Become a Better Athlete with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “athletes perform better when experiencing flow and that mindfulness meditation for athletes can help them experience flow. This is really good news for high-performance coaches and athletes.” – Ertheo Athletic performance requires the harmony of mind and body. Excellence is in […]
Meditation and Exercise Practices can be Maintained Long-Term after Training Completion By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Maintaining your meditation practice after the course has finished is often a struggle. Without the structure of a follow-on course it’s easy to lose track, stop practising and get down-hearted and even give up.” Over […]
Meditation Improves Health and Well-Being Through Epigenetic Mechanisms By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “It seems unusual that something as simple and easy as meditating could improve your health, but these studies demonstrate an epigenetic link between meditation and its potential disease-reducing benefits.” – Bailey Kirkpatrick Over the last several decades, research […]
Mindfulness Alters Rapid Temporal Order Perception By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness represents a balanced and holistic subjective experience of time.” – Ian LeSueur We have a bias to notice things occurring on the left first. This is probably due to our training with words and numbers to pay attention first […]
Increase White Matter in the Brains of Aging Women with Tai Chi By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “studies have shown tai chi’s association with improved cognition and neuroplasticity. This has led the scientific community to suggest tai chi may be of useful treating physical and psychological disorders, including stroke, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain […]
Exercise on the Eightfold Path By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “it’s possible to merge awareness and physical exercise together as one. This allows you to experience the present moment during your physical activity.” – Adam Brady We often think of meditation or spiritual practice as occurring in quiet places removed from […]
Improve the Physical and Mental Health of Patients with COPD with Tai Chi By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The gentle movements of Sun-style tai chi (SSTC) can improve the lives and boost the exercise endurance of people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.” – Matt McMillen Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases (COPD) are progressive lung diseases that obstruct […]
Improve the Aging Brain and Well-Being with Mindfulness Training By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “On average, the brains of long-term meditators were 7.5 years younger at age 50 than the brains of non-meditators, and an additional 1 month and 22 days younger for every year after 50.” – Grace Bullock The […]
Improve the Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease with Mind-Body Practices By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The mind-body connection recognizes that emotional, mental, and behavioral factors can directly affect our health, and mind-body techniques can improve quality of life and may help reduce symptoms of disease.” – Emily Downward Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is an incurable […]
Improve Depression During the Perinatal Period with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Pregnancy is a challenging terrain for everyone to navigate. And if you are entering that space with some history of depression, it can be particularly challenging.” – Sona Dimidjian The period of pregnancy is a time of intense […]