Hi Again!

I hope everyone healthy and paying attention to this amazing weather and making the most of it, whatever that might be.

I am blogging from my couch and really appreciating the birds singing and the warmth of the sun hitting me through the windows. Not quite as much as my cats however who switch between lazing and “window shopping”!

Why am I blogging from the couch in the middle of the day on a Thursday?  I am recovering from surgery.

What does surgery have to with attention and this beautiful spring weather? It all relates to mindfulness. 

Kinark has been working on mindfulness with Mr. Roy Hinsta (MBSR instructor) and Dr. Patricia Broderick (West Chester University Pennsylvania) on the Learning to BREATHE project affectionately known at Kinark as L2B.  L2B is connected to Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn.  L2B is an interactive mindfulness based program designed to help youth “Gain the inner edge” by: fostering empowerment; developing social and emotional regulation; and increasing awareness of sensations, thoughts and emotions.  We are researching the usefulness of mindfulness and awareness in 2 programs that serve youth who have been identified as likely to benefit from L2B.  The very cool part is that our service providers in these programs also have participated in MBSR to better understand the process and how to support youth in the program.  This is a very exciting research project, especially because our programs have been very involved and mindful in shaping it.

I will admit I am a bit biased regarding mindfulness, so I am very glad to have many people working on this project to keep things relatively unbiased.  Although, there is significant, objective evidence emerging about the benefits of mindfulness in various areas, my bias also comes from personal experience.  I believe my journey to become more mindful in my daily life led to my surgery.  Why is that a good thing? I believe my increased awareness of how unwell I was feeling led me to raise a serious warning flag with my doctor.  As a result, we discovered what was wrong.  I am now on the road to a mindful recovery; one that includes feeling healthy, and enjoying streaming sunshine, the sound of birds, and some very funny little cats!

I hope you are all able to make the most of this wonderful weather, whatever that might be.