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In this study, individuals who were stressed but otherwise healthy participated in an eight-week program of MBSR. At the end of the program, each participant reported a significant decrease in their perceived stress, as compared to before treatment. MR images of each participant’s brain were obtained both before and after the MBSR program. The images showed a decrease in the density of the amygdala gray matter after the program, when the participants reported feeling less stress....

Perhaps. But something else may be happening too. If you’ve discovered that you’re not fully in charge of your mind, you might like to ask yourself: How do I know this? How have I realized that the mind is distracted? And how am I able to bring it back? In order to notice that the mind has wandered, and be able to return it to attention, there must be something bigger than that mind, a wider perspective that can observe the distraction....

Nancy Bardacke, founder of the Mindfulness-Based Childbirth and Parenting Education Program, was among the many presenters at this year’s conference. She and Larissa Duncan—from the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of California in San Francisco, where Bardacke’s program is now presented—reported on preliminary evidence that suggests mindfulness practice improves mothers’ ability to cope with a crying baby, fatigue and interrupted sleep, breastfeeding, a baby’s admission to neonatal intensive care, and challenges in the changing relationship with a partner....

Feeling good in your own skin Feeling good in your own skin Do mindful people feel better about their bodies? Researchers asked 115 female college students about their level of mindfulness, body responsiveness, body shame, and overall health. Women who reported greater awareness and who tended to be nonjudgmental and nonreactive—key mindfulness skills—had less body shame, were more attuned to their bodies, and were healthier overall. The researchers say it’s not yet clear whether mindfulness increases body satisfaction, or vice versa....

The Mindfulness Day website notes that the technique has, in recent time, reached mainstream society: “Mindfulness has already gone beyond the Buddhist and ‘spiritual culture’ and is being appreciated by practitioners of psychotherapy, general medicine, education, and even the military is finding benefit in its application. Mindfulness Day aims to raise awareness in the general population about the value and benefit mindfulness brings.” We have to agree—if you take a look at our website, we touch on almost every topic mentioned above, from mindfulness in the military and fighting fire to education, medicine, politics, and others....