Vidyamala on Mindfulness and Pain

/
rsz_vidyamala2.jpg

Listen now:

Vidyamala Burch is founder of Breathworks, an organisation offering mindfulness-based approaches to managing chronic pain and stress.

This is based on her own experience of living with severe chronic back pain for many years following an injury in her teens. She started to meditate and is now an experienced meditation teacher who works all over the world. She offers ways to bring mindfulness and compassion to present moment experience - including pain and discomfort - so one can 'live well' with a free and relaxed mind, whatever the circumstances.

Professor Steven Hayes on ACT

/
rsz_sch-head-shot.jpg

This week we are fortunate to have Professor Steven Hayes. He developed one of the key mindfulness-based therapies in use today, called Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).

He's written over 30 books and published over 300 research papers, which is very impressive. Hayes is Nevada Foundation Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada. His book, 'Get out of your Mind and into your Life' is a major bestseller and was featured in Time Magazine. When the book came out, it was the number 1 best-selling self-help book in the US.

Sharon Salzberg on Compassion

/
rsz_sharonsalzberg.jpg

Sharon Salzberg is one of America’s leading spiritual teachers and is co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society (IMS) in Massachusetts.

She played a key role in bringing Asian meditation practices to the Western world. The foundations of her teaching are the ancient Buddhist practices of vipassana (which is mindfulness) and metta (which is lovingkindness). She’s author of many excellent books including ‘loving kindness’, ‘the power of meditation’ and ‘real happiness’. In this fascinating interview, Sharon talks about how she learnt about meditation, practical ways of managing difficult emotions, the importance of loving kindness practice and a lovely story about her meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Rubin Naiman on Mindful Sleep

/
rsz_rubin-naiman_sm.jpg

Dr. Naiman is the sleep specialist and clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Arizona’s Center for Integrative Medicine.

Dr. Naiman is the author of a number of groundbreaking works on sleep, including Healing Night, Healthy Sleep, The Yoga of Sleep and ToSleep ToNight. He blogs about sleep and dreams for the Huffington Post and Psychology Today. We covered the following questions:

  1. What initial got you interested in sleep?
  2. Is getting to sleep a big issue nowadays, and why?
  3. What is a mindful way to sleep?
  4. What role does meditation play in improving sleep?
  5. Can you offer a few practical tips for the listeners to help them improve the quality of their sleep?

Dr Elisha Goldstein on the Now Effect

/
rsz_goldstein_head_shot.jpg

This week we have Dr. Elisha Goldstein. Elisha is the author of the Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Workbook, and more recently a book called ‘The Now Effect’.

He’s in private practice in LA as a licensed Psychologist and is a speaker on the topic of Mindfulness. He has spoken alongside mindfulness teachers like Thich Nhat Hanh and Jack Kornfield and writes a lovely blog called Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.

Dr Richard Field on Mindfulness for Addiction

/
 

Today we have the honour of having Dr. Richard Fields on the show. He is author of "Drugs in Perspective," "Awakening to Mindfulness" and recently edited a book called "A year of living mindfully”.

Dr Fields has a PhD in Psychology and 30 years experience in counselling specialising in drug and alcohol relapse prevention. Dr Fields also organises FACES conferences in the USA, focusing in the field of mindfulness at the moment. Dr Fields explains:

  • What causes addiction
  • How mindfulness can help
  • Practical tips for managing addiction and the difficult emotions that go with it
  • Relapse prevention techniques

He also talks about his new book on Mindfulness.