+

mindful
CONTENTS
june
ON THE COVER

62 30
OPTIMISM The Right
IN ACTION Time to
How to be Meditate
positive...and
still keep it real 42
Can
18 Meditation
Mindfulness Change
Made Simple Your Brain?
62 How to find
balance in small
moments

42 22
Is Your Inner
Critic Bad for
Your Health?

26
The Road(s) to
Happiness
The new science
of living well
PHOTOGRAPH BY DANIEL HOLFELD. ILLUSTRATIONS BY FEDERICA BORDONI AND AARON PILAND.

“I don’t think mindfulness is optional

anymore. The world is moving too fast.”
Alison Canavan on why meditation has
been key in her recovery from alcoholism
and depression, p.36

On our cover: Alison Canavan, health

and wellness coach. Photograph by Daniel
Holfeld. Hair and makeup by Amy O’Connell.
36
Wardrobe by Roxanne Parker.

June 2018 mindful 1

 32
CONTENTS

june 18

FEATURES Mindful Living

36 18
How To
Finding Beauty Inside One Mindful Act
From the outside, former model Got a minute? That’s
Alison Canavan’s life looked picture- enough time to gener-
perfect. But her glamorous exterior ate meaningful action
masked a lifelong struggle with every day of the week.
depression.
20
Mindful Eating Departments
42 Long, Lithe, and
Lovely
The Magnificent, Wild, As the star of the
4 6
Point of View The Mindful Survey
Mysterious, Connected early summer season, Don’t Be So Sure
and Interconnected Brain asparagus deserves its Barry Boyce on the 10
moment in the spotlight. importance of ques- Top of Mind
A lot of mindfulness literature makes
the brain sound like a very simple tioning everything we
22 think we know. 15
machine. Barry Boyce talks with two
Mindful MD Mindful-Mindless
leading neuroscientists about better
Prescribing 32
ways to think and talk about the brain
Awareness Brain Science 74
and the mind.
We oten seek com- The Quest to Live Bookmark This
fort in ignorance. But Forever
56 by downplaying or Some scientists are 80
ignoring health issues, MindSpace
Have a Seat we can inflict further
working on making
the last stages of life a
Taking the time to discover the most harm on ourselves and little healthier, others
suitable cushion, bench, or chair for others. are trying to extend
your body will pay off in years of less
life, and still others are
painful meditation sessions. 26

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ASIA PIETRZYK, EDMON DE HARO, AND MISSY CHIMOVITZ

hoping to make death
Inner Wisdom obsolete.
62 The Happiness
Debate
Look on the Scientists are weighing
Bright Side...? what it really means
Optimism can seem like a dead end, to be happy—and
or even a harmful delusion. But it’s their findings aren’t so
not about slapping a filter over bleak straightforward.
reality; it’s about allowing yourself to
see life’s full range of colors. 30
FAQ
Am I Doing This
Right?
The latest installment 80
in our series of helpful
answers to common
meditator questions.

2 mindful June 2018

point of view
Barry Boyce
Editor-in-Chief
barry@mindful.org
Our must-read story this issue:
In our Get Real piece, “Look on
the Bright Side...?” therapist
Elaine Smookler explores how easily
cynicism takes over our minds,
despite the fact that optimism and
openness are the healthier way to go.
On page 62.
4 mindful June 2018
Don’t Be So Sure
A thousand years ago, when I was Science is a balancing act
in grade 12, I had a physics teacher,
Mr. Weeks, who was legendary for the
powerful experiences that took place
between explaining and
in his classroom. Until Mr. Weeks’s
class, I found science tedious and bor- exploring, between curiosity
ing, but he changed everything. His
class was focused not on the answers, satisfied and curiosity stoked.
but on the questions. He injected awe
and wonder into our mutual explora-
tions of how the world worked. I hope In the past several decades, neu-
we have all had a teacher like that. roscience—or at least jargon that is
When I disputed one of the core loosely based on neuroscience—has
tenets of physics, he didn’t respond been used to explain what’s going on
with the kind of implied put-down with mindfulness and meditation or
I was used to: “How could a high why we need it. Sometimes explana-
school student know better than the tions come in the form of graphic sto-
great minds of the ages?” Instead, he ries about how we get hijacked by the
started out from the assumption that ancient, “reptilian” part of our brain
I may be right, and engaged me in a and need the new, improved parts of
debate. The second law of thermody- the brain to come to the rescue. And
namics did not fall that day, but I did these newer parts are associated with
come to a better understanding by mindfulness, which, like a superhero,
being allowed to question it. takes care of the villainous emotional
Science is always a balancing act region of the brain that has once
between explaining and exploring, again gotten us into trouble. (See our
between curiosity satisfied and discussion with two neuroscientists
curiosity stoked. When the most about how to talk about the brain and
popular explanation for something meditation on page 42.)
becomes well established, it turns It’s a nice parable, and some grains
into dogma, until someone comes of truth probably reside there some-
along to challenge it. Everybody where, but the idea of the reptilian
thought they knew how the universe brain was dismissed long ago in main-
was put together until Galileo came stream neuroscience. It was simply a
along and said, “I’m not so sure.” He hypothesis. And the idea that brain
lost his life for that. regions have one job to do does not
How we use science matters. Just accurately reflect how all the parts of
think of all the attempts to use “scien- the brain work together in a complex
tific” arguments to prove one gender web of millions of interactions.
or race as superior to another. When In trying to explain how mindful-
that happens, the spirit of inquiry and ness works, let’s not lose our sense
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARVIN MOORE
exploration are long gone. Science just of wonder and stray into fixed ideas
becomes a convenient way to end the and dogma. Mr. Weeks would not be
conversation. pleased. ●
VOLUME SIX, NUMBER 2, 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
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Suite 205, Halifax, NS B3J 1V7 CANADA. Printed in U.S.A. © 2018 Foundation for a Mindful Society. All rights reserved.
 Named for the number of minutes in a day, 1440 Multiversity is a
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the mindful survey

Like Body, Like Mind

Answers from our reader survey on the mind–body connection

What is your strongest sense “The more present What is your favorite food
perception? to eat mindfully?
and mindful I am, the
THE MOST ACUTE SENSE AMONG • “Peanuts.”
respondents was hearing, with 34%.
Sight is the runner-up (28%), followed
more synchronized •
•
“Baby carrots…or potato chips.”
“My first cup of coffee in the morning!”
by the mysterious sixth sense, at 17%. • “A Malteser.”
Smell and touch were tied with 10%
the body–mind • “Dessert.”
each, and only 1% chose taste. • “If I have to eat something mindfully,
connection is.” it needs to be chewy and/or sticky,
like dried fruit.”
What is your favorite exercise • “Biryani.”
to do mindfully? • “Salad—so many things grown from
When do you feel most centered? the earth, picked by hand, and made
• Walking • Dancing available to me with nutrients to fuel
• Weight liting • Cleaning my body.”
• Hiking the house • “Wine and cheese.”
• Kayaking • Barre classes IT DEPENDS • “Anything crunchy and juicy
• Mindful aikido • Reiki ON THE SITUATION and fresh.”
• Karate • Biking • “Chocolate!”
• “Probably something smooth

64%
like yogurt.”
Body and mind: What’s their • “Sushi.”
relationship?

Do physical cues (e.g., sitting up

55% DURING BODY DURING MENTAL straight, deep breathing) help you
THE MIND FOCUSED ACTIVITIES FOCUSED ACTIVITIES
to practice mindfulness?
MANAGES
THE BODY
17% 19%
Do you practice mindful eating?

43%
23%
SAY THEY CULTIVATE THE HABIT OF
WHO CAN TELL WHICH eating mindfully. 36% have tried it once
IS IN CHARGE? or twice. 16% eat mindfully only when
they’re not too hungry (we’ve all been
there!). 20% have never tried a mindful
eating practice. Finally, 5% make the
THE BODY 2% case that mindfulness shouldn’t relate
CONTROLS to pressures about so-called right and 70% 25% 5%
THE MIND wrong ways to eat. Yes Somewhat No

6 mindful June 2018

the mindful survey

Hugs are …

58% A genuine way to con-

nect physically and emotion-
ally. Hugs all around!

37% Nice, but only with good

friends or family members.

1% Reserved for family

reunions or under duress.

4% Awkward. I want my
personal space.

What emotion creates the strongest feeling in your body?

THE LEAST POWERFUL PHYSICAL RESPONSE COMES

from relief, with only 3%. Sadness and happiness also scored
low (7% and 8%), and love only a little higher at 11%. Unpleas-
ant emotions had the highest scores: fear (18%), anger (19%),
and anxiety (34%).

In one word, how would you describe the

relationship between your mind and body?

• “A journey.” • “Tentative.”
• “Complicated.” • “Give-and-take.”
• “Attuned.” • “Inextricable.”
• “Strengthening.” • “Mysterious.”
• “Progressing.” • “Scattered.”
• “Overrated.” • “Balancing.”
• “Compelling.” • “Compassionate.”
• “Struggling.” • “Can’t do a word…
• “Integrated.” a love in progress.” ●

connect
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All submissions and manuscripts become the property of The Foundation
for a Mindful Society.

8 mindful June 2018

 renew
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what’s new
Things that spark our minds, touch our hearts, make us
smile—or roll our eyes. Keep up with the latest in mindfulness.
A case for social meditation
Meditation is often practiced alone, but
two studies indicate that thinking of
or being in the presence of others may
confer diferent, and at times greater,
benefits. Researchers in Leipzig, Ger-
many, conducted two studies with 300
volunteers over nine months. In the
first, an MRI showed that people who
meditated alone by focusing on the
breath or body had thickening of their
10 mindful June 2018
Top of Mind
prefrontal cortex, which is linked to
attention control. Those who practiced
loving-kindness meditation and then
did a sharing and empathetic listening
exercise with a partner had increases
in the areas that process emotions and
bring them into conscious awareness.
The second study measured corti-
sol levels among all participants, and
found that those who meditated alone
Help your honey’s heart
You probably already suspect that
practicing mindfulness can help
you stay cool when your partner annoys
you. But in a recent study of married
couples and conflict, Florida State
University researchers turned up a sur-
prising twist: The higher one spouse’s
level of mindfulness, the lower the other
felt calm, but their cortisol levels
didn’t change. In contrast, the people
who practiced compassion meditation
and shared with a partner experi-
enced a 51% drop in cortisol.
Finding the intervention both
low-cost and efective, the research-
ers concluded that meditating with a
partner or group may hold promise
for minimizing chronic social stress.
PHOTOGRAPH BY LEAH KELLY / PEXELS
partner’s cardiovascular reactivity (as
measured by spikes in blood pressure
and heart rate) when the inevitable
arguments ensue. In other words, the
more mindful you are, the less likely
your partner is to experience potentially
heart-harming physical changes during
an argument.

Nature’s classroom
If herding a classroom of
elementary school students
outside—and then getting
them focused once back
inside—seems daunting to
some teachers, a new study
may change their minds on
getting the kids outdoors.
Researchers from the Uni-
versity of Illinois Urbana–
Champaign studied the
impact of outdoor learn-
ing on subsequent indoor
learning, and found large
Are college kids headed for burnout?
There’s little question that
today’s college students are
extremely hard on them-
selves. Looking at 27 years
of data, researchers at the
University of Wales found
that compared to previ-
ous generations, college
students now have higher
academic expectations for
themselves, which dovetails
with higher rates of anxi-
ety, among other neuroses.
American students are
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ADRIAN PELLETIER, RYAN MCGUIRE, WOKANDAPIX / PIXABAY
more prone to self-oriented
perfectionism—putting
pressure on yourself to be
perfect—but students in
Canada, America, and the
United Kingdom all strug-
gle with socially prescribed
perfectionism, or perceiv-
ing that others are judging
benefit for using nature as a
classroom. After 40 minutes
of outdoor instruction, once
back inside, teachers were
able to teach almost twice as
long without having to redi-
rect students’ attention.
“The findings here sug-
gest that lessons in nature
allow students to simultane-
ously learn classroom cur-
riculum while rejuvenating
their capacity for learning,”
the researchers said.
them more harshly and that
they must be “perfect” to
win approval.
As for why, researchers
point to Western cultural
shifts that are more individ-
ualistic, materialistic, and
socially antagonistic and
that today’s young people
face “more competitive envi-
ronments, more unrealistic
expectations, and more anx-
ious and controlling parents
than generations before.”
“These are worry-
ing trends and suggest
that young people may be
increasingly more sensi-
tive to perceived external
pressures and are finding it
more difficult than previous
generations to cope with
them,” they note.
what’s new
Driving change in EXTRA-
Germany ORDINARY
ACTS OF
Already a pioneer of the KINDNESS
transition to solar and wind
energy, Germany is launch-
ing new measures to combat
the country’s severe air pol-
lution. The plan, initializing
in five cities, introduces free
travel on subways and short-
distance trains, as well as
new low-emission zones Eight parents in
and car-sharing. These Texas painted
innovations come with a empowering mes-
hefty price tag, however, sages—like “Kind-
and critics point out that ness changes
similar endeavors in the US everything”—on
and Europe have flopped. bathroom stalls at
their kids’ school.
A marine biolo-
gist was at first
frightened when a
humpback whale
kept bumping
Screening minors into her. Then she
realized it was
An unexpected reason to heroically shield-
check screen use among ing her from a
children: fighting inequal- nearby shark.
ity. According to the Kaiser
Family Foundation, daily
time looking at a screen
added up to 8 hours and 36
minutes for white children,
but 13 hours for Black and
Hispanic children. Racial-
ized wealth disparity may be A young single dad
part of the reason. Research- in Little Rock, AR,
ers suspect “too often the never complained
message we send to low- about walking
income and less-educated 11 miles to work
parents is that screen time and back every
will help their children,” but day. When his
the risks of too much screen coworkers found
time aren’t shared. Low- out, however,
income neighborhoods may they pooled their
also be seen as dangerous, money and bought
discouraging outdoor play. him a car.
June 2018 mindful 11
what’s new
Inner joy in NYC
From March through June
2017, the New York City
yoga and meditation studio
Three Jewels ran its first
wellness program for peo-
ple living in homeless shel-
ters. Hector Marcel, Three
Jewels’ president, summa-
rized the main goal: “To
have participants experi-
ence genuine personal
wellness in a short time.”
The program (a collabora-
tion between the stu-
dio’s nonprofit Outreach
Center, the Department
of Health & Hygiene, and
the Department of Home-
less Services) curated and
provided free weekly yoga
and meditation classes
for all shelter clients age
4 and older. Shelter staf
members were also ofered
free health programs and
coaching, so they could
understand and benefit
from the same wellness
tools as the clients.
From man-caves to
men’s sheds
The earliest “men’s sheds”
emerged in Australia
around the mid-1990s.
Providing safe spaces
for older men to work on
projects, expand their
communities, and access
mental health resources,
the idea has caught on in 11
other countries since. The
US Men’s Sheds Associa-
tion began and opened its
first three sheds in 2017.
With the motto that “Men
don’t talk face to face, they
talk shoulder to shoulder,”
the movement is a strong
step toward combating
toxic masculinity. Bring it
in, pal.
12 mindful June 2018
The keys to One grande nap,
mindfulness for here
Lots of A café can provide many
studies kinds of refreshment. A
on mindfulness nap café in Washington,
have examined DC, ofers a new lease
how people fare on rest for the rushed.
when they learn Described as “a modern
mindfulness in meditation and power nap
groups taught by a studio,” guests can sink
facilitator. Now the onto a giant bean bag for a
growth of online 20-minute nap, complete
mindfulness with scented eye masks
apps and courses and soothing music.
invites research-
ers to look at the
effects of mindful-
ness apart from
the influence of a
group or teacher.
In one such
study on stress
among students
and staff at the
University of Sus-
sex, researchers
there compared a
two-week online
mindfulness
course with a
two-week online
classical music
program. At the
end of the study,
they found that
PHOTOGRAPH BY NOUT GONS / PEXELS, BARRY GOLDING, ILLUSTRATION BY VECTEEZY
participants in
the mindfulness
option had signifi-
cantly lower stress A sound therapy
levels. Looking
more closely, People with tinnitus
they found that live with a noise inside
the mindfulness their head that never goes
group showed away. There’s no cure for the
less worry, greater condition, and it can lead to
mindfulness, and depression, insomnia, and
more self-com- anxiety. British researchers
passion than the conducting one of the first
music-listeners— randomized clinical trials of
suggesting that mindfulness-based cogni-
these specific tive therapy for tinnitus found
elements may be that an eight-week program
the key to mindful- not only reduced sufferers’
ness’s ability to distress, but made the noise
lessen stress. itself less noticeable.
what’s new
Don’t get even—get mindful
It’s all too easy for a
flash of anger to trig-
ger a vengeful action—but it
doesn’t have to be that way.
In a rather devilish experi-
ment, Northeastern University
researchers had one group
of college students learn
mindfulness meditation, via
the Headspace app, over a
three-week period, while a
comparison group did puzzles
and word games. At the end,
each student described their
life goals to a person they
thought was a fellow study
participant—and then got
Healing from the kitchen
Work in the restaurant
industry tends to be precari-
ous and stressful, and often
workers can’t access health-
ful ways to cope. In a 2015
survey of substance use and
dependence across indus-
tries, the highest-ranking
category was accommoda-
tions and food, where 19%
of employees reported using
illegal drugs within the
past month. To combat the
high rates of addiction and
Research gathered from Greater Good Science Ctr. at UC Berkeley, Ctr. for
Healthy Minds at U of Wisconsin–Madison, Ctr. for Mindfulness at UMass
Medical School, and American Mindfulness Research Association.
14 mindful June 2018
feedback that the listener
found their speeches “boring”
and “a complete waste.”
Here’s the devilish part:
the students were given
the opportunity to add hot
sauce to a “taste test” for the
listener who, they were told,
hated spicy food. While both
groups were angry, the medi-
tators put only half as much
hot sauce into the portion.
Mindfulness meditation,
the researchers concluded,
lessens the likelihood of
people behaving badly when
provoked.
overdose in these careers, a
smattering of organizations
are creating resources and
networks for climbing out
of the addiction pit. Ben’s
Friends organizes support
groups for attaining and
maintaining sobriety, while
Big Table hosts an elabo-
rate dinner for food service
PHOTOGRAPH BY LIFE-OF-PIX / PIXABAY
workers once a month,
which doubles as an oppor-
tunity to request help for a
coworker in crisis.
Training
Mindful or Mindless?
with breath Our take on who’s paying attention and who’s not
If you want a
mindful
better workout,
pay attention to
how you breathe.
Deep, slow Companies like UK author Bridget Lawless
breaths allow us Modern Meadow felt that relying on the
to relax because and Bolt are pio- trope of abused or mur-
they activate neering fabrics that dered women can down-
the parasympa- are kinder to animals and play the real dangers that
thetic nervous the environment. So far, women face. To address
system, which they’ve created a “biole- this, she launched the
may in turn ather” made from yeast- Staunch Book Prize (worth
improve workout based collagen and a faux about $2800 USD) to rec-
performance, silk spun from sugar. ognize literary thrillers that
research finds. avoid using violence
Nasal breathing against women as a
while jogging plot device.
can improve
your peripheral A new facet to mindful
vision and help to eating, or just introvert
maintain proper heaven? Renowned Japa-
technique and nese ramen café Ichiran
form (resulting has opened a location There’s now an app (of
in fewer injuries). in New York City, offer- course) for sharing the
Breath work ing “flavor concentration final, anxious minutes
may even help booths” where customers when your phone’s bat-
your muscles to eat solo, focusing only on tery life dwindles and the
recover faster their bowl of noodles. clock ticks toward discon-
after stressing nection. It’s a chatroom
them, as hap- called Die With Me that
pens in weight allows you to bemoan this
training. dreaded experience with
others, once your battery
is at 5% or less.
Mood lit
Want to On a flight
boost your from Dubai to
mood? A Univer- Amsterdam, one gassy
sity of Mississippi passenger led to major While visiting Yale for a
study shows that hassles: His uncontrolled workshop, two dental stu-
10 minutes of flatulence agitated some dents from the University
either meditation or passengers so much that of Connecticut were in the
walking—as well as a fight broke out. The lab and took a selfie—with
a meditation/walk- aircrat had to make an a background of two sev-
ing combo—made emergency landing to ered heads. They’ll
participants feel remove the olfactorily never get ahead
better aterward. offended from the plane. that way. ●
They reported feel-
ing more tranquil
and revitalized, mindless
as well as less
exhausted. ●

Illustrations by Jessica Rae Gordon June 2018 mindful 15

awakenin g t h e body
th e w a y o f s oma tic med ita tion

August 23 – October 31, 2018

• Weekly video teachings from
Somatic meditation reveals the joy, altruism, and creativity
Reggie Ray
that reside at the core of our being. In this ten-week online
course, Dr. Reggie Ray, author of Touching Enlightenment • Live interactive video calls with a
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and The Awakening Body, introduces the path and practice
• Support from a meditation
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instructor and a facilitated
of human transformation that is immediately applicable to discussion forum
our ordinary human lives. This course is for beginning and • Access to all materials after
advanced practitioners alike. the course ends

To learn more, visit dharmaocean.org/awakening

 mindful
living
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK WINDOM / STOCKSY UNITED

“There are worlds

within worlds in this
world of ours.”
GEORGE KROKOS

June 2018 mindful 17

 LIVING | how to
One Mindful Act
Got a minute? That’s enough time to generate
meaningful action every day of the week.
Sometimes opportunities to act with mindful
intention fall into your lap: the politeness jam at
the four-way intersection, when everyone wants
to let the other guy go first; the earnest admis-
sion from someone that moves you to respond
in kind. But, let’s face it, barring an emergency,
mostly our days and weeks churn by without
mindful awareness of any particular moment.
The funny thing is, any ol’ Wednesday is
packed with choice points to notice the present Think about someone
and to engage. Once you start doing it, you’ll be else’s pain and how you
amazed by how many opportunities there are might help
to connect, to appreciate, and to experience—
everywhere, all the time. When you’re going through
The best part? It’s super easy to do. Just a a hard time, it can feel
small, simple action can help you wake up and all-consuming, and even
plug in to the life pulsing all around you. hurtful, that the rest of
Here are a few ideas to get started. the world is just skipping
along as always while your
reality has been turned
upside down. Yet when
things are going well, we
can be strangely oblivious
that someone else might be
experiencing the same kind
of difficulty we’ve known.
Is there someone in your
sphere right now who is
struggling? Consider what it
might be like for this person
to go home after work, cope
with the holidays, or face
some scary or challeng-
ing appointment. Is there
anything you can do to
help? Maybe it’s hands-on
support—an ofer to drive,
to shop, to babysit. Perhaps
it’s emotional—a note letting
them know you care, a small
bouquet from your garden,
a call to check in. Could
you also hold them in your
thoughts, silently wishing
for their well-being?
By Kelle Walsh • Illustrations by Asia Pietrzyk
Pause before responding
in a conversation
Being a mindful listener
means tuning in to the
other person instead of just
mentally prepping for your
own commentary. But it
can be difficult to do, espe-
cially if you’re not used to
it. Practice this awareness-
building technique in your
next conversations: Before
you respond to what
someone has said, pause
and check in with yourself.
Notice your body position,
your energy, any urges in
your mind. Take a breath.
Now, what might you add
to the conversation?
Stop and tune in to the
environment around you
The next time you’re out
walking your dog, tak-
ing your lunch break, or
checking the mail, just
for a minute, stop—and
listen. Ceasing physical
motion is often just enough
to momentarily slow the
ever-whirling mind-train,
allowing your environment
to come alive, like waves
rolling toward shore. Wind,
birdsong, city noises, con-
struction, kids on a school
playground: Let the sounds
fill the sonic field of your
attention. Soon enough
your idle mind will come
back online. But for those
few delicious moments, you
get to be a spectator to the
whole shebang.

Walk or bike; don’t drive
Do you ever get into your
car, start it up, and arrive at
your destination 20 minutes
later with no recollection of
the drive? Cars encourage
us to disengage from our
surroundings—we close the
doors and are efectively
cocooned in our own little
soundproof world until we
get out again. It’s harder to
turn inward when walking
or riding a bike. Instead,
you’re out there in the
world, exposed to the ele-
ments, your attention drawn
outward.
Let a manager know you
received great service
It’s so easy to be a critic.
(Um, Yelp much?) But do
you shout from the roof-
top when you have good
customer service? When
someone goes out of their
way to be helpful, kind,
and super-efficient at their
job, it’s like a balm for the
bumps and scrapes of daily
living. Telling a supervi-
sor not only gives deserved
credit to the employee, it
lets the business know what
it’s doing right. Really, it
takes so little efort to give
a compliment, but the mes-
sage can go far.
DharmaCraf ts
THE CATA LOG OF MEDITATION SUPPLIES
Check in with someone
you haven’t spoken with
in a while since 1979
They may cross your mind,
but the next step is what dharmacrafts.com
really matters: Reach out.
All relationships require
tending, and regularly
stretching beyond your Meditation Cushions
immediate social circle is
an easy reminder of how
much wider our human
Inspirational Jewelry
circle is. Try this: Make a
list of people you’d like to Home Furnishings
stay in touch with (your old
college roommate, a retired
colleague, your aging aunt,
the neighbor who is going
through a rough time), and
post it somewhere you’ll
see it every day. Then, each
week, pick a name, and then
drop a note, write an email,
or pick up the phone and
call them. You’ll feel good
for nurturing the connec-
tion, and, who knows, your
thoughtfulness might just
be the boost the person
needed that day.
Make friendly
eye contact
We’re not talking about
creepily laser-beaming into
someone’s eyes. Instead,
simply lift your gaze and
look into the face of the
person handing you your
latte or holding the eleva-
tor. Just for a beat, meet
their eyes; maybe ofer a
gentle smile that says, “Oh,
hello there, fellow human. I
see you.” That’s it! Contact Call for
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 LIVING | mindful eating

Long, Lithe, and Lovely By Claire Ciel Zimmerman

It starts with a crunch

and finishes buttery
and smooth, like a cross
between a snap pea and
an artichoke. A perfect
complement to rich sauces
and light dressings alike,
asparagus is available
year-round in the US as
an import from warmer
climates. But during spring
and early summer, the
freshly picked, locally
grown varieties burst with
a delicately sweet, earthy
flavor unmatched by the
long-distance travelers of
autumn and winter. No
comparison.

TRY THIS
Savor asparagus season with
a simple salad of raw, thinly
shaved spears. Grab a bunch of
PHOTOGRAPH BY JEFF WASSERMAN / STOCKSY UNITED

the thicker spears (go with green

or purple, not white) and run a
vegetable peeler down the length
of each to create ribbons. Toss
with the juice of half a lemon and
a glug of olive oil. Sprinkle with
salt and pepper. If you’re feeling
fancy, toss in some shaved or
grated Parmesan cheese. ●
NUTRITION INFO
Asparagus is an impressive
source of many nutrients:
vitamins K and C, folate, copper,
and most B vitamins, to name a few.
It’s also high in flavonoids that
offer heart-protective benefits.
source: whfoods.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Claire Ciel Zimmerman is
Mindful’s Deputy Editor and
Eater-in-Chief.

20 mindful June 2018

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 LIVING | mindful md

BY ACCEPTING
OUR HEALTH
CHALLENGES, WE
TAKE RESPON-
SIBILITY FOR
ADDRESSING
WHAT WE CAN
FROM A PLACE
OF EQUANIMITY,
BUILT THROUGH
THE PRACTICE
OF MINDFUL
AWARENESS.

Prescribing Awareness
We oten seek comfort in ignorance. But by downplaying or ignoring
health issues, we can inflict further harm on ourselves and others.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Most of us live with a medical ailment or As with any health condition, handling ADHD
Mark Bertin, MD, two—and, quite often, our reactions to them well means coming to terms with its full range of
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JURI POZZI / STOCKSY UNITED

is a developmental undermine self-care. It’s easy to rationalize why
pediatrician. His most
recent book is How
not to attend fully to whatever we’re experi-
Children Thrive. encing when we feel angry or overwhelmed or
tempted to ignore it altogether.
For example, consider attention deficit-hyper-
activity disorder. ADHD is a medical disorder.
Its genetic inheritance is similarly strong to
that of height, its rate similar around the world
(in spite of how it is often presented), and it
includes brain diferences that have been docu-
mented in multiple studies.
efects. ADHD afects a person’s life management,
not only their attention. It can impact school per-
formance, emotions, relationships, jobs, driving—
anything requiring “management.”
As if all of that weren’t hard enough, exter-
nal judgment runs high with ADHD. Children
get labeled as lazy, unmotivated, or even bad
because of their “disruptive” behavior. Parents
get used to hearing that they should somehow
get a handle on their kids. And adults with
ADHD scramble endlessly to stay organized, →

22 mindful June 2018 By Mark Bertin

mindful md

prosper, and navigate relationships—often to

the frustration of those around them, who don’t
understand what they’re coping with. These
outside pressures may lead individuals with
ADHD to excessively judge themselves.
What comes next, then, when someone
doesn’t know they or their child has this chal-
lenging disorder? Or, on a subtler level, when
someone doesn’t grasp the full extent of what
ADHD does? No one can skillfully handle its
symptoms before accepting they aren’t chosen
behaviors, but are caused by ADHD. Without
awareness and targeted treatment, children and
adults struggle. Their neurology continually
frustrates their eforts, and eventually their
self-esteem—along with social life, health, and
overall well-being—will sufer.
Nonjudgmental awareness means accepting
any illness or disorder—whether in yourself
or in someone else—for what it is, including
challenges along with triumphs. With ADHD,
it’s a huge step to realize a child who misbe-
haves simply cannot yet (as opposed to will not) EXERCISE
control his impulses. It’s no small thing for an
adult to know she is brilliant and hardworking,
despite her struggles to handle projects. The Turning Toward Discomfort
purpose in doing this isn’t to master our chal-
lenges forever, but simply to see clearly from
day to day.
No matter what health issues we face, we SIT FOR A FEW MINUTES, If the practice becomes too
can commit to letting go of all the extra bag- focusing on the sensation of uncomfortable, TAKE CARE
gage that can show up over time. The instinct breathing. Your mind will stay OF YOURSELF. Allow your-
that lays blame or rejects our shortcomings busy. When a thought arises, self a break, seek out support,
only gets in the way of progress. We don’t take note of it, then patiently and let go of the practice for
have to pretend to always be comfortable with return to the breath. now. Come back to whatever
our health challenges. But by accepting them feels most appropriate in this
anyway, we take responsibility for addressing Next, THINK OF SOME- moment.
what we can from a place of equanimity, built THING UNCOMFORTABLE
through the practice of mindful awareness. about yourself—nothing you For the last few minutes,
Meditation helps by giving us an opportunity find overwhelming. It could TAKE TIME FOR SELF-
to sit with discomfort. Much of what arises in be a quality that you don’t COMPASSION. On each
meditation sheds light on unpleasantness we like so much or wish you in-breath, be aware that this
may otherwise avoid habitually. Do you find didn’t have. is a challenge for you right
yourself caught up in fear, or disappointment, or now, and all people have chal-
self-criticism? That’s all common and normal. NOTICE WHAT ARISES. It lenges. On each out-breath,
We can give ourselves permission to feel exactly might be a sense of physical wish yourself the same happi-
what we feel, even when we’re not as OK with a discomfort or an emotion ness and wellness that you’d
situation as we’d like to be. or an anxious thought. Give wish for your best friend.
Outside of meditation practice, do what you attention to all of it: the facts,
need to do to care for your health. Whether it is your reactions, emotions like END WITH A FEW MIN-
diabetes or asthma or a learning disability, aim disappointment or frustra- UTES OF MEDITATION, sim-
to see your situation with clarity and determi- tion, and anything else that ply feeling your breath move in
nation. While you sit in meditation, however, comes up. and out, noting thoughts and
there’s nothing to fix or change. This is what is. letting them go. Set an inten-
Practice settling and seeing life clearly, laying tion to move forward with both
the groundwork for a happier, healthier life. ● acceptance and resolve.

24 mindful June 2018

 LIVING | inner wisdom

The Happiness Debate

Scientists are weighing what it really means to be
happy—and their findings aren’t so straightforward.

Over the past decade social scien-
tists have taken a deep dive into what
seems like a straightforward question:
What makes us happy? The pursuit of
pleasure? The absence of hardship and
difficulty? Or, seen from a longer view,
the feeling that your life has meant
something?
The answer has proven less obvious,
and largely depends on whom you talk
to. When it comes to the science of
happiness, researchers still don’t fully
agree on how to measure it or, even, a
clear definition of what “happiness” is.
Take, for example, the widely
reported and controversial “happi-
ness gap” finding that parents are less
happy than people who don’t have
children. One of many studies, a sur-
vey of 397 adults, found that parenting
may provide meaning in life but not
necessarily happiness.
But when researchers from the
University of California, Riverside,
measured both happiness and mean-
ing together, parents, in general, came
out happier and more satisfied in their
lives than people without children.
“When you feel happy, and you take
out the meaning part of happiness,
it’s not really happiness,” researcher
Sonja Lyubomirsky told Greater Good
Science Center.
Diferences like this have spurred a
new inquiry into what actually quali-
fies as happiness.
And it’s generated new interest in
a 2,500-year-old theory that there are
two types of happiness: hedonic (pos-
itive feelings associated with pleasure
or goal fulfillment) and eudaimonic
(positive feelings derived from pursu-
ing meaning).
Hedonic is about in-the-moment
pleasure. It’s the pursuit of enjoy-
ment—fun for fun’s sake. It’s focused
on your own wants and needs and has
an energetic, upbeat quality.
Eudaimonic (pronounced u-duh-
MOH-nic) is more about fulfilling your
higher potential instead of an immedi-
ate desire. It’s associated with things
like seeing the big picture, aligning
yourself with a larger purpose, and
helping others.
While both can evoke good feelings,
current measurements of straight-up →

26 mindful June 2018 By Kelle Walsh

 We’ve noticed something.
Perhaps you have, too.
The workers of the future have arrived.

The rising generation of innovators are seeking out

professional homes that articulate a holistic approach,
merging wise business practices with support for
wellness on all levels:

The individual, the company,

Let’s talk.
Ask us how our newest
mindfulness trainings use
app-based learning to
tackle issues related to
eating and anxiety, all the
while accommodating your
workforce’s expectations
for flexibility, and achieving
wellness on the go.
the community, society as a whole.
Mindfulness training helps an organization
embody values that today’s top talent are most
drawn to, such as inclusivity and inventiveness.
Furthermore, mindfulness training unlocks the skillful
expression of those values, so all members of your
organization—not to mention the people you serve and
partner with—are able to succeed together.
Let us show you how well-being practices
ARE business practices, with mindfulness
leading the charge.

mindthemoment@harvardpilgrim.org • www.harvardpilgrim.org/mindfulness

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facebook.com/mindthemoment @mind_the_moment soundcloud.com/mindthemoment

The Mind the Moment program was developed and is offered by Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Inc.

RENEW
YOURSELF
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inner wisdom
POSITIVE
EMOTIONS
CAN HELP YOU
CONNECT MORE
WITH OTHERS,
BROADEN YOUR
ATTENTION, MAKE
YOUR THINKING
MORE FLEXIBLE,
AND INCREASE
YOUR ABILITY
TO SEE THE BIG
PICTURE.
happiness—things like
greater positive afect and
less negative afect—typical-
ly fall in the hedonia camp.
Eudaimonic pursuits, on the
other hand, may not bring
a lot of pleasure. In fact,
activities and life focus that
provide a sense of meaning
often involve times of strug-
gle and stress.
So… how does this make
you happy? Some scientists
argue that the pursuit of
meaning, self-growth, and
alignment with something
outside of yourself, while
not always fun, leads to
greater life satisfaction
overall than the pursuit of
pleasure alone.
It may be better for your
health, too. Studies have
revealed a slew of health
benefits from eudaimonic
pursuits, such as volunteer-
ing. A 2013 study found that
people who derived their
happiness by having a sense
of meaning had a stronger
immune profile; literally,
their brand of happiness
reaches down to their cells.
They also are less reac-
tive to stress, have higher
HDL (“good”) cholesterol
levels, sleep better, and may
28 mindful June 2018
experience less depression.
Meanwhile, people who
identify more with hedonic
happiness show greater
pro-inflammatory gene ex-
pression, the kind common
among people exposed to
chronic stress or trauma.
For all of these reasons,
it might be easy to surmise
that eudaimonia is the one
true path to happiness.
Yet some scientists warn
against this kind of one-is-
better thinking.
Elizabeth Dunn at
the University of British
Columbia tells the Greater
Good Science Center, “To
say that there’s one pathway
to meaning, and that it’s
diferent than the pathway
to pleasure, is false.”
Fun, laughter, and enjoy-
ment are all essential ele-
ments of the life experience.
And these efects are not
experienced in a vacuum. In
fact, Dunn and others point
out, feeling positive emo-
tions can help you connect
more with others, broaden
your attention, make your
thinking more flexible, and
increase your ability to see
the big picture, all of which
may contribute to seeing
and aiming for greater
meaning.
Researcher Veronika
Huta writes that each
plays an important role in
the cultivation of a good
life. People who pursue a
balance of both hedonic
and eudaimonic happiness
have “higher degrees of
well-being than people
who pursue only one or the
other” with a higher degree
of mental health, and expe-
rience more well-rounded
well-being. The consensus,
she says, is that people need
both hedonia and eu-
daimonia to flourish. ●
 LIVING | the mindful faq

Am I Doing This Right?

The latest installment in our ongoing series of
helpful answers to common meditator questions.

I meditate for 15 minutes every morning,

Q
and I’ve become pretty comfortable with
that routine. Should I increase the length
of my sessions?

If you’ve developed a solid expectations about what

routine like this, of sitting that longer practice might

A for any amount of medi-

tation every day, the first
thing you should do is to
pause and take that in.
That is an important and
noteworthy accomplish-
ment that many people only
dream of. Great work!
There is some emerg-
ing evidence that more
benefits may result from
spending more time in
mindfulness practice, but I
would suggest letting your
experience be your guide.
What feels right to you? Do
you notice the impact of
your practice on the rest
of your life? Would you
appreciate more of what-
yield, and simply show up
and be curious. See what
you notice, just like you
always have. Some people
find that when they prac-
tice for longer than 15 min-
utes, they face challenges
that never arise in shorter
practice sessions. That may
or may not be your experi-
ence, but you’ll never know
unless you try. And as far
as science knows, you’re
very unlikely to overdose
on a little bit of regular
meditation practice! ●
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUTH BLACK / STOCKSY UNITED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ever it is that you notice? Steven Hickman is a clinical
That could be the answer psychologist and founder of the
to your question. University of California, San Diego,
Center for Mindfulness and executive
But curiosity should director of the nonprofit Center for
really be your guide in this Mindful Self-Compassion.
situation. See if you might
look at extending your
practice as a kind of exper-
iment or adventure—try
adding 5, 10, or 15 min-
utes—letting go of specific

30 mindful June 2018 By Steven Hickman

brain science
The Quest to Live Forever
Some scientists are working on making the last stages of life a little
healthier, others are trying to extend life, and still others are hoping to
make death obsolete.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR When the respected physiologist Charles-
Sharon Begley is Édouard Brown-Séquard extolled the rejuvenat-
senior science writer ing properties of mashed-up puppy and guinea
with STAT, a national
health and medicine
pig testicles before Paris’s Société de Biologie in
publication. She is also 1889—describing how injections of the liquefied
author of Train Your gonads allowed him to perform experiments for
Mind, Change Your
hours on end while standing, lift 100 pounds with
Brain and Can’t Just
Stop: An Investigation ease, and expel a jet of urine 25% farther than he
of Compulsions (2017, could before—he was not the first scientist who
Simon & Schuster). claimed to have discovered a way to turn back
the biological calendar. The Epic of Gilgamesh
(c. 2100 BC), for instance, recounted the king’s
search for eternal life (it turns out to be a thorny
marine plant, but he doesn’t manage to hang on to
it). And the “recipe for transforming an old man
into a youth” can be found in an Egyptian med-
ical text from 2500 BC. I’ll save you the trouble:
It’s a fruit-infused mudpack for the face.
Nor, of course, was Brown-Séquard’s the last
such discovery. A few decades after his death
32 mindful June 2018
at age 76 (oh, well) in 1894, other fountain-of-
youth fads swept Europe and America. Implants
of goat testicles into men’s scrota became all the
rage in the 1920s, and the “Steinach operation,”
basically a one-side vasectomy, promised to
increase vigor, reduce fatigue, and slow aging.
Among the recipients was poet William Butler
Yeats. I leave to your imagination why these
early eforts focused on men and their reproduc-
tive organs and ask a diferent question: Why are
some people obsessed with extending life span?
For obsessed is what many are. In the last
few years anti-aging research has been attract-
ing buckets of public and private funding, the
United Kingdom’s Nuffield Council on Bioethics
pointed out in a report released in January 2018.
Tech billionaires have been sinking money into
what is variously called life extension, the end of
aging, a search for immortality, or, as longtime
biology-of-aging scientist Cynthia Kenyon put →
By Sharon Begley • Illustrations by Edmon de Haro
 Get Started
with Mindfulness
Save $12 on our 3-Volume Set

Order Before June 15, 2018

Use Code: GETSTARTED3

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brain science
CRAZE OR CRAZY? | Young Blood
One of the anti-aging schemes is conducting trials on his
sprouting up in Silicon Valley patients and claims to have
harvests the blood of teenag- demonstrated improved sleep
ers, extracts the plasma, and and reductions in proteins
injects it into older clients. associated with cancer and
The Monterey, California, Alzheimer’s disease—although
start-up Ambrosia charges mainstream scientists have
$8,000 for plasma trans- criticized the trials for lacking
fusions, 1.5 liters at a time, a control group and drawing
over the course of two days. its cohort only from those who
Founder Jesse Karmazin, MD, can afford the steep fee.
it more modestly to The Guardian, a way to “have
a healthy life and then turn out the lights.”
That describes the goal of some in the anti-ag-
ing world. Health spanners want to discover
genetic tweaks, medications, and other inter-
ventions that will give people a healthier life
and, in particular, a healthier late-in-life life—by
postponing or eliminating disease, decrepitude,
and dementia—followed by a quick and painless
death. In 2016 the US National Academy of Med-
icine launched a “Grand Challenge for Healthy
Longevity,” which will award at least $25 million
ACCORDING for breakthroughs in increasing health span.
TO DR. JOON That, however, wouldn’t necessarily extend life
YUN, “THERMO- span, or not more by than a few years.
DYNAMICALLY, Even if we conquered all disease, cellular
THERE SHOULD aging baked into our DNA and made inevitable
BE NO REASON by the laws of thermodynamics would eventu-
WE CAN’T ally “turn out the lights.” That’s where other
DEFER ENTROPY anti-aging warriors come in. Immortalists like
INDEFINITELY. WE PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel talk about living
CAN END AGING forever. The credo of most immortalists, though,
FOREVER.” is better summed up by British researcher
Aubrey de Grey, whose TED talk on conquer-
ing biological aging has been viewed some 3.5
million times: The first humans who will live to
1,000, he argues, are alive right now. Dr. Joon
Yun, who runs the Palo Alto Investors health-
care hedge fund, has said, “Thermodynamically,
there should be no reason we can’t defer entropy
indefinitely. We can end aging forever.” He
didn’t say “end death,” but eliminating aging and
overturning entropy would probably get us at
least to de Grey’s 1,000-year-olds.
Thanks to both health spanners and immor-
talists, “We are seeing huge market demand for
aging research,” funded primarily by private
investors, according to neuroscientist Terrie
34 mindful June 2018
Moffitt of Duke University, who contributed to
the Nuffield Council’s report.
The investment is driven, in part, by legit-
imate advances in understanding the biology
of aging. Although there is no consensus about
its precise cellular or genetic causes, scientists
have made significant strides in identifying key
components of aging, such as the shortening
of telomeres (stretches of DNA at the ends of
chromosomes) and the activation or suppression
of diferent genes.
They are also identifying ways to target the
drivers of aging. A clinical trial of metformin,
a diabetes drug, is expected to start this year:
The drug boosts the activity of an enzyme
called AMPK, which not only lowers blood
sugar (hence diabetes) but seems to also prevent
diseases of aging. Other studies are examining
the super-low calorie regimen called dietary
restriction, which can extend healthy life span in
a range of animals and slow biological aging in
people. Here, the focus is on finding molecules
that mimic the molecular efects of an 800-calo-
rie-a-day regimen (which few of us can manage,
even if eternal life beckoned). In a similar vein,
the craze for resveratrol, a compound in red
wine, peaked a decade ago once studies began
showing that people who took resveratrol pills
didn’t live longer or healthier. Nevertheless,
research continues, buoyed by the fact that the
compound afects the activity of aging-related
enzymes called sirtuins.
How much is it worth to some people
to defeat aging?
Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page
spent a reported $1 billion to launch the bio-
technology company Calico, whose mission is
to slow or stop cellular aging and thus “enable
people to lead longer and healthier lives.” Unity
Biotechnology, which also seeks to thwart
aging, has drawn investments of at least $116
million from Thiel and Amazon founder Jef
Bezos. Some people are so optimistic that sci-
entists will eventually vanquish aging and pos-
sibly death—although perhaps not soon enough
for them personally— that 150 people have paid
to preserve either their heads ($80,000) or their
entire bodies ($200,000) in liquid nitrogen at
the Scottsdale, Arizona, facility of the Alcor
Life Extension Foundation, including de Grey
and the futurist Ray Kurzweil. The obsession
of tech billionaires with defeating aging even

became a plot point in the HBO series Silicon
Valley, with one particularly odious executive
hiring a strapping youth to give him regular
infusions of young blood.
Elysium Health, cofounded in 2014 by MIT
biologist Leonard Guarente to extend health
span and slow biological aging, raised $20 mil-
lion in 2016 alone, valuing the private company
at just north of $150 million. Although Guar-
ente, who discovered how sirtuins afect aging,
is sometimes portrayed as an immortalist, he
views his anti-aging research “as a branch of
medicine,” he said. “I hope that what comes out
of it is a way to improve our health... To think
that we can program immortality is ludicrous.”
Why do tech billionaires believe otherwise?
“There is a kind of hubris there, the hubris of
powerful men,” said Julian Hughes, professor
of Old Age Psychiatry at England’s University
of Bristol and a coauthor of the Nuffield Coun-
cil report. That hubris nurtures a belief that
they are too powerful and too important to die.
Philosopher David Archard of Queen’s Univer-
sity Belfast, chair of the Nuffield Council, said
he wouldn’t be surprised if “the denizens of
Silicon Valley take themselves seriously enough
to believe their immortality or delayed death is
in humanity’s best interests.”
THERE SEEMS TO BE A CERTAIN KIND OF
HUBRIS AMONG THE WEALTHY AND POWERFUL
THAT NURTURES A BELIEF THAT THEY ARE TOO
POWERFUL AND TOO IMPORTANT TO DIE.
Yet many people face the prospect of their
demise with equanimity. “A lot of people think
death will be a release and even welcome it,”
said Hughes. “Their spouse has died, their
friends have died; they’ve had enough, really.”
The realization that drives those who accept
the inevitability of death can also kick in well
before one has “had enough.” Most people agree
that death as such “is bad because it deprives
us, finally and irrevocably, of what gives value
to life,” including pleasure, happiness, friend-
ship, knowledge, and love, Archard said. “On
that view, the longer you live—with infinite
extension of life as best of all—the more of these
goods or constituent pleasures you can enjoy. If
one more day of life is preferable, then surely an
infinite number of further days is optimal?”
But an enduring strand in philosophy
answers, surely not. What gives our activities,
work, and relationships meaning and purpose
and value “is that they are pursued with a finite
life,” Archard said. “An immortal existence
would run out of purpose.” ●
June 2018 mindful 35
 alison canavan
“ the mindful interview

finding beauty
inside
From the outside, former model Alison Canavan’s life
looked picture-perfect. But her glamorous exterior masked
a lifelong struggle with depression.

INTERVIEW BY KELLE WALSH

PHOTOGRAPHS BY DANIEL HOLFELD

At 15, Dubliner and self-described tomboy ALISON CANAVAN

was entered into a modeling competition by her mother. It marked
the start of a whirlwind career that found her traveling the globe,
featured in the pages of international fashion magazines, walking
runways for leading designers, and living the high life in cultural
hubs like New York City, Paris, and London. But there was a shad-
ow of sadness following her, which had emerged in her teens and
haunted her throughout her twenties. And it was made worse by the
nonstop partying lifestyle she threw herself into, with alcohol her
drug of choice.
When she drank, she says, “I felt free, I felt good, I had confidence,
and I had no worries.” Drinking soon became her obsession: when
she could drink, how much she could drink, feeling remorse about
something she’d done while drinking—that is, when she could re-
member what had happened. She tried to stop on occasion, including
by attending AA meetings, but couldn’t admit she belonged there. →

June 2018 mindful 37

the mindful interview

“Until we start
being truthful with
ourselves and with
everyone around us,
we’re not going
to heal.” “James was the
catalyst, because
I wanted to be a
As the years wore on, her “lows got lower,” she
recalls. She began relying on Xanax “just to better mom.”
leave the house and get on the subway,” and
took Valium to sleep. “Whenever I felt an emo-
tion, I swallowed it with a pill,” she says.
A few months ater a painful breakup—
one that found her returning to Dublin and
the comfort of family—she learned she was
pregnant. The news finally motivated her to
get sober. Soon ater she gave birth to James
Mindful: It may surprise people that
in 2010, though, she fell into a deep postpar- even though you’ve had a successful
tum depression. At one point, she was in such career as a model, you’ve struggled
a bad state she wasn’t allowed to be alone with self-confidence. How is that pos-
MINDING MUM sible?
with the baby. Her doctors wanted to pre-
It’s Time to Take
scribe more drugs, she says, but she resisted Care of You Alison Canavan: I never, ever looked
because she was breastfeeding. “It wasn’t just By Alison Canavan after myself. I never valued myself
about me anymore,” she says. “I had James to enough. It’s interesting that you go
In this “new mum’s into an industry to be seen—that’s
think about.”
guide to feeling great one thing we all have in common: We
Over the next few years, she committed to inside and out,” Ali- all want to be seen, to be validated.
her physical, mental, and emotional health, son shares what early However, as a model, you don’t have a
studied nutrition, and made meditation a daily motherhood is really voice. You’re “just a model.”
like: being home with
habit. Her best-selling book, Minding Mum,
baby, postpartum
is the result: In it, she explores what self-care depression, nutri- In Minding Mum you write, “I have
really means when you’re a mother, and what tional needs, body finally learned to like myself, hell, even
she’s discovered about finding health—of both image, exercise love myself… Giving myself permis-
post-pregnancy—and sion to do this has made a remarkable
body and mind.
how to feel great in difference in my recovery from depres-
Mindful spoke with Alison about her jour- this new reality. sion and anxiety.” Can you speak a bit
ney and what it took to get where she is today. alisoncanavan.com about self-compassion and the role it’s
played in helping you get to where you
are today?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kelle Walsh is a contributing editor to “Self-compassion” is something I
Mindful and is based in Colorado. really struggled with. When you
start being kind to yourself, it can be
uncomfortable. I had never really lis-

38 mindful June 2018

 the mindful interview

Alison and her son, James. Learning

she was pregnant, Alison discovered
her most compelling reason to recover
from substance abuse—and began to love
herself for the first time.

tened to or understood the voice in my

head. When I became aware of it, and
how negative it was, I started to be
even harder on myself. I had to start
writing things down that I liked about
myself, which at first were just things
that other people said they liked about
me. After I had James, I started feel-
ing my heart opening for myself.

You had been meditating since you

were 18, and embarked upon many self-
care pursuits through the years. Yet you
were still struggling with undiagnosed
depression and drinking a lot. What
changed?

The partying element was so free

and easy in my industry. It was easy
self-medicating. And temporarily, it
does ofer pain relief.
After having my son, I started to
wake up. James was the catalyst,
because I wanted to be a better mom.
But I needed to do it for me. As I went
on, I was like, Hey, I might be worth it.
I was discovering my own value.
The journey over the past few years
has been to sit with my emotions,
which can be so painful. But it’s the
only way. Until we start being truthful
with ourselves and with everyone
around us, we’re not going to heal.
You can’t be talking about depression
and be out drinking four or five nights
a week. If you want to get better, you
have to do the work.
How does the message that alcohol and
depression don’t mix land in Ireland, a
place known for its pub culture?
It’s a harsh truth, and one I didn’t
want to hear for many, many years: If
you have mental health problems you
are exacerbating those problems if
you are drinking. Alcohol is a depres-
sant. I know we’d all love to think we
can have a few glasses of wine and it’s
fine, but it’s not.
People are finally agreeing. We
do have a big problem with drinking
in Ireland, and it’s related to mental
health. There’s a saying: If you want
to be lonely, get sober in Ireland. We
are not comfortable with people who
don’t drink.
How are the things you talk about—
mindfulness and the idea of a more holis-
tic model of health, facing depression,
dealing with addiction—received there?
Irish people are definitely getting more
interested in their health and their
well-being. But in America, people are
more open. If I post something about
addiction, Americans will comment
about their own struggles. In Ireland,
people private-message me.
Can you say more about this?
We’re starting to talk about mental
health a lot in Ireland. But I don’t
think the stigma has been removed.
People write to me, saying, “I’ve been
struggling with depression,” but
there’s still a lot of shame, like “Oh,
you can’t cope.” →

June 2018 mindful 39

 “When you speak
your truth, you don’t
feel like you’re hiding
anymore. It’s peace
of mind, getting
comfortable in your
own skin.”

But I think we’re moving in the

right direction. Listen, there’s no
plain sailing in this life. But I think
the truth sets you free, internally.
When I didn’t speak my truth, I felt
trapped in my own body. Trapped in
addiction. But when you speak your
truth, you don’t feel like you’re hiding
anymore. It’s peace of mind, getting
comfortable in your own skin, that
gives you some sense of self.
That’s something that a meditation
practice helps bring you to: It helps
you get to know yourself and trust
your instincts a little more. I know
from personal experience that work-
ing with the mind works, and mind-
fulness is one avenue to do that.

What does this look like in practice?

Start small. You can’t say, “I’m going

to meditate for an hour a day” when
you’re just starting out. Start with
three minutes, then try five minutes,
then work up from there.
I don’t think mindfulness is
optional anymore. The world is mov-
ing too fast. All of our natural mind-
fulness moments have been taken
away from us in the digital world. So
we need to consciously create them.

In Minding Mum you discuss your

diet, exercise, meditation, and other

40 mindful June 2018


Alison and James do a mindfulness practice
together at home. You can model meditation
for children of any age, Alison advises in
Minding Mum. Invite them to try it with you
when they get curious.
the mindful interview
routines, and offer tips, but also
encourage readers to find their own
“happy living formula.” What does
that mean?
It means figuring out foods that work
for you, the right sleep cycle for you,
the right exercise, some kind of spiri-
tual practice. And it’s going to change,
even seasonally. Part of this is also
having fun and enjoying the journey.
I work with moms who are like, “Oh
God, I have to go to the gym,” and I’m
like, Whoa, whoa, whoa, this is your
only hour to yourself and you’re dread-
ing it? Find something you love doing.
Authentic self-care is a lot more
than food and fitness. In fact, I’d put
mindfulness at the top of the list. Until
you sit with yourself, you can’t know
yourself, you can’t have self-esteem or
take proper care of yourself. Other-
wise, you’re going to be looking at the
outside world to make you feel better.
You also need to show up for
yourself most when you don’t want to
show up for yourself. I didn’t want to
meditate this morning, because I was
tired. But I knew if I didn’t meditate,
didn’t write in my gratitude journal,
and do some breathing, I wouldn’t be
able to get through this busy day.
So, would you say that mindfulness is
the key to happiness?
Happiness is something I’d be very
wary of making the goal; you can’t be
there all the time. Happiness comes
and goes. I think contentment is
something you can have. I’m content
pretty much every day. I do have bad
days—it’s just part of the human expe-
rience. But I can sit with them and
be with them. It doesn’t mean that
everything is going to fall apart. ●
42 mindful June 2018
 science

THE
MAGNIFICENT
WILD
MYSTERIOUS
CONNECTED
AND
INTERCONNECTED

BRAIN
Our brain is like a wild, raging electrical storm that
wondrously enables us to make our way. Yet a lot of
mindfulness literature makes it sound like a very simple
machine. Two leading neuroscientists suggest better
ways to think and talk about the brain and the mind.

Illustrations by Aaron Piland

f FOR SOME TIME AT MINDFUL,
we’ve been concerned that discus-
sions of the brain—particularly in
the context of mindfulness and
meditation—have become sim-
plified to the point of distorting
the truth. They often present the
brain as a set of building blocks or
Lincoln Logs, each with its own
function. The goal of meditation
in this model is to strengthen
certain parts and suppress others.
When we asked neuroscientists
doing actual research about these
notions, the answer ranged from
“that’s very, very simplistic” to
“that’s nonsense.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Barry Boyce is Editor-in-Chief of Mindful and
Mindful.org. He is also author of The Mindfulness
Revolution, an anthology of applied mindfulness
instructions from leading teachers and experts.
44 mindful June 2018
We are in the middle of an epidemic
spread of BS about the brain. Some-
thing new comes up just about every
week that grossly oversimplifies both
what science currently knows about
the brain and how the brain might
actually work. Trainers and coaches
and keynote speakers frequently
make extravagant claims about “brain
change,” “growing the brain,” or
“adding gray matter.” Forbes recently
published “6 Brain-Based Leader-
ship Game-Changers for 2018,” by an
author who writes about “leveraging
neuroscience to create remarkable
leadership.” The first diagram illus-
trates the reptilian brain, the mam-
malian brain, and the supposed new-
est part of the brain, the neocortex,
where “meaning is made.” A quick
internet search will let you know that
this hypothesis, known as the Triune
Brain, “is no longer espoused by the
majority of comparative neuroscien-
tists in the post-2000 era.” It’s been
debunked for almost two decades.
A newsstand publication called
Mindfulness Made Simple contains a
two-page spread on “How Mindful-
ness Physically Changes Your Brain”
that points to mindfulness causing
growth in the presumed good parts
of the brain and shrinkage in the
bad parts. It takes some preliminary
research out of all context and states
it pretty much as fact. Any honest
neuroscientist will tell you that we
simply do not know this much about
how the brain is afected by mindful-
ness, since we don’t even have a single
definition of what mindfulness means.
And what we feel we know today will
be eclipsed by findings after our life-
time. Humbleness is the watchword
when it comes to assertions about
how the brain and the mind work.
A book from a major publisher sells
itself as “Mind-Hacker’s Guide to
Shifting into Brain 3.0.” It promises

We are in the middle of an epidemic spread
of BS about the brain. Something new
comes up just about every week that grossly
oversimplifies both what science currently
knows about the brain and how the brain
might actually work.
that you can use science to rewire
your brain. Among its claims: You can
“overcome PTSD without medication
by strengthening neural circuits in
Brain 3.0, making your emotional
immune system stronger.”
Let’s be clear. This is not science.
It is snake oil.
The problem, scientists and
science educators point out, is not
that people are being coached and
coaxed to “use their brains better.”
The problem is using pseudo-science
as evidence for the efectiveness of
a practice or to present outmoded
models of the brain and mental expe-
rience. These models are often taught
to children in school, who go home
and tell mommy and daddy that the
amygdala is bad and the prefrontal
cortex is good. Is it fair to reduce
something so wondrous as the brain
to a couple of parts—even if this
mythology helps children to notice
their reactivity and calm down?
To delve into the state of the brain
science surrounding meditation, we
invited two neuroscientists to join
in conversation with Mindful about
how to efectively talk about the
brain when presenting mindfulness
and meditation.
science
Amishi Jha, PhD, is associate pro- While Saron and Jha are separated
fessor of psychology and the founder by a continent and diferent research
and head of the Jha Lab at the Univer- goals, they see eye-to-eye on the need
sity of Miami. Her pioneering work, to be cautious in making assertions
much of it funded by the Department about long-term alterations to the
of Defense and carried out with the brain. They collaborated with a few
military, students, and athletes, shows others on an important paper that
how mindfulness can protect atten- provided a preliminary model for
tion and working memory. The lab distinguishing a variety of mental
is also working on how to scale up factors involved in a range of medita-
mindfulness for larger populations tion practices.
and make its efects long-lasting. She Our several conversations lasted
is working to find accessible train- many hours and ranged far and wide.
ing that can be broadly adopted by Here are some of the highlights of our
high-performance and high-demand exploration of brain and mind.
groups, including first responders,
police, and firefighters.
Cliff Saron, PhD, is a researcher Barry Boyce
at the Center for Mind and Brain and Editor-in-Chief
director of the Saron Lab at the Univer-
sity of California, Davis. He is known
for directing the Shamatha Project, a
multiyear investigation of long-term
intensive meditation. Findings so far
indicate that the practice sharpens and
sustains attention, enhances well-being
and empathy, and improves physiologi-
cal markers of health. Saron is inter-
ested in not just what the brain is doing
when attending to a task, but what’s
happening on a moment-by-moment
basis as we construct reality.
June 2018 mindful 45
science

BARRY BOYCE: Many mindfulness

teachers like to use a model of the
brain that pits the so-called emo-
tional center deep inside the brain,
the amgydala, against the reason-
ing center of the brain up front, the
prefrontal cortex, which carries out
our “executive function.” In the battle
between these two, mindfulness is
on the side of the executive function,
coming in to help when the amygdala
is out of control. How do you feel
about this characterization?

Amishi Jha: I understand the good

intentions of smart and kind-hearted
people when they use overly simple
models of the brain in an attempt to
make brain functions broadly acces-
sible, even to small children. They’re
trying to help people understand
something about problems they’re
encountering with their emotions or
their attention. I’m trying to do the
same thing when I work with first
responders or soldiers. No one wants
to make costly mistakes.
However, we can do better than
using a misleading model that implies
that a part of the brain, the amygdala,
misbehaves or “goes bad,” causing us
to freak out, and that to control this
reactivity—fear, anxiety, inappropriate
behavior—we need to use the “good”
part of the brain up front that comes
in and tamps down the bad guy.

Cliff Saron: The “good brain, bad

brain” idea gets things of on the
wrong foot completely. You can err on
the side of complexity or simplicity. If
you’re trying to simplify things, you
want to do it in such a way that you’re
still on the side of accuracy. Amishi
is exemplary at getting to the essence
while still being truthful, using a
model that scales up to something
that represents a better understand-
ing. Locating all emotion in the
amgydala belies what we know about
the powerful interconnectedness of
the brain. Pictures of the anatomical
connections of the amygdala to other
parts of the brain, even from 25 years
ago, show an incredibly dense level
of interconnectivity with almost all

46 mindful June 2018

 science

parts of the cortex. Huge amounts

of the brain are involved in even the
simplest of tasks.

Barry Boyce: These models are

meant to provide children with a
way to think about emotionality as a
natural brain process—to help them
depersonalize it and find calm and
composure. Is it such a problem if it’s
a cartoon-like oversimplification?

Jha: It’s an open question whether

using a model of brain function actu-
ally helps them calm down. These
kinds of models are not limited to
presentations to children. I’ve heard
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduc-
tion teachers talk about the reptilian
brain needing to be overcome by the
modern-day frontal lobes. That’s the
“triune brain hypothesis”—a 1960s-
era story of a battle between the older
and newer brain not widely accepted
in neuroscience today. It’s not part of
the curriculum for MBSR, but it’s a
kind of freelancing that people do.
We don’t really have any evidence
that you would get any less benefit
if you didn’t use a model of the brain
in teaching people meditation. Why
mislead if you don’t need to? The mod-
ular view of the brain—with a specific
function separately housed within a
particular chunk of the cortex—is like
a holdover from phrenology, when
people thought brain functions were
tied to bumps on the skull—a bumpy
forehead meant someone was more
intelligent. We can do better than this.

Barry Boyce: Why does it matter if

we’re using notions of the brain that
make it easier for us to understand
what this thing inside of us is doing?

Saron: As someone who tries to think

and teach carefully about the brain,
one of the things I grapple with is the
diference between feeling like you
understand something and having the
experience that something is beyond
one’s grasp. Fully understanding the
human brain falls into the latter cate-
gory. To think otherwise is a carica-
ture of what neuroscience is about. →

June 2018 mindful 47

Not So Fast!
A few “facts” about the brain that are
misleading or downright false.

WE ONLY USE I MUST BE CROSSWORD THE BRAIN NEURO- fMRI IMAGES

10% OF OUR “RIGHT- PUZZLES DEVELOPS PLASTICITY PRESENT
BRAINS BRAINED” WILL KEEP INTO ONLY PICTURES
Amishi Jha says
SINCE I HAVE MY BRAIN ADULTHOOD, OCCURS OF HOW
she still hears this A CREATIVE FROM AGING AND THEN WITH THE BRAIN
all the time. Yet it PERSONALITY YOUR BRAIN MEDITATION WORKS
is entirely made Crossword puzzles CELLS JUST
up and has, in While lateralized may be fun (for Neuroplasticity Magnetic Reso-
DIE OUT
fact, never been brain regions are some, anyway), refers to the nance Imaging is
espoused by any involved in specific but doing them is More than 100 brain’s ability to a breakthrough
scientist. processes such as not protective for years of neurosci- reorganize its technology that
aspects of lan- the brain. This is ence failed to find neural connec- has allowed more
guage, and it is well because the puz- brain cell birth and tions and func- precise anatomical
known that certain zles engage only growth in adult tions. This can pictures for use in
brain structures a specific set of humans. Then in occur in response medicine; func-
differ in size in the processes. While 1998 the discov- to physical injury tional MRI is imag-
right and let sides doing crosswords ery was made that to the brain, such ing that moves
of our brain, the idea may make you bet- new brain cells do as trauma, tumor, through time and
that creativity vs. ter at them, there form in specific stroke, or dis- has been used
rationality in one’s is no evidence brain structures ease, as connec- extensively in brain
personality is driven that there will be within the adult tions between activity research.
by a “right-brained” broader benefits to brain, such as the cells change to While the images
or “let-brained” other processes, hippocampus, a compensate for it puts out are
dominance remains such as mem- structure involved missing or com- flashier than more
unsupported. The ory or problem in storing mem- promised brain direct methods,
brain’s hemispheres solving. ories. Thus, it regions. Neuro-
are highly intercon- seems that at least plasticity also
nected and work some parts of the occurs in response
together for com- brain can regener- to new experences
plex processing. ate cells through- or situations,
out the lifespan. such as learning
a new skill.

I’ve developed a six-day workshop
called “The Buddha, the Brain, and
Bach” with senior meditation teacher
Sylvia Boorstein and my wife, Bar-
bara Bogatin, a cellist with the San
Francisco Symphony. We explore the
intersection of contemplative practice,
neuroscience, and musical creativ-
ity. We touch upon fundamentals of
such as mea- brain structure and function as well
suring electrical as complex dynamical aspects. It’s a
activity, the data is curriculum designed to use the deep
extremely tricky to awareness cultivated in contemplative
interpret, requiring practice to foster a sense of knowing
a lot of complex and wonder, showing that it doesn’t
statistics. It also make sense to rely on narratives that
opens the door to tie things up neatly.
a trap in thinking
called “reverse Jha: I agree with that, but in my work
inference”: looking I also find it helpful to orient people to
at apparent brain what’s happening with their attention
activity shown when they get of task and bad things
by the fMRI in a result. Naturally, one of the first
particular region things we think of in trying to keep
and making an something simple is how would you
assumption explain that to a child?
about what is Coincidentally, that occurred for
going on there me with my daughter. She was seven
based on what at the time. She jumped up on my lap
other research while I was working on my computer.
has shown about She ended up picking up a model brain
that region. It’s an I had sitting around. Not surprisingly
educated guess, she took the whole thing apart. She
but it does not lifted up one piece after another and
qualify as conclu- asked, “What does this do?”
sive evidence of a With the occipital lobe, I said some-
particular kind of thing like “it helps you to see”; for the
brain activity. In temporal lobe, it helps you hear; for
short, fMRI must the cerebellum, it helps you coor-
be interpreted dinate what’s coming from all your
cautiously. What senses, and so on. I was just giving her
you see is not what simple answers, because I was trying
you get. to work. At some point, though, I said,
“No, let’s not do it this way. Let’s talk
about how this actually happens.”
Then, I talked to her about how all
of these parts never work alone. They
always work together, but they work
in specific ways together. As an anal-
ogy, I asked her to think about what
body parts she would use to do a cart-
wheel. She said, “I need my hand, and
that’s connected to my arm, and that’s
connected to the rest of my body.” As
I coaxed her through this investiga-
tion, she realized she needed all those
science
parts and more, and she needed them
to move together in a pattern that
results in a cartwheel.
That’s a pretty good way to think
about how the brain works. All of
these diferent parts talk to each other
and they need to act together for us to
accomplish something we’re trying to
do. She seemed to get that you can’t
just think of the parts in isolation; you
always have to think of how they work
together with other parts and with the
whole. So I think you can be simple
and accessible and also correct, with-
out introducing a lot of distortion.
Barry Boyce: I appreciate that, since
science is supposed to be an honest
exploration of what’s going on, not
simply a way to find easy explanations
for things that are hard to under-
stand. In that regard, let’s talk about
“executive function.”
As discussed above, strengthening
this function—the inhibition, problem
solving, decision making, reasoning
activities identified as the work of the
“upper brain,” the central lobes—is an
attribute often ascribed to mindful-
ness. Is that a fully accurate story?
Jha: You get into trouble when you
imply that what some people call the
“upstairs brain”—referring to execu-
tive function—does all this beneficial
regulating and balancing. Treating
the frontal lobes almost like a char-
acter in a story—the good guy, the
white knight—can lead to the view
that everything that flows from strong
executive control is beneficial. The
reality is that someone with high
working memory capacity and very
good executive control could do some
very bad things. Just because a par-
ticular brain network can do “good
things” doesn’t mean that what it does
is always for the good.
Saron: I would like to drill down a
little deeper and ask what’s implied
by “executive function.” We need
to foster a critical perspective and
always pay close attention to the nar-
ratives that emerge from the words
we use. In the history of science, →
June 2018 mindful 49

Evolution resulted in attention as a solution
to the brain’s problem of information
overload. How do we best utilize this
resource? What do we do when it’s hijacked?
Does meditation have a role to play?
when there is no integrated theory,
someone comes up with a term that
simplifies understanding. That’s how
a phrase like “executive function” is
born and comes to mean our capacity
to maintain behaviors in line with a
goal. It becomes a convenient con-
struct in institutionalized education,
which began with an agenda of an
individualist society needing work-
ers. You wind up with this fuzzy
warm feeling about accomplishing
goals and being productive. And
what’s the important thing we need
to teach kids?
To do what they’re told!
To attain goals someone else sets!
Contemplating, examining—those
may go by the wayside.
Barry Boyce: So, when we choose
to call this brain activity “executive
function,” it’s loaded with all sorts of
assumptions that go beyond what’s
going on in the brain.
Saron: Yes. “Executive function” is
not a fixed thing. It could be called
by many names that would take
your imagination to diferent places.
It’s fractal. Labels and handles
can sometimes obscure as much as
elucidate. Science is a human social
activity that undergoes changes
based on the zeitgeist of the time.
And the less and less we know about
something, the more room people
have to fantasize.
Barry Boyce: But don’t models also
have a role to play?
Jha: I understand what Clif is getting
at, and I agree that as scientists we
need that kind of awareness of the
big picture and a humble acceptance
of the limitations of what we’re
embarking on, but I also want to be
clear about why I think it’s useful to
describe the brain to people at all.
My attempts are not an abstract
educational exercise. They’re always
meant to help people address the way
they’re sufering right now. I recently
met with a military leader who was
trying to understand what was going
on with his own mind wandering. He
had a clear and present need, because
the wandering was causing problems.
My interest in attention speaks to
when people hold goals in their mind.
How does the brain create goals and
hold those goals? We can start by
saying that the brain has an attention
system because there’s far more in
the environment than the brain can
fully process. Evolution resulted in
attention as a solution to the brain’s
problem of information overload. It
constrains what we deal with so we
can more fully process it.
Given that, how do you best utilize
this resource and what do you do
when it’s being hijacked by rumina-
tion, mind wandering, or distrac-
tion? When we talk about the brain
networks involved in being on- or
science
of-task, we’re leaning on findings
from my home field of cognitive
neuroscience. Many studies have
found that the brain organizes itself
into functional networks that vary
in their activity and in their interac-
tions over time.
For example, we have the central
executive network, which has to
do with the ability to harness our
resources to control what we’re pro-
cessing more fully.
The salience network involves
being aware of what’s happening,
internally and in the environment.
The default mode network we think
of as what the brain defaults to when
you’re not attending to a task. (See
sidebar on page 53.)
These three networks—and
specific networks within these
networks, and other networks as
well—are part of the landscape we’re
going to have to deal with when
we consider how our brain’s infor-
mation-processing resources are
utilized for the task at hand—and
what might be going on when some-
one experiences rumination, worry,
or flashbacks due to PTSD. It’s not
about good guys and bad guys. It’s
about the dynamic, interactive ways
various networks function in relation
to each other as we experience and
navigate the present moment.
Saron: That’s very clear, and I can see
how that can be helpful. It’s several →
June 2018 mindful 51
 notches closer to reality than what you
hear so often in popular depictions.
What I think we can add to that pic-
ture, though, is that a very large pro-
portion of the information processing
we are doing is unconscious yet intelli-
gent. It’s awe-inspiring to appreciate
that we function with most all of our
processing of the world below the level
of conscious awareness. We open our
eyes and we just see, without having to
consciously construct what we see.
Barry Boyce: What’s your view on
The investigation using brain measurement equipment
to assess meditation, to detect when
has only just we’re in a good meditation zone?
begun, and the Saron: These attempts present big
tools we have, problems for me. There was a plan for
a program in Taiwan whose mission
while relatively was to find brain signatures for com-
passion and then measure how well
advanced, are participants in a contemplative train-
ing program were achieving that. To
still too primitive rely on neuroimaging to assess what is
to definitively essentially our humanity is preposter-
ous and scarily misguided.
measure I also find research using scans to
assess meditation quality similarly
achievement in suspect. Who decides exactly what
mind training. is impermissible in meditation? How
do we know which forms of mental
activity in an individual are deleteri-
ous and which are not?
Let’s say the machine deter-
mines you’re having self-referential
thoughts. If that is true, perhaps you
internalized many diferent repre-
sentational stances toward reality—
ways you think about yourself to
yourself —and because there’s noth-
ing to do as you sit on your medita-
tion cushion, these thought patterns
start bubbling up into awareness.
All the ways you’ve avoided psycho-
logical issues in your life start to
emerge in consciousness. You have
a memory, and that memory causes
52 mindful June 2018
associations. Do we now label that
bad meditation? Or is it merely a part
of the introspective terrain being
traversed in that sitting session?
When you give yourself over to the
full depth of the intention behind your
meditation practice—what motivated
you to do it in the first place—it’s not
likely about scoring points for being on
your breath. A rich view of the “pres-
ent moment” encompasses the ways
we work with the temporal and spatial
aspects of experience: times and
places that are not in our immediate
sensory field but are nonetheless very
significant for our sense of well-being
and connection to the world.
Jha: We’re nowhere near to under-
standing the many facets of the suite
of practices we are all introducing
to people. The investigation has only
just begun, and the tools we have—
while advanced compared to decades
ago—are still too primitive to serve
as definitive measuring sticks for
achievement in mind training. Fur-
thermore, we don’t have any way of
positing a “mindful brain.” We don’t
have brain signatures for something
called “mindfulness.” There are just
too many processes at play to have
one simplistic label.
That doesn’t mean we can’t use
current neuroscience to help people
get some insight into processes in
the brain that may be problematic for
them. The goal is not to see what a
mindful brain looks like but to deter-
mine how information processing
(e.g., within systems like attention)
may be altered and perhaps improved
by training in mindfulness exercises
over days, weeks, or years.
Saron: Why do we need empirical
validation for meditative experi-
ence, anyway? When it comes to the
benefits of stopping and pausing, why
 HOW IT WORKS

NETWORKS VS. MACHINE PARTS

can’t common sense prevail? Do you We oten hear people say that SALIENCE choose to place in
really need brain imaging to tell you one sub-organ of the brain is NETWORK (SN) working memory
that if you stop and smell the roses, responsible for x function and (what we need to
you may sufer less? Brain imaging another for y. However, obser- The SN has been hold in mind to
results are loosely coupled to individ- vations of brain activity have likened to an air stay on task), and
uals’ actual experience. They can’t be shown that this idea that dif- traffic controller. problem solving.
used as a promise for what outcomes ferent parts of the brain work Our nervous sys- When we say we’re
will result from practice. My 44 years independently to perform a tem is bombarded “thinking hard”
of exposure to meditation teachings given function—the modular with a massive about something,
and practices has been essential to paradigm—is inaccurate. The volume of sensory there is major
my understanding of myself, the ways story we frequently hear that inputs. The SN fil- involvement from
I connect with others and engage in the amygdala is the emotion ters and sorts the this network.
research. And that didn’t require any center and the prefrontal input, operating
scientific data. cortex performs executive at two levels. The DEFAULT MODE
functions unfairly depicts the first, described as NETWORK (DMN)
Barry Boyce: We commonly hear brain almost as a collection “fast, automatic,
that “mindfulness changes the brain.” of machine parts. It may bottom-up,” pro- Perhaps the
Don’t lots of things change the brain, have some usefulness as a cesses features of trickiest of the net-
since neurons that “fire together, wire metaphor for how different our environment works to describe
together”? types of brain function might we’ve learned or and understand,
interrelate, but it presents a instinctively know the DMN is oten
Saron: That’s the fundamental law very limited mechanical view are important talked about as
of neuroplasticity: Repeated activity of the brain—which misses (i.e., salient). For what the brain
makes it easy for the same activity to the dynamic quality of brain example, quickly “defaults” to when
happen again. You could say the brain activity and is not good sci- noticing ice on it doesn’t have
only works by changing. So if you ence education. a sidewalk that a task at hand.
repeatedly do something crappy, you A metaphor that’s more might cause us to It processes
get better at that, too! prevalent among neurosci- fall down. At the self-monitoring,
entists today is the network second level, the autobiographical
Jha: If you keep ruminating about view of the brain: “dynamic salience network information, and
your worst experience, your brain will interconnected sets of allows us to focus social cognition
be very efficient at calling to mind systems (subsystems, and our attention in (roughly speaking,
that episode. Throughout the history neural nodes) that work order to achieve determining rela-
of neuroscience, we’ve known brains together to carry out certain a goal. tions with others).
alter and transform. The seminal kinds of activity,” in Amishi Spontaneous
studies of brain damage tell us the Jha’s words. CENTRAL- mind wandering
brain changes when you destroy The networks consist of EXECUTIVE and self-talk are
parts of it through stroke or injury. relationships between an NETWORK (CEN) associated with
These patients recover in some cases, array of brain regions formed the DMN. The
meaning reorganization enables brain through repeated communi- The CEN’s role has fact that the DMN
function to adapt in a better direction. cation among the parts as we to do with high- includes internal
What’s novel and innovative about navigate through life. Three er-order cognition dialogue and mind
brain training in general—and in large-scale brain networks and attentional wandering has
particular for us, mindfulness medita- are talked about in the liter- control. It’s what’s caused it to be
tion—is that beneficial changes don’t ature today as they relate to at work when we described as both
always have to be in response to some meditation: make decisions a font of creativity
insult or injury. You may actually be about focusing and the locus of
able to engage in training to help opti- and sustaining problematic rumi-
mize certain abilities. → attention, what we nation.

June 2018 mindful 53

science

something we will
ever find in a brain
scan. Also, as Anil
BEYOND
Seth points out in EMBODIED When you mind-
his TED Talk, we The brain operates
THE BRAIN
are not passive within and through- wander with
recipients of a out our body.
world that is being
awareness, you
WHERE IS shown to us like a
movie; instead we
EMBEDDED
That bodily sys-
value the content
MY MIND? “actively generate tem is embedded that emerges—
the world.” The in, connected to,
simplest study of and part of an discovering things
While the study
of thought and
optical illusions
easily demon-
environment.
you didn’t know you
thinking has been
dominated by neu-
strates that we
are making up the
EXTENDED
That environment
were looking for.
roscience in recent world as we go extends through
decades, in a talk along. time and space,
at TED2017, Anil Cliff Saron meaning it doesn’t
Seth, professor emphasizes that have fixed bound-
of Cognitive and when we are aries and it keeps Barry Boyce: How is training your
Computational talking about the changing. attention with meditation diferent
Neuroscience brain and the from an of-the-shelf brain training
at the Univer- mind, it helps to ENACTIVE program designed to help you pay
sity of Sussex, not limit our think- We are not better attention? Or from engaging in
talked about ing to activity that passive cognitive a psychotherapy program to help you
how the study takes place in an processors of a with your emotion regulation, such as
of human expe- organ in our skull. predetermined anger management?
rience crosses Mental activity reality; we “enact”
many disciplines, joins us together reality through Jha: Right now there are no estab-
including “neuro- with the world and the actions we lished brain training programs that
science, physics, its inhabitants in perform. have been able to overcome a really
virtual reality, a vast web of con- big problem: generalizability. You play
mathematics, nections. As Anil In very simple a “brain-training” video game over
psychology, psy- Seth says, when terms, the reality and over again to improve memory,
chiatry, neurology, we study how you experience right? What seems to happen is people
cognitive science, minds and brains and create in dif- just get better at that game, but no one
and philosophy,” work, we quickly ferent settings—in has shown that it increases general
to name a few. see that we are a meditation room, memory capacity, for example.
When we “part of, not apart a busy airport, a You don’t meditate to become an
range beyond from” the world forest, an office Olympian breath follower, so we hope
the pure study of around us. There- building—will be to find out whether there is something
“the brain,” we fore, in contempo- very different. The about focusing on the breath that may
enter the realm rary philosophy of brain shapes and generalize to being able to focus better
of the mind and mind, many people is shaped by our on things other than the breath.
consciousness. like to empha- bodies and our Meditation seems to be categorically
While the brain size cognition as surroundings. diferent in that the brain-changing
and the nervous something that Therefore it does and performance benefits do seem to
system are part of doesn’t simply not make sense generalize. We give people an attention
anatomy, the mind reside in one to talk about your test after they’ve completed a mind-
cannot be found. organ in our head. brain apart from fulness training program and they
How it is that we And they shit the the environment it perform better than people who got
are conscious— emphasis using a is intimately part some other type of program. Perhaps
that we experience schema known as of and the ways we mindfulness training promotes alter-
and know—is not 4-E Cognition: interact. ations in how specific brain networks

54 mindful June 2018


are engaged and how these networks
interact with each other.
Saron: It’s also possible that a person
could get to similar places practicing
some other skill with tremendous
dedication to achieve a high degree
of mastery. Think about the years of
intense physical and mental training
for an Olympic-level skier or a world-
class violin soloist. The line between
formal meditation practice and other
focused activities blurs, but medita-
tion can certainly be a complementary
component. My wife says her cello
practice and meditation practice are
like two sides of the same coin. We
have much more to learn about that. I
also think there are styles of practice
that may be more prone to fixation.
There are many stories of people com-
ing out of retreats unable to attend to
daily living efectively. Neuroplasti-
city is a two-way street, and you can
maladaptively reorganize so that daily
life actually becomes more complex.
Jha: That’s why when we’re devel-
oping programs, we need to think in
terms of a suite of practices. How do
you set a program up so that it doesn’t
cause people to hyper-fixate on cer-
tain practices that may become prob-
lematic for them? Jon Kabat-Zinn did
a really good job in developing MBSR.
He didn’t just put in concentration
practices. He has open monitoring
practices in there. He’s got not just
breath awareness and sitting, but body
scan, and the sequence it’s ofered in
may correct against fixating tenden-
cies. In my lab, we take a very similar
approach. Since the networks them-
selves are complex and their inter-
relationships are equally complex, it
seems unlikely that a single kind of
training would be the silver bullet.
Saron: I advocate a balanced perspec-
tive on practice goals: There’s a whole
spectrum from getting a little more
focus and control of myself to achiev-
ing altered states of consciousness
such as we read about in the autobiog-
raphies of great practitioners. Difer-
ent goals yield diferent regimens, and
diferent kinds of attention will need
to be paid to those who take part.
Barry Boyce: In training people, it
seems very important to keep ambi-
tions in check. If we have a program
trying to help the average person take
mindful pauses in daily life, we don’t
say this is suddenly going to lead to
astounding life changes. Modest goals
are fine. The more you elevate the
promise, the more attention must be
given to the protocols, because you
don’t get the benefits of training for
nothing. Results are in proportion to
time and efort.
Saron: That’s a principle that should
become widespread.
Barry Boyce: Some people say mind
wandering is our biggest problem;
others say it’s just our mind at play.
Jha: We need to be careful with the
terminology. When I refer to mind
wandering, I mean having off-task
thoughts during an ongoing task. That
can certainly have deleterious efects.
The other version is when you’re not
trying to complete a particular task
at hand, but rather you are allowing
the free flow of conscious experience.
That can look an awful lot like what I
just referred to, but there is a critical
diference: It’s consciously engaged
and doesn’t have the kind of negative
outcomes that can occur when you’re
asleep at the switch.
Saron: This is where creativity comes
in. You’re allowing for the emergence
of that unconscious intelligence I
referred to earlier. You don’t cut of
access to it. That’s mind wandering
with awareness. You value the content
that emerges along the way—discov-
ering things you didn’t know you were
looking for. It gets back to the awe I
was talking about earlier. I encour-
science
age everyone to look at something
National Geographic did with the
work of Jef Leichtman and his lab
at Harvard. It’s very high-resolution
3-D images of teeny tiny portions of
mouse visual cortex. It’s breathtaking
to look at all that’s going on there in a
4-minute video narrated by Jef. He
talks about coming to a point where
you relax and say “OK. I don’t get it!”
When Leichtman asked his stu-
dents to consider if knowing every-
thing possible about the brain is a
mile, how far have we traveled? Their
answers tended to range from a quar-
ter-mile to three-quarters of a mile.
His answer: 3 inches. Our mandate in
life as scientists is to be drenched in
noncomprehension and to be sus-
picious of when we really think we
know how things work.
That points to the irony of con-
forming mindfulness training to a
tinker toy version of reality, instead
of something that could suggest the
possibility of motivating people to
investigate the vastness of their own
mind. As Francisco Varela suggested,
that is where science and contempla-
tive practice can meet: as complemen-
tary paths of deep inquiry.
Vinod Menon once said to me at
a UC Davis MIND Institute talk in
Sacramento that “as our methods
improve, our models will completely
change, and our current models will
look infantile.” Having been part of
right brain/left brain dogma 40 years
ago, I can attest to that.
Jha: My son, who is a big physics
kid and appreciates all that we’ve
learned in the long history of physics,
asked whether I think we’ll know
everything there is to know about the
brain in 200 years. If I tell him “no,”
his response is something like “Why
are you bothering?” And yet, we do
bother, because it’s like a practice: You
hold in mind those open questions all
the time, as you continue to focus on
learning what you can as it presents
itself to you now. ●
June 2018 mindful 55
 meditation

Have a Seat
Taking the time to discover the most
suitable cushion, bench, or chair for
your body will pay off in years of less
painful meditation sessions.

Photographs by Marvin Moore

CUSHIONS COURTESY OF DHARMACRAFTS

June 2018 mindful 57

Know Your Seats
Ah, the ZAFU. In the Western
world, it’s the most ubiquitous
of meditation seats. For
many meditators, this simple,
round or crescent-shaped
cushion allows a cross-legged
posture where the knees rest
effortlessly below the hips. Or,
if you’re more comfortable in a
kneeling position, you can turn
the zafu on its short side and
straddle it.
The consistency of the zafu
depends on what it’s filled with,
ranging in density from a firm
pillow to a stiff bean bag (see
page 60 for more about cush-
ion fillings).
58 mindful June 2018
CUSHIONS AND BENCHES COURTESY OF SAMADHI CUSHIONS, DHARMACRAFTS, AND SIMPLY SITTING
GOMDENS come from a
different lineage of meditation
than zafus, and were designed
specifically with chair-bound
lifestyles in mind. Having foam
innards, they’re taller and don’t
compress like some zafus,
but rather stay flat, so your
pelvis stays level, rather than
angling forward. Your ankles
can be loosely crossed in front
of you, not directly under you,
which reduces pressure on the
ankles and knees.
Mini
gomdens
work well
for travelers
or children.

BOLSTERS AND SUPPORT
CUSHIONS may not be the
main attraction, but they still
can be a big help. Yoga and
meditation supply businesses
sell specifically designed
bolsters, but any small pillow
around your house may work
just as well.
The largest is the zabuton (or
flat mat), which is placed under
a zafu (or gomden, or chair…)
to cushion the lower body.
Smaller bolsters and cushions
can be used with any other
seat: adding height to your
zafu or gently tilting the pelvis
forward in a chair. You can even
put a pillow on your lap to rest
your arms on, taking pressure
off your shoulders.
BENCHES are the firmest of
all seat options (aside from
hard chairs). Some types of
bench allow you to meditate
kneeling. Physical therapist
and meditation teacher
Elizabeth Deboo notes that
this bench tilts the pelvis
forward to uphold your spine’s
natural curve, making this
no-give seat more easeful than
you might expect. You may
want a bolster under the knees
or ankles.
Other benches come with
cushions, and some sit higher
off the ground to accommodate
longer or bigger legs. You can
sit cross-legged on these, as
on a gomden.
meditation
CHAIRS make for excellent
meditation seats, particularly
for meditators who are stiffer
or have pain or injuries in the
back, hips, or knees. And
fortunately, almost any chair
you have can be adapted to
suit your body. A firm back and
seat is good—you can add a
pillow or blanket for comfort,
but nothing so squishy that it’s
hard to sit up straight.
If you notice any strain on
the shoulders or lower back,
either armrests or a bolster
will help by supporting your
arms. Finally, make sure the
chair’s height is right for you.
Deboo says she checks three
things: “Are the feet flat on the
floor? Are the hips and torso
forming a 90-degree angle?
Are the feet and ankles forming
a 90-degree angle? That foun-
dation makes for a really nice
stack of the spine.”
 W H A T
I N S
WHAT IT IS
Kapok is a cotton-like fiber
KAPOK
from the seedpod of the
kapok tree. It has been
the padding in zafus for
thousands of years.
More precisely, it’s the hull
BUCKWHEAT
of the buckwheat kernel
that also forms a popular
filling for zafus.
This is natural cotton
COTTON
batting like you’d find in a
pillow, often pre-consumer
recycled.
FOAM
Foam is a lightweight,
spongy, man-made
material.
’ S
I D E ?
WHAT IT FEELS LIKE
Though it’s soft and airy,
when stuffed tightly into
a cushion, kapok creates
a surprisingly sturdy
surface. A kapok-filled
zafu will elevate your hips
more than a buckwheat
cushion. Over time, the
kapok will compress,
but most cushions are
zippered so you can
refill them.
The texture is very fine and
moveable, like a soft hill of
sand. Imagine you’re on
the beach, listening to the
gentle whoosh of waves
(the second part may be
wishful thinking…).
Found in the zabuton and
in many support cushions,
cotton provides a soft,
slightly bouncy padding
(and insulation from cold
floors), so no part of you
will be ungrounded.
Found in gomdens and
in some bolsters, foam
provides a flat, firm
surface that still has a
slight give to it.
WHY USE IT
If you want stability in
your seat, rather than
shiftability, kapok will do
the trick. It’s also the best
filling if you like to straddle
your zafu (either round or
crescent) with your hips
lifted higher.
You’ll love buckwheat
filling if you want a cushion
that contours to your body,
while also letting you shift
around when sitting cross-
legged—or if you’re shorter
or very flexible, thus
requiring less distance
between the ground and
your bum.
Versatility is the name of
the game: Grab a cotton-
filled cushion if you
find your feet or ankles
uncomfortable resting on
the floor, or if you’d like
extra lift or padding in any
area. Cotton-filled zafus
are inexpensive, but less
durable than buckwheat
or kapok.
A foam seat may be ideal if
more height and a soft, yet
stable surface work well
for you.

Sometimes as meditators, the last thing
A Perch with Purpose
we’re inclined to pay attention to is how we’re
sitting. It can be tempting to ignore the physical
side of practice and focus only on the workings
of our mind. Isn’t the body just tagging along
for the ride? Not so. We meditate with the body
and mind as one unit. When we try to ignore
our body, or to literally bend it to our will in
meditation (cramping our legs under a too-short
cushion, straining to keep the hips above the
knees), we find our body and our state of mind
aren’t easily compartmentalized. If our body
is uncomfortable, it has a way of nagging at us,
holding our attention and causing us to tense
up—thus making the discomfort even worse.
We’re able to be more naturally attentive when
our bodies are supported and in alignment. And
while healthy posture looks similar for most,
what people need varies widely in terms of the
cushions, chairs, or props that allow us to hold
that position with ease.
Knowing the various options for meditation
seats and bolsters will serve you well for two
reasons. First, comfort is a significant factor in
whether or not you’ll keep up your practice. Sec-
ond, and just as important, what you find com-
fortable will shift over time. The body is con-
stantly in flux, just as the mind is. A well-made
zafu may cost a little more, but it can last for
decades, and you can adapt it in countless ways
as needed. You can make your seat taller with
a bolster, add a zabuton or extra padding under
knees or ankles, or use it as a footrest when you
meditate in a chair. It’s a good idea to talk with a
meditation teacher who’s qualified to advise you
regarding particular physical concerns.
Especially when you’re learning to meditate,
the intention to be attuned to your body will
help you deal with the inevitable cramps and
aches of seated meditation practice. Elizabeth
Deboo, a physical therapist and meditation
teacher, recommends that when you notice dis-
comfort in any area of your body, first identify
where you feel the sensation. Then take a few
deep, slow breaths. It’s normal for the brain
to zero in on what feels unpleasant. See if you
can instead shift or expand your attention into
the space around you. “As you calm down, your
nervous system calms down, and the tension in
meditation
We’re able to be
more naturally
attentive when our
bodies are supported
and in alignment.
your body is going to soften,” says Deboo. “If it
doesn’t soften, and it’s the only thing that you
can become aware of,” then it’s probably best to
adjust the way you’re sitting.
With this gentle method of inquiry, you can
find a healthy balance between getting com-
fortable and perhaps, gradually, creating the
potential for more spaciousness in your seated
posture. Deboo has noticed some meditators
struggling to push through pain, saying to
themselves, “Even if I’m not comfortable, I
should probably just endure this.” But, she
says, it’s more constructive to work with your
body. She emphasizes that you “can create the
space—meaning body space and meditation
space in your environment—that works, and
that makes you want to come back to it.”
Supporting your body, when you’re meditat-
ing and when you’re not, is a meaningful act
of self-compassion. It’s also an opportunity to
let go of resistance and comparison (including
any lingering mental images of graceful gurus
who, by all appearances, were born sitting
cross-legged). There really is no ideal to strive
for. When you approach your practice with a
spirit of acceptance and curiosity, your expecta-
tions don’t carry so much weight. Then you can
deeply explore what it’s like to be here: in your
seat, in this moment, just as you are. ●
June 2018 mindful 61
 • GET REAL •

mindfulness for
the hard stuff
Look On the
By Elaine Smookler
Illustrations by Federica Bordoni

62 mindful June 2018

Bright Side…?
Optimism can seem like a dead end or even a harmful delusion.
But it’s not about slapping a filter over bleak reality; it’s about
allowing yourself to see life’s full range of colors.
 get real

Antoine had cut himself on the broken glass

coaster we’d left on top of the refrigerator.
Mistaken Identity
My husband was whispering the details as I Think first impressions don’t lie? Let’s reconsider.
walked through the door. “I think he’s going
to be fine,” he said quietly, “but we should give
him some money.” Have you ever your cynical line It’s so easy to
Antoine worked for the service that came made a negative of thinking? Was it mentally catego-
to clean our friend’s apartment while we were assumption about their name? Their rize people so that
staying there. When I went upstairs to find someone, only role in society? they fit into the
him, he said his hand was probably going to to later find out Their accent? The story line we cre-
be OK, but he mentioned a past event when a that you had the way they looked? ate to make sense
tree branch had punctured his skin, causing an person pegged Did they remind of our world. But
infection in his arm. I glanced at the small see- all wrong? you of someone? when you’re willing
through bandage on his index finger and saw no Snap judg- to take a deeper
ments can reveal When you were look, you read-
a lot about our proven wrong, how ily discover that
deeper biases and did it feel? Was it nobody is just one
I could have been suspicious fears. When you a relief? Embar- way. We’re multidi-
unpack them, you rassing? Frustrat- mensional, made
and self-protective, careful not
create new oppor- ing? Did it make up of many parts
to appear too responsible lest tunities to better you feel hopeful and experiences.
know your own or maybe a bit Each time you
it bite me in the hindsight, but mind—and more vulnerable? catch your-
freedom to choose self making an
this just isn’t how I want to live how you want to How did this assumption about
my life. Call me an optimist. move through life. experience shit someone, you
your thoughts and have the opportu-
feelings about nity to pause, take
TRY THIS the person, about a breath, ask your-
evidence of anything serious, yet I sensed that yourself, and self “Is it true?”
Antoine felt vulnerable. I ofered to take him Take a moment about the world? and consider a
to the emergency room, which he declined. He and recall some- shit in how you
seemed fine, but how did I know? As he left I one you may have What did you learn view them.
pressed some cash into his hand and gave him had a strong cyni- about how quickly Not predjudg-
my phone number, inviting him to call me if any- cal opinion about: a negative view- ing people is a
thing terrible came from this mishap. your best friend’s point can seize deep source of
The next day I tracked down the cleaning ser- new boyfriend, your mind and generosity. When
vice to see how Antoine was. The person there your good-looking reframe what you we push away
said he had mentioned the incident but was able neighbor, the new are perceiving? others with our
to work. She said she’d tell him I called. → sales manager negative frames
at work. This exercise is of reference, we’re
not about being protecting cozy
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Then, get curi- right or wrong. territory we’ve
Elaine Smookler is a registered psychotherapist, mindfulness ous: What was it It’s about marked off for
teacher, writer, and performer who helps people develop that you percieved developing the ourselves, but
mindfulness and resilience in everyday life. 
that provoked awareness to openness is the far
notice when you more invigorating
might be making strategy.
choices that either
shut down pos-
sibility or let you
remain open.

June 2018 mindful 65

get real
When you seek safety behind a self-
protective shield of cynicism, you
don’t see that life is nuanced. Behind
immovable ideas of who and what is and
isn’t to be trusted, you remain isolated.
When I told my husband about the call he was
incredulous. “Are you crazy? I only told you he
cut himself because I thought we should slip
him a few bucks for his trouble. You didn’t have
to make such a big thing of it. Now they’ll prob-
ably sue us. Did you ever think of that!?”
The thing was, I had. I’d seen way too many
courtroom dramas not to consider the possible
ramifications of showing my concern—not to
mention that both my parents were lawyers.
66 mindful June 2018
When my husband first told me about the inci-
dent, I had felt my chest tighten. And when I
went looking for Antoine, I noticed two voices
sparring for my attention: one that echoed my
husband’s cynical “Don’t cop to anything!”
vigilance and one gently whispering, “But I
like myself much better when I stay close to
my humanity.” Someone who was just trying
to make his way through life had cut himself
on a coaster we’d broken. In my eyes, we were
responsible for his care. I took a breath and
decided to follow the second voice.
I could have been suspicious and self-protec-
tive, careful not to appear too responsible lest it
bite me in the hindsight, but this just isn’t how
I want to live my life. I find that if I stay open,
awake, and aware; if I investigate and act in
accordance with my values; and if I err on the
side of trusting in the general good-heartedness
of other humans, my day-to-day life ofers me
many lovely moments. Difficult things happen,
but overall, my clouds do tend to harbor silver
linings. Call me an optimist. →
 RESEARCH

The Science of Optimism

Being guarded and careful might seem like a sound
strategy, but maintaining an upbeat, positive
frame of mind may extend your life.

One of the stron- How is this A positive and indicated its cise, and sleeping
gest predictors of possible? What outlook may also role in strengthen- better. But the
developing age- does a positive serve as a cop- ing the immune effects may not
related dementia outlook have to ing mechanism system. In one only be behavioral:
is the presence do with whether against difficulty, study of more Optimism is also
of a specific gene a gene gets in this case, than 2,500 men linked to lower
variant called expressed or not? against societal and women over inflammation and
APOE ε4. Carri- Add this question ageism. The role age 65, those with cortisol levels
ers are 47% more and this exciting of optimism as a the most positive and healthier lipid
likely to develop new finding to the protective coping outlook had the levels.
the age-related growing mound strategy has been lowest blood pres- These findings
disease than non- of evidence that well documented sures. “suggest that
carriers. positive outlook, across a spectrum And, we recently we should make
But there might i.e., optimism, has of health con- learned, optimism efforts to boost
be an even big- demonstrable cerns, including might even help optimism, which
ger predictor of impact on our speedier recovery you live longer. In has been shown
dementia: how you physical, mental, from surgery and 2016, researchers to be associated
feel about aging. and emotional less rehospital- at Harvard Univer- with healthier
Researchers health. ization following sity’s T.H. Chan behaviors and
at Yale University For the medical interven- School of Public healthier ways of
recently discov- dementia study, tion as well as in Health found that coping with life
ered that people researchers the experience of women who were challenges,” study
who carry the speculate that pain. Numerous optimistic had coauthor Eric Kim
gene variant yet positive beliefs studies over the 27% less risk of said.
who hold posi- about aging are past few decades dying from major
tive beliefs about protective: By feel- have identified a diseases, includ-
aging are almost ing good overall positive outlook ing cancer, heart
50% less likely to about your experi- with reductions disease, and respi-
develop dementia ence of aging, you in heart disease, ratory disease.
than those with experience less stroke, and per- The reason?
negative age stress. Stress has ception of pain, Optimism is cor-
beliefs. long been identi- related to healthier
fied as a contribu- behaviors, such as
tor to numerous eating well, exer-
health conditions
and has been
indicated as a pos-
sible contributor to
dementia.

June 2018 mindful 67

get real
Accentuate the Positive
The (not so) secret to seeing more goodness.
In order to support an opti-
mistic view, it’s helpful to rec-
ognize that the more atten-
tion you give something, the
more of it you’ll notice. This
works both ways. The more
you expect the worst—from
people, from life—the more
of it you’ll witness. The more
things you recognize as posi-
tives in your life, and in the
world, the easier it becomes
to recognize them in the
future. Science supports this.
Writing in a gratitude journal,
for example, has been shown
to help fine-tune your ability
to notice the good things in
your life.
As you sharpen your vision
to see the good, it can help
loosen your grip in expec-
tation of something going
wrong. You begin to see that,
in spite of difficulty or uncer-
tainty, there’s actually a lot to
feel positive about.
TRY THIS
Get a stack of colored index
cards (sticky notes work,
too). Then, look at your
week ahead and choose an
“Optimism Day.” When the
day comes, periodically stop
what you’re doing and take
note of anything that makes
you feel good.
68 mindful June 2018
The sun finally came out.
The short line at the coffee
shop this morning.
A moment of shared laughter
with your coworker.
You’re learning to eat bet-
ter and feeling the positive
effects.
Feeling more present and in
command in your life.
An instance where you were
able to stay cool when you’d
usually blow your top.
The power of medicine and
how it’s helping your mother.
Space X and the idea of Star
Man zooming through the
cosmos.
Write each good thing on a
separate index card or note.
You can even decorate your
optimistic messages with
colored pens, labels, stick-
ers—anything to support the
good feeling you’re capturing.
Visual aids can be helpful
reminders, so display these
positive messages where
you’ll see them. You can keep
your notes displayed, take a
photo to create a record of
each week’s cache, or take
’em down and start fresh
the next week. Soon enough
you’ll likely see that there is
no shortage of things to make
you feel optimistic or bring a
bit of warmth to your heart.
I once tried my hand at stand-up comedy. I
quickly learned that other comics viewed opti-
mism…well, cynically. After all, for many people
daily life is a stream of violence, sufering, and
uncaring. Lean down to smell the roses—and
someone steals your wallet. Only a chump would
expect it to be otherwise.
P.T. Barnum famously once said that there’s
a sucker born every minute. None of us wants
to be that sucker. So by fine-tuning our radar
for threats and assuming the worst of everyone
and everything, maybe, just maybe, we won’t get
caught with our guard down. Cynicism lets us
stay distant, cool, and superior to the muck of
the human experience. If life were high school,
it’d be where the cool kids hang out.
Stranger danger
The reasons for cynicism may seem valid at
times. Life is unpredictable. Painful stuf hap-
pens. Sometimes the person you trusted, the job
you counted on, the seemingly friendly stranger
pans out diferently than you hoped. In those
moments, you might feel that staying on the
alert for anything negative or unpleasant might
be the only way to avoid having the rug pulled
out from under you, again. Maybe you think
that cynicism has worked pretty well for you all
these years, so why change? Perhaps it is just the
devil you know.
But if happiness is your goal, how can you
hope to achieve it if you’re holding so tightly to
the belief that people can’t be trusted, systems
fail, and things are never going to go your way?
When you seek safety behind a self-protective
shield of cynicism, you don’t see that life is
nuanced. Yes, it’s a risk to remain open to oth-
ers, especially others you don’t know. Stranger
danger! But being open is also how you make
new friends, fall in love, experience delight, and
grow from everything you encounter. It’s how
you become a more fully functioning agent in
your own life and in the world.
More than likely you’ll uncover some scary,
painful, and unpleasant stuf along the way.
You’ll encounter lots of middle, no-big-deal stuf,
too. But if you’re looking for it, you’ll also see
there’s lots of good stuf happening, all the time.
Cynicism can’t aford this view of life’s subtle-
ties; it paints from a palette of black and white.
Behind immovable ideas of who and what is
and isn’t to be trusted, you remain isolated.
But instead of making you stronger, this stance
keeps you from developing the resilience you →
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get real
Mindfulness attunes us to the
subtleties in our minds and in our
bodies. You become a ninja of your
inner landscape.
gain when you bounce back from the fall, the
heartbreak, the stolen wallet. And social scien-
tists tell us that resilience is one of the biggest
indicators of happiness and life satisfaction.
Your ability to deal with difficulties, learn from
them, and move on, determines whether you
thrive or merely survive.
To make matters worse, instead of protecting
you, cynicism can actually attract the people
and situations that seem to confirm your belief
that life is a cruel joke. This is due to a psycho-
logical phenomenon called “confirmation bias,”
or, as Harvard researcher David Perkins calls
it, “myside” bias. It may be a negative view, but
it’s mine. Without recognizing it, you seek out
people and experiences that mirror your views.
So your Facebook feed gets filled with tales of
warning and your ears perk up at news stories
that fuel your fears. You find evidence of a dark,
foreboding world everywhere you turn.
And underneath it all, your cynical view may
be preventing you from noticing how your own
thinking and behavior might, in even some small
way, incite situations that lead to pain, upset, or
drama—the very outcomes that “prove” how you
can’t trust anyone or anything.
A better alert system
Mindfulness ofers a diferent way to be alert
and relaxed in our lives. When practiced
regularly, it attunes you to the subtleties in
your mind and body—you become a ninja of
your inner landscape. With three-dimensional
awareness, you pick up on moments of ease
and joy, not just threat. And with relaxed but
heightened attention, you’re in a much better
position to remain present to it all—the pleasant,
the unpleasant, and the relatively neutral—while
navigating with more dexterity and grace.
This perspective might also allow you to see
how you connect unrelated events and put a
negative spin on them. “Have you heard about →
70 mindful June 2018
 get real

Beginning with Awareness

When we clear our mental slate, we get kinder.

Kindness and caring for others doesn’t only arise from

good wishes. It can also emerge naturally from noticing
fixed viewpoints and letting them go, however briefly. Ater
all, when they arise again—as they will—we can simply
repeat the process.

1 that the powerful 4

discerning mind
Notice we need to evalu- Share the
Irritation ate our own and Warmth
others’ behavior
When you find gets carried away. Chances are that,
you’re getting We’ve shut off without the armor
edgy and irritable our curiosity and of your fixed label
with what some- decided what’s to create barri-
one else is up what. See if you ers and distance
to, see if you can can drop the story between you and
take a break in the without the world another, you may
action and explore falling apart. be touched by
underneath the their humanity. It
irritation, going may soten you
to its roots. Don’t 3 up and open your
waste time beat- heart. You may
ing yourself up Enjoy the find a luminous
about it. Just take Space warmth lies within.
a moment to see Let it be there.
what your curious, In place of the Appreciate it. It will
investigating mind fixed story line, a spread naturally, if
is revealing. gap will emerge. you remain with it
Without your for a while.
predetermined
2 and prepackaged
label, you’ll begin 5
Examine to notice more
the Story details. You’ll Move On
You’re Telling begin to notice
Yourself the humanity Avoid fixating on
and vulnerability the process of
Underneath the you share with unmasking as a
irritation is likely to others—however big deal. The less
be a story line. And different and you think it’s a
the story is where however flawed momentous thing,
the bias is held. they may appear the more likely it
“These people…”; from your per- is to become a
“When some- spective. The less simple habit, like
one does that, you “know” in this drinking tea or
they’re…”; “I can’t case, the bet- coffee.
stand it when…” ter. You can see
Part of what’s freshly.
going on here is

June 2018 mindful 71

get real

Morty? Dead, at just 95! And he took vitamins!

I knew those things didn’t work!”
Through mindfulness, we come to know our-
selves with greater kindness. Without judgment,
we can acknowledge our fears about people and
the world and be curious about them instead of
just accepting them as fact.
It also helps you to recognize how a cynical
attitude sits in your body. Is it heavy or light?
Does it feel open or closed? Likewise, how does
it feel when you have an unexpectedly pleas-
ant encounter or experience? Can you notice a
diference?
Optimism isn’t about shielding yourself from
any experience, or about being careless or falsely
hopeful and putting yourself or anyone else in
harm’s way. Instead it encourages wisdom by
seeing the dark and the light, and by looking
deeply at your choices so that you stay in align-
ment with your values. When you live from this
optimistic place, you free yourself up to be a
much more powerful presence in all situations,
even the ones you don’t want. Imagine being
able to hold the space for hard-knuckle reality,
and still remaining open.
From a health standpoint, an optimistic view
heavily tips the scales in your favor. It’s been
linked to longevity, helps you cope with disease,
and speeds recovery from surgery. Optimism
is also tonic for your psychological health.
Research shows that increased access to positive
feelings makes social interactions easier and
more enjoyable. And by broadening your sense
of possibility and your thinking, optimism sup-
ports greater opportunity, which in turn creates
more positive feelings and better social interac-
tions, and onward it goes.

72 mindful June 2018

 get real

Optimism isn’t about shielding

yourself from the truth. Instead it
encourages wisdom by knowing
yourself. When you live from this
place, you show up as a much more
powerful presence in all situations.

When Antoine cut himself on the coaster at

our friend’s house, I opened myself to being
optimistic about the outcome. I chose to care
and stay close to my humanity. And when I
reached out to him the next day, my husband
was right: I had potentially given him and his
bosses ammunition to take advantage of the
situation.
I did both of these things mindfully, knowing
what was at stake. And still, I made the con-
scious choice not to armor myself and act out of
fear. I chose optimism.
This is the kind of choice we all face every day.
Antoine got the message that I had called to
check on him, and sent me a text later that day.
“It’s okay today, so not to worry,” he wrote.
Mindfulness is about being awake to pos-
sibility. We can choose, every time, to be open
or closed to what comes our way. We can bring
fresh eyes and a fresh perspective to each
interplay of dark and light. We can be realistic,
optimistic, and curious about it all. ●

June 2018 mindful 73

reviews
Bookmark This
read…listen…download
HOW WE WORK
Live Your Purpose, Reclaim
Your Sanity, and Embrace
the Daily Grind
Leah Weiss • Harper Wave
Let’s face it: Work is broken. Despite numer-
ous attempts to rejigger and modernize and
open up the workplace, in the opinion of Leah
Weiss—who teaches “Leading with Mindful-
ness and Compassion” at the Stanford Graduate
School of Business—most people work in a toxic
environment.
She’s not talking about sick building syn-
drome, though plenty of people still work in
buildings cut of from the natural world with
bad air, bad lighting, and bad building materi-
als. She’s talking about working hours that
stretch out of all recognition, the added ability
to field communications at any place or time,
and few if any doses of serious downtime to
recharge. Weiss cites a study that shows that,
in 2015, less than half of workers who received
paid vacation days used all or most of them and
that 44% of respondents said their job “nega-
tively afected their overall health,” while 40%
said it negatively afected family life, weight,
and sleep.
Chief among our problems is a mindset that
creates a false dichotomy between “work” and
“life,” causing us to expect life to make up for
the damage done at work, when in fact what
we need to do, individually and collectively,
is learn how to live better at work and every-
place else. We need to transform the workplace
and reclaim our lives by learning to pay more
consistent attention to how we feel. As the tried
and true mindfulness question goes: What is
happening right now? If we keep up this kind of
investigation, Weiss contends, change will hap-
pen. And leaders need to step up and take the
initiative to create workplaces that value how
people really feel.
74 mindful June 2018
BE MINDFUL & STRESS LESS
50 Ways to Deal with Your (Crazy) Life
Gina M. Biegel • Shambhala Publications
With mindfulness being the aspects of mindfulness
taught in an increasing most useful for young people,
number of schools, many stu- and this book lays these out
dents are learning how mind- clearly. Without talking down
ful practices can help them to anyone, Biegel identifies
deal with busy school days, simple actions that young
high expectations, relation- people can take for self-care,
ships, and the omnipresence easing anxiety, and cultivat-
of social media. Biegel, a psy- ing more ease. This book
chotherapist and the creator will help in the vital work of
of Mindfulness-Based Stress empowering teens to improve
Reduction for Teens, knows their own wellness.
THE GREEN BURIAL GUIDEBOOK
Everything You Need to Plan
an Affordable, Environmentally
Friendly Burial
Elizabeth Fournier • New World Library
It’s long been known that mourning,” says Elizabeth
the modern way of death is Fournier, but they also leave
deeply flawed. The funeral- behind a “lasting financial
home-run operations—the and ecological burden.” The
retail setting, the extremely seventh generation of morti-
costly coffins, embalm- cians in her family, Fournier
ing practices, burials, and is a convert to green burials.
even cremations (which She offers here everything
require extreme levels of you need to know about
energy)—“not only fail to this new and growing set of
provide a satisfying ritual for practices.
 “When you are feeling nervous,
your body is like a snow globe
that’s been shaken.”

BREATHE
Inês Castel-Branco • Magination Press

Breathe tells the story of a discovers how these tools can

young boy who is nervous and
struggling to sleep. His mother
guides him with imaginative
breathing exercises to explore
lung capacity, as well as some
animal-based yoga stretches.
With practice, the child
rob fear and sadness of their
power to keep us awake at
night. This book speaks to chil-
dren with the confidence that
they can understand how and
why attention to our breath is
so powerful.

HERE WE GROW
Mindfulness Through
Cancer and Beyond
Paige Davis • She Writes Press

Four years ago Paige Davis Over the whirlwind year

received a diagnosis every
woman dreads: breast can-
cer. At just 38 years old, and
long committed to healthy
living, she was devastated—
but in a way, she writes in this
encouraging new memoir,
she’d “been in training for
this” for her entire life. From
her teens on she’d been
exploring the body–mind
relationship, leading, among
other things, to a daily medi-
tation practice.
that includes a double
mastectomy, a harrowing
bout of chemotherapy, and
breast reconstruction, Davis
turns again and again to the
breath, accessing the well of
inner stillness that exists in
even the most uncomfort-
able moments. It’s a powerful
reminder of how presence
can shit any experience into
one of learning—and growth.

June 2018 mindful 75

reviews
RELATIONAL MINDFULNESS
A Handbook for Deepening our
Connection with Ourselves, Each
Other, and the Planet
Deborah Eden Tull • Wisdom Publications
Deborah Eden Tull grew
up in a progressive commu-
nity of artists and activ-
ists, whose motivations
contrasted starkly with her
Los Angeles surroundings.
Yet even in this change-
oriented environment, she
couldn’t help feeling that
more was needed in order
to efectively address our
most pernicious human
problems: from personal
fear, pride, and stress to
social inequality, bigotry,
and profit-driven destruc-
tion of nature.
Tull’s drive to cultivate
greater peace and happi-
ness led her at age 26 to
Zen Buddhism, where she
found meditation to be “a
direct means for softening
our obsession with produc-
tivity and returning us
instead to a more vast
presence of being.”
Through years of
monastic practice (which
she later left to teach and
practice in society), she
learned that the social good
is served by moving toward
what she calls “we con-
sciousness,” and that this
shift is innately a mindful
one. Gently, lovingly, she
shows how bringing
mindfulness to how we
show up for ourselves, our
dear ones, and our wider
communities creates the
clarity to live with wisdom
and compassion in trying
76 mindful June 2018
and isolating times.
Relational mindfulness,
Tull describes, is the
antidote to our illusion of
separateness—which “fuels
a way of life that is unsus-
tainable both personally
and globally. Every seed of
violence in our world—war,
social injustice, planetary
abuse, and any ism—stems
from the seed of this
illusion.”
This book doesn’t pro-
mote an intellectual grasp
of what mindfulness is
and does, nor is any kind
of religious belief indis-
pensible to its premise.
What it accomplishes is
a thoughtful, piece-by-
piece consideration of the
issues caused by our deeply
limited conditioning, by
our misperceptions about
the world and ourselves—
and how we’re capable of
realizing our intercon-
nectedness more deeply
through relationships. It
can be read in a group with
shared intention, with
a partner, or by oneself.
What matters is that we
take its compassionate
message to heart. In the
words of another spiritual
teacher and activist, angel
Kyodo williams, “Love and
justice are not two. With-
out inner change, there
can be no outer change;
without collective change,
no change matters.”
“One of the worst things we can
do to ourselves on the anxious
journey is to get anxious about
being anxious.”
FIRST, WE MAKE THE
BEAST BEAUTIFUL
A New Journey Through Anxiety
Sarah Wilson • Dey Street Books
Sarah Wilson, also the creator bring constipation relief).
of I Quit Sugar, hits a beautiful The only deficiency is in the
balance in this book between neuroscience, which leans on
deep reflection and down- debunked theories involving
to-earth advice for thriving the “reptilian” or “old vs. new”
with anxiety and related brain regions. These inac-
conditions. A far cry from curacies are small, however,
the bedside manner-y tone beside her sound recommen-
common to self-help, Wil- dations: from anxiety-proof-
son’s warmth and humor will ing your diet to making your
quickly win you over (example: bed every day to finding clues
frank talk about her finding in mental illness that evolve
that meditation retreats can the way you care for yourself.
MAKE A LIST
How a Simple Practice Can Change
Our Lives and Open Our Hearts
Marilyn McEntyre • Wm. B. Eerdmans
Publishing
What could be simpler, what patient safety with no
could be more elegant than reported negative effects. We
making a list? And lists have a forget stuff. It’s good to have
great pedigree: the to-do list, a list. This book offers ample
the shopping list, the laundry fun (and insight), and it starts
list, the top forty, the Bill of out with a great list: reasons to
Rights. Lists persist because make a list. Just two reasons
they work: A review of the effi- out of nineteen are to discover
cacy of checklists in hospitals subtle layers of feeling and to
showed that the lists improved connect the dots. Sold. ●
 reviews

PODCASTS

INVISIBILIA
Episode: Pt.I: Emotions / Pt.II: High Voltage
This wonderful if offbeat podcast (its title is
Latin for “invisible things”) fuses science with
narrative storytelling. These episodes investigate
psychologist Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett’s case that
how we conceptualize (and deal with) emotions
is totally backward: “Emotions aren’t a reaction
to the world; they actually construct the world.”
This is weighed against some true, truly weird
stories: Traumatized by a car crash, a man sues
who he crashed into—the parents of the child
he killed (!). An anthropologist discovers a “new”
emotion among a head-hunting tribe in the
Philippines. And a woman struggles to find love,
due to a seemingly involuntary reflex.

QUIRKS & QUARKS

Episode: Friends share more than interests.
Their brains are similar, too
Dr. Carolyn Parkinson, a psychological
researcher at UCLA, led a study that interviewed
300 students to learn the degrees of friendship
or distance they had to others within the group.
Then, students watched an assortment of video
clips while the researchers took fMRI scans of
their brains. It turned out that how close the
students were to one another could be predicted
by the similarity of their neural responses to the
videos. This leaves open the question of whether
we gravitate toward others who already see and
process the world similarly, or if we become
friends first and, through unknown mechanisms,
our mental patterns converge over time.

FREAKONOMICS RADIO
Episode: Here’s Why All Your Projects Are
Always Late—and What to Do About It
Why do we procrastinate—and why,
nevertheless, can we always convince ourselves
that we won’t next time? Experts weigh in, from
psychology and neuroscience to sotware design
and New York City’s Second Avenue subway
that took 50 years to start building. We fall
victim to the planning fallacy, which involves our
“optimism bias”—believing the grass is greener
in the future—and the fact that most of us don’t
love data integration. The key to more accurate
expectations? “Use data instead of human
judgment.” Artificial intelligence: 1; people: 0.

June 2018 mindful 77


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 mindspace
notice what you notice

80 mindful June 2018 Words and Illustration by Missy Chimovitz