It may be surprising to hear that the one essential skill for weight loss has nothing to do with counting calories, cooking, or working out. It has to do with the ability to stay present with yourself. If you can cultivate the skill of maintaining awareness of your body and mind—-through difficult feelings as well as… Read More: The One Essential Skill for Weight Loss »
People frequently tell us they feel controlled by food, as if an outside force has taken over their body. The mind wants one thing, while the body is doing something else entirely—usually involving some sort of delectable dessert item. We tell them that the answer to this problem begins with practicing the skill of mindfulness.… Read More: What to do When Mindfulness is “Not Working” »
“What happened?” I say. The client responds, “I don’t know. I just didn’t care. I ate and ate and ate, and just didn’t care at all.” This exchange is in response to what is often described as a “bad week.” In our program we don’t really believe there are “bad” weeks or “good” weeks. There… Read More: Five Ways to Handle an “I Don’t Care” Attitude »
Nobody truly wants to have a weight problem. Social issues, low energy/fatigue, diabetes, sleep apnea, heart disease, asthma, and an untimely death are all correlated with obesity. Most people shut down just from hearing these words. Who wants to live this sort of life? Yet 70% of the American population has a serious problem with… Read More: Peeling the Onion – Who Actually Loses Weight? »
For many years I have had a habit of listening to health, personal development, and spiritual audiobooks. It is a big part of my mindfulness practice. Back before you could download books to your phone with Audible, I used to purchase cd sets from Sounds True. I also love to listen to podcasts or interviews… Read More: What are You Feeding Your Mind? »
Does this sound familiar? A great new weight loss program comes along—“the next new thing.” You haven’t tried it before, which is surprising because you thought you tried everything. Maybe it promises fast weight loss. Maybe it promises to finally get to the root of all of your problems for good this time. Or maybe… Read More: Riding the Wave of the Next New Thing »
I came across this study in the journal Neuron about how stress undermines self-control and predisposes people to choose foods with “immediately rewarding taste attributes” (code for Ben and Jerry’s). Here is what the authors said in the abstract: “Our results indicate that stress may compromise self-control decisions by both enhancing the impact of immediately rewarding… Read More: How Stress Can Undermine Your Goals »
A main part of my job is to facilitate the development of a personal contemplative practice for our members, and to support them as they grow in this process. Ultimately, as people become more mindful, they are led from within themselves to make their own necessary choices toward improved health. As people become more mindful,… Read More: Led From Within »
Practice, noun: the repeated exercise in, or performance of, an activity or skill so as to acquire or maintain proficiency in it. A foundational tenet of our program is that in order to change habits, a person must have “a practice.” We borrowed the idea of a practice from the Eastern traditions of yoga, meditation, and… Read More: The Importance of Daily Practice »
Patience: the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. “Patience guards us against losing our presence of mind so we can remain undisturbed even when the situation is really difficult.” 14th Dalai Lama The field of psychology does not contain many references to patience, but the spiritual traditions… Read More: The Power of Patience »