When you think about meditation, you might think about someone serenely sitting on her cushion with her eyes closed, soft music in the background, beautiful flowers on an altar, burning incense, etc. While this may be true, there are many other things that can be considered meditation. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, in his book Arriving
I love poetry and I find the essence of mindfulness within the words of poetry as much as in my sitting meditations or mindful yoga practices. And, although I’ve heard it many times before, the truth that I alone am responsible for how I feel has been waking up in me despite some pretty deep
I love to go to the farmer’s market for a number of reasons. I obviously like buying healthy, tasty food but I also often run into friends and get a little Vitamin D. Strolling down the aisle on Saturday, I noticed the different names and labels people use to advertise themselves and their products. I admit
For a few months now, every Monday night I have been getting together with a couple of girlfriends to have dinner. We meet at one of our houses and everybody brings something to share. It is a wonderful way to cut down on how much cooking one person has to do, you get a fabulous
So I couldn’t help thinking about the Simon and Garfunkel song when I read about the latest research coming out in the Journal of Consumer Research. The research demonstrates the need to “slow down” if you want to get more pleasure out of your life, particularly during activities such as eating. As you know, we are
As a health psychologist working with people who are trying to change their relationship with food and their bodies, I don’t put a focus on weight. That is problematic for a wide variety of reasons and it usually doesn’t help. Instead, I ask people to pay attention to how their bodies feel as they do certain activities
If you have been getting my blog, you might have noticed that I recently changed the name from Tips for Mindful Eating: it’s more than just about food to Tasting Mindfulness. This new name resulted from a project I recently completed with a group of four fantastic journalism students here at the University of Missouri. They
It may sound surprising to hear that your body needs a break every 90 to 120 minutes throughout the day. Why does that shock us? In many ways, it’s because we might not be aware of our body throughout the day. If you feel like you’re on autopilot, plowing through the day and turning to
Did you know you had so many hungers? Jan Chozen Bays, MD, presents us with the model of them in her book “Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food.” The seven hungers are eye hunger, nose hunger, mouth hunger, stomach hunger, mind hunger, cellular hunger, and heart hunger. According to
A few years ago Jon Kabat-Zinn and others within the mindfulness community were given time to spend with some members of Congress. The message seemed to take with Representative Tim Ryan and he now has a book out, A Mindful Nation, describing his belief in the power of “meditative mindfulness” to effect change in people’s
