Wiki: Neuroplasticity

A firsthand account of the effects Mindfulness Meditation can have on anyone’s life, if approached, well, mindfully.   Take a moment to read this inspirational story. Article Source: brainline.org Enjoy, ~ Marsha For almost six years after her car crash in 1993, Melissa Felteau expended much of her energy wanting things to be different from [...]

From the very wonderful Sharon Salzburg, one of my favorite meditation teachers: Article From: The Huffington Post Enjoy, ~ Marsha I’ve always said that lovingkindness and compassion are inevitably woven throughout meditation practice even if the words are never used or implied, no matter what technique or method we are using. Everyone’s mind wanders, without [...]

Here’s a great post from The Committed Parent which is a blog I like a lot.  I mean, how can you not?  Their tagline is:  “Translating social neuroscience to help parents raise kids we can live with and we’re crazy about.” In this article, Mark Brady writes about the ACC, or “Anterior Cingulate Cortex,” which [...]

Emotions starting in the body — you’ve heard me talk about that before, inspired by Antonio Damasio and Stephen Porges. Being able to increase your ability to tune in to you body’s state — what’s going on in your gut, your breath, your throat — is a part of mindfulness, and seems to integrate your [...]

Rick Hanson, PhD is a fellow neuropsychologist with keen interests in mindfulness and meditation — I wish he weren’t on the opposite coast from me, as we obviously share a lot of common approaches to psychological well-being. By Rick Hanson, Ph.D. Article from The Huffington Post Enjoy, ~ Marsha This series of posts has used the [...]

From the Huffington Post: Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, often called the happiest man alive, recently sat down with ABC News’s Dan Harris to discuss happiness clichés, the benefits of meditation and why he never has a bad day. Although Ricard laughs at the notion that he could be the happiest of the planet’s six billion people, [...]

What an amazing meeting of the minds – and brains – of some of the pioneers and leaders in neuroscience, emotions, and mindfulness! By Roundtable Participants Article From Tricycle Enjoy, ~ Marsha Since 1987 the Dalai Lama has met biennially with small groups of Western scientists to talk about the nature of mind and reality, [...]

An interesting perspective on having your feelings, but not getting “hijacked” by them. Chade-Meng Tan is Google’s Jolly Good Fellow (“yes, it is my official job title”), and was formerly an engineer – one of the first at Google. He’s currently writing a book while on leave from his position as head of Google University’s [...]

We’ve all experienced personal breakthroughs in our mediation practices.  Sometimes, these moments of realization can throw us completely out of balance.   Confusion and fear are natural reactions to this situation,  and working through it slowly, but positively will keep you moving forward.  Sometimes you just need to rest. Enjoy, ~ Marsha I’ve not been [...]

I found this article at ShambalaSun.com which is one excellent source for information on Mindfulness Meditation, and tips for the beginning meditator.   The writer, Diana Winston, outlines some of the most common obstacles people encounter when first attempting to integrate meditation into their daily routine.  The truth is that we’ve all encountered these “hardships” while [...]

Fathers and their children reshape one another’s neurons By Brian Mossop Does parenting ReWire the Dad’s brain?  Here’s a very interesting article from Scientific American that takes a look at how understanding the new brain connections that result from parenthood. Enjoy! Last May, I took a trip to San Diego for my brother-in-law’s graduation from college, [...]

This article comes to us from the Huffington Post, and is an excellent resource for folks interested in learning more about Mindfulness Meditation. Author Credit: Susan Kaiser Greenland : Author, The Mindful Child, Co-Founder Inner Kids Foundation Meditation looks like the simplest thing in the world. After all, what could be easier than sitting on a [...]

By Susan Kaiser Greenland In my humble opinion, bringing the transformative practice of mindful awareness to children, teens and their families could revolutionize the world as we know it. There are great educational programs that teach valuable life-skills cradle to grave. But it’s tough to use those life-skills in a crisis or other difficult situation [...]

This is written by Ron Alexander – adapted from his newest book, Wise Mind, Open Mind: Finding Purpose and Meaning in Times of Crisis, Loss, and Change (New Harbinger Publications, 2009). The majority of my clients resist mindfulness meditation at first, although the time commitment is small and the payoff is enormous. One insisted that [...]

More from Dan Siegel, MD — author of The Mindful Brain and Mindsight, and my #1 neuroscience-meets-relationships hero. by Rick Heller Daniel Siegel is a psychiatrist and author. His 2007 book, The Mindful Brain, is a scientific take on the practice of mindfulness, which is often defined as “non-judgmental attention to the present moment.” Siegel’s [...]

Independence is seriously overrated. We’re big on independence here in the US. I love the Fourth of July, our local neighborhood parade with kids and dogs, and politicians giving speeches at the end while we sweat and eat drippy popsicles. I love what it stands for, declaring what we hold to be self-evident truths and [...]

Family Thanksgiving craziness? Brain-rewiring meditation goes a long way. Most of us have a lovely vision of Thanksgiving: Driving along the road to Grandma’s house on a familiar road, graced by autumn leaves. We imagine being greeted by warmth and family, feeling grateful and eating our familiar favorites. The kids have made turkey drawings by [...]

You can re-wire your relationship brain. You have the technology. I’m a big fan of David Rock, a fellow blogger on PsychologyToday.com, whose recent post there spoke very compellingly about mindfulness, neuroscience, and how we think and experience the world. His focus is on how your brain works in a work setting, which he has [...]

Have you heard the one about the monk, the neuroscientist, and the tax-evading poet? The Dalai Lama was in Washington, DC a few days ago – not meeting with President Obama, but with world-class neuroscientists, national leaders and policy-makers on education, and advanced contemplatives, one of whom has been dubbed the Happiest Man in the [...]

Can firing the judge in your brain improve your chances at love? We all know that being judgmental isn’t a relationship-enhancer. And still, most of us step into that trap, doing damage to our relationships and friendships on a stubbornly regular basis. How about knocking that judge out with a one-two punch — taking the [...]

Being in a relationship – or trying to be – can feel like hitting your head against the same big brick wall over and over. What if there were a simple way to move that brick wall out of the way?  A way to change the helpless, worn-out, stuck-in-a-rut relationship patterns, and to really, really [...]

More than you might expect, the wiring of your brain for relationships is determined by some of your very earliest experiences in childhood. The good news is that you can re-wire your brain for better relationships, using simple, 2,500-year-old mind-training techniques that are as sure as a neurosurgeon, but without all the mess. The newest [...]

“Oh, yeah, wow, now I get it, that was amazing!” After meditating a few times, you might have a session where you feel something special, or where you feel particularly good afterwards. Great! And then… there are those inevitable “other” meditation sessions when it seems especially tedious, or boring, or like you can’t “get into [...]