Tag Archives: yoga

Setting an Intention

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I am writing today about what it means to set an intention. 

What is an intention? I was introduced to the idea many years ago by my friend and yogi Mel who is full of heart, full of smarts, and, yes, full of intention. She said that it’s good to “set an intention” for your yoga practice each time you get started. I had heard other people say that, too, but I had no idea what it meant, so I ignored them. But you ignore Mel at your own peril. So I smiled, nodded blankly, and tried to act like I knew what she was talking about. Oh yes, an intention, good idea. Yes, definitely. Smile. Continue reading →

Gratitude 2026

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This week I am thinking about gratitude. That’s not hard for me. I was born an optimist; I always see the glass half-full. I always make lemonade from lemons — what else would you do with them? While it is certainly true that I have had my share of bad days, I’ll be the first to tell you that they have made me a better person. And they made me a better doctor, too. See what I mean? Glass half full. It’s a given.  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 →

When My Friend Bob Turned His Health Around

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A while ago, I ran into my old friend Bob, and I was delighted to see a much slimmer, trimmer, happier-looking guy than I had seen the previous time. He and I had had a conversation about six months earlier, and I had suggested increasing the protein in his breakfast, and switching out the soda for unsweetened iced tea. That’s all. We hadn’t talked since. Continue reading →

Be Here Now

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“Be here now” is what Thich Nhat Hanh says. I think about that sentence a lot. It grounds me in the present and keeps me here, no matter what I’m doing, No matter when and where I’m doing it. Not there, not then, but here and now. For a long time I thought of “Be Here Now” as “be HERE now.” Sometimes “be here NOW.” But last week, for the first time, I heard myself think “BE here now.” Notice: Thich Nhat Hanh said BE here now, not DO here now. Continue reading →