Creative Stress Management

Meditation is very interesting.

Studies have shown the physiological benefits and spiritual leaders across cultures and centuries have taught the "soul-full" benefits.

It is free and there are no side effects.

Herbert Benson, MD, a longtime professor at Harvard Medical School, became curious about these benefits and published the first Western research on the results of meditation.

Check it out at:

http://www.relaxationresponse.org/

There are many ways to meditate. One can sit quietly and keep company with the breath. One can pray or chant. One can focus on breathing in rhythm with body postures - Yoga.

Meditation can be mindfulness-based stress reduction as pioneered by Jon Kabat-Zinn. His book "Full Catastrophe Living" created a new perspective on the mind-body connection and the power of our minds to heal.

In his new book, "Coming to Our Senses", he writes: "The journey toward health and sanity is nothing less than an invitation to wake up to the fullness of our lives as if they actually mattered ..."

Nature is a lovely path to mindfulness. I photographed this rose at Elizabeth Park in Hartford. What a beautiful place and it is completely free.

http://www.elizabethpark.org/