Resources on Meditation and Mindfulness
Here is our growing list of resources to support your well-being in your working, parenting, relating, and living. We continue to add to this list. If you have a resource you would like to contribute, please email Lisa McCrohan .
In-House Resources
Visit FSAP’s Living Mindfully page (coming soon) for podcasts, meditations, and practical blog posts that our staff have created for supporting mindfulness in your everyday life
Outside Resources
Compassion and Lovingkindness
Kindness. Video: Kindness Boomerang . A sweet video Lisa often uses in her workshops to show how just one act of kindness creates a whole chain of kindness events and see how it comes back around.
Compassion. Video: A video on the centrality of compassion in human life by the Dalai Lama at Stanford University.
Self-compassion. Check out the short videos, book, guided videos and information on self-compassion all on Dr. Kristen Neff’s website.
Website: http://self-compassion.org/
Book: Self-Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind, Neff, K.; William Morrow, 2011
Video: Self-compassion Part 1. Start here with the first video on self-compassion. See the website for more.
Mindful self-compassion. Christopher Germer, PhD. Dr. Germer has an incredible list of resources and links on his website. Look at the books, articles, meditation centers, teachers, recordings on meditation, compassion, and mindfulness. He has also written several books and offers workshops around the world.
Website: http://www.mindfulselfcompassion.org/
Book: The Mindful Path to Self-Compassion: Freeing Yourself from Destructive Thoughts and Emotions, Germer, C., Guilford Press, 2009
Videos: Download free mindful and self-compassion meditations and find the step-by-step instructions on the self-compassion meditations
Mindful Leadership
Mindfulness in Business. Article: Why compassion in business makes sense The Greater Good Science Center, University of California, Berkeley
Mindful Leadership. Article: Mindfulness Helps you become a better leader Harvard Business Review
Compassionate Leadership. Blog post: Science of Compassion: Business & Compassion, Part 1. Here is Part 2. The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education
Mindfulness and Meditation
Walking Meditation. Video: walking meditation with Thich Nhat Hanh. Feel a sense of calm within you just watching Thich Nhat Hanh instruct how to go about doing a walking meditation. Then practice yourself!
Audio Meditations. UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center. These short meditations are great to do during your lunch time!
Insight Meditation. From the Founder of the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC, check out these talks and videos on various topics related to meditation, mindfulness, and compassion. There are both longer talks and shorter videos. Where to start? Scroll down on the site to see her short video on “The Sacred Pause.”
Video Library: http://www.tarabrach.com/video/
Videos: Introduction to Mindfulness: The Four-Part Series
Audio meditations and talks: Here you’ll find guided meditations (about 20 minutes long) and longer talks on topics of happiness, wellbeing and meditation. Perfect for a lunch break or to download and listen to on your commute!
Local Resource: The Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC offers weekly guided meditations and talks every Wednesday in Bethesda, MD, 7:30-9 p.m.
Online Retreat. Three-minute Catholic retreats, Loyola Press. Check out these three-minute retreats you can do right at your desk. Cultivate a sacred pause in your day for reflection and renewal.
Mindfulness, meditation, and happiness. From the Greater Good Society at Berkeley, find a whole host of videos, podcasts, and articles on happiness, compassion, and meditation for home and work.
Website: www.greatergood.berkeley.edu
Podcasts: From The Greater Good Science Center at Berkeley, Host Michael Bergeisen interviews leading researchers and thinkers on the roots of compassion, happiness, morality, and more.
Videos: Here are several videos on the science of a meaningful life. Check out well-known teachers and researchers who share their experiences, insights, and research about such qualities as trust, gratitude, compassion, and forgiveness.
Mindfulness in Everyday Life. From Mindfulness.org, find a series of articles filled with helpful strategies for bringing mindfulness into your day.
Website: www.mindful.org
Articles: How to get started with mindfulness. A great series of articles on the basics of mindfulness and meditation from the website
Series of Articles: Meditation in action. From Mindful.org, here you’ll find several great articles on taking meditation into our everyday lives. There are quite a few articles to check out. Here are a few to get you started:
Article: Bring mindfulness to email!
Article: Remembering what is most important as you go about your day
Article: Creating a mini mindful pause in your day
Article: Seven ways meditation can save your life
Mindful Eating. The Center for Mindful Eating offers several resources on mindful eating: audio workshops, articles, recommended reading, workshops, and trainings.
Parenting
Compassionate Parenting. Article: 17 Tips for Parenting with Compassion: Alternatives to Time-out, by Lisa McCrohan.
Parenting with Tenderness. Video: Newborn’s first bath. The power of tenderness.Watch as this nurse so tenderly and with total presence bathes this newborn. Watch how the newborn responds and settles into quietitude. This is a reminder of how we are to regard our children and every living being.
Jane Nelsen and Positive Discipline. Jane has written many books on positive discipline filled with practical tips to your parenting challenges from birth to teens. Positive Discipline is all about connection before correction.
Website: http://www.positivediscipline.com/.
Blog: very useful and provides specific tips for particular situations. http://blog.positivediscipline.com/.
Video: The Five Criteria of Positive Discipline. Understand what the positive discipline approach is.
Video: a TV interview with Dr. Nelsen. In this video, Dr. Nelsen gives four great non-punitive ways to address specific parenting challenges.
Relationships
Mindful Relationships. Articles. Again, from Mindful.org., here are some great articles on mindfulness and relationships.
Article: managing anger
Article: cultivating deep listening in our relationships and how it begins first with listening to ourselves.
Relaxation and Yoga
Guided Relaxation. From the Himlayan Institute, here are two resources on Yogic relaxation.
Audio: Guided Relaxation, Himalayan Institute, Sandra Anderson. A six-minute guided relaxation meditation to be done in shavasana (corpse pose, lying down). Roll out your yoga mat at your desk, and relax!
CD: Guided Yoga Relaxations, Himalayan Institute, by Rolf Sovik, PsyD
Here are four relaxation and breathing methods to help you soothe anxiety, improve sleep, and reduce stressful thoughts and emotions. In less than fifteen minutes, you?ll feel rested, renewed, and on your way to a brighter day. You can also find this on audible.com in order to use it on your smart phone.
The Mechanics of Diaphragmatic Breathing. Video: Diaphragmatic Breathing. Ever wonder what’s happening anatomically when you breathe? View a short animated video that shows the anatomy of diaphragmatic breathing, the primary muscle used in breathing.
Research and Neuroscience
Rick Hanson. Check out Rick Hanson’s website for whole host of resources, practical tips, and research on neuroscience, meditation, and daily life. Here are a few highlights:
Website: http://rickhanson.net
Weekly Tips: on Rick Hanson’s main page of his website, you can sign up to get his free weekly e-newsletter “Just One Thing”
Brain news: http://www.rickhanson.net/science/nervous-system Check out this great list of FAQ about the brain for you and your family.
Wiki: http://www.rickhanson.net/favorites/skillful-means Sponsored by the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, Skillful Means is like a Wikipedia of methods for healing distress and dysyfunction, promoting well-being and personal growth, and deepening spiritual practice. You’ll find tips for mindful living that are easy to read and follow.
Links: http://www.rickhanson.net/favorites/links Here you will find an extensive list of resources related to psychotherapy, meditation, and well-being.
Dr. Richard J. Davidson and the Center for Investigating Health Minds. Dr. Davidson is the world’s most cited expert in scientific publications on the topics of meditation and mindfulness. The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center, UW-Madison, conducts rigorous scientific research on healthy qualities of mind such as kindness, compassion, forgiveness and mindfulness.
Website: http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/cihmCenter.html
Current Research: http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/cihmProjects.html
Links: http://www.investigatinghealthyminds.org/cihmWebLinks.html
Books: Dr. Davidson has numerous scientific papers, articles and books. Check out The Emotional Life of your Brain
Dan Siegel. Video: Dr. Dan Siegel presents a hand model of the brain. Learn what happens when we flip our lids and what we can do to get back online and teach our children to do the same. Lisa uses this hand model in her work with clients and in her workshops to explain how we emotionally react and how we can learn to effectively respond in our everyday lives as parents.
Stanford University. The Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education. Find what current research is being conducted and what the research has found about compassion and altruism. Find videos to inspire and uplift you.
Website http://ccare.stanford.edu/
Articles: Research studies on compassion and altruism
Articles: Current Research.
Video: Science of self-compassion.
Video: Scientific Evidence of how meditation can help.
Meditation and the Brain. Article: How Meditation May Change the Brain, Sindya N. Bhanoo, New York Times, Jan. 28, 2011
Meditation and the Brain. Article: Spine Tuning: Finding physical evidence of how practice rewires the brain, Ferris Jabr, Scientific American, April 16, 2012.