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We’re Invited to Present a Paper at the Annual Scientific Conference at UMass Medical School’s Center for Mindfulness

DSC_0354  We’ve been invited to present a paper in April about our work here in Hillsboro with Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and a model of Medicine called Participatory Medicine.  The paper is based the research we did here from 2007 to 2011.  My research colleague Dr. Michael Christopher at Pacific University and I will present the paper.  There is a Hillsboro Argus article  about this research and work last year in partnership with our MBSR teaching intern Zeynep Sunbay-Bilgen (see Zeynep and me presenting a paper about our work last year in the picture above.).  Our clinical research summary generally describes the work and results we have found in our research here.

Here is information about the conference presentations and programs.  You will find our paper listed as one of the Friday Morning sessions in the Conference Brochure.  Come to the conference!

More about all this later on when I’ll post information about a project with local doctors, therapists and MBSR alumni helping write a paper to be published soon in the Journal of Participatory Medicine.

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New Book: 101 Feelings Worth Losing Weight For, Illustrated by one of our students

DSCF1945 - Version 9  One of our dear students, Pam Jacobs, stopped in to share this book she has been working on with author Erin Zimmer.  Erin writes about her sweet story of yoga practice, transformation of heart, mind and body to eventually produce the book to help remind us to be embodied in a kind, compassionate way. Read the  summary of Erin’s story that Pam sent over

Pam also works with a group of artists, VIA Artistica, to “create a place that will allow people at all levels of artistic experience to expand their horizons though playing with art and sharing their experiences with others.”

Wonderful that our students are doing such work.  What are you doing?   Send me a note about your work and how yoga, mindfulness, and our work here has supported you.  Thanks – Brant

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Gun Control, Gabrielle Giffords & Yoga

DSCF1945 - Version 9   Former congresswoman Gabrielle (Gabby) Giffords is no slacker.  A couple of years ago she was a rising star in congress and then she and many others were shot by a madman at a rally in her home state of Arizona.  Even though she has struggled to recover from her brain injury she and her astronaut husband, Mark Kelly, have launched a ambitious PAC and campaign, Americans for Responsible Solutions to prevent gun violence and protect responsible gun ownership.

In a recent ABC News Diane Sawyer interview Gabby talks about her journey toward recovery.  In the poignant interview she notes physical therapy, speech therapy and yoga are part of that journey.  This is in the spirit of our work here; appropriately modified postures and mindful movement are a complement to therapy.  A practice of mindful yoga is nourishing to heart, mind and body regardless of the state of things; brain injury, post-surgery, training for a marathon, difficult mood, active family life and more.

My thanks to Gabby Giffords for her example of courage in the face of the immense personal challenges of the past two years. All-the-best in her personal and public challenges with her new campaign.  Perhaps she can encourage us no matter what we face. Perhaps our mindful movement practice can be a helpful way of nourishing our life even in the challenging times.

You can read more about Gabby’s journey in Melanie Eversley’s USA Today article.

 

 

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Jon Kabat-Zinn Talks about the Science of Mindfulness & MBSR on National Public Radio

A few of our students have mentioned this wonderful radio interview on NPR’s On Being program.  Jon, one of my teachers and the creator of MBSR,  expresses the heart of the practice of mindfulness and captures what I intend in the MBSR Programs and Mindful Yoga classes here.  I hope you enjoy his interview.  Kind Regards  —  Brant

Opening to Our Lives; Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Science of Mindfulness on NPR’s On Being program with Krista Tippett