Mindful By Design

Science
Self-Improvement
Religion & Spirituality

How can we practice self-care through COVID-19 and beyond? And why should we? It’s easy to create distractions with the latest technology, news stories, or television shows. Welcome to Mindful by Design, an audio course all about mindfulness, meditation, evidence of how it all works and some guidance to make it work for you. Over five episodes and accompanying meditations, Rev angel Kyodo williams introduces core principles of the mindfulness practice through both science and lived experience.

Introducing Mindful By Design

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Understanding the Mind and the Theory of Mindfulness

Rev angel Kyodo williams invites the listener to get curious about starting a mindfulness practice. To help start the journey, Rev sits down with Dr. Helen Weng and Dr. Clifford Saron to introduce the theory and science of mindfulness, against the backdrop of their personal practices and research.

Dr. Helen Weng is an Assistant Professor Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California San Francisco. She is a faculty member at the UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and an affiliate faculty member of the Neuroscape Center. For more on Dr. Weng's research, click here.

Clifford Saron, PhD is a Research Scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain and MIND Institute at the University of California at Davis and has had a long-standing interest in the effects of contemplative practice on physiology and behavior. Dr. Saron directs the Shamatha Project, a multidisciplinary longitudinal investigation of the effects of intensive meditation on physiological and psychological processes central to well-being. For more on Dr. Saron's research on meditation, COVID-19 stress, and telomere length, click here. Check out his research lab website here.

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Fusing Inner and Outer Work

Continuing on our journey of mindfulness, Rev angel Kyodo williams poses the question: why is it important to have a mindfulness practice that is tied to inner work as well as outer work? Dr. Sará King joins Rev in an awakening conversation about how wellness and social justice are one in the same and that mindfulness matters, not just for our personal lives, but also for the world we live in.

Dr. Sará King is a UCLA-trained neuroscientist, political and learning scientist, education philosopher, social-entrepreneur, public speaker, and yoga and mindfulness meditation instructor. She has over 20 years of experience as a research scientist, and specializes in the study of the relationship between mindfulness, complementary alternative medicine, community health and social justice. She is currently a post-doctoral fellow in Neurology at OHSU (Oregon Health Science University), the executive director of Peace in Schools, a transformative mindfulness education non-profit, the founder of MindHeart Consulting through which she offers up “The Science of Social Justice” framework for research and facilitation of which she is the creator, and a dharma teacher with Presence Collective. Connect with Dr. King here and check out her Instagram for exciting updates here.

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The Importance of Empathy

Many of us are approaching the whole idea of mindfulness from very different backgrounds. Like we learned in the first episode, each brain and its chemistry is also unique. In this episode, Rev angel Kyodo williams and Dr. James Doty discuss compassion versus empathy and how understanding the said neuroscience can inform mindfulness techniques that allow us to remain calm in the storm.

Dr. James Doty is the founder and director of the Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education (CCARE) at Stanford. For more from Dr. Doty, be on the lookout for his forthcoming podcast, Magic Brain Magic Heart, coming later this fall available wherever you get your podcasts.

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Designing a Mindful Life

How can we use lessons in mindfulness to bridge divides and unite nations? Rev angel speaks with Congressman Tim Ryan about his book, Healing America, and how he uses his own mindfulness practice to lead with clarity and seek the root of every issue. There are many unexpected paths to mindfulness practice. This episode, Rev. angel and Rep. Ryan explore ways to expand the practice beyond meditation to design a mindful life.

Tim Ryan was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002 and has been reelected eight times, now serving in his ninth term. Congressman Ryan currently serves as a member of the House Appropriations Committee which controls the expenditure of money by the federal government. He is the author of Healing America: How a Simple Practice Can Help Us Recapture the American Spirit and The Real Food Revolution: Healthy Eating, Green Groceries, and the Return of the American Family Farm.

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Maintenance of The Practice

Maintenance is as much art as it is science. In this final episode of Mindful by Design, Rev angel Kyodo williams is joined by writer, activist, and speaker, Yung Pueblo for an awakening conversation on the maintenance of the mindfulness practice. While the journey via this series concludes, hopefully with the foundations laid, your own journey in mindfulness continues to grow.

Diego Perez is a meditator, writer, and speaker who is widely known on Instagram and various social media networks through his pen name Yung Pueblo. Online he reaches hundreds of thousands of people every month through his written works that focus on the reality of self-healing, the movement from self-love to unconditional love, and the wisdom that comes when we truly work on knowing ourselves. His first book, Inward, was self-published and quickly became a bestseller on Amazon. A revised and expanded edition of Inward has recently been published and is now available in bookstores around the world.

The name Yung Pueblo means young people; it serves to remind him of his Ecuadorian roots, his experiences in activism, and that the collective of humanity is in the midst of important growth. Diego's practice of Vipassana meditation, as taught by S.N. Goenka, has given him a deeper understanding of liberation that inspires his writing. Through writing and speaking he aims to support the healing of the individual, knowing that when people release their personal burdens it helps humanity build a global peace.

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