Category Archives: Mind-Body Connection

Moments to be Mindful

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This week I would like to share a few examples of mindfulness. Goodness knows we can all use a few more.

Some of the these ideas are mine, and others come from friends, co-workers, and family members. One was contributed by our chocolate Labrador retriever (may her memory be a blessing), though it was honestly more of a demonstration.

Nourishing oneself comes in many different forms and flavors. Food is what I usually think of first when it comes to being nourished, but the truth is that we also nourish ourselves with peace and quiet, regrouping, putting away cellphones, taking our brains off the rail, being kind to ourselves, spending time alone and with people we love. Here are some of the examples I came up with, but please add your own below in the comments section. 

Being present.

Being in the moment without judgment.

Sitting on the banks of your life and watching the moments float by.

Stopping the chatter.

Clearing your mind of the detritus.

Thinking about your rib cage expanding and contracting.

Feeling cooler breath move through your nose when you inhale, and warmer breath move out on the exhale.

Being more reflective, and less reactive. 

Feeling your entire torso—front, back, and sides—grow and shrink with each breath.

Appreciating the power of stillness.

Taking the time to think before you act.

Noticing your thoughts and feelings and not identifying with or acting on them.

Being a dog.

Appreciating the rarefied air of nowhere.

Sitting in your space and taking in everything that’s going on.

Choosing to be mindful while standing in line at the grocery store.

In addition to meditative practices, you can practice mindfulness with: 

  • Massage.
  • Planting flowers.
  • Doing yoga.
  • Taking a hike in the woods. 
  • Going fishing.
  • Sitting by a fire.
  • Curling up with a good book.
  • Eating lunch outside.
  • Taking a pottery class.
  • Treating yourself to a pedicure or manicure.
  • Walking the dog.
  • Knitting or crocheting.
  • Joining a book club with friends.
  • Enjoying a cup of tea.
  • Doing a hands-on craft like woodworking or painting.
  • Going camping under the stars.
  • Writing in a journal.
  • Watching the sun rise or set.
  • Going for a swim.
  • Listening to folk music, classical music, or whatever floats your boat.
  • Sailing on the waters.

The Wrinkle-Free Diet

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It’s been decades since my parents, Chef Ira and The Gardener, first coined a name for the way they eat. They called it the wrinkle-free diet. Though it started as a joke, an answer to the fact that they didn’t seem to be aging as quickly as their friends, it did not stay a joke for long. The magic of their wrinkle-free diet, it turns out, happens not on the surface, nor in the words themselves, but deep inside, through changes to the section of chromosomes called telomeres. Continue reading →

Mind and Body Connections Help You Grow

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Western culture has long considered the mind and body as separate entities, one from the other. In medicine, for example, mental illness has long been considered separate and different from physical illness; many aspects of care, insurance coverage, and chronicity reflect this. In one of the most widely watched TED talks of all time, Sir Ken Robinson, a highly respected educator, described an academic as an individual who employs the body to move their head from one meeting to another.

On the one hand, we are contemplative, cognitive, spiritual, moral selves; on the other we are our oriented, balancing, turning, stretching, physical selves. Two sides of the same coin, we are each and we are both. Continue reading →

Mindfulness for All

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A few words today on the “rest and relaxation” pillar, encouraging you to be mindful, to care for yourself, to be kind to yourself, and to help yourself remain centered, especially in the spinning vortex of ceaseless activity that continues to characterize recent weeks of change and chaos.

My word of the year is mindfulness. It’s the exact opposite of multi-tasking, which is not at all what it sounds like. To multi-task is not to get a whole bunch of different things done all at once, but rather to switch your attention incessantly from one project to another, giving none your full consideration. To multi-task is to invest heavily in attention-switching at the expense of your focus and goals. All told, it is a supreme waste of your precious energy.  Continue reading →

With Years Come Wisdom, Guest Post by Joe Gardewin

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Our recent guest post on aging inspired yet another guest post, this one by long-term reader Joe Gardewin. I hope his words inspire you as much as they inspired me!

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Dear Doc Roxanne, 

I may not be an expert on aging but, at 78, I do consider myself aged or, as my friend, Tom Isern, says, “seasoned.” In other words, most of my life is in my rearview mirror. Ha! That is not a bad thing, because I’ve had a pretty full life. But I do hope to live for a while yet and, in all honesty, I think I will. I think that, in part, because I have a good family doc who has now followed me for 20 years. In her words I am “… not the patient I worry about most.” 

These are my thoughts on [hopefully] living a long, healthy life:  Continue reading →

A Nation of Sugar Addicts

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A few years ago I wrote a piece on cravings for the Sam’s Club newsletter. In the process of writing it, I became further convinced that sugar is a recreational drug to which a great many Americans are addicted. Today I’m going to discuss my impressions. But we’re going to start not with sugar, but with alcohol. Continue reading →

Gratitude and Wisdom

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When I was eleven years old, my parents, always “early adopters” of the latest technology long before this kind of thing had a name, bought a brand new stove with a smooth white ceramic top. It was called a Corning Cooktop, and its most memorable feature, at least to me, was that its elements remained white even when they were hot enough to boil water. Was it really that hot? You had to take it on faith — or not. No matter how long I stared at it, I could not convince myself that the white ceramic stovetop was hot. And that is why I still remember, all these many years later, the perfectly oval burn on the tip of my right index finger. I only touched that hot stove once, but that was all it took. I did not cry, even though it hurt a lot. I just stared and stared. I could not take anyone else’s word for it; I needed to see for myself. As a matter of fact, I didn’t even tell anyone in my family. I just needed to know. Continue reading →

Disturbing News About Ultraprocessed Products

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My friend Nancy recently asked about a jar of “light mayo” whose first and third ingredients were water and “modified food starch,” respectively. She bought it because, in contrast to the 100 kcal found in conventional mayonnaise, it listed calories per serving at 35 kcal. I would say that it is an expensive way to buy water and flour. Currently, approximately two-thirds of the calories in the standard American diet derive from ultraprocessed items. I would like to discuss the many recent articles connecting illness and ultraprocessed products. Note that I don’t call them “food.”  Continue reading →

Your World Affects Your Health

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After many years of imagining what it might look like to take down the half-wall between our kitchen and dining room, we finally did it! This week, amid tons of banging, ripping, tearing, and dislodging, down came that wall and, frankly, the only one who wasn’t happy about it was the dog. I have learned a lot this week about updating 50-year-old kitchens, and yesterday’s news was the biggest: Our carpenter/project manager par excellence said that he can always tell from the project whether the family enjoys cooking. Wow — that was an eye-opener! 

Why should I be surprised? Environmental cues affect our behaviors whether we realize it or not. A well-designed kitchen is a kitchen that functions with as few obstacles as possible. The stove is near the sink is near the refrigerator. So does that mean that a well-designed kitchen inspires people who might otherwise describe themselves as “I don’t cook”? I hope so, because the research is clear: the more cooking and eating done at home, the likelier the food is to be nourishing. And the fewer obstacles to healthy behaviors, the better we rest, move, and eat.  Continue reading →

Meditation is My Happy Place

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Last week I said a few words about my own meditation practice, how I started with an approach that I call one-minute meditation, and how I had no idea where it might lead. I just knew that I liked listening to what regulator meditators said about their own experiences. So I thought I would try it out. One-minute meditation is just what it sounds like. It’s great for starters. It’s hardly much of a commitment. I mean, it’s one minute. You won’t be late for the sake of a single minute. Continue reading →