In a recent episode on Hacking Culture I interviewed Stephanie Wagner from Healthy Minds Innovations about their Health Minds @Work program, "hacking the mind," and tools that cultivate and measure well-being. We discussed various critiques of workplace wellness programs and how Healthy Minds might be able to support your company or organization. This article explores a few of the topics we discussed.
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It's Time to Celebrate the International Day of Yoga
In 2014 the United Nations General Assembly declared June 21 the "International Day of Yoga" and it has been celebrated annually on June 21 ever since. Because so many people around the world embraced yoga to stay healthy and fight social isolation during the pandemic, the theme for 2022 is "yoga for humanity." How can you not like a day that is literally for humanity (the most abundant and widespread species of primate on the planet)?
Workshop: Burnout and Mental Health in Open Source
As part of GitHub's Maintainer Month, I'm co-organizing a session tomorrow (Friday, June 17, noon-1pm Central), titled "Burnout and Mental Health in Open Source," and you are invited!
How to Reduce Digital Distractions: Advice from Medieval Monks
Medieval monks had a terrible time concentrating. And concentration was their lifelong work! Their tech was obviously different from ours. But their anxiety about distraction was not. They complained about being overloaded with information, and about how, even once you finally settled on something to read, it was easy to get bored and turn to something else.
Taking a Break from Social Media Improves Well-Being
If you can't bring yourself to delete your social media accounts, a recent study shows that you might consider taking a social media break for just a week and see how it affects your well-being.
Body Scans and Action Crises
When we encounter difficulties in the pursuit of our most important goals, we must decide to either continue our pursuit or give up. These moments when we must make a choice are called "action crises." At these key points in our life, people make lists of pros and cons, talk to trusted friends and family, or perhaps carve out some time alone to just think. Another method for coping with goal-related difficulties is to practice body scan meditation.
Managing Stress with Body Scan Meditation
Stress is a physical and emotional reaction that people experience as they encounter changes in life. Stress is a normal feeling. However, long-term stress may contribute to, or worsen, a range of health problems including digestive disorders, headaches, sleep disorders, and other symptoms. Stress may worsen asthma and has been linked to depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses.
Using Meditation to Improve Sleep
In 2020, beginning shortly after the onset of the COVID pandemic, I started an online meditation group at Spirit of the Lake (recordings available here). Those 30-minute meetings ended up being a lot like episodes of Pretty Good Meditation, with me talking to people and not a lot of discussion.
Is Group Meditation Right for You?
Meditation offers a wide variety of benefits, whether you use an app, watch recorded videos, live streams, or practice alone. Meditation with a group can provide a useful support to your practice and amplify the benefits of meditating alone. When you practice in a group, you might feel accountable to other members of the group or less likely to drop your meditation practice when life starts to get chaotic.
There Is Much More to Mindfulness Than the Popular Media Hype
Most of the public enthusiasm for mindfulness stems from the reputation it has for reducing stress. But scholars and researchers who work on mindfulness, and the Buddhist tradition itself, paint a more complex picture than does the popular media.