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The Shape of Our Lives: How We Grow

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By Joy Reichart, New Ventures West, guest contributor

“Sounds like you need to work on your sword cuts,” a fellow Integral Coach said to me recently. 

My response to this was so vivid that even now I can feel it in my body: a sort of bunching in my solar plexus, moving upward, clawing at my throat and threatening to erupt in a petulant scream. 

“Gah, THIS AGAIN?” I managed in a somewhat civil—though not altogether mature—reply.

The sword cuts to which she was referring were both literal and …

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Top 5 Articles of 2021

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5 Great Gratitude Resources for Thanksgiving

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By the Mindful Leader Team

What is gratitude? It isn't the same thing as being thankful. True gratitude towards the people in your life, workplace, and even strangers can transform you, both spreading happiness and even boosting your own health. Below are some resources we've gathered on gratitude and how to practice it in advance of the holiday.

1. How to Practice Gratitude from Mindful Magazine 

This article has it all: an introduction to gratitude, the science behind it, and several practi…

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Why We Should Befriend Adversity

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By Mark A. Campbell, guest contributor

The Latin poet Marshal once wrote, "Life is not merely to be alive, but to be well." Wellness is a concept that we use daily, but scholars cannot agree on defining it. We know for certain that wellness is multi-dimensional, influenced by how we live in all areas of our lives. The National Wellness Institute defines wellness as "an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence." I have adopted this definition beca…

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How Can We Transform the Effects of Racial Inequity in Mindfulness Spaces?

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By Rose Mina Munjee, guest contributor

Introduction  

The social justice issues of racism and oppression of racialized people and their intersectionality, including social location and gender are explored here through examining the lived experiences of racialized mindfulness practitioners (1). Certain skills and approaches grounded in mindfulness and compassion and characteristics of mindfulness teachers, programs, and practice spaces are suggested as potential resources to help alleviate the …

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Doing Time by Doing Now: Teaching Mindfulness in Prisons

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View our Free Guide - What is MBSR?


By Dr. Gus Castellanos, guest contributor

Prisons are some of the most traumatic places to live. While the threat of violence, sexual victimization, and retaliation for grievances happen enough, it’s the simple things such as bad food, sleeping arrangements, and poor access to medical care that make daily life stressful. Inmates suffer from anxiety, depression, anger, hypervigilance, and difficulty with emotional regulation. Furthermore, witnessing viole…

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Tender Loving Self-Care for POC: A Guide for Tending to the Wounds of Racial Trauma

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By Due Quach, guest contributor

BL00 Color is Not a Crime

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Over a year has now passed since the horrifying killing of George Floyd re-galvanized the movement for racial justice and equity, and communities of color are emotionally exhausted. While there are milestones to celebrate, we are worn down by the continued use of lethal and deadly force by police officers against people of color (POC), and by other incidents of racial violence and bigotry that remind us that large segments of the pop…

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4 Steps to Face Challenges Mindfully

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By John J. Murphy, guest contributor

Let’s face it. 2020 was an unprecedented year of disruption, challenge, and stress. We have all felt it one way or another – and so have the people we work with. Take a moment right now to reflect on this. Contemplate it without judgment. Let go of analysis and how you think things should or should not be. Just feel it. Empathize with the suffering surrounding you. Listen to your intuition and let your heart speak to you. What is it saying?

This is just one…

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That Exercise You’re Doing Might Not Actually Be Mindfulness: Filtering Through the Noise

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By Clif Smith, guest contributor

It’s clear to anyone who has picked up a magazine or newspaper or has perused any social media feed in the last 5 years that mindfulness is hot right now, and I must admit, it is one of the reasons why I got the deal to write this book [which launches April 20th]. Just searching the term “mindfulness” on Google yields 264 million results! Unfortunately, many of the items the search results point to aren’t actually mindfulness related practices. Many results are …

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3 Tips for Live & Online Retreats

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By Beth Mulligan, guest contributor

One year ago, I committed to teach one of several annual silent retreats, in South Florida, where I have led retreats and teacher trainings before. The dates were April 6th-11th, 2020. In March 2020, like all of you we began to really absorb the reality and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. At this point--like many of you, we’d switched our first quarter classes to online for the last few sessions. I was leading practice sessions and giving Dharma talks as wel…

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