Women Rowing North: An Interview with Mary Pipher

Mary Pipher is the bestselling author of Reviving Ophelia and other books and her latest, Women Rowing North, is a contemplative guide, womanifesto, and reframing of our idea of aging. She is a therapist and writer based in Nebraska, straddling several political, professional, spiritual, and generational circles in her community. We talked about what it means to age, the importance…

Breathe

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.” -Amit Ray It sounds so simple, childlike even, to say “just breathe.” You would think in the territory of suffering that our first best move might be something extraordinary, a momentous act, like “dial this number to directly reach the appropriate divine being,” or…

Inspire, Aspire, and Conspire

It is no accident that “love the work” is the first practice of a mindful leader. The work of mindfulness practice begins with love, with deep caring. Love is where body, mind, and heart come together. Love is more than an idea and more than a feeling. “Love the work” is an instruction that is surprisingly practical; it can help…

Raising Resilient Children and Creating Thriving Families

As part of our “Garrison Talks at the JCC” event series at the Marlene Myerson JCC Manhattan, meditation teacher and author Sharon Salzberg recently spoke with Dr. Chris Willard, a psychologist and educational consultant, and Dr. Mark Bertin, a developmental pediatrician and mindfulness teacher, about how to cultivate resilience in our children.  Sharon Salzberg: Do you think it’s harder for kids these…

Mindfulness in the C-Suite

What does mindfulness look like in the modern workplace, and how do you successfully integrate it into an organization? This spring, we sought to explore these questions at our event, Mindfulness in the C-Suite: When Wellness and Well-Being Matter. Co-hosted by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) and the Garrison Institute, the event featured a panel discussion moderated by Rachel…

Reading, Resilience, Mindfulness and More

As part of our “Garrison Talks at the JCC” event series, Dr. Perri Klass, Dr. Mark Bertin, and Dr. Chris Willard discussed strategies for fostering happy, successful children. In the podcast below, they explore their professional experience with children as well as with both established and cutting-edge research, emphasizing practical approaches to real life. Key questions: What is executive function, and how does…

What’s Wrong With Mindfulness?

We’re often told that mindfulness will benefit us by reducing stress and increasing focus and productivity, among other things. But what if our desire to obtain these benefits gets in the way of our discovering the deeper and more radical possibilities that the practice might reveal? In a new book, What’s Wrong With Mindfulness (And What Isn’t), Robert Rosenbaum and Barry…

In Challenging Times, Your Body Knows What’s Needed

Hope Martin and David Rome are co-leading an upcoming retreat at the Garrison institute entitled “Embodied Listening: Uncovering Our Bodies’ Natural Wisdom,” on December 2 – 4.  No matter how we feel about it, we’ve all gone through a lot this election and continue to as we watch the aftermath. It might be hard to know how to handle our feelings, or what…