In order to unfold, self-compassion depends on honest, direct contact with our own vulnerability. This compassion fully blossoms when we actively offer care to ourselves. Yet when we’ve gotten stuck in the trance of unworthiness, it often feels impossible to arouse self-compassion. To help people address feelings of insecurity and unworthiness, I like to share a meditation I call the RAIN of Self-Compassion. This easy-to-remember tool for practicing mindfulness and compassion uses four simple steps…

One of the things we practice in MBSR is becoming aware of the triggers of dissatisfaction and suffering. A wonderful way to maintain a greater sense of well-being is the ability to notice when things get a little off kilter and we start to experience unhappiness. It is in this moment that we can use the method of S.T.O.P. to allow ourselves to listen with open hearts and minds and commit to being freer and happier.

Over the years I have come to believe that oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is not a label that should be used to describe young children. As a developmental psychologist, I view oppositional defiance as a child’s response to stress. Viewing children’s challenging behaviors on a continuum of stress and stress recovery reveals a whole new way to think about this stigmatizing disorder, as well as a new way to support children, informed by neuroscience.

I've come to believe that integration is the key mechanism beneath both the absence of illness and the presence of well-being. Integration -- the linkage of differentiated elements of a system -- illuminates a direct pathway toward health. It's the way we avoid a life of dull, boring rigidity on the one hand, or explosive chaos on the other. We can learn to detect when integration is absent or insufficient and develop effective strategies to promote differentiation and then linkage.

Schools are witnessing the benefits of bringing mindfulness practices into education as a strategy for promoting social and emotional learning among students. Check out these easy ways to integrate mindfulness routines for classrooms.

It’s helpful for children to have a strategy to think about an activity or action before they do it. Building “time to reflect” as well as “intent to act” into the thinking process is empowering. This worksheet provides an opportunity for the child to explore the parts of a task, the plan of action to complete the task and the steps to revise their approach in the future.

What determines pass or fail on hop tests and star excursion tests? In this short video, international speaker Ryan August, PT, DPT, MTC, CMP, demonstrates four risk assessment tests to use with your recovering knee patients.

Get two yoga and mindfulness practices to share with the children in your life. Each exercise comes with matching coloring pages and worksheets to further enhance the experience and deepen reflection, and you can download these supporting materials for free. Don’t forget to try these out yourself as well, as we all could use some orienting and grounding no matter what our age! 

Sometimes children with ADHD just can't stop moving...Here's a quick and enjoyable strategy to help restore attention and focus.

For many people who were raised in abusive, neglectful, or dysfunctional families, “you made your bed now lie in it” is a common life philosophy taught and promoted throughout childhood. But the truth is, the personal, academic, and professional decisions that met your needs 5, 10, or 20 years ago may be completely irrelevant to your life today.