Several years ago I received a call from the managing director of investment banking of a very prestigious banking firm. The caller, my brother, had been experiencing such significant stress that his body was beginning to react adversely. Knowing I was well versed in meditation, yoga and related calming skills, he asked how I thought the situation should be handled. Two options, I replied: either take an anti-anxiety medication or learn some yoga and meditation. Interestingly, a psychologist … [Read more...]

Do you want to know a simple thing you can do to shift from feeling the weight of the world to feeling a lightness that can help you respond freshly, with more patience, clarity and presence?Try spending about five minutes every morning practicing an inner smile. Close your eyes and direct a smile inward, just as if the most beloved being in your life - cat, mother, child, friend, or partner - is visiting within and you are happy to see him. Scan your inner world with a smile and awareness. … [Read more...]

Are you tense, nervous, irritable, and explosive? Do you constantly worry and find it hard to sleep? Do you sometimes feel intense apprehension and feelings of terror? Are you hypersensitive to noise, bright lights, touch and odors? Do you fear heights or enclosed spaces? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, the number one mental health problem in the United States. At some point in their lifetime, one fourth of the population - … [Read more...]

MINNEAPOLIS - Mike Winton, noted Twin Cities' philanthropist, a Pathways founder and Chair of Path to the Future Campaign, announced that Pathways: A Health Crisis Resource Center has achieved its $1 million goal to increase the capacity of the organization. Pathways provides its services from an award-winning building in Minneapolis' Uptown area, helping people who have been newly diagnosed with cancer, AIDS, lung disease and other major illnesses.The campaign was launched to help keep all the … [Read more...]

How easy it is to get caught up in to the day-to-day BS of being doing human. Work, family, friends, emotions, feelings, taxes, television, internet, wars, world peace, immigration, politics, religion, finding the meaning to life and all the other stuff we take on as souls to experience this world. No wonder we are stressed out at the end of a day. I often wonder what experiences I would be stressing over if I chose to be an alien on a different planet. Alien invaders? Alien bugs? Two suns being … [Read more...]

Many of us have become so wrapped up in our work and our busy schedules that we often lose touch with an essential component of our life - our own health. Days spent running and trying to manage more work than is possible, trying to meet unrealistic deadlines and rushing to avoid being late add a tremendous amount of stress to our everyday life. Stress is recognized as the number one killer in today's society. The American Medical Association (AMA) notes that stress is the cause of 80 to 85 … [Read more...]

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"But Zach and Jennifer don't have time to work. They're too busy with sports commitments." I have heard this rebuttal hundreds of times after asking parents if they expect their kids to get a summer job. I quit inquiring about part-time jobs for kids during the school year because the last time I asked the results were startling. It was about three years ago at a speaking engagement in a Twin Cities suburb when a woman in the audience of 200 parents asked, "Do you think … [Read more...]

We're entering the hottest time of the year. The physical heat can accentuate the emotional heat we're feeling. That is commonly known. The murder rate always explodes in the summer months. What can we meaningfully do to help ourselves? For one, we can become conscious of the thoughts we're thinking about ourselves and others. The importance of this one process cannot be stressed enough. Our whole worldview turns on what we think of ourselves and others. Do we see ourselves as friend or enemy? … [Read more...]

Editor's note: The following report was released June 12 by the American Medical Association's journal, "Archives of Internal Medicine." This is the first time the AMA has published a study on the beneficial effects of Transcendental Meditation in preventing and treating heart disease. CHICAGO - A relaxation technique known as Transcendental Meditation may decrease blood pressure and reduce insulin resistance among patients with coronary heart disease, according to a report in the June 12 … [Read more...]

Does the way we are born have any impact on our later lives? Does it make a difference if we make the journey through the birth canal or enter the world by cesarean section? Would it matter if we were breech or induced? Can something that happened so long ago influence adult life? Leading-edge research indicates that the answer to all of these questions is a resounding "Yes!" For the past several decades, a pioneering field of science known as Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology … [Read more...]

Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt of a speech presented by the author at the Spiritual Activism Conference, on May 17-20, sponsored by the Network of Spiritual Progressives published on www.tikkun.org Almost 40 years ago Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. warned this nation about “the giant triplets of racism, militarism and materialism.” At the end of August 2005, while Cindy Sheehan was outside of the Bush compound in Crawford, Texas, waiting for an answer to the question, … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Twenty-eight states more than doubled their carbon dioxide emissions between 1960 and 2001, according to a new analysis of government data released today by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). Increased combustion of oil to fuel cars and light trucks and coal for electricity drove the steep rise in emissions.The report was released on the same day that Rep. Henry Waxman of California introduced the Safe Climate Act, a science-based approach to dramatically … [Read more...]

Speaking of chilling out for the summer, you won't even come close to breaking a sweat with this piece of prosperity-building advice. We've all heard of subconscious programming, how negative thoughts hold us back and positive ones move us forward towards our true goals. But did you know that we're almost always singing an inner tune to ourselves? It's part of that annoying programming that causes us to hear the same stupid commercial jingle over and over in our heads all day, simply because we … [Read more...]