While squarely in the same class of travel guidebooks as <i>Lonely Planet Tibet</i> and <i>Footprint Tibet</i> , <i>The Tibet Guide</i> is not simply another iteration of same topics that have been covered elsewhere in depth. Unlike <i>Lonely Planet</i> (and <i>Footprint</i> to some extent), <i>The Tibet Guide</i> is less interested in the logistics of travel (i.e. hotel names, restaurants, taxi fares—although some of that information is provided) than in the history and cultural significance of places. In a sense, <i>The Tibet Guide</i> gives you an account of the same details a monk or local expert might give you about a place, answering questions any might have like "what is this (building, statue, etc)?", "what is it called?", "why is it important?". As the author says (p4), the main intent of the book is to comprehensively describe and explain "what [travelers] will see when they are there." In this regard, this book would appeal to anyone keen on understanding a place in its cultural, religious, and political context, especially if he/she lacks a tour guide of his or her own.The book is separated into five sections: Parts 1-4 provide histories, travel details, and descriptions of sites in Central and Western Tibet; Part 5 provides general advice and details about traveling to Tibet and some of the logistics involved. The beginning of the book provides a short history of Tibet and explanation of Tibetan Buddhism.(Zach Rowinski 2008-2-1)
Mindfulness has been described as an orienting of attention to the present moment, with openness and compassion. Individuals displaying high trait mindfulness exhibit this tendency as a more permanent personality attribute. Given the numerous physical and mental health benefits associated with mindfulness, there is a great interest in understanding the neural substrates of this trait. The purpose of the current research was to examine how individual differences in trait mindfulness associated with functional connectivity in five resting-state networks related to cognition and attention: the default mode network (DMN), the salience network (SN), the central executive network (CEN), and the dorsal and ventral attention networks (DAN and VAN). Twenty-eight undergraduate participants completed the Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), a self-report measure of trait mindfulness which also provides scores on five of its sub-categories (Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Non-judging of Inner Experience, and Non-reactivity to Inner Experience). Participants then underwent a structural MRI scan and a 7-min resting state functional MRI scan. Resting-state data were analyzed using independent-component analyses. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was performed to determine the relationship between each resting state network and each FFMQ score. These analyses indicated that: (1) trait mindfulness and its facets showed increased functional connectivity with neural regions related to attentional control, interoception, and executive function; and (2) trait mindfulness and its facets showed decreased functional connectivity with neural regions related to self-referential processing and mind wandering. These patterns of functional connectivity are consistent with some of the benefits of mindfulness-enhanced attention, self-regulation, and focus on present experience. This study provides support for the notion that non-judgmental attention to the present moment facilitates the integration of regions in neural networks that are related to cognition, attention, and sensation.
OBJECTIVE:This study sought to identify relationships between trait mindfulness, repressive, and suppressive emotional styles, and the relative importance of these traits in their association with self-reported psychological health among women with breast cancer.
METHOD:
Of the 277 women with breast cancer accrued in the study, 227 (81.9%) completed a set of questionnaires assessing personality traits, stress symptoms, and mood.
RESULTS:
High levels of mindfulness were associated with fewer stress-related symptoms and less mood disturbance, while high levels of suppression were associated with poorer self-reported health.
CONCLUSION:
Individuals' dispositional ways to manage negative emotions were associated with the experience of symptoms and aversive moods. Helping patients cultivate mindful insights and reduce deliberate emotional inhibition may be a useful focus for psycho-oncological interventions.
This paper seeks to contribute to the debate around sustainability by proposing the need for an ecocentric stance to sustainability that reflexively embeds humans in—rather than detached from—nature. We argue that this requires a different way of thinking about our relationship with our world, necessitating a (re)engagement with the sociomaterial world in which we live. We develop the notion of ecocentrism by drawing on insights from sociomateriality studies, and show how radical-reflexivity enables us to appreciate our embeddedness and responsibility for sustainability by bringing attention to the interrelationship between values, actions and our social and material world. We examine the implications of an ecocentric radically reflexive approach to sustainability for management education.
What if we could prove that love heals mental illness and is vital to successful therapeutic outcomes in all areas of health care? What if we could prove that people who live more for others than for self have greater psychological well-being? In Unlimited Love, Post examines the question of what we mean by "unlimited love"; his focus is not on "falling" into love, which is "altogether natural, easy, and delusional." Rather, he focuses on the difficult learned ascent that "begins with insight into the need for tolerance of ubiquitous imperfection, and matures into unselfish concern, gratitude, and compassion." He considers social scientific and evolutionary perspectives on human altruistic motivations, and he analyzes these perspectives in a wide interdisciplinary context at the interface of science, ethics, and religion. In Unlimited Love, Stephen Post presents an argument for the creation of a new interdisciplinary field for the study of love and unlimited love, "engaging great minds and hoping to shape the human future away from endless acrimony, hatred, and violence."
This Special Section features a number of perspectives on the vital role played by natural environments. The three empirical papers, using different approaches and measures, representing diverse populations in different countries, and different kinds of natural settings, all provide evidence for the importance of nature to human well-being. This paper presents the Reasonable Person Model (RPM) as a framework for understanding how the environment can help bring out the best in people. Demographic and regional variations notwithstanding, people are empowered by opportunities to make a difference and be respected, they are concerned with being effective, and their efforts are guided by their mental models. Having nature nearby, even if modest in scale, can be particularly beneficial in offsetting some of the consequences of depleted attentional resources which readily undermine reasonable behavior. We focus on some important distinctions between psychological restoration (and its relationship to the effectiveness domain of RPM) and environmental preference (and its connection to RPM's model building domain). Today's all too pervasive unreasonableness is costly in terms of personal and social well-being. Understanding the vital capacity of the natural environment can make a substantial difference in bringing out the best in people.
Eve teasing was identified as a significant community problem through a community-based participatory process with nine villages in Punjab, India. Eve teasing is a common euphemism in South Asia for sexual harassment of women in public areas by men. The purpose of this study was to characterize the meaning of eve teasing in the rural context, especially among female youth, and to develop a means to measure its occurrence. Mixed methods were utilized including focus group discussions (FGDs), semistructured interviews, and direct observation of questionnaire administration. Thirty-four people participated in six FGDs; two with adolescent boys (n = 10), two with adolescent girls (n = 15), and two with women ages 20 to 26 years (n = 9). Eighty-nine females, ages 14 to 26 years, were recruited through purposive sampling for face-to-face interviews in homes and schools. Twenty-four interviews were observed directly to aid questionnaire development. Eve teasing was described as staring, stalking, passing comments, and inappropriate physical touch. Perceived consequences of eve teasing included tight restrictions on girls’ mobility, inability to attend school or work, girls being blamed, and causing family problems. FGD participants suggested that eve teasing can lead to depression and suicide. Among the 36 (40.4%) interview participants who reported eve teasing, 61.1% reported feelings of anger, 47.2% reported feelings of shame or humiliation, and more than one third reported feelings of fear, worry, or tension. The questionnaire offers a means to assess the occurrence of eve teasing that is culturally relevant and age appropriate for female youth in India.
A longer life. A happier life. A healthier life. Above all, a life that matters—so that when you leave this world, you’ll have changed it for the better. If science said you could have all this just by altering one behavior, would you?Dr. Stephen Post has been making headlines by funding studies at the nation’s top universities to prove once and for all the life-enhancing benefits of caring, kindness, and compassion. The exciting new research shows that when we give of ourselves, especially if we start young, everything from life-satisfaction to self-realization and physical health is significantly affected. Mortality is delayed. Depression is reduced. Well-being and good fortune are increased. In their life-changing new book, Why Good Things Happen to Good People, Dr. Post and journalist Jill Neimark weave the growing new science of love and giving with profoundly moving real-life stories to show exactly how giving unlocks the doors to health, happiness, and a longer life.
The astounding new research includes a fifty-year study showing that people who are giving during their high school years have better physical and mental health throughout their lives. Other studies show that older people who give live longer than those who don’t. Helping others has been shown to bring health benefits to those with chronic illness, including HIV, multiple sclerosis, and heart problems. And studies show that people of all ages who help others on a regular basis, even in small ways, feel happiest.
Why Good Things Happen to Good People offers ten ways to give of yourself, in four areas of life, all proven by science to improve your health and even add to your life expectancy. (And not one requires you to write a check.) The one-of-a-kind “Love and Longevity Scale” scores you on all ten ways, from volunteering to listening, loyalty to forgiveness, celebration to standing up for what you believe in. Using the lessons and guidelines in each chapter, you can create a personalized plan for a more generous life, finding the style of giving that suits you best.
The astonishing connection between generosity and health is so convincing that it will inspire readers to change their lives in ways big and small. Get started today. A longer, healthier, happier life awaits you.
A follow-up of 46 youthful clients discharged from a therapeutic camp between its inception in 1972 and September 1975 indicates an overall improvement in functioning, especially in the areas of school performance, interpersonal relationships, and household behavior. The one area in which no overall improvement was found was delinquency. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)
Stephen Cope asked 25 yoga and meditation teachers to share their "tales from the path"--their thoughts on how the long-term practice of yoga and meditation has changed their lives. The result is a unique collection of stories offering insight and inspiration for everyone seeking a more satisfying life.
Zotero Collections:
Zotero Collections:
Some parks, preserves, and other natural areas serve people well; others are disappointing. Successful design and management requires knowledge of both people and environments.With People in Mind explores how to design and manage areas of "everyday nature" -- parks and open spaces, corporate grounds, vacant lots and backyard gardens, fields and forests -- in ways that are beneficial to and appreciated by humans. Rachel Kaplan and Stephen Kaplan, leading researchers in the field of environmental psychology, along with Robert Ryan, a landscape architect and urban planner, provide a conceptual framework for considering the human dimensions of natural areas and offer a fresh perspective on the subject. The authors examine physical aspects of natural settings that enhance preference and reduce fear ways to facilitate way-finding how to create restorative settings that allow people to recover from the stress of daily demands landscape elements that are particularly important to human needs techniques for obtaining useful public input
Largely unnoticed in textbook accounts of classical Indian philosophic schools is Nyāya's advocacy of yoga and its alliance with teachings of the Yoga-sūtra. Yoga and Nyāya differ sharply in how nature is viewed, its components and causal laws. But on the side of subjectivity, purusa and atman, there is more convergence than difference. The two world views have distinct theories of action, cognition, and the body, but concerning the subject or self himself or herself, including God or the īsvara (and argumentation so directed), the conceptions advanced are surprisingly similar. Moreover, the traditions converge in the commen taries of the tenth-century philosopher Vācaspati Miśra who often shows influence from one or the other direction in his Yoga-sūtra and Nyāya-sūtra commentaries. The key bridge ideas are expressed in the Nyāya-sūtra literature under a substantial and remarkable stretch of sutras in the fourth chapter devoted to yoga practice and liberating self knowledge: NyS 4.2.38-51. Among other jewels, here we find an implicit assimilation of philosophic debate as a yoga practice.
CONTEXT: Professional musicians often experience high levels of stress, music performance anxiety (MPA), and performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs). Given the fact that most professional musicians begin their musical training before the age of 12, it is important to identify interventions that will address these issues from an early age.OBJECTIVE: This study intended to replicate and expand upon adult research in this area by evaluating the effects of a yoga intervention on MPA and PRMDs in a population of adolescent musicians. The present study was the first to examine these effects.
DESIGN: The research team assigned participants, adolescent musicians, into two groups. The intervention group (n = 84) took part in a 6-wk yoga program, and the control group (n = 51) received no treatment. The team evaluated the effects of the yoga intervention by comparing the scores of the intervention group to those of the control group on a number of questionnaires related to MPA and PRMDs.
SETTING: The study was conducted at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). BUTI is a training academy for advanced adolescent musicians, located in Lenox, Massachusetts.
PARTICIPANTS: Participants were adolescent, residential music students (mean age = 16 y) in a 6-wk summer program at the BUTI in 2007 and 2008.
INTERVENTION: Participants in the yoga intervention group were requested to attend three, 60-min, Kripalustyle yoga classes each wk for 6 wk.
OUTCOME MEASURES: MPA was measured using the Performance Anxiety Questionnaire (PAQ) and the Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents (MPAI-A). PRMDs were measured using the Performance-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire (PRMD-Q). RESULTS • Yoga participants showed statistically significant reductions in MPA from baseline to the end of the program compared to the control group, as measured by several subscales of the PAQ and MPAI-A; however, the results for PRMDs were inconsistent.
CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that yoga may be a promising way for adolescents to reduce MPA and perhaps even prevent it in the future. These findings also suggest a novel treatment modality that potentially might alleviate MPA and prevent the early disruption and termination of musical careers.
CONTEXT: Professional musicians often experience high levels of stress, music performance anxiety (MPA), and performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs). Given the fact that most professional musicians begin their musical training before the age of 12, it is important to identify interventions that will address these issues from an early age.OBJECTIVE: This study intended to replicate and expand upon adult research in this area by evaluating the effects of a yoga intervention on MPA and PRMDs in a population of adolescent musicians. The present study was the first to examine these effects.
DESIGN: The research team assigned participants, adolescent musicians, into two groups. The intervention group (n = 84) took part in a 6-wk yoga program, and the control group (n = 51) received no treatment. The team evaluated the effects of the yoga intervention by comparing the scores of the intervention group to those of the control group on a number of questionnaires related to MPA and PRMDs.
SETTING: The study was conducted at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). BUTI is a training academy for advanced adolescent musicians, located in Lenox, Massachusetts.
PARTICIPANTS: Participants were adolescent, residential music students (mean age = 16 y) in a 6-wk summer program at the BUTI in 2007 and 2008.
INTERVENTION: Participants in the yoga intervention group were requested to attend three, 60-min, Kripalustyle yoga classes each wk for 6 wk.
OUTCOME MEASURES: MPA was measured using the Performance Anxiety Questionnaire (PAQ) and the Music Performance Anxiety Inventory for Adolescents (MPAI-A). PRMDs were measured using the Performance-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders Questionnaire (PRMD-Q). RESULTS • Yoga participants showed statistically significant reductions in MPA from baseline to the end of the program compared to the control group, as measured by several subscales of the PAQ and MPAI-A; however, the results for PRMDs were inconsistent.
CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that yoga may be a promising way for adolescents to reduce MPA and perhaps even prevent it in the future. These findings also suggest a novel treatment modality that potentially might alleviate MPA and prevent the early disruption and termination of musical careers.
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