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I just left a sweaty Catholic school gym where 400 members of the Park Slope Food Coop (disproportionately shod in Keen and Birkenstock sandals) voted overwhelmingly to endorse the New York Health Act, a Medicare for all plan that is one state senator away from passing here in New York. I don’t normally write about political issues, and I’m going to continue that tradition today since I believe that healthcare shouldn’t be a political issue. Watch Jimmy Kimmel tearfully explain in a mixture of disgust and gratefulness how, after seeing his newborn son’s…continue reading →

Emotional Wellness: How To Take Care Of Yourself Guest Post by Melissa Howard of stopsuicide.info In the light of two very publicized and tragic suicides, this post comes from Melissa Howard and the organization stopsuicide.info.   For many Americans, focusing on emotional wellness can be a double-edged sword. In one sense, it’s a good way to ensure that you’re feeling good every day, but it can also bring painful memories or emotions to the forefront, keeping a vicious cycle alive in your mind. Finding a good balance will allow you to take good…continue reading →

I was inspired to write this post after teaching a workshop on lovingkindness meditation and smashing one of my daughter’s popsicle molds in anger (in the same week). Lovingkindness meditation is a thousand-year-old tool for dealing with hard-heartedness and isolation. Research continues to emerge about the positive effects of lovingkindness, including decreasing migraines and chronic pain, and activating empathy. Recently, at one of my Your Body Is Your Practice workshops, we offered ourselves the traditional phrases: May I be safe, May I be happy, May I be healthy, May I live with ease.…continue reading →

What Sharon Salzberg has contributed to meditation and Buddhism in America is hard to quantify. Nowadays, she is everywhere you look within the recent mindfulness surge (and deservedly so): interviews with Oprah, podcasts with Tim Ferris, magazine articles, and her nine books on the subject. She has become known for her emphasis on the practice of metta, or lovingkindness, and her seminal book on the subject (Lovingkindness). This focus has been particularly needed in the West where the temptation to use meditation and spirituality as another self-improvement project or an attempt to control…continue reading →

Embedded within everyday anxiety is the hope that if we could only complete the remaining tasks on our to-do lists, then we could rest in an aura of accomplishment and contentment. Anxiety creates its own logic: we should maximize all our moments with doing or thinking about doing. I know it's hard for me to relax when I think about my swollen email inbox. Email has a field day with my adrenal glands. While we know that meditation and self-care ultimately may be good for our productivity and happiness, choosing them in the…continue reading →

I was recently interviewed on The Career Passport podcast, which is funny since I came into my career with the same trajectory as a Plinko ball. Falling, falling, I seem to be headed towards early retirement in my mom’s basement after health crisis in my mid-20s left me disabled and in chronic pain.Those dramatic events, and my perspective on them years later,  is the subject of my interview with the podcast host, and my friend, Jill Ozovek, “The Ultimate Example of Turning Lemons into Lemonade. ” Jill and I talked about the healing mindset…continue reading →

Last week, I discovered a handwritten message that had been taken off the wall of my daughter’s Pre-K classroom. The message – really a complaint – had been voiced by my daughter during a classroom intervention led by the teacher. The teacher wanted to know why the “Doggy” game had led to so much arguing and crying. As far as the game, I think you get the idea: the kids take turns acting like a dog, crawling on the floor, rolling over, barking, and sometimes being sick and needing to be taken care…continue reading →