Dana Falsetti is a yoga instructor with a simple but revolutionary idea--yoga should be for everybody. Campaigning for equality, shame disruption, empowerment, sexual freedom and confidence, Dana has gained an online following of more than half a million people. She has traveled worldwide, hosting dozens of workshops for those seeking similar insights, and several of her viral videos have gleaned more than 20 million views. Dana won the 2017 Shorty Award for Health and Wellness on Social Media and had been featured in publications such as Seventeen, Women’s Health, People, Cosmopolitan, Huffington Post and Buzzfeed, among others. She has built her own platform where yoga students pay only what they can afford, for a practice that suits their ability status, and where compassion is at the heart of every lesson.Dana’s message really does just boil down to compassion for people of all sizes, all races, all ages, and all ability statuses. The lack of empathy in diet culture and the corporate wellness industry has led to a very visual and commercial understanding of “health.” Dana advocates for a broader, more holistic understanding of health that cannot be determined by your BMI (body mass index).
Like many people, Dana dealt with a lot of shame throughout her life. She believed that she had to be a specific weight and reach a certain standard of beauty, to be allowed to thrive in modern society. Five years ago, she found yoga, and it helped pull her out of the insidious grasp of diet culture. While Dana has had her ups and downs during her yoga journey, she has reached a point where existing as herself and living her best life in the body is her highest truth - and she's helping others do the same.
Disturbances of angiogenesis and oxidative stress can lead to many serious diseases such as cancer, diabetes or ischemic heart disease. Substances neutralizing oxidative stress are known as antioxidants. They can affect angiogenesis process also, and thus, they modulate therapy results. Antioxidants become more and more frequently used in order to maintain homeostasis of the organism and diminish the risk of disease. Herein, we introduce some antioxidant preparations of natural plant origin (Rhodiola, Aloe vera, Resveratrol, Echinacea, Plumbagin) and antioxidant supplements (Padma 28, Reumaherb, Resvega). Analyses of their angiogenic properties, their multidirectional molecular effect on angiogenesis as well as medical application are within the scope of this review. Most of presented preparations down regulate neovascularization. They can be safely administered to patients with abnormally high angiogenesis. Rhodiola modulates, and Echinacea, Aloe vera and Plumbagin inhibit tumour-related angiogenesis in vitro and in vivo (animal models). Resveratrol and Resvega reduce neovascularization in the eye and may be applicable in eye disorders. Padma 28 preparation exhibits angioregulatory activity, decreasing high angiogenesis of cancer cells and increasing physiological angiogenesis, therefore can be used in therapy of patients with various disturbances of angiogenesis. Antioxidant application in the case of angiogenesis-related diseases should take into consideration angiogenic status of the patient.
Love it or hate it, the Anthropocene is emerging as an inescapable word for (and of) the current moment. Popularized by Eugene Stoermer and Paul Crutzen, Anthropocene names an age in which human industry has come to equal or even surpass the processes of geology, and in which humans in their attempt to conquer nature have inadvertently become a major force in its destruction (Crutzen & Stoermer 2000; Steffen et al. 2011). This is the tragedy of the Anthropocene. But this tragedy also holds an odd, even schizophrenic, promise; namely the promise of scientific renewal and insight. For in the Anthropocene, nature is no longer what conventional science imagined it to be. And if the notion of a pure nature-an-Sich has died in the Anthropocene and been replaced by natural worlds that are inextricable from the worlds of humans, then humans themselves can no longer be what classical anthropology and human sciences thought they were. Arguably, the Anthropocene challenges us all to radically what nature, humans as well as the political and historical relationship between them might be at the end of the world, peppering its message of environmental doom with the promise of scientific renewal (and global survival) through trans-disciplinary collaboration. This bipolar message of a new science and a new politics amidst ruins is exhilarating for some, and seems to come at an opportune moment. Certainly, the notion that human lives and politics are producers of/produced by natural worlds gels with a growing attention within anthropology and neighboring disciplines to the diverse multispecies worlds that humans and non-humans cohabit. And yet, the Anthropocene may still be, as Bruno Latour puts it in...
Living on a damaged planet challenges who we are and where we live. This timely anthology calls on twenty eminent humanists and scientists to revitalize curiosity, observation, and transdisciplinary conversation about life on earth. As human-induced environmental change threatens multispecies livability, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet puts forward a bold proposal: entangled histories, situated narratives, and thick descriptions offer urgent “arts of living.” Included are essays by scholars in anthropology, ecology, science studies, art, literature, and bioinformatics who posit critical and creative tools for collaborative survival in a more-than-human Anthropocene. The essays are organized around two key figures that also serve as the publication’s two openings: Ghosts, or landscapes haunted by the violences of modernity; and Monsters, or interspecies and intraspecies sociality. Ghosts and Monsters are tentacular, windy, and arboreal arts that invite readers to encounter ants, lichen, rocks, electrons, flying foxes, salmon, chestnut trees, mud volcanoes, border zones, graves, radioactive waste—in short, the wonders and terrors of an unintended epoch.Contributors: Karen Barad, U of California, Santa Cruz; Kate Brown, U of Maryland, Baltimore; Carla Freccero, U of California, Santa Cruz; Peter Funch, Aarhus U; Scott F. Gilbert, Swarthmore College; Deborah M. Gordon, Stanford U; Donna J. Haraway, U of California, Santa Cruz; Andreas Hejnol, U of Bergen, Norway; Ursula K. Le Guin; Marianne Elisabeth Lien, U of Oslo; Andrew Mathews, U of California, Santa Cruz; Margaret McFall-Ngai, U of Hawaii, Manoa; Ingrid M. Parker, U of California, Santa Cruz; Mary Louise Pratt, NYU; Anne Pringle, U of Wisconsin, Madison; Deborah Bird Rose, U of New South Wales, Sydney; Dorion Sagan; Lesley Stern, U of California, San Diego; Jens-Christian Svenning, Aarhus U.
<p>This issue of the the Bulletin of Tibetology features articles by Gos Pema Gyaltsen ('gos padma rgyal mtshan), Saul Mullard, Rigzin Ngodup, Martin J. Boord, Mélanie Vandenhelsken, Rigzin Ngodup, and a book review by Françoise Pommaret. The issue was published in May of 2003. (Ben Deitle 2006-01-16)</p>
<p>This issue of the the Bulletin of Tibetology features articles by Franz-Karl Ehrhard, Alex McKay, Saul Mullard, and Jackie Hiltz. It was published in November of 2003. (Ben Deitle 2006-01-10)</p>
<p>This issue of the the Bulletin of Tibetology features articles by Katia Buffetrille, Françoise Pommaret-Imaeda, Brigitte Steinmann, and Sophie Bourdet-Sabatier. It was published in May of 2004. (Ben Deitle 2006-01-10)</p>
Fatigue is one of the most common symptoms of breast cancer and its treatment [1 Carlson LE, Angen M, Cullum J, Goodey E, Koopmans J, Lamont L, . High levels of untreated distress and fatigue in cancer patients. Br J Cancer 2004;90:2297–304.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®], , [Google Scholar]
]. Yoga is among the most commonly used complementary therapies for breast cancer [2 Fouladbakhsh JM, Stommel M. Gender, symptom experience, and use of complementary and alternative medicine practices among cancer survivors in the U.S. cancer population. Oncol Nurs Forum 2010;37:E7–15.
[Crossref], [PubMed], , [Google Scholar]
]. Yoga encompasses physical postures, breath control and meditation. Recent systematic reviews indicate that yoga is effective as an adjunct treatment for cancer [3 Lin KY, Hu YT, Chang KJ, Lin HF, Tsauo JY. Effects of yoga on psychological health, quality of life, and physical health of patients with cancer: A meta-analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2011;659–876.
[Google Scholar]
]. The aim of this systematic review was to assess the evidence of yoga for fatigue in breast cancer patients.
Purpose Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based treatment for common mental health problems that affect children, young people and adults. The suitability of CBT for children has been questioned because it requires children to think about their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to investigate which cognitive and affective capacities predict children?s ability to relate thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Design/methodology/approach A total of 59 typically developing children aged between 8 and 11 years took part in the study. CBT skills were assessed on a story task that required children to relate the character?s thoughts to their feelings and behaviours. Children also completed an assessment of IQ, a feeling-of-knowing metamemory task that assessed metacognition, and a higher-order theory of mind task. Furthermore, parents rated their child?s empathy on the children?s empathy quotient. Findings The findings suggest that CBT is developmentally appropriate for 8?11 year old children; however, young children and children with mental health problems may have impaired metacognition and CBT skills. Metacognition and empathy may moderate the efficacy of child CBT and warrant further investigation in clinical trials. Originality/value This study provides evidence for the cognitive and affective skills that might predict the outcome of CBT in children. Metacognition and empathy predict children?s ability to relate thoughts, feelings and behaviours, and therefore may moderate the efficacy of CBT.
Contextually based assessments reveal the circumstances accompanying maladjustment (the when, where, and with whom) and supply clues to the motivations underpinning problem behaviors. The Adjustment Scales for Children and Adolescents (ASCA) is a teacher rating scale composed of indicators describing behavior in 24 classroom situational contexts. This study examines the Trinidad and Tobago national normative process for the ASCA contextual dimensions with a representative sample of elementary school children (N = 900). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses yielded the same three dimensions (peer context problems, teacher context problems, and learning context problems) observed in U.S. national samples. Dimensions were scaled using item response theory (IRT) and Bayesian scoring methods, with peer and learning context problems scores relating more strongly to clinical behavior disturbances and learning context problems showing stronger association with classroom learning styles. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Managing classroom behavior is an important prerequisite to effective teaching and a salient need in alternative schools. Unfortunately, students from these schools are often underrepresented in the intervention literature. The primary aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of two different theoretical approaches to classroom management, one behavioral (i.e., the good behavior game) and the other mindfulness-based (i.e., mindfulness skills training), with a sample of fifth-grade, predominantly African American students from an urban, high-poverty alternative school. The study examined the effectiveness of the two interventions in comparison to each other and a treatment-as-usual control using a quasi-experimental group design with blocked random assignment. Results revealed that neither intervention led to significant improvements in student internalizing behavior, externalizing behavior, or wellbeing. Though, some practically meaningful treatment effects were found through examination of effect sizes. Mindfulness skills training was the only condition to yield meaningful pre–post change in student outcomes, including a moderate therapeutic effect for externalizing behavior and an iatrogenic effect with respect to student wellbeing. These findings provide preliminary evidence that mindfulness skills training might have differential effects on student mental health outcomes, compared with education as usual and a traditional classwide behavioral intervention. Additionally, study findings make clear the importance of careful deliberation when transporting evidence-based interventions to unique student populations and intervention contexts.
This research examined whether cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness interventions that target responses to chronic stress, pain, and depression reduce pain and improve the quality of everyday life for adults with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The 144 RA participants were clustered into groups of 6–10 participants and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatments: cognitive behavioral therapy for pain (P); mindfulness meditation and emotion regulation therapy (M); or education-only group (E), which served as an attention placebo control. The authors took a multimethod approach, employing daily diaries and laboratory assessment of pain and mitogen-stimulated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), a proinflammatory cytokine. Participants receiving P showed the greatest Pre to Post improvement in self-reported pain control and reductions in the IL-6; both P and M groups showed more improvement in coping efficacy than did the E group. The relative value of the treatments varied as a function of depression history. RA patients with recurrent depression benefited most from M across several measures, including negative and positive affect and physicians' ratings of joint tenderness, indicating that the emotion regulation aspects of that treatment were most beneficial to those with chronic depressive features.
BackgroundKnowledge of coping mechanisms is important for nursing and midwifery students to cope with stressful events during undergraduate education.
Objectives
To evaluate the impact of a psycho-educational intervention “Coping with Stressful Events” with first year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students.
Design
A quasi-experimental, one-group pre-post-test.
Settings
One school of nursing/midwifery in one university in Ireland.
Participants
A convenience sample of all first year undergraduate nursing and midwifery students (n=197). Of these 166 completed the pretest and 138 students completed the post test.
Methods
Using the COPE Inventory questionnaire (Carver et al., 1989) data was collected pre and post-delivery of the psycho-educational intervention “Coping with Stressful Events” by two research assistants. Data were analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics version 22 (NY, USA).
Results
Results demonstrated improved coping skills by students. There were statistically significant differences between pre and post intervention for some coping subscales. For example, the mean subscale scores were lower post-intervention for restraint and mental disengagement, and higher for use of emotional and instrumental social support indicating improved coping strategies.
Conclusions
This intervention has the potential to influence undergraduate nursing and midwifery students coping skills during their first year of an undergraduate programme.
Background: The diagnostic framework and clinical reasoning process in Chinese medicine emphasizes the contextual and qualitative nature of a patient's illness. Chinese medicine assessment data may help interpret clinical outcomes. Objectives: As part of a study aimed at assessing the validity and improving the inter-rater reliability of the Chinese diagnostic process, a structured assessment instrument was developed for use in clinical trials of acupuncture and other Chinese medical therapies. Study design: To foster collaboration and maximize resources and information, an interdisciplinary advisory team was assembled. Under the guidance of two group process facilitators, and in order to establish whether the assessment instrument was consistent with accepted Chinese medicine diagnostic categories (face validity) and included the full range of each concept's meaning (content validity), a panel of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) expert clinicians was convened and their responses were organized using the Delphi process, an iterative, anonymous, idea-generating and consensus-building process. An aggregate rating measure was obtained by taking the mean of mean ratings for each question across all 10 experts. Results: Over three rounds, the overall rating increased from 7.4 (SD = 1.3) in Round 1 to 9.1 (SD = 0.5) in Round 3. The level of agreement among clinicians was measured by a decrease in SD. Conclusions: The final instrument TEAMSI-TCM (Traditional East Asian Medicine Structured Interview, TCM version) uses the pattern differentiation model characteristic of TCM. This modular, dynamic version was specifically designed to assess women, with a focus on gynecologic conditions; with modifications it can be adapted for use with other populations and conditions. TEAMSI-TCM is a prescriptive instrument that guides clinicians to use the proper indicators, combine them in a systematic manner, and generate conclusions. In conjunction with treatment manualization and training it may serve to increase inter-rater reliability and inter-trial reproducibility in Chinese medicine clinical trials. Testing of the validity and reliability of this instrument currently is underway.
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Previous studies have reported that life satisfaction (LS) is positively associated with time perspective (TP) and mindfulness and that mindfulness may provide a holistic TP that integrates and helps to balance different time frames. However, studies performed to date have only been conducted in Eastern and Central Europe. Given the important cultural differences in time management between these regions and Mediterranean countries, the purpose of the present study was to replicate those studies to assess the association between mindfulness, TP, and LS in a sample of young adults living in the province of Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). A total of 377 undergraduate university students (65.25% women) were recruited and completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI), and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). Results show significant positive relationships between LS, mindfulness, and past positive, as well as negative associations between LS, past negative, and an unbalanced TP. Mindfulness also correlated inversely with an unbalanced TP. Regression analyses showed that 27% of variance in LS could be explained by the past negative and past positive ZTPI measures together with the MAAS. These results confirm the conclusions of previous studies conducted in culturally different populations and reinforce the hypothesis that mindfulness provides a holistic TP that intrinsically balances TP and increases LS. These findings suggest that a mindful attitude might be a key component of TP regulation that transcends different European cultural backgrounds.
Assessing the cultural benefits provided by non-market ecosystem services can contribute previously unknown information to supplement conservation decision-making. The concept of sense of place embeds all dimensions of peoples’ perceptions and interpretations of the environment, such as attachment, identity or symbolic meaning, and has the potential to link social and ecological issues. This review contains: (1) an evaluation of the importance of sense of place as an ecosystem service; and (2) comprehensive discussion as to how incorporating sense of place in an evaluation can uncover potential benefits for both biodiversity conservation and human well-being. Sense of place provides physical and psychological benefits to people, and has neglected economic value. The biodiversity-related experiences are essential components of the service that need to be further explored. A conceptual framework was used to explore how the existing knowledge on sense of place derived from other fields can be used to inform conservation decision-making, but further research is needed to fill existing gaps in knowledge. This review contributes to a better understanding of the role biodiversity plays in human well-being, and should inform the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
This study evaluated the effects of Progressive Self-focus Meditation with 42 volunteers (M age = 46.0 yr., SD = 14.1) allocated to two groups: one that had weekly 1-hr. training sessions in the practice for 5 wk. and one waiting-list group. Participants were evaluated before and after 5 wk. on the Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, the Digit Symbol subtest of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, and the Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale. After 5 wk., a significant reduction in scores on depression was found in the Meditation group as well as an increase in attention in comparison with the waiting-list Control group.
During selective attention, ∼7–14 Hz alpha rhythms are modulated in early sensory cortices, suggesting a mechanistic role for these dynamics in perception. Here, we investigated whether alpha modulation can be enhanced by “mindfulness” meditation (MM), a program training practitioners in sustained attention to body and breath-related sensations. We hypothesized that participants in the MM group would exhibit enhanced alpha power modulation in a localized representation in the primary somatosensory neocortex in response to a cue, as compared to participants in the control group. Healthy subjects were randomized to 8-weeks of MM training or a control group. Using magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recording of the SI finger representation, we found meditators demonstrated enhanced alpha power modulation in response to a cue. This finding is the first to show enhanced local alpha modulation following sustained attentional training, and implicates this form of enhanced dynamic neural regulation in the behavioral effects of meditative practice.
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OBJECTIVES: Previous research has found that yoga can enhance quality of life and ease menopausal symptoms of breast cancer survivors. The study examined whether self-esteem mediated the effects of yoga on quality of life, fatigue and menopausal symptoms, utilizing validated outcome measures.STUDY DESIGN: This is a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects of yoga with those of usual care in 40 breast cancer survivors who suffered from menopausal symptoms. All participants completed all 3 assessments (week 0, week 12, and week 24) and provided full data.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Outcomes were measured using self-rating instruments. Mediation analyses were performed using SPSS.
RESULTS: Self-esteem mediated the effect of yoga on total menopausal symptoms (B=-2.11, 95% BCI [-5.40 to -0.37]), psychological menopausal symptoms (B=-0.94, 95% BCI [-2.30 to -0.01]), and urogenital menopausal symptoms (B=-0.66, 95% BCI [-1.65 to -0.15]), quality of life (B=8.04, 95% BCI [3.15-17.03]), social well-being (B=1.80, 95% BCI [0.54-4.21]), emotional well-being (B=1.62, 95% BCI [0.70-3.34]), functional well-being (B=1.84, 95% BCI [0.59-4.13]), and fatigue (B=4.34, 95% BCI [1.28-9.55]). Self-esteem had no effect on somatovegetative menopausal symptoms (B=-0.50, 95% BCI n.s.) or on physical well-being (B=0.79, 95% BCI n.s.).
CONCLUSIONS: Findings support the assumption that self-esteem plays a vital role in the beneficial effect of yoga and that yoga can have long-term benefits for women diagnosed with breast cancer and undergoing menopausal transition.
Women experiencing severe perinatal mental illness during pregnancy or postpartum have unique needs when psychiatric hospitalization is indicated. Although many countries have established mother-baby psychiatric units, similar facilities have not been available in the US. In 2011, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill inaugurated the first Perinatal Psychiatry Inpatient Unit in the US. We describe the unique characteristics of the patient population and report clinical outcomes guiding development and refinement of treatment protocols. Ninety-two perinatal patients were admitted between September 2011 and September 2012, and 91 completed self-report measures at admission and discharge. Perinatal unipolar mood disorder was the most frequent primary diagnosis (60.43 %), and 11 patients (12 %) were admitted with psychosis. The data document clinically and statistically significant improvements in symptoms of depression, anxiety, and active suicidal ideation between admission and discharge (p < 0.0001), as assessed by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale. Overall functioning was also improved, demonstrated by a significant mean difference of -10.96 in total scores of the Work and Social Adjustment Scale (p < 0.0001). Data suggest that delivering specialized and targeted interventions for severe maternal mental illness in a safe and supportive setting produces positive patient outcomes.
A groundbreaking synthesis of evolutionary theory arguing that induced and acquired changes also play a role in evolution.
Mornings are better with yoga! These carefully chosen positions?including Tree and Warrior poses? constructively channel kids? energy as they wake up and begin their day. Indispensable step-by-step instructions and Anna Lang?s colorful and amusing illustrations make this book appealing and easy to follow. Namaste!
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