By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “When we as adults learn mindfulness—paying attention here and now with kindness and curiosity and then choosing our behavior—we can support our children and teenagers in bringing these skills into their lives. If we are in the present, we aren’t worrying about our third grader getting into college […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindful Fathering is the act of consciously checking into your life as a father. It’s about staying present in your life as a father, observing the dreary, ugly, and painful parts of fathering with acceptance and non-judgement, and honoring those parts with our full attention, just as […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindful meditation helped me to think (and not think) about tinnitus in ways that had not occurred before, and in doing so made tinnitus much less of a burden to carry. It did not fix my tinnitus but it fixed me in a way that made tinnitus easier […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Tai Chi has demonstrated usefulness in the prevention and treatment of certain problems such as back pain. Importantly, Tai Chi is non-invasive, relatively inexpensive, and gentle on the spine, so many people with back pain are starting to try it as an adjunct to (or sometimes instead of) […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Stress is a primary instigator of symptoms associated with Parkinson’s Disease. A practical and powerful way to reduce stress is to become more mindful which, simply put, means we are present in the moment rather than agonizing over the past or anticipating the future.” – Robert Rodgers Parkinson’s […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Before we can teach a kid how to academically excel in school, we need to teach him how to have stillness, pay attention, stay on task, regulate, make good choices. We tell kids be quiet, calm yourself down, be still. We tell them all these things they […]
Mindful Motherhood By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “There could not be a better time to learn mindfulness than during pregnancy and early motherhood. For one thing, this is a time when most people have a strong motivation to become the best person they can be in a relatively short period of time. When you […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Despite increased attention to diversity issues, ethnic minorities are still underrepresented in the field of psychology. Baseline knowledge on the effectiveness of treatments for ethnic minority groups is limited.” – Janice Ya Ken Cheng Mindfulness practices have gone mainstream in western culture. This has not been driven […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Stress is a known trigger for headaches, and mindfulness is a known combatant against stress. Several studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can curb stress responses” – Mandy Oaklander The most common medical ailment is headaches. They affect about 16.5% of the population of the U.S., approximately 45 million Americans […]
Improve Alternatives to Incarceration with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness training helps youth consider more adaptive alternatives. It creates a gap between triggers for offending behavior and their responses. They learn to not immediately act out on impulse, but to pause and consider the consequences of a potential offending and […]