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Thich Nhat Hanh, the revered Zen Buddhist monk who helped pioneer the concept of mindfulness in the West and socially engaged Buddhism in the East, has died. He was 95. The death was confirmed by a monk at Tu Hieu Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam who said that Nhat Hanh, known as Thay to his followers, died at midnight on Saturday. The monk declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to media. A post on Nhat Hanh’s verified Twitter page attributed to The International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism also confirmed the news, saying, “We invite...

Mindfulness is said to do many things for our psyche: it can increase our self-control, sharpen our concentration, extend our working memory and boost our mental flexibility. With practice, we should become less emotionally reactive – allowing us to deal with our problems more calmly. One ‘benefit’ that you might not expect to gain, however, is heightened egotism. Yet a recent study suggests that, in some contexts, practicing mindfulness really can exaggerate some people’s selfish tendencies. With their increased inward focus, they seem to forget about others, and are less willing to help those in need.

It took me 3 hours to finally hear this on a replay of a news conference on Fox news. How many Freeper's have dramatically altered their life to work on mindfulness? Am I uniquely naïve for wondering this?

Bates’ experience seems to be a common one among employees at Amazon’s ‘fulfilment centers,’ who in some locations have been struggling to unionize against the wishes of their superiors. The retail giant regularly features on the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’s ‘Dirty Dozen’ list of unsafe employers, with the most recent pre-pandemic report citing 13 fatalities since 2013, “a high incidence of suicide attempts,” and “workers urinating in bottles because they are afraid to take breaks.” However, Amazon has supposedly noticed the toll its workplace takes on employees’ mental health and has given them something back: “a space...

Analyzing the feedback, the researchers claim mindfulness as it is typically practiced is ideal for women, who stereotypically ruminate on things. The practice teaches them to let go of the past and future, and focus on the now. Meanwhile the biggest stress-driver for male participants was the fact that they distract - completely shutting off past and future worries. Since they were, in general, already focused on the present moment, mindfulness was relatively futile.

Isn’t there supposed to be a separation of cult and state? Mindfulness is a New Age kind of meditation that focuses on the present moment “non-judgmentally,” tracing its origins to Buddhism. The growing phenomenon was the subject of a 60 Minutes segment on Sunday, for which May and other fans of the practice were interviewed.The segment featured Rep. Tim Ryan (D., Ohio), a so-called “rock star among mindfulness evangelists” who earmarked nearly $1 million to teach mindfulness to preschool students in his district. The $982,000 project provided deep breathing exercises, and “Peace Corners” for kids in Youngstown, Ohio. I’m sure...

While preparing for overseas deployment with the U.S. Marines late last year, Staff Sgt. Nathan Hampton participated in a series of training exercises held at Camp Pendleton, Calif., designed to make him a more effective serviceman. There were weapons qualifications. Grueling physical workouts. High-stress squad counterinsurgency drills, held in an elaborate ersatz village designed to mirror the sights, sounds and smells of a remote mountain settlement in Afghanistan. There also were weekly meditation classes — including one in which Sgt. Hampton and his squad mates were asked to sit motionless in a chair and focus on the point of contact...

When Rep. Tim Ryan recently published a book touting the benefits of a meditative practice known as mindfulness, the Ohio Democrat had a target audience: anyone and everyone suffering from chronic stress, emotional exhaustion, information overload. In other words, himself. His co-workers. Oh, and pretty much the rest of America, too.

Meditation exercises could boost mental toughness in soldiers readying for war, keeping them from becoming overly emotional, according to new research. The study found that mindfulness training, which teaches people how to stay alert and in the moment without becoming emotional (giving them a kind of "mental armor"), improved the moods of U.S. Marines preparing for deployment to Iraq. Practicing mindfulness also improved a type of memory that enables people to complete complex mental tasks. The key is practicing these mindfulness exercises daily, just as you would any other exercise, according to study co-author and University of Pennsylvania cognitive neuroscientist...