Mind & Life Institute

Historical trauma has deeply impacted Indigenous communities, resulting in high rates of mental health issues, substance abuse, and chronic diseases.

In their new essay for Insights, Jeffrey Proulx, Chase Bryer, and Jacob Cousin of Brown University share their work incorporating community-specific traditions, stories, languages, and spirituality as vehicles for mindfulness in Indigenous and underserved communities on the path to healing: http://mindand.life/cBc850SYzSz

Mindfulness, Indigenous Wisdom, and Community Well-being The author describes efforts to foster healing within Indigenous and other underserved communities by adapting mindfulness practices and elevating Indigenous wisdom.

“The beauty of the Summer Research Institute is the invitation to dive in at that deep end—to forgo the banal shallows of small talk and let go of the insulation of titles, degrees, career fields, and nationalities," reflects guest writer and SRI participant MeiLan Haberl on the Mind & Life blog.

Read more of MeiLan's reflection, including digital sketches created throughout the event inspired by conversations, contemplations, and questions that arose during the program held at the Garrison Institute: http://mindand.life/1LJh50SP8QV

Living into a Story of Care and Compassion at Mind & Life’s 2024 Summer Research Institute The Mind & Life Summer Research Institute (SRI) is a collective experience in which all members bring their individual experiences together to build a community. This personal reflection, from the 2024 SRI held June 2-8 at the Garrison Institute, is but one perspective of many. Because I am a visual...

“At a time of unprecedented complexity, deepening polarization, and rapid technological transformation, fostering genuine dialogue has never been more critical,” writes Mind & Life Board Chair Thupten Jinpa, Ph.D. On the blog, he describes what makes multidisciplinary dialogues possible, citing successful examples from the Mind & Life Digital Library with deep relevance for our world today. Read more: http://mindand.life/tVxJ50SN6kM

Why Dialogue Is More Important Than Ever At a time of unprecedented complexity, polarization, and rapid technological transformation, fostering dialogue has never been more critical.

What is the art of dialogue? And how do relational practices help us cultivate compassion and connection? We're exploring these questions and more in this month's Mindstream, our email newsletter, arriving soon.

Sign up now and get a copy straight to your inbox👇
https://www.mindandlife.org/mindstream/

How do meditation states of deep concentration affect our perception of the world?

Varela grantee Jonas Mago will examine how advanced meditators process sounds differently during Jhana meditation, a deep state of focus and concentration, compared to ordinary mindfulness. This will help assess whether Jhana meditation can override our ordinary states of perception. Learn more about this project and other recent grantees: http://mindand.life/oC8T50SoioB

"I don't think it's possible to meditate if we don't have some sense of psychological safety," shared social scientist and meditation teacher Eve Ekman on the Mind & Life podcast.

Listen for more wisdom on mapping our emotions, becoming more sensitive through meditation, understanding equanimity, and more! 🎧 https://podcast.mindandlife.org/eve-ekman/

Originally intended for 10,000 inhabitants, the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi now hosts over 60,000 people, with new arrivals exacerbating already strained conditions. A majority of residents suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, with daily life characterized by relentless stress and anxiety.

Yet despite these challenges, thousands of refugee children and teens here are finding hope through the practice of yoga. “In numerous instances, we have witnessed the profound impact of yoga in fostering peace, enhancing physical well-being, and alleviating post-traumatic stress and anxiety among individuals,” says Dharmajyoti, Founder and President of the Fundación YOGA PURA VIDA (YPV).

In 2023, YPV received a Mind & Life Contemplative Changemaking Grant, allowing them to create a dedicated space within the camp to facilitate yoga sessions for people of all ages.

Join us in celebrating the transformative power of yoga on , and let’s continue to support initiatives that bring peace and healing to those in need 🌍🧘‍♀️ Read more on the blog: http://mindand.life/6jKg50Smmjg

Teaching Yoga in Africa: The Silent Revolution Explore how the Yoga Pura Vida Foundation is providing hope and healing in Africa through free yoga sessions, empowering refugees and marginalized communities.

How are our minds shaped by our social environment? And how can we co-create the world we inhabit?

We're exploring the connection between our inner and outer worlds in this month's Mindstream, our email newsletter, arriving on Thursday. Sign up now and get a copy straight to your inbox 👇
https://www.mindandlife.org/mindstream/

Mindstream Want to learn more about our interconnection and get the newest insights from the field of contemplative science? Mindstream, Mind & Life’s monthly email newsletter, features resources, content, and educational resources that explore a unique theme each month, including mental training, embodiment...

How can we leverage technology to help us be more aware of our emotions? Tune in to this week's episode of the Mind & Life podcast to explore this question and more with social scientist and meditation teacher Eve Ekman. She and Wendy cover emotion regulation vs. awareness, reappraisal and self-compassion, understanding equanimity, and more!

Listen and share 🎧 https://podcast.mindandlife.org/eve-ekman/

Eve Ekman – Building Emotion Awareness In this episode, Wendy speaks with social scientist and meditation teacher Eve Ekman. Eve's work integrates contemplative practice and modern psychology to help people learn about and work with their emotions.

Starting tomorrow! Join the 4th Annual Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit from our friends at Lion's Roar and Tibet House US - NYC from June 13-17 and reconnect with your fundamental humanity, experience true happiness, and contribute to a more peaceful world.

This year's summit is 100% free between June 13-17 and features 16 expert presenters, including Robert Waldinger, Sharon Salzberg, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Sará King, Thomas Hübl, Robert Thurman, Thubten Chodron, Pilar Jennings, and more.

Over five inspiring days of free talks, guided practice sessions, and live keynote events, you’ll learn powerful practices to nourish your heart, tools to create a more peaceful life, and ways to promote collective healing in our world.

Each day focuses on a key theme, inspired by the Dalai Lama's prescription for greater happiness and world peace. Transform your life with teachings, tools, and practical guidance inspired by the Dalai Lama’s timeless wisdom. Sign up for FREE today and be part of this global movement:

Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit 2024 Learn the keys to a joyful and loving life that brings more peace to the world in this free global online event.

"People across the globe are crying out asking what is the meaning of life? How can I live differently? How can we move from the world as it is to the world as it could be? That world has compassion at the center," emphasized global health researcher and educator Liz Grant last week during Mind & Life's 2024 Summer Research Institute at the Garrison Institute.

Throughout the week, participants—including researchers, practitioners, contemplatives, and changemakers—came together to explore these questions and shine a light on the role of compassion in building a brighter future for all.

It's ! 🌎 Increasingly, Mind & Life presenters, grantees, and partners are exploring the healing benefits of nature-based contemplative practice. But practicing mindfulness in nature isn’t just about getting outside and experiencing the natural world; it’s about cultivating awareness of our interconnection by immersing ourselves and being fully present to the beauty of the wonders that surround us.

On the Mind & Life blog, we share highlights from this growing field of inquiry and share four ways mindfulness in nature can help us heal ourselves and the Earth: http://mindand.life/VfKg50S4uGi

4 Ways Mindfulness in Nature Can Help Us Heal Ourselves and the Earth We share how mindfulness in nature illuminates our interconnection and four ways it benefits both people and the planet.

Congratulations to Mind & Life Fellow Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela for winning the 2024 Templeton Prize from the John Templeton Foundation! 🎉

Her insights into the mechanisms of trauma and forgiveness in post-apartheid South Africa have created a globally-recognized model for social healing in the aftermath of conflict, a model she calls “the reparative quest.” Learn more about her work with in our short film, "Evolution of the Heart," filmed during our 2019 Conversation with the Dalai Lama: https://www.mindandlife.org/media/evolution-of-the-heart/

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a psychologist and scholar whose insights into the mechanisms of trauma and forgiveness in post-apartheid South Africa have created a globally-recognized model for social healing in the aftermath of conflict, has won the 2024 .

Gobodo-Madikizela was an influential member of the Human Rights Violations Committee of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission that aimed to address the injustices of apartheid. Her career as a researcher and a public figure is distinguished by her effort to repair ruptures created by past violence and to build a path toward healing and restoration in an ongoing process she calls “the reparative quest.”

Valued at more than $1.4 million, the Templeton Prize is one of the world's largest annual individual awards. Established by the late global investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton, it is given to honor those who harness the power of the sciences to explore the deepest questions of the universe and humankind’s place and purpose within it.

Learn more about her life and work here: https://bit.ly/4aHkViI

New episode alert! 🎉🎧 This week on the Mind & Life podcast, Wendy speaks with contemplative neuroscientist Dave Vago. Tune in and explore the role of the self in contemplative practice, meta-awareness and decentering, dissolving the self/other divide, and more!

Listen & share: https://podcast.mindandlife.org/dave-vago/

Dave Vago – Meditation, Neuroscience, and Self In this episode, Wendy speaks with contemplative neuroscientist Dave Vago. Dave has been studying the brain, meditation, and the self for over two decades, and has developed several models of how mindfulness might work from cognitive and neurobiological perspectives.

Announcing the 4th Annual Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit from June 13-17! From our friends at Lion's Roar and Tibet House US - NYC, reconnect with your fundamental humanity, experience true happiness, and contribute to a more peaceful world.

This year's summit is 100% free between June 13-17 and features 16 expert presenters, including Robert Waldinger, Sharon Salzberg, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Sará King, Thomas Hübl, Robert Thurman, Thubten Chodron, Pilar Jennings, and more.

Over five inspiring days of free talks, guided practice sessions, and live keynote events, you’ll learn powerful practices to nourish your heart, tools to create a more peaceful life, and ways to promote collective healing in our world.

Each day focuses on a key theme, inspired by the Dalai Lama's prescription for greater happiness and world peace. Transform your life with teachings, tools, and practical guidance inspired by the Dalai Lama’s timeless wisdom. Sign up for FREE today and be part of this global movement:

Dalai Lama Global Vision Summit 2024 Learn the keys to a joyful and loving life that brings more peace to the world in this free global online event.

Digital meditation apps are one tool for helping the benefits of mindfulness reach a large number of people. But research shows that many people don't engage with these apps beyond initial use. What supports the sustained engagement of digital meditation-based apps?

Varela grantee Zishan Jiwani of the Center for Healthy Minds will examine if research can predict which users of the Healthy Minds Program, a freely available, highly-rated, and evidence-based meditation app, are at risk of dropping out and what factors may support or inhibit sustained engagement. Learn more about this project and other recent grantees: http://mindand.life/u1ZM50RYnFJ

"That's the question—what are the instruments we have, and what are the assumptions that we have on the Western side about the mind?" Biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medical doctor Tawni Tidwell explores this question and more on the latest episode of the Mind & Life podcast.

Tune in for a conversation on how our minds shape our bodies, understanding the subtle body and consciousness, and more! https://podcast.mindandlife.org/tawni-tidwell/

Today’s adolescents are growing up in an increasingly connected world. And while the daily grind of young adult life—like the pressure to get into the right high school or college—isn’t created by technology, its gears can be sped up by digital immersion and spending time absorbed in apps and surfing social media.

How can mindfulness-based approaches to technology use help support positive well-being and prosocial behavior in today’s youth? Mind & Life PEACE grantees Carrie James, Emily Weinstein, and Sara Konrath aimed to answer this question and leverage contemplative science to mitigate the risks of disconnection and isolation through technology. Read more on the blog:

Digital Immersion, Technology Use, and Teens: How Can Mindfulness Help? Today’s adolescents are growing up in an increasingly connected world. How can digital immersion and mindfulness help foster resiliency?

Today is World Meditation Day.

It is easy for any of us to become overwhelmed and enveloped in the whirlwind of life, yet something as simple as mindfulness can help to ground us and bring us back to the present moment. Often mindfulness and thankfulness go hand-in-hand, as I have learned first-hand over the years.

If you’re curious and want to learn more about mindfulness, I encourage you to look into the resources provided by the Mind & Life Institute. The “Online Learning” section of their website offers many resources: https://www.mindandlife.org/online-learninresourg/

This week on the Mind & Life podcast, Wendy speaks with biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medical doctor Tawni Tidwell. How can we live—and die—with greater awareness and well-being? Tune in as they explore how our minds shape our bodies, the holistic approach of Tibetan medicine, and more!

Listen & share 🎧 https://podcast.mindandlife.org/tawni-tidwell/

Tawni Tidwell – Between Life and Death In this episode, Wendy speaks with biocultural anthropologist and Tibetan medical doctor Tawni Tidwell. Tawni's research focuses on living—and dying—with greater awareness and well-being, and integrates multiple biological and cultural perspectives on mind-body systems.

Can foraging for sensation make us healthier and happier? In their new essay for Insights, Mind & Life Fellows Norman Farb and Zindel Segal share over two decades of research on how sensation relates to human flourishing. Read more and learn about the senses as a pathway to well-being and how sense foraging can be applied in schools, workplaces, and more: https://www.mindandlife.org/insight/the-senses-a-pathway-to-well-being/

The Senses: A Pathway to Well-being The authors introduce the concept of 'sense foraging' and the importance of attending to sensation in contemplative practice.

"One harsh word today doesn't mean that I don't have the ability to remedy that harshness tomorrow," shared neuroscientist and trauma researcher Brian Dias on the Mind & Life podcast.

Tune in for more wisdom on parenting to try and heal legacies of trauma, epigenetics and the interplay between genes and environment, and more! https://podcast.mindandlife.org/brian-dias/

Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Americans experience elevated rates of depression, anxiety, trauma, and other health concerns such as cardiovascular diseases and metabolic disorders. How can mindfulness-based interventions adapted for their cultural and sociopolitical contexts improve their well-being and reduce stress?

Varela grantee Andrea Haidar of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine aims to integrate cultural adaptations to develop and test a mindfulness-based intervention to reduce stress among Arab, Middle Eastern, and North African Americans. Learn more about this project and other recent grantees: http://mindand.life/mbfe50RAkq3

How is trauma transferred between generations? And what is the interplay between our genes and our environment? Tune in to this week's episode of the Mind & Life podcast and explore these questions and more with neuroscientist and trauma researcher Brian Dias. He and Wendy cover epigenetics, intergenerational trauma, the impacts of stress on our mitochondria and microbiome, and more!

Listen & share 🎧 https://podcast.mindandlife.org/brian-dias/

Brian Dias – Epigenetics and Intergenerational Trauma In this episode, Wendy speaks with neuroscientist and trauma researcher Brian Dias. Brian is one of the pioneers in understanding how trauma can be transferred between generations.