to having and stronger. These practices don’t
about how they want to proceed. the joy of life. belong to any one group. They are in
Once you sit in it, then solutions For me, the key is to know what the human field, and we get to pick
to correct and repair will arise. The is mine to manage and what is not. those flowers and arrange them in a
question to ask is How can I be of For Black people—for Black women way that works for us. That’s what I’m
service? That’s for you to discover. Not particularly—it’s time to stop carrying really up to. ●
for me to prescribe. But the first thing the burden that’s not ours to carry
is you’ve got to face it. And if you keep and to move more fully into our joy.

October 2019 mindful 45

46 mindful October 2019
October 2019 mindful 47
 resilience

Lean In
Persevering in the face of adversity—and getting back
up when you stumble—are essential to thriving in
tough times. No matter where you start, you can train
your brain to build resilience.

BY LINDA GRAHAM

It’s one thing to misplace your keys or your wallet

two minutes before you have to rush out the door for
work. You do your best to breathe slowly, stay calm,
and try to think if maybe you were wearing some-
thing else with pockets before the early morning mad
dash. We all experience these hiccups in life—drop-
ping the lasagna on the way to serve guests, leaving a
laptop on a plane, learning that the car needs a new
transmission—and these hiccups can create quite a
startle in the nervous system. Our capacity to cope
PHOTOGRAPH BY AARON THOMAS / STOCKSY

with these inevitable ups and downs is then further

tested when we layer on our own critical messages:
“You stupid klutz!” or “I can’t ever get anything
right” or “I knew it.”

48 mindful October 2019

resilience

PR AC T I CE

Taking In
But usually we can right
ourselves again. We put on
once: We lose a child in a
car accident, or cause a car
the Good
our big-kid pants, face the accident, at the same time
distress of the moment, that an aging parent has a 1
and deal. stroke and a freak thunder-
Occasionally we are storm causes flood damage Pause for a moment and notice any expe-
called on to deal with to half the house. When rience of kindness, gratitude, or awe that
greater troubles and adver- catastrophes like these you have experienced today or remember
sities, not just hiccups but strike, we are vulnerable from the past. Maybe your neighbor drove
earthquakes that over- to losing our resilience you to and from work for three days while
whelm our capacities to altogether, temporarily or your car was in the shop, or you saw a blue
cope, at least temporarily. even for a long time. If we heron rise up from a pond at dusk.
They include troubles like have experienced too many
infertility or infidelity, a unresolved traumas in 2
diagnosis of cancer, losing the past, we can be espe-
a job several years out cially susceptible to falling Attune to the felt sense of the goodness
from retirement, a child apart and not being able to of this moment—a warmth in your body, a
arrested for selling pot, or recover. When our reserves lightness in your heart, a little recognition
a son wounded in com- are already depleted, we of “Wow, this is terrific!”
bat overseas. When these can begin to feel like we’re
bigger bumps happen, we just barely afloat and about 3
have to dig deeper into our to go under.
inner reserves of resil- How in the world do we Focus your awareness on this felt sense
ience and our memories of bounce back from traumas of goodness for 10–30 seconds. Savor
times when we’ve success- like these? By strengthen- it slowly, allowing your brain the time it
fully coped before, while ing our resilience. needs to really register the experience and
also drawing on external Resilience—the capac- store it in long-term memory.
resources such as family ity to bend with the wind,
and friends. Here, too, go with the flow, bounce 4
finding our way back to our back from adversity—has
center, our inner equilib- been pondered, studied, Set the intention to evoke this memory five
rium and ability to cope, and taught in tribes and more times today. This repeats the neural
can be more difficult if we societies, in philosophical firing in your brain, recording the memory
are told we are—or perceive and spiritual traditions, so you can recollect it later, making it a
ourselves as—less than and through literature for resource for your own sense of emotional
capable, less than skillful, eons. It is essential to the well-being, and thus strengthening the
less than good enough, or survival and thriving of inner secure base of resilience.
unworthy of help. human beings and human
And then there are times societies. As you experience and re-experience the
when too damn many We now also know that moment, register that not only are you
disasters happen all at resilience is one behav- doing this, you are learning how to do this.
ioral outcome of a mature, You are becoming competent at creating
well-functioning prefrontal new neural circuitry for resilience.
cortex in the brain. Impor-
tantly, whether we’re facing —Linda Graham
a series of small annoy-
ABOUT THE AUTHOR ances or an utter disaster,
Linda Graham is a licensed marriage resilience is teachable,
and family therapist and mindful learnable, and recoverable. It
self-compassion teacher in the San
Francisco Bay Area. She is also author
takes practice, and it takes
of The Resilience Toolkit (New World awareness, but that power
Library, 2018). always lies within us. →

50 mindful October 2019

 When the self-
regulating capacity of
your brain is functioning
well, you can inhabit or
quickly recover a felt
sense of centeredness,
ease, and well-being
after an upsetting event.

m
ONLINE
PRACTICES
5 Science-
Backed
Strategies
to Build
Resilience

These resilience
practices
PHOTOGRAPH BY NEMANJA GLUMAC / STOCKSY

can help
you confront
emotional pain
more skillfully.

[Link]/
resilience

October 2019 mindful 51

PR AC T I CE

Tune In ATTENDING

to Act Wisely
This practice can deepen
your capacity to become ATTUNING
present to and consciously
aware of your experience This practice entails dis-
The practices of attending and attuning will without needing to leave or cerning the particular flavor
begin creating the space to help you respond push it away to maintain your of an emotion. It helps you
to emotions in a new and more resilient way. emotional equilibrium. learn to label complex, subtly
Regular practice will make it easier to shift from nuanced emotions, such
negativity to positivity. Apply the principle of
little and often. Practice again and again until
1 as those of feeling lonely or
suspicious, which builds your
these skills become the new habits of perceiving Sit quietly in a place where emotional literacy.
and responding to your emotional landscape. you won’t be interrupted for at
Then you can choose your response. least five minutes. Come into 1
a sense of presence, knowing
you are here, in your body, in See if you can identify any
your mind, in this moment, in feeling or sensation in the
this place. experience you were attend-
ing to in your body. Begin to
2 label it—shaky, tight, churn-
ing, bubbling, contracting,
Whatever body sensation, expanding. Try not to create a
feeling, or thought comes up, story about it. Just feel it and
simply notice it, acknowledge name it.
that it has shown up on your
radar, allow it to be there, and 2
accept that it is there. At this
point you’re not wondering Sometimes it’s a challenge
about it or trying to figure to put your finger on the
it out, just attending to it exact nuance or flavor of the
enough to register the experi- message. So just try to find a
ence in your awareness. good enough label for now:
“This is contentment,” “This
3 is aggravation,” or “This is
despair.”
At this stage in the exercise,
you have come to a choice Whatever feeling you are
point. You can let go of attuning to, and however you
attending to the experience choose to label it, this feeling
of the moment and refocus is what it is. All you have to
your attention on the quiet, know at this point is that you
spacious awareness, or you can know what it is and label
can attune to the felt sense of it in a way that is useful to you.
the experience to decipher its You can trust in your ability to
message. know and label a feeling even
if you change your mind later
about what it is. Once you can
name an emotion, you are on
the way to making sense of it
and taking wise action toward
dealing with it.

—Linda Graham

52 mindful October 2019

 resilience

YOUR lives. At any time, we can

choose the experiences that
felt sense of centeredness,
ease, and well-being after
positive ones, such as kind-
ness, gratitude, generosity,
FLEXIBLE direct the brain’s learning
toward better functioning.
an upsetting event. You
regain your equilibrium.
delight, and awe. Positive
emotions shift the brain
BRAIN Resilience can be dimin- From there you can perceive out of the contraction and
ished (for example, by the clearly what’s triggering reactivity of the negativity
impact of acute trauma) your emotions and discern bias, into the receptivity
All of the capacities that or strengthened (through what a wise response to and openness that increase
develop and strengthen the perception of safety; those triggers would be. your response flexibility.
your resilience—inner calm by being understood and For example, we The direct measurable
in the midst of the storms, accepted by another person; know it’s not resilient outcome of these practices
seeing options clearly, through conscious reflec- to be hijacked by floods is resilience.
shifting perspectives and tion, such as mindfulness; of emotions: You can’t Focusing on positive
responding flexibly, choos- and with the cultivation of think straight, and your emotions is not meant to
ing actions, persevering positive emotions) at any responses may be useless or bypass or suppress dark,
in the face of doubt and time by experience. harmful. And it’s not resil- difficult, afflictive ones.
discouragement—are innate ient to try to repress your Your experiences of angst,
in your being because they emotions. For one thing, it pain, and despair are very
are evolutionarily innate in takes an enormous amount real. But you can learn to
your brain. HOW of physical and psycho- acknowledge, hold, and
Neuroplasticity means logical energy to do that, process those emotions.
that all the capacities of EMOTIONS energy you would be better You broaden your habitual
resilience you need are
learnable and recoverable. IMPACT off using to respond to the
situation or to other people
modes of thinking or acting
and build enduring, resil-
Even if you didn’t fully
develop your capacities for RESILIENCE wisely. Secondly, when you
try to repress any specific
ient resources for coping.
These include increasing
resilience in early life, you emotion (anger, grief, social bonds and social sup-
can develop them now. The Just simply being alive and shame are common port and deepening insights
neural networks underlying evokes emotions. We targets), you can wind up that help place events in a
your coping strategies and experience one emotion damping down all of your broader context. You find a
behaviors can be shaped after another every single emotions, even the helpful way through, and come out
and modified by your own moment of the day: delight ones. You can go flat in your the other side.
choices, by self-directed in watching a sunrise, frus- being and lose the motiva- All emotions—the ones
neuroplasticity. tration at getting stalled in tion to do anything at all. you dislike and dread as well
This requires the engage- traffic, resentment when a as the ones you welcome
ment of the prefrontal cor- coworker takes credit for and enjoy—can guide your
tex, the center of executive an idea we came up with, behaviors in resilient self-
function in the brain. It’s terror for the future when TAKING BACK protecting or self- enhancing
the structure we rely on a spouse or child gets a ways. You don’t have to be
most for our planning, deci- life-threatening diagnosis. THE REINS afraid of your emotions, be
sion-making, analyses, and Whether we like hav- stuck in them, or be swept
judgments. The prefrontal ing these emotions or not, What you can do instead away by them. You do have
cortex also performs many whether we trust them is learn to manage surges to take responsibility for
other functions essential to or know what to do with of negative emotions and how you experience and
our resilience: It regulates them or not, our feel- intentionally cultivate express them. ●
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF JILLIAN PRANSKY

function of the body and ings constantly filter our

PHOTOGRAPH BY MILLES STUDIO / STOCSKY

the nervous system, man- perceptions and guide (or

ages a broad range of emo- sometimes misguide) our
tions, and quells the fear responses to all of our expe-
response of the amygdala. riences. In that way, our Excerpted from the book Resilience:
(That quelling is essential emotions play an integral Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back
for resilience!) role in our resilience. from Disappointment, Difficulty,
We now know that When the self-regulating and Even Disaster. Copyright ©2018
by Linda Graham. Printed with
experience is the catalyst of capacity of your brain is
permission from New World Library—
the brain’s neuroplasticity functioning well, you can [Link].
and learning for our entire inhabit or quickly recover a

October 2019 mindful 53

 acceptance

Let It Be If there’s one thing life teaches us, it’s that

nothing stays the same. Yet we find all sorts
of ways to resist, deny, and avoid this reality.
Editor-in-Chief Barry Boyce offers
nine perspectives to help us make friends
with change.

PHOTOGRAPH BY PLAINPICTURE / REILIKA LANDEN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Barry Boyce has been an avid mindfulness

practitioner for over 40 years and is co-founder
of Mindful and [Link].

54 mindful October 2019

W
hen I first started meditating, I
was anxious and fidgety. I wanted
to crawl out of my skin. I’m truly
astounded that I didn’t quit, since I was 17 at
the time and had quit all sorts of things in those
days—and they were mostly things that were
good for me. Things that weren’t good for me,
I just kept on doing. But somehow I did keep
going with meditation. Maybe it had some-
thing to do with peer pressure or pride, or just
the notion of how silly it would be to chuck
the whole thing aside because I couldn’t pay
attention to my breath without going just a little
bit crazy. Also, meditating confirmed that you
were not part of the mainstream, and not being
mainstream was a part of my thing back then
(#sixties, which didn’t end till the middle of the
seventies).
Stick-to-it-iveness, or stubbornness, or what-
ever it was, paid off, because meditation soon
became a regular and important part of my life.
A lot of the agitation died down (although it’s
still there in a big way at times) and I began to
sense a backdrop of well-being that lay behind
all experiences. Nice.
And yet, this chill quality started to be mar-
ried to ambition, trying to become a good med-
itator, hell, a great meditator. I filled my head
with fantasies of how wise and measured
I would be, maybe even holy, but certainly some-
one whom people would look upon as a sage,
the one who is the calm center in the midst of
the storm. In terms of my actual demeanor and
behavior, this was far from the case, as anyone
who knew me in my early days will tell you. →

October 2019 mindful 55

acceptance

There’s an inner being inside us all, it seems,

who wants to take the path of least resistance,
avoid doing the dirty work, and be lauded
nonetheless. I’ll call him Frank (with apologies
to all the Franks out there). Frank makes a big
mess. When inner Frank takes over, it’s as if
a wild boar got drunk and imagined he could
safely interact with humans in polite society.
Frank thinks he’s so suave and debonair, but
he’s thinking only of himself, and he’s therefore
oafish and inconsiderate of others—like the “Two
Wild and Crazy Guys” in the Steve Martin and
Dan Aykroyd Saturday Night Live skit. (Check it
out on YouTube if you haven’t seen it or it’s faded
from memory.) When that ambitious lout inside
of me took hold, I feel pretty certain I became
arrogant, clumsy, and at times intolerable.
Eventually, though, like the skin-crawling
agitation that dominated my early forays into
meditation, the self-importance and ambition
started to lessen and weaken. It became not only
tedious to others but tedious to me. And yes, like
the agitation, it could rear its ugly head at any
time, probably even as recently as yesterday, but
all in all, trying to win the meditation Olympic
Gold Medal has been much less of a feature of
what you might call my meditation “career.”
What became a bigger feature is a seemingly
insatiable curiosity about why I (and we, I sup-
pose) cling so tightly to the notion that things
ought not to change, that they should stay just
like they are, that the status quo ante (i.e., how
things have been) is the best status of all. We
adhere to this belief and desire in spite of mas-
sive evidence to the contrary every single day, if
not every minute, of our lives. Staying the same
is not what’s going on here.
Flux is the thing.
And yet, I find, I still expect things not to
change, many decades into my examination of
this intractable habit. There are explanations
having to do with the fact that it can be a helpful
PHOTOGRAPH BY PLAINPICTURE / DAVID PRINCE

mental shortcut to expect things to stay the

same: to believe that there will be a floor under
our feet when we swing out of bed in the morn-
ing; that when the light turns green, people will
go; that my baseball team will once again not
go to the World Series and that my wife will
mock me for giving a damn about that. Indeed,
there are common-sense reasons for what
psychologists call our status quo bias, and yet in
the context of figuring out the ways we cause
ourselves pain, putting forth reasons for relying

56 mindful October 2019

 Allowing does not mean
negating what is painful. It
is allowing what is there to
simply be there.

on things staying the same really amounts to no

more than making excuses, in my mind, for our
deep clinging to the familiar, our allegiance to
permanence, our fear of change.
Somewhere along the way, though, the why
part of this quest started to recede into the back-
ground. It seemed a waste of time to keep trying
to resolve a conundrum that eluded me for as
long as some middle-aged people have lived. A
better approach might be to take it for granted
and see what could be done to undercut and
confound it.
Some people call this allowing practice, just
letting things be, and in my experience, there
can be a number of allowing practices. The trick,
though, is for the allowing practices to not be
about a begrudging allowance, à la “OK, things
change. I get it. So, can we get on with the famil-
iar, already?” Calling these “practices” makes it
a bit fancy, I admit. They are simply reflections
in the midst of life: taking the opportunities
presented to us to acclimate to the big, beautiful,
changing scene that life serves up.
Since these nine reflections focus on the
minutiae of life, things that might even normally
be beneath notice, one could argue that they’re
not that relevant to the kinds of change that
deeply bother us: losing or not getting a job, hav-
ing our hopes dashed, the death of friends and
family, the fact that we will die.
Fair point. These big life events are the
emotional touch points where our difficulty
with change—our feeling of time passing, that
everything moves on and slips through our
fingers—makes itself most acutely felt. For that
very reason, though, these are hard to tackle
head-on. Interrupting the momentum of our
discomfort with change in the small things can,
over time, subtly alter our perception of the big
things. In some ways, this is indeed at the heart
of mindfulness: When we rest patiently, with
no goal, aim, or destination for a while, we turn
a microscope on the shifting landscape that
emerges anew with each passing moment. →

October 2019 mindful 57

PRACTICE

Welcome
Everything,
Push Away
Nothing Settle back into your seat,
relax, and come into the
breath and body. Maybe let
your eyes close if that feels
Explore acceptance in your comfortable for you. Let your
mindfulness practice by embracing breathing be very natural.
curiosity and fearless receptivity.
Begin by being aware
of the various sensations
By Frank Ostaseski in your body: pressure,
movement, tingling, the feel
To welcome something doesn’t mean we have to like it, and it of the air on your hands and
doesn’t mean we have to agree with it; it just means we have face. Just feel the waves of
to be willing to meet it. We temporarily suspend our rush to sensation.
judgment and are simply open to what’s occurring.
With welcoming comes the ability to work with what is pres- Now, let go of the idea
ent and what is unpleasant. After a while, we begin to discover of arms and legs and a body.
that our happiness isn’t determined simply by what is external Become aware of the area
in our life but also what is internal. above your head. How far
To be open means to embrace paradox and contradiction; does that space extend?
it’s about keeping our minds and hearts available to new Let your awareness sense
information, letting ourselves be informed by life. Openness what’s to the left of you.
welcomes the good times and the bad times as equally valid What’s to the right of you?
experiences. Let your awareness come
Openness is the basis of a skillful response to life. into the area below your
At the deepest level, this is an invitation to fearless recep- body. Is there any vibration
tivity. To welcome everything and push away nothing can’t be
done as an act of will. This is an act of love.
Mostly, we think of mindfulness as bringing a very precise
in your feet or the floor? Let
your awareness extend to
the area behind your body,
m
attention to what’s happening, as it’s happening. In this way, so it fills the whole room. Let
we bring an almost laser-like attention to our practice. We your awareness be aware of JOIN US
bring a careful moment-to-moment attention to sensation, what’s in front of the body, Mindful30
to thoughts, to emotions. But sometimes this kind of precise extending out as far as it
attention can create a sort of tension or struggle in the mind. possibly can, so that there’s Join Frank
This is when it’s more useful to try a practice that cultivates this sense of openness, of Ostaseski and
an open, boundless awareness. To develop a mind that is vast boundless space; and all of other Mindful
like space. To allow pleasant and unpleasant experiences to the activities of body, heart, luminaries
appear and disappear without struggle, resistance, or harm. and mind are appearing and for our 2019
So, let’s try this practice for welcoming everything and disappearing in that open, Mindful30
pushing away nothing. welcoming space. event.

Sign up at
[Link]/
m30

58 mindful October 2019

 acceptance

Plant Life
Allow all experience to arise
without any interference— IF YOU TAKE a close look at plastic
no inside, no outside. Relax flowers and then compare them to living
your ownership of thoughts. flowers, what’s the salient difference? It’s that
Look and see the difference the living flowers are also dying flowers. The
between being lost in thought very fact that they have a life span and you can
and being mindful of thought. see that change before your eyes is key to their
It’s like when a sound occurs beauty. When you can, take a little time to
in the room, or a bird flies by, observe the fragility of a flower. Even a silk
you just notice the sound of flower fades in the sunlight and a plastic flower
the bird; you don’t think it’s will eventually become brittle.
you. Let it be that way with
your thoughts and sensations,

Seasons
everything coming, everything
going in a vast, open space. It
can be helpful to think about
what happens when you walk
into a room: Most people see SOME PLACES HAVE four very distinct
the chairs or tables or the seasons. In other places, the seasonal
objects in the room and fail to change is subtler, but no place on Earth is
see the space. without seasonal changes in temperature, light,
precipitation, plant life—providing an excellent
Let yourself be aware opportunity to revel in the changes. One
of the space surrounding all Japanese approach to nature and food even
the activity, all the coming divides the year into 72 micro-seasons, of about
and going. Remember, what- five days each. (And yes, there is an app for that.)
ever we can give space to can Next to my desk is a wide, tall window, and
move. Keep allowing all the I make sure to look out from it each day and
thoughts, all the sensations, check out the seasonal change. In early spring,
all the feelings to rise and dis- the branches are bare, in midspring they are
appear in the vast spacious- spare, by late spring and summer, they hang
ness, like clouds in the sky. down from the weight of leaves, blossoms, and
seeds. In autumn, they are colorful. In winter,
Finally, let your attention they are skeletal.
come to the awareness itself,
vast, transparent, clear, not

Light
disturbed by anything that’s
coming and going. Welcome
everything, push away
PHOTOGRAPH BY DEEPOL BY PLAINPICTURE

nothing.
FOR YEARS, MY brother lived on the
side of a mountain. When I would visit
ABOUT THE AUTHOR him, I used to love to sit on his porch as late
Frank Ostaseski, leading expert afternoon gave way to evening and nighttime.
in contemplative end-of-life care, We tend to think of the color of something we
is the cofounder of the Zen Hospice
see as fixed, but it is not. Colors change all the
Project, founder of the Metta Institute,
international lecturer, and author of time in relation to light. In bright light, the
The Five Invitations: Discovering What trees on my brother’s mountain are mostly
Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully. bright green. As the light fades, they are dark
green, and then black, no more than a silhou-
ette. Are we not just the same, not one color,
but many colors? →

October 2019 mindful 59

acceptance

Temperature
WE LIVE IN an age when we are neces-
sarily concerned with temperature.
Global warming is a temperature event
that concerns us all, and contemplating that
means allowing for a lot of uncertainty and
sadness about the future—the solastalgia that
the naturalist and meditation teacher Mark
Coleman referred to in his piece in the April
2019 issue of Mindful. There is no real way
around that shared wound. Allowing does not
mean negating what is painful. It is allowing
what is there to simply be there.
We’re also obsessed with temperature, our
Goldilocks yearning for the perfect temperature
condition, reinforced by our massively man-
aged climate control systems that attempt to
keep us all in our happy place (ironically, a big
contributor to global warming). I like to observe
when I’m clinging hard to an ideal temperature,
or season, and see if I can allow myself to be a
person “for all seasons.” When it’s cold, it’s cold.
When it’s hot, it’s hot. Cheerleading for one or
the other, as our media meteorologists do inces-
santly, is forever asking us to be somewhere
other than where we are.

Travel
TRAVEL IS ABOUT changing loca-
tions. Throughout human history, we’ve
sought faster and faster ways to change location.
In our science fiction, we love the idea of
teletransportation—to be somewhere else in the In my very acceptance of the fact
blink of an eye. Get there fast and park as close
as you can to the entrance. that I don’t accept impermanence,
I have to travel a fair amount for my work, to
meet people doing cool things in cool places. In
I find some peace.
the past few years, I’ve done a few things to try
to notice the speed of travel and to appreciate
where I am more and how I’m moving from place
to place. I try now to figure out how an airport is
actually laid out rather than being lost in a maze
like a rat in a Skinner box. In a city, I take out a
paper map and spread it on my bed and study it,
so I have an overview (particularly since GPS
systems appear to be eroding our powers of spa-
tial and situational awareness). I try to be where

60 mindful October 2019

 I am as completely, not simply on my way to Passing Interests
and Abilities
somewhere else: John P. Milton, the founder of
vision questing, said, “Sky above, earth below”;
or “Wherever you go, there you are,” made pop-
ular by Jon Kabat-Zinn, and attributed to both
Confucius and Buckaroo Banzai. MY DAUGHTER SEEMS to have a new
Moving more slowly helps, including walk- hobby every six months or so, and she
ing and bicycling. Instead of zipping around gets pretty good at them, and some of them stick
from place to place in a cab or a ride-share, I for longer. Years ago I obsessed about opera.
try public transportation when I can. There is Today, it’s an occasional thing. I once played a
more waiting. And during that waiting, while lot of golf and was pretty good. Now, not so
I am impatient, I can allow myself to be impa- much. Interests wax and wane. What was the
tient, and observe it rise and fall. It’s almost like thing is no longer the thing. There are fashions.
going to the movies. And like the movies, you’re Hula hoops, yo-yos, roller rinks, mood rings.
together in a room with your fellow human Yes, that’s fickle, but this fickleness is something
beings. This room moves, though. to be honest about. Everything has a first blush,
a honeymoon, a plateau…and an eventual death.
Even our greatest passions.

Time
Aging
TIME BENDS AND flexes and floats.
We’ve become so accustomed to think-
ing of time as being measured only by the clock AND SPEAKING OF death, we are all
that we may not notice so much all the other dying. We are aging, in every minute. Over
rhythms in life that “keep time” like a metro- time, our capacities decrease. No matter
nome. A heartbeat. The path of the sun through how hard we work at it, eventually we will be
the sky. The seasons. Even our attention: When able to do less, we will likely be in more pain, we
bored, a minute drags; when engaged, a minute will see more pain, we will have lost more
flies. Is a minute, then, a fixed thing? Take time people, we will face a diagnosis, a tragic loss.
to notice the ways that time is influenced, by Why not make friends with change, with
how fast someone talks, by how much they pay allowing, every day? When the big changes
attention to you, by whether we have chosen to come, they will not seem so big. We may well
be someplace or would rather be somewhere have embraced change that much.
else. Take your time. Even with the mundane,
especially with the mundane. Why rush through
the dishes? Does barreling through the tedium
to get to the other side really make us happier? In this continual process of allowing,
Appreciate timing as much as time. I cannot say how much I have loosened my
clinging to wanting things to remain. I cannot
PHOTOGRAPH BY PLAINPICTURE / HARALD BRAUN

say I am eager to die, or to lose my friends, or

Changing Your Mind

to have good times turn to hard times. No, I
continue to cling. I have pretty much given up
trying to figure out why. Just human, I guess.
And yet here, as in so many things in life,
CHANGING YOUR MIND gets a very there is a paradox: In my very acceptance of the
bad rap. Don’t succumb to that fact that I don’t accept impermanence, I find
tyranny! Go ahead, let your mind some peace. And I allow it to be there, like dew
change. Let it go where it will. A changing mind hanging off the tip of a leaf, glinting in the early
is a beautiful mind. As long as you don’t create morning sun. The early morning sun will burn
too much chaos for other people, admitting that off the dew. By night the leaf will be a dark sil-
your mind has changed can be humbling. houette and eventually unseen. So be it. ●

October 2019 mindful 61

62 mindful October 2019
 well-being

Breath
of Life
Think you know how to breathe? Some experts say
9 in 10 of us are missing out on the mental and
physical benefits of breathing well.
By Hugh Delehanty • Illustrations by Carole Hénaff
 PRACTICE

Reset Your Body

T
he story in my A daily breathing practice to bring
family is that balance to your life.
a coat hanger
saved my life.
I was about 18 In her book Breathe, Belisa Vranich says this five-minute rou-
months old and tine will allow you to reset your body after a particularly stressful
was suffering day by drenching every cell in it with oxygen—it will be a wel-
with a horrible come relief to a body that’s been flooded with carbon dioxide
case of pneumonia that made it diffi- and low oxygen, adrenaline, and caffeine. The exercise will also
cult for me to breathe. One night I was allow you to quiet your mind so you can hear yourself think and
struggling so badly, my father called will help you feel centered, balanced, and more connected to
our family doctor and pleaded with your feelings and the feelings of others.
her to make a house call. When she
arrived, or so the tale goes, she took
one look at me, grabbed a wire hanger
from the closet, and performed an PART ONE
emergency tracheotomy on the spot. Duration: two minutes
Everything turned out fine, and
within a few weeks I was up and
crawling again, but what lingered 1 4
for years was a feeling of vulnerabil- Lying on your back, put one Exhale enthusiastically, for the
ity—and an ambivalent relationship hand on your belly and one on same amount of time as the
to breathing—that has shadowed me the top of your chest. two inhales took, combined.
throughout my life. I was hospital-
ized again with pneumonia in my Make sure to continue breath-
teens, and even as an adult I some- 2 ing through your mouth for
times struggled to exhale or mysteri- Breathe through your mouth the entire first part. The first
ously stopped breathing altogether. in order to take in as much time you try this, you may feel
I started meditating years later and oxygen as possible. like you’ve hit a wall after 20
listened to teachers rhapsodize about breaths or so. If that happens,
following the breath, which was my encourage yourself calmly
idea of hell. I danced around it, focus- 3 and firmly to continue breath-
ing on noting thoughts or experi- The first inhale should make ing. However, don’t push
encing bodily sensations—anything your belly rise. (The hand on yourself too hard.
except following the breath. But you your chest should not move.)
can only hide from your breath for Then, without exhaling, take
so long. Eventually, I would have another inhale and fill the top
to address the problem head-on. If of your lungs. (This time the
breathing is the gateway to a happy hand will move.) These two
and peaceful life, as many meditation inhales should be distinct,
teachers claim, how could I continue even if the second one is small.
to ignore it?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hugh Delehanty is a former editor for People,
Sports Illustrated, Utne Reader, and AARP The
Magazine. He wrote about applying design thinking
to life planning in the February 2018 issue of Mindful.

64 mindful October 2019

 well-being

So, I reached out to Belisa Vranich,

the author of Breathe, a classic book
on the mechanics of breathing.
Vranich, a psychologist who runs a
learning program called The Breath-
ing Class, got interested in breathing
when she started practicing in New
York City and found that many of
her patients were so agitated they
couldn’t take in anything that she had
to say. But when she started looking
for some simple breathing techniques
to teach them, she found that, even
though everyone agreed that breath-
ing was important, the majority of
people—including many experts—
PART TWO were doing it all wrong.
Duration: three minutes Based on her research, Vranich
estimates that at least nine out of
every 10 people aren’t using their
1 2 diaphragms as a primary breathing
Move your hands away from Continue scanning your body muscle. Instead, they’re breathing
your body. Rest your arms at to ensure that you’re not hold- vertically, lifting their shoulders and
your sides, palms up. Let your ing tension anywhere. Imag- sucking in their guts on the inhale, as
feet fall outward. You may ine that with each inhale you if they were striking a Superman pose.
keep breathing through your are letting yourself float a little “That’s anatomically incongruous,”
mouth or switch to your nose. higher, and with each exhale she said. “There’s no other animal
Relax your lips, your face, and you are letting yourself sink a on the planet that breathes like this.
the roof of your mouth. Let little deeper. Try to move your We’re taking this beautiful machine
your tongue get heavy. Very mind away from thinking and and using it in a way that makes no
important: Let your jaw relax. simply keep your attention sense based on how it was designed.”
Pay attention to your cheeks, on your physical sensations. Breathing up and down, instead of
ears, and neck, relaxing them Observe your breath as if out and in, disengages the diaphragm
with each exhale. Relax your you were watching another and makes it difficult to take a full
shoulders and the rest of person. breath. It also triggers a shift in the
your body. autonomic nervous system, which
As Vranich points out, “Relax- is made up of two counterbalancing
ing your body so that stress parts: the sympathetic nervous sys-
hormones and blood pres- tem and the parasympathetic nervous
sure decrease recharges your system. The sympathetic system
battery within minutes and usually kicks in when we’re fac-
encourages mindfulness. Do ing danger or are under a great deal
it as often as possible, ideally of stress (a.k.a. the “fight or flight”
every day.” response). In ordinary circumstances,
once the initial threat diminishes, the
parasympathetic system will step in
and set in motion the “rest and digest,
restore and repair” functions. But
if you’re constantly breathing with
your neck and shoulders, it signals
the vagus nerve—our internal stress
detector—to send a message to the
brain that the body is on overload. →

October 2019 mindful 65

 SCIENCE

Your Body on
Deep Breathing Immune
Strength
Deep breathing has been found to Studies have found that the
activation of the vagus nerve and
benefit your whole body in powerful
parasympathetic nervous system
ways. Here are some key perks to can boost immune health and
lengthening your inhale and exhale, reduce inflammation.
according to research.
Less Stress
Deep breathing helps regulate
stress and anxiety by
activating the parasympathetic
nervous system and increasing
vagal tone, which triggers the
relaxation response.

Fresh
Tension Release
Oxygen
Chest breathing, which many of
us do by default, can be caused By engaging more parts of
by and can lead to muscle the lungs, deep breathing has
tension. Deep breathing can help been found to encourage fuller
those tense muscles relax. oxygen exchange, the process
through which fresh oxygen
moves into the cells and carbon
dioxide gets expelled with
each breath.

Healthy Heart
Deep breathing has been
found to boost heart health in a
number of ways, most notably
by lowering and stabilizing
blood pressure, improving
circulation, and slowing the
heart rate.
 well-being

As a result, many of us spend a good The Mechanics “There’s no other animal

part of our day in low to high fight-or-
flight mode. That can play havoc with
of the Breath on the planet that
our nervous system, our digestion, our To help me understand and get things breathes like this. We’re
blood pressure—not to mention our rolling, Vranich invited me to take a
ability to get a good night’s sleep. private class with Alyson Khan, one taking this beautiful
The key to preventing this from of her senior teachers in Los Angeles.
happening, according to Vranich, is Khan, a cheerful woman in her thir-
machine and using it in
to learn to breathe the way we were ties, watched me take a few breaths a way that makes no
designed—horizontally, expanding and concluded that I had a strong
the belly outward on the inhale and horizontal inhale but an iffy exhale. sense based on how it
narrowing it on the exhale, which “You must be bracing somewhere,”
engages the diaphragm and other she said. was designed.”
breathing muscles in the process. The “Bracing” was one of Alyson’s
most common breathing techniques favorite words. In fact, learning to use Psychologist Belisa Vranich
focus on counting breaths and inhal- mindfulness to manage her bracing
ing and exhaling according to fixed habit was a key turning point for her.
patterns. There’s nothing wrong with It all started in grade school when her
that, said Vranich, “but most people classmates started calling her “Fatty” Now she finds she often braces
don’t have much success doing that even though she wasn’t overweight. when she’s racing to beat a traffic light
because their diaphragms are in And soon sucking it in became second or navigating a tense social situation
spasm. They’ve been bracing so long nature. “We live in a culture of gut- or spotting a text from someone she’s
their diaphragms don’t stretch any- suckers,” she quipped. “What do we trying to avoid. “Bracing is the body’s
more. So, I show them how to unlock do when we walk into a room? We natural way of protecting itself,” she
their diaphragms and they start feel- lift our chest up, throw our shoulders said. “If you’re not aware of that,
ing better immediately.” back, and suck our gut in, because, you’re going to carry that stress in
God forbid, you don’t want to look your body throughout the day, and it
chubby. In LA, they might even write will affect how you relate to others.”
you a ticket for that.” It wasn’t until she started paying
attention to her breathing that things
began to change. The key, she said,
was being attuned to when she was on
the verge of bracing and then asking
herself, “Do I really want to be doing
that all day?”
Next, Alyson showed me how to
calculate my Breathing Intelligence

Take a deep breath Quotient (or BIQ for short), a tool

Vranich developed to measure what
she calls your “vital lung capacity.”
It involves using a measuring tape to
determine the expanse of your ribs
when you inhale compared with →

October 2019 mindful 67

well-being

When you look at back and forth between powerful So, over the next several weeks,
belly breaths and crunching exhales Belisa put me through a grueling regi-
anatomy charts in while seated), Diaphragm Extensions men aimed at strengthening my inter-
a doctor’s office, the (lying with my back on the floor and costals (the small muscles attached
lifting a 20-lb. weight up and down to the ribs) and my obliques (my side
diaphragm is usually with my belly muscles), and Exhale abdominals) and getting them to work
Pulsations (exhaling rapidly as if in harmony with my other breathing
portrayed as a thin red blowing out a candle 40 or 50 times). muscles. She also taught me how to
By the end, I felt bone weary, but tilt my hips forward on the inhale and
line, but it’s the biggest strangely exhilarated. My lips, fin- backward on the exhale to engage
breathing muscle in gers, and toes were tingling, and the my glutes and pelvic floor muscles.
buzz lasted for hours. I don’t think “I want you to feel as if you’re being
your body. my cells had ever been bathed in that scooped out in the middle and your
much oxygen before. belly button is getting closer and
Just before I left, Alyson had me do closer to your spine,” she said.
another BIQ reading. This time the It was hard mastering this motion,
gap was 2.75 inches, which translated at first. But eventually, after several
into 72%, or a strong C+. weeks of daily practice, it started to
Maybe there was still hope. feel virtually automatic. My breath
when you exhale. In my case, the suddenly became fuller and more
difference was two inches (40-inch relaxed, and, every now and then, I
inhale/38-inch exhale). That translated My Breathing Regimen could feel myself slipping into a natu-
into 52% capacity, or a letter grade of ral breathing rhythm without even
D. I was crestfallen, but Alyson reas- The next day Dr. Vranich and I met on thinking about it. In the beginning,
sured me, saying most of her students a video call. She was in her apartment Belisa said my goal should be an 100%
“fail miserably on their first try, so you in New York City, where she spends BIQ score, and by the end of week
must be doing something right.” most of her time when she isn’t travel- four, the readings began to climb into
Then she said, “Do you want to see ing the world teaching firefighters, the high 80s.
what your diaphragm looks like?” and pregnant women, extreme athletes,
pulled out a vegetable steamer bas- and other folks how to get more
ket—the kind with flaps that expand intimate with their diaphragms. She Breathing
and contract. I was flabbergasted.
When you look at anatomy charts in
told me I was a rare specimen: a hori-
zontal inhaler (good) and a vertical
for Better Health
a doctor’s office, the diaphragm is exhaler (not so good). She speculated A hot topic for breathing researchers
usually portrayed as a thin red line, that I’d conditioned myself after the lately has been slowness. Recent stud-
but it’s the biggest breathing muscle tracheotomy to brace on the exhale ies by cardiologist David O’Hare and
in your body, about the size of a small and, as result, had a lot of stale CO2 others have shown that slow-paced
pizza, and it will expand four or five stored in my body. “You’ve never had breathing can have a positive impact
inches when you inhale (if you let the muscle memory of a good exhale,” on heart rate variability, a measure of
it) and shrink back into place when she said, “so we have to teach you a the heart’s ability to adapt to stress.
you exhale. “The digestive organs new way of moving your muscles.” Increasing HRV makes the system
are right below the diaphragm and Her solution was to train me to relax more flexible and resilient. That’s
they get really happy when you’re my front abdominal muscles on the why it’s often cited as a predictor of
breathing the way you’re supposed to exhale and squeeze out the air with longevity and overall well-being.
breathe,” Alyson said. “And so does my diaphragm, lower abs, intercostals, None of these studies surprised
your heart. Everything gets really obliques, and the muscles of my pelvic Richard Brown, an associate clini-
happy, and if you do it long enough, floor. Essentially, she figured that if I cal psychiatry professor at Columbia
your body will remember and want to learned to breathe correctly with those University—and an adept in aikido,
breathe that way all the time.” muscles, my front abs would start qigong, Zen meditation, and other
To bring my sorry diaphragm mimicking the movement by associa- practices—who has spent most of his
back to life, Alyson put me through tion. “Your belly muscles are going to career studying the benefits of slow
an exhausting series of exercises, do it because your side muscles are breathing. He and his wife, Patricia
including Rock ‘n’ Roll (shifting doing it,” she explained. Gerbarg, an assistant clinical profes-

68 mindful October 2019

 MOVEMENT

Get Energized
sor at New York Medical College, have
developed a program of exercises, A breathing technique to refresh
detailed in their book The Healing your mind and get moving.
Power of the Breath, which have pro-
duced remarkable results in studies
of patients with anxiety, depression, “Ha!” breathing is helpful when
insomnia, and other conditions. you’re drowsy or feeling fuzzy 1
The exercises are based, in large and need something to wake Stand up straight, with your
part, on traditional qigong and yogic up your mind. Try it first thing elbows bent, forearms parallel
practices, and the couple’s work in the morning or any time to the ground, palms up, and
with patients over the past 25-plus when you are tired and faced fingers curved into loose fists.
years. According to Brown, the with demanding mental tasks.
ancient qigong masters had a deep For most people, the exercise
understanding of how the autonomic works best in short takes of 2
nervous system works. As evidence, two to five minutes. It’s per- Inhale, breathing deeply
he cited a treatise in the Tao Te fectly fine to do it two or three through your nose while
Ching, that “starts out by saying that times throughout the day. drawing your elbows behind
the purpose of breathing practices Note: Although “Ha!” your back.
is to become like a newborn baby,” breathing is safe for most
which aligns directly with O’Hare’s people, it should be avoided
research on breathing and heart by those who have uncon- 3
rate variability. The ancient Chinese trolled hypertension, seizure Exhaling sharply, shout “Ha!”,
texts, Brown said, instructed begin- disorder, pregnancy, recent while extending your arms
ning students to learn slow “natural” surgery, aneurysm, hernia, or and thrusting your hands for-
breathing first, to restore yang to the bipolar disorder. ward while flipping your palms
body, which is related to the para- Here are the basic instruc- down, as if you were flinging
sympathetic nervous system. And tions from Richard Brown and water off your fingertips.
once they’d mastered that, they were Patricia Gerbarg’s book The
given fast breathing exercises to gen- Healing Power of the Breath:
erate yin, which parallels the sympa- 4
thetic system. Then, in the final stage, Inhale deeply, again draw your
they returned to slow breathing to arms and elbows back, turn
integrate and balance the practice. → your palms up, and curl your
fingers to form loose fists.

Ha! 5
Exhale sharply with the “Ha!”
sound, repeating the same
thrusting arm and hand
movements.

Each round should be done

quickly, breathing in and out
at the rate of one breath per
second.

October 2019 mindful 69

 well-being

a h hhhhh…
u t… e in… br
e o reath ea
th … b t
rea h h
b hh

he
in … h h
e a

out
… breath
u t…

…
e o is essentially the maximum possible

a th and about four times greater than that

re
of average breathers.

n … b The core of Brown and Gerbarg’s

i
One of the most startling studies program focuses on three exercises:

… breath e on the effectiveness of slow breath-

ing was done by Italian cardiologist
1) coherent breathing at a pace of five
to six breaths per minute; 2) resis-
Luciano Bernardi. He had a group tance breathing, characterized by a
of professional mountain climbers slight tightening at the back of the
practice breathing at a pace of six throat on the exhale; and 3) moving
breaths per minute for one hour a day breathing, an innovative way of using
for a two-year period while they were the imagination to circulate energy
preparing for a Mount Everest ascent, throughout the body. These exercises,
and then compared their performance taking about 10 minutes total, have
with a similar group of elite climbers been shown to help balance the auto-
who didn’t do slow-breathing train- nomic stress-response system, relieve
ing. Both groups reached the summit, anxiety and other symptoms of stress,
but the slow-breathing climbers did and improve sleep. According to
so without using auxiliary oxygen Brown, they are particularly effective
and averaged about 10 breaths per when combined with an additional 10
minute at the end of the climb, while minutes of movement and meditation.
the other climbers resorted to oxygen Brown and Gerbarg have spent a
and finished breathing twice as fast at good deal of time over the past two
their counterparts. Another surpris- decades teaching breathing exer-
ing result was that the slow-breathing cises to survivors of mass disasters,
climbers were able to use 80% of their including the 9/11 World Trade Center
lungs’ surface during the climb, which attack, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill,

70 mindful October 2019

 the evolution of the meditation bench
handcrafted and curved for comfort

and the Sudan and Rwanda genocides.

One of the studies they did after the
2004 Indian Ocean tsunami showed
that slow-breathing practices dra-
matically reduced symptoms of PTSD
and depression—in a matter of days, in
some cases.
“What trauma does is disrupt the
healthy balance of different parts
of our nervous system, which are
meant to work together,” said Brown.
“When people have to strive to sur-
vive, their stress response becomes
overactive and the soothing part of
the system declines. But we’ve found
that you can bring it back into bal-
ance by shifting the way you breathe.
More research needs to be done on
this, but our feeling is that breath-
ing breaks the link between negative
emotions and the memory of events.
It kind of washes away the stored
pattern of the incident and reformats
your cerebral cortex.”
A moving example is the story
of Sonya, an office worker who was
miraculously rescued from the World
Trade Center. She’d been working in
the towers during the previous attack the ultra lightweight
in 1993, so she didn’t hesitate when meditation seat that breaks
the first plane crashed into her build- down and reassembles in
ing on 9/11. She got up from her desk one swift, magnetic motion
on the 80th floor and started running
down the stairs in high heels as fast as
she could. Halfway down the stair-
well, she collapsed from exhaustion,
but two men carried her the rest of
the way, in total darkness except for
the faint glow of a distant policeman’s
flashlight. Twenty seconds after they
escaped, the building collapsed.
Afterward, Sonya developed PTSD patented pedestal design promotes
and was constantly haunted by perfect posture, balance, and breathing
anxiety, nightmares, and unbearable
feelings of distress. She tried con-
ventional treatment, medication, and “shockingly
some alternative approaches, includ- comfortable...
ing resistance breathing. But nothing no pressure on my
seemed to work. Finally, seven years knees and ankles.”
later, she signed up for one of Brown’s
and Gerbarg’s workshops and made
an impressive recovery. At the end of
the weekend, she revealed this was the
first time since the tragedy that she
f ind true center
felt as if she’d gotten her life back. → [Link]
@simply_sitting

October 2019 mindful 71

/simplysittinggear
well-being

Making Friends
with the Breath
m
My experience was somewhat less ONLINE
dramatic. But I spent a few weeks MINI-COURSE
practicing Brown and Gerbarg’s Calm Your
exercises, using the CD included Mind and
with their book, and was impressed Focus Your
by the calming and energizing effect Attention with
the techniques had on me. I think Zindel Segal
it helped that I had done Vranich’s
intense workouts and had a greater In this 4-part
command of my breathing muscles. series you’ll
At one point, I was so immersed in explore the
the long five-breaths-per-minute 3-Minute
sequence that I lost the self-con- Breathing
sciousness I’d often experienced Space prac-
meditating, and let myself surf along tice to develop
with the breath. The years I’d spent your ability
terrified of my breathing suddenly to ground
faded into memory. yourself, return
A few weeks later, I did my last BIQ your attention
reading with Dr. Vranich. It seemed to the present,
almost anticlimactic, given everything and fully find
we’d been through, but the tale of yourself at any
the tape was indisputable. My inhale moment.
measurement was 41½ inches and my
exhale 37¾ inches, for a total of 3.75 [Link]/
inches and 99% vital lung capacity. breathing-
“Congratulations, sir, you’re a space
completely horizontal breather!” she
exclaimed. Then, without missing a This series is
beat, she added, “Now that you’re an available to
A student, why not go for an A-plus?” subscribers
You must be joking, I said to myself. only
But looking into her eyes, I realized
that in her view, despite all the work
I’d done, I’d just skimmed the surface.
Jim Morningstar, a psychologist I
interviewed for this story, describes
the breath as one of our most intimate
companions because we can’t go for
more than a couple of minutes with-
out it. “When you connect with your
breath, you’re connecting with your
spirit,” he said. “That’s the experience
many people have doing breathwork.
After a while, they’re not breathing
anymore. They’re being breathed.”
Clearly, I still had a long way to go.
But I was excited about the next part
of the journey because my relation-
ship with my breath had shifted. To
borrow Humphrey Bogart’s famous
line, it felt as if this could be the
beginning of a beautiful friendship. ●

72 mindful October 2019

 Bookmark This
read…listen…stream

SILENCE A WALKING LIFE

A Social History of One Reclaiming Our Health and Our
of the Least Understood Freedom—One Step at a Time
Elements of Our Lives Antonia Malchik • Da Capo Press
Jane Brox •
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

An author fascinated by the fundamental aspects It’s undeniable that the ability the significance of walking at
of life, Jane Brox has written about family, to walk upright has shaped various historical moments—
farmland, and light—all to great acclaim. She is a our species. Not just what and arguing that what it really
micro-historian with a farmer’s feel for the value we can do and where we can means to “walk” also includes
of getting dirt under your fingernails to get to the go, but what our interactions people with illness or disabili-
heart of the matter. Using the modern technique look like, how we exercise our ties who have devised count-
of alternating and intertwining stories, Brox autonomy, what we need to less ways to move through the
reports on silence as a means of reform in early develop and thrive in every world. She’ll make you pause
penitentiaries (thought to be more humane than aspect of our being. In A Walk- over many current lifestyles
corporal or capital punishment) and as a means ing Life, Malchik looks at these that, alarmingly, involve pre-
of spiritual development in the monastery. factors and more, showing cious little time on our feet.
Silence as means of redemption for criminals
is largely a story of the dark side of silence. The
prohibition against speaking revealed a deep
need to give voice and to commune with others.
It was being silenced rather than finding peace
within silence: punishment, not reformation. CHANGE YOUR WORLD
The dark side is also explored in chapters on The Science of Resilience
the silencing of women’s voices. English law, and the True Path to Success
brought to the early American colonies, meted out Michael Ungar • Sutherland House
punishment to women for “talking too much or
too publicly, or in a tone of voice that seemed grat-
ing or nagging,” Brox writes, sharing the English
legal definition of a scold: “a troublesome angry Social worker, family thera- their brain that they must
woman who, by her brawling and wrangling pist, and Canada Research fix. He makes a great point.
among her neighbors, doth break the public peace Chair in Child, Family, and What’s a little puzzling is why
and beget, cherish, and increase public discord.” Community Resilience, Ungar thinks mindfulness
When Brox turns her historical lens to spiritual Michael Ungar knows practice has nothing to do
silence, we find the key difference between silenc- whereof he speaks when with seeing what needs to be
ing and reveling in silence is community. Monas- it comes to how important changed in “your world.” In
tic orders live together in intimate communion. environment is to health and his view, mindfulness is an
Only rarely are monastics cut off from others well-being. How resilient will unproven way to trying to
completely, and usually only for defined periods. you be if you’re hungry, poorly fix ourselves instead of our
Having juxtaposed silence in two very dif- educated, and have little environment, and those of us
ferent forms, Brox leaves us to contemplate access to good employment? who love it should give it up.
the interplay between quiet and community, And self-help drives him Perhaps, though, if this is the
between a silence born of deep listening and one crazy: It makes people think impression we’re leaving, we
born of wanting others to shut up. there’s something wrong with need to up our game.

October 2019 mindful 73

read, listen, stream

THE INNER WORK HOW TO DO NOTHING

OF RACIAL JUSTICE Resisting the Attention Economy
Healing Ourselves Jenny Odell • Melville House
and Transforming Our
Communities through
Mindfulness
Rhonda V. Magee •
Tarcher Perigree In her debut book, Jenny to illustrate the true vibrancy
Odell puts forward an uncom- and potency of human atten-
Early in this book, Rhonda Magee tells a little monly rich, poetic ode to the tion. Naming attention as our
story that both breaks your heart and potently here-and-now, and a call to primary resource to combat
illustrates why she has devoted her life’s work to find belonging in it. While she looming social and ecologi-
getting to the heart of bias and helping undo its critiques both “productivity- cal catastrophe, she paints
deleterious effects. She recounts the first time obsessed culture” and addic- a compelling picture of why
she came to see fully how other people could tive tech—Odell grew up in it’s urgent that we return to
view her in a completely different light than she Silicon Valley—her argument a sense of public, embodied
and her family viewed her. She saw that there surpasses a mere list of rea- space and time. “A simple
was a wall dividing people—a wall that could be sons to turn off your phone. refusal motivates my argu-
nearly invisible until you bumped up against it. She looks to (for example) ment: refusal to believe that
Magee has brought together experience as literature, art, working-class the present time and place,
a law professor and a longtime practitioner of and Native American his- and the people who are here
mindfulness—and training as a mindfulness tories, experimental music, with us, are somehow not
teacher—to host classroom conversations about and her own experience (as enough,” writes Odell. It’s
race, privilege, and bias that few of us ever take an artist, art educator, and hard not to see the inherent
part in, particularly in a mixed-race context. birdwatcher in the Bay Area) mindfulness of that refusal.
She’s learned a lot from years of this kind of
hands-on work. For one thing, it has taught
Magee that color blindness is an unhelpful con-
cept for promoting equity and justice. Despite
the fact that race is “socially constructed” and
ultimately a “fiction,” our perception of signifi- THE POETRY REMEDY
cant differences is unmistakable, so we cannot Prescriptions for the
be “blind” to color. That’s simply a prescription Heart, Mind, and Soul
for being blind to our biases. William Sieghart • Viking Press
Instead, Magee teaches and practices what
she calls ColorInsight, using contemplative
practices to peer into and beyond our biases. It “Leaning in” is a phrase often I’m not the only one who feels
starts from a view that we used by meditation teachers like this.”
ONLINE Q&A are deeply interconnected, to describe staying with and The table of contents is a
with Rhonda but need to “take a long exploring our discomfort, list of difficulties such as Anxi-
Magee (lifelong), loving (heartful rather than warding it off with ety, Letting Go, Stagnation, or
and compassionate) look a mental 10-foot pole. In this Rocky Relationships. Under
Dive deeper into at racism,” where “stay- “poetic dispensary,” Sieghart each is a poem that speaks to
The Inner Work ing in our discomfort” can presents a similarly time- it, as well as Sieghart’s gentle,
of Racial Justice.
be “an important part of tested way to lean in: through perspective-giving commen-
Sign up at healing and transforma- poetry. To find that someone tary. Of course, not everyone
[Link]/ tion.” Through instruction, far away has already written who feels X emotion will find
rhonda
stories, history (both legal a poem that expresses the comfort in the same words.
and otherwise), and insight, intensity of our own experi- Still, even if you don’t usually
Magee takes us on a very ence, he says, “is to discover a fancy poems, you might lean
rewarding, vital, and timely
m
powerful sense of complicity, in to these ones and be sur-
journey. and that precious realization: prised by the balm they offer.

74 mindful October 2019

Join Mindful’s 30-day Meditation Challenge
and Bring Mindfulness to the Next Generation
When you participate in our September Mindful30 Challenge,
you will be directly supporting our charitable partners.

For close to two decades, the Mind iBme works internationally to

Body Awareness Project has deliv- offer in-depth mindfulness
ered ground-breaking mindfulness programming to guide teens
and emotional literacy training to at- and young adults in developing
risk youth and incarcerated adults self-awareness, compassion,
to help them transform harmful and ethical decision-making.
behavior and live meaningful lives.

Sign up today at [Link]/M30

read, listen, stream

PODCAST
reviews
TED TALKS DAILY
Episode: “Ella Al-Shamahi: The Fascinating
(and Dangerous) Places Scientists Aren’t Exploring”

Delving into our species’ that often prevent Western

ancient history may let us researchers from studying
understand each other in regions deemed politically
more deeply. But what unstable. Some of these
if vital archaeological places, nevertheless, offer a
evidence exists in a no-fly great deal to learn about the
zone? According to Ella climate crisis, extinction, and
Al-Shamahi, an English the human journey. Instead
paleoanthropologist of Arab of having to completely
heritage, science suffers avoid the unknown, she says,
from “a geography problem.” scientists can take measures
Through the lens of her ordeal to greatly mitigate risk when
in reaching the Yemeni island they’re on foreign soil. And
of Socotra—where she and by strengthening scientific
her team aim to research collaboration across borders,
some of the earliest Homo she adds, it becomes more
sapiens to leave present-day feasible to focus on what we
Africa—Al-Shamahi talks globally share, rather than
about the institutional barriers what seems to divide us.

ON THE MEDIA
Episode: “Uncomfortably Numb”

Journalist and media analyst non-scientists, their mental

Brooke Gladstone talks with health can suffer from the
experts about a few current gravity of what’s happening to
events and questions some the planet. Then, there’s the
of the ways we’re seeking “Brexit anxiety” that nearly
to protect ourselves from two-thirds of Brits are feeling,
grief, helplessness, and fear. and a problem doctors tend to
First up: By constructing treat as an individual medical
an alternate (if totally out- issue—never mind that it’s
there) version of reality, a natural response to the
conspiracy theorists believe tense political environment.
they know the world better Gladstone ends on the idea
than the rest of us. Ironically, that we can counteract
for them, their “fantasies” numbness by claiming space
lend “a sense of order” to for ourselves to simply be. It’s
the chaos. Meanwhile, many in claiming these pockets of
climate scientists struggle freedom that we may discover
with being on the front lines cracks for the light of change
of comprehending climate to seep in. (See also How to Do
change. Even more than Nothing, reviewed on page 74).

76 mindful October 2019

 TUNE IN TO
mindful
Visit [Link]/tunein for featured meditations from
Susan Kaiser-Greenland, Mark Bertin, and Kristin Neff.

3 BREATH MEDITATIONS TO CONNECT

TO YOUR BEST SELF

An 11-Minute Awareness of Breath Practice

1
from Susan Kaiser-Greenland

Notice. To simply sit and notice the breath is one of

the oldest meditation practices there is. By settling
in and staying with your breath for a few moments,
you recognize that awareness is always here. You
can trust that your breath will find a natural rhythm
and that you can simply notice things as they come
and go. Take a moment to drop in and notice the
stillness that is always with you.

A 5-Minute Mindful Breathing Practice

2 to Restore Your Attention
from Mark Bertin

Focus. This simple meditation trains your attention,

so you can begin to choose what you’d like to focus
on, rather than letting your mind wander aimlessly.
Each time you notice your mind has wandered, you
have a chance to bring yourself back to the present
moment by focusing on the breath. Follow this
guided meditation to strengthen your attention with
every breath.

A 20-minute Compassionate Breathing Practice

3
from Kristin Neff

Love. Our breath is a nurturing force. Two of the key

benefits of loving-kindness meditation are reduced
negative emotions, like anxiety and sadness, and
increased positive emotions, like happiness and
peace. During this meditation, you welcome a loving
and generous awareness with every breath you take,
directing kind thoughts toward yourself on the in-
breath, and kind thoughts toward others on the out-
breath. Breathe in, and breathe out. Compassion in,
compassion out. There are no limits or boundaries. ●

October 2019 mindful 77

 marketplace

mindful
marketplace

Welcome to Mindful Marketplace, our catalog of unique Meditate: School of Mindfulness. Leaders in the
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78 mindful August 2019

 marketplace

Pause… Take a deep breath… The Cardinal Mysteries Cloud Meditation

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August 2019 mindful 79

 point of view

SET YOUR
EMOTIONS FREE
by BARRY BOYCE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Our emotions are elusive, back, we become familiar with the Emotions can and do get out of
shape-shifting inner beasts, but quality and texture of our thoughts. control and, in fact, take charge, and
despite the challenge of pinning any Before we’ve decided a thought is bad make no mistake about it, when they
of them down in precise terms—what or good or otherwise, we have a split are out of control they can do tremen-
is anger, really?—we don’t doubt second to just see it for what it is, as dous damage! In situations where
they’re part of our makeup. We don’t if we were in a creative writing class real harm can result, emotions are
think of an emotionless human being focusing simply on what we see, not not to be treated lightly. In the end,
as a good thing. what we think or feel or about it. though, it’s much easier for emotions
Yet there is little evidence that When we do that, we definitely to control us if we fear them, if we
emotions were treated with respect notice that some thoughts contain feel something is horribly wrong with
throughout much of history. Words emotional content, and that these having them, and if we believe that
that point to emotions in ancient lan- emotional “thoughts” arrive as an reason must always prevail and exec-
guages are tinged with notions of irra- experience in our body, not just our utive function must take control.
tionality or possession by spirits. In the
West especially, it
seems, emotions This wondrous array of responses is part of what’s beautiful
PODCAST
Point of View were considered about being human. The longstanding diminishment of
irrational. For-
Dive in deeper
tunately, artists emotions as anti-rational has cramped our style.
with Barry
Boyce and came along with
podcast producer an interest in the brain. If you’re angry, you may clench Mindfulness practice, thankfully,
Stephanie Domet. actual psycho- your teeth. If you’re indifferent, your gives us a chance to live the whole
[Link]/pov logical makeup of whole body may shrug. If elated, you experience of an emotion—its flavor,
individuals—the may shriek. And so on and so on. its texture, how it lives in our body.
full catastrophe, This wondrous array of responses And after we have done so over and
as it were. During is part of what’s beautiful about being over again, like a well-practiced

m the Renaissance,
there was a
human. The longstanding diminish-
ment of emotions as anti-rational has
fiddle player we can learn to play, not
struggle, with emotions. Our strings
concerted effort cramped our style. It’s such a shame are tuned, and we play them with
to represent affetti (movements of the when we judge emotions as wrong precision and abandon.
soul) in the faces and gestures of the or bad. We’re told that being angry is Will mistakes be made?
people depicted in works of art. The always a bad thing, that we must calm Yes.
artists, most prominently Leonardo da down and stop being so emotional. Can we learn from an emotion gone
Vinci, wanted to portray how people This approach often creates a push- wild, clean up the mess and the dam-
were actually feeling. pull with these powerful forces of the age, and move on?
Whereas these artists were soul: We suppress emotions until we We can.
exploring rich movements of the can’t take it anymore, then we indulge Emotions are a renewable resource.
mind and heart from the outside in them. We keep a lid on our anger They’re beasts to ride on and revel
in, mindfulness meditation gives till we explode. We pretend we’re in, not to lock up because they can
ILLUSTRATION BY TOM BACHTELL

us the opportunity to explore from absorbed by something that leaves us become unruly at times. ●
the inside out. In basic mindfulness cold, only to grumble and dissemble
practice, we’re instructed to simply in private. Or perhaps we deny our
notice our thoughts and come back passion, and suffer in silent self-pity
Barry Boyce is Editor-in-Chief of Mindful
to the anchor of our attention (most or clumsily and fearfully convert our
and [Link] and author of The Mindfulness
often the breath). As we become more love into possessiveness in an effort to Revolution. He has been an avid mindfulness
accustomed to noticing and coming maintain control. practitioner for over 40 years.

80 mindful October 2019

 Mindfulness might just be the
original mobile device.

Like all the most remarkable technologies in

history, mindfulness practice draws you
closer to the world, by bringing into focus
what’s in front of you, and illuminating things
you may have otherwise missed.

And like the most portable of technologies,

it goes where you go—it’s never further away
from you than your breath.

Then again, unlike some technologies,

mindfulness practice doesn’t have to make
your pockets look lumpy…
…it’s entirely self-powered…
…it never needs to be upgraded or replaced…
…and it won’t stop working if you drop it in
the bathtub.

Mind the Moment wants to help you

make the most out of all your moments
by giving you the best of both worlds—
which is why we offer a variety of web-based
and in-person training tools, for when you want
to feel plugged in, and for when you want to
feel unplugged.

Are you ready to take a closer look at everything

mindfulness has to offer?

mindthemoment@[Link] • [Link]/mindfulness

[Link]/mindthemoment @mind_the_moment [Link]/mindthemoment [Link]/mindthemoment

The Mind the Moment program was developed and is offered by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc.