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Her Rainbow

6 September 2018
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Creativity Studies
Humanistic-Existential Psychology
Saybrook University

For our kitty Mimi

It is afternoon. Dark early, I think,
Splatters on pavers, and geraniums
gratefully receiving raindrops
on their purple petals. Kumquats glisten
in orange skins, and guavas in green,
washed clean for the squirrels.

Then it happens: that strange yellow gleam,
rainbow light just after the rain. And there she is
Rainbow in her glorious stripes of indigo and red,
arching her back above The Santa Monica
Mountains, over the neighbor’s house, finally,
meeting my eyes, she blesses this house
with her presence.

She spreads herself magnificently,
bursting, now fading, fainter
and fainter so quickly. Souls rise
to her arch, Souls rise all over the Earth,
like heat misting from hot sidewalks, cooled
by rain. With them is our Mimi,
our sleek, black cat who must have lain still
in her favorite spot under the lemon tree,
waiting for Rainbow to take her up.
Away her soul flies like a gliding bird.
Rainbow strokes her gently with a brush,
blending her colorful stripes into black fur.
Welcomed by the clouds fluffing themselves
to envelope Mimi, to welcome her in.
Rainbow‖s colors warm her soul, bathed
in rain and light on her flight to the heavens.

A rainy afternoon evaporates, as the sun peeks
out. She is gone with Rainbow. I hope to see her
again soon, every time I see Rainbow.
Goodbye Mimi

Poet’s note: This poem and photo illustrate nature’s construct of a rainbow. It’s so amorphous that it glows, then fades as quickly as it comes—just as life does, whether a cat like Mimi or a human like those of us reading this poem.

Gayle Byock was a university administrator with positions such as an assistant vice chancellor of research and assistant dean. At age 70, she returned to earn her Ph.D. in Humanistic Psychology and Creative Studies, particularly poetry. She is developing a project using poetry to promote self-acceptance and self-empathy for women her age and older. 

Learning to actually ‘live’ before I die

23 August 2018
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Dr. Grojean tells the story of a breakdown, surrender, and an existential pilgrimage away from the modern world to find her true self.

In 2014, I came to grips with the fact that I’d grown dissatisfied with my life. Self-help books, conversations, and spiritual literature just weren’t sufficient for the changes I wanted to make. I wanted to delve deeper into change, paying more attention to my inner beliefs. In a momentary leap of faith, I jumped into the world of academia at Saybrook. And then I literally took a trip around the world, which fueled inspiration for my book Transcending the I.

When I stopped pretending to have a ‘meaningful’ life

I remember one day sitting in a circle at a workshop where we went around the room asking the person to our left the question “What do you pretend?”

The answers to this question became deeper and more vulnerable for each participant. Eventually the round came back to me, and I found myself responding:

“I get up every morning. I get ready for work and the kids off to school. I spend 10-plus hours sitting at a desk or in meetings, inside four walls, not even aware of the weather outside let alone life. I find myself believing it’s the end of the world if I don’t get my way in an argument, no matter the subject. Then I come home late―usually too late for dinner with the family. I plop on the couch in front of the TV with a big glass of wine to decompress so I can sleep. I pretend this is a meaningful life.”

The response I got from that statement was somewhere between shock, awe, and confused admiration. I knew I was living a life socially constructed by others’ judgements. My life was one big, existential void. I started wondering if I was passing on these same traits to my children.

Recommended Read: “Successfully embracing  growing  older and wiser“


Taking steps to change for the better

I had to change. My first behavioral act of shedding my old self was to cut off 14 inches of my long, blond hair with a snip of scissors. I also stopped wearing makeup and vowed to live one year in which I had no external definition of myself from my prior life. No hair, no makeup, no job, no title, no salary. Ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” I had just taken my first step.

I decided my second step would be to take a walkabout, a pilgrimage away from the world as I knew it to discover something greater about myself and the world I live in. I was drawn to go somewhere that held a spiritual calling for me, somewhere I would walk the land, be in nature, and live among people of a different culture. No hotels or spas.

I wanted to get back to the basics of life and strip away everything from the world I had created. In February 2014, I chose Nepal and Bhutan in which to spend six weeks trekking, camping, and immersing myself in Mother Nature. Little did I know at this time that this single act was not just six weeks but was the beginning of a four-year journey to the edges of the world outside of me and to the depths of the abyss within me.

From Nepal to Bhutan: The lessons I learned from my kids

In Nepal, from the first moment I began walking, I knew this is where I needed to be. My soul sang, and my eyes couldn’t take in enough of the beauty. If past lives do exist, surely this is where I come from. Arriving in Gorkha for our first night, we pitched our tents just over the hillside from Gorkha and made dinner. What I noticed right away were the village kids all running around playing with whatever ball or dirt piles they could find―and they were having a blast. They had no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no iPad, Xbox, or TV. They didn’t even go inside their small huts until they had to when darkness enveloped the sky. Yet they were having tons of fun and running around, getting dirty, and living life.

I struggled at the simplicity of their existence and the joy in their eyes. This was all I had ever wanted in my life. If it was so simple to achieve, why did I work so hard for so many years? I began to see the pain my children must have in their souls, being locked inside of our house, addicted to video games or texting with friends, unable or unknowing how to spend time outside and be happy despite our privilege. How can we all collectively keep denying our interconnectedness and the beauty of our world that we are simultaneously destroying in our pursuit of more?

Learning how to “live” before I die

By design, life is an ongoing identity crisis of the self to define and redefine who we are as we go through many of the major transitions and upheavals experienced over the course of being alive: adolescence, adulthood, parenting, divorce, middle age, retirement, loss of job, death of loved ones, and more.

In psychologist Daniel Levinson’s The Seasons of a Man’s Life, he discussed how each period is marked as being a stable period―until it is not and becomes a transitional period. A transition in life is a tremendous opportunity, when acknowledged, for self-redefinition and inner reorientation of who you are from who you once were. Throughout our lives there are equally important transitions, as well as life events, that are also worthy of recognition and require our attention. The stable period is the time when a person makes crucial choices in life, builds a life structure around these choices, and seeks goals within the structure. The transitional period is the end of one stage and the beginning of a new one.

I quickly learned on my journey that my worst fear is not death but discovering I haven’t really “lived” before I die. For me to continue searching externally for what is already within me, within all of us, only serves to continue my suffering and attachment to my ego mind. Awakening isn’t some enlightenment I am going to find “out there,” which will enable me to lead a blissful life forever after. Awakening is my journey toward interconnectedness. It is my awareness of being one and yet nothing altogether. My deepest awakening will come not from grasping or searching for something out there, pilgrimaging if you will, but merely from just letting go of what I hold onto most inside myself.

About the author: Carol A. Grojean, Ph.D., specializes in the areas of organizational effectiveness, project management and transformational change. She is also a Saybrook graduate with an M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science in Leadership and Organizational Development and a Ph.D. in Existential Leadership Transformation. 

Are you a Saybrook University alumna or faculty member who is interested in submitting a blog post for potential publication on Unbound? You may do so by submitting your finished piece or pitch on the right-hand side panel of Unbound pages. 

Would you like to learn more about Dr. Grojean?

Meet her in person at Saybrook University’s Residential Conference: 

Time: 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST/1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. PST
Date: Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018
Place: Hyatt Regency in Monterey, California

Or, talk to her virtually during her upcoming webinar:

Join the upcoming “GLOBE Talks: Dr. Carol Grojean, Saybrook Alumna of Change”
Time: 3:30-4:30 p.m. CST/1:30-2:30 p.m. PST
Date: Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018
Online: GoToMeeting (Click here) to join from your computer, tablet, or smartphone.
Or, call: United States (Toll Free): 866-899-4679
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Access Code: 184-872-589

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Connecting guided imagery and motivational interviewing in meditation class

20 July 2018
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In the fourth and final part of this multi-part blog series on mindfulness-based meditation class, Saybrook alumna Dr. Tamami Shirai discusses her experiences with group meditation. In part one, she discussed “Mindfulness of McMindfulness: Can we learn from the West adopting Asian cultures?”; in part two, “Relax, release, rebuild through silent meditation”; and in part three, “The importance of ‘checking in’ after silent meditation.”

Experiencing group interaction to learn one’s own uniqueness

After silent meditation and “checking in” with my meditation group at a San Diego hospital’s cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation center, I always lead the application of a single modality within the group. Every time, I introduce a different activity. For example, I introduce guided imagery, including:

  • “Body scan,” which is the gold standard for increasing awareness of participants’ own bodies. By consciously concentrating on specific areas of their body, participants become aware of physical discomforts or rooted emotional distresses they might not have otherwise noticed.

  • “Healing-touch” and “tapping-touch,” which are human touch-based approaches to making mind-body connections. By gently and repeatedly touching or sharing body energy, such as with gentle hand touches on their chakra points, these two modalities enable participants to have a balanced body energy without any intention or effort.

  • “Finding your own values,” “affirmation,” and “gratitude writing,” which are based on positive psychology. By repeating positive or value-defining sentences or by sharing gratifying events, participants are able to replace negative thoughts with positive ones.

  • “Drawings” encourage participants to use their creativity and unconscious abilities by drawing and then observing their own artwork objectively. By doing so, participants are able to notice hidden emotions.

One new discovery in my meditation class has been that people benefit from the “calf-massage” technique, which seems to be a new or rare modality for many of them. Dr. Yoichi Ishikawa, a Japanese medical doctor who invented this technique, has said, “The calf is the second heart for human beings” in that the calf is a major pump for bringing deoxygenated blood back to your heart. If you spend 15 minutes daily massaging your calf (only from the lower ankle end toward the heart direction, no other way), your blood pressure will gradually drop. This technique is simple, not harmful, and easy to use in your daily life, especially if you have hypertension or anxiety attacks.

After experiencing one modality, participants then share their experiences with the activity in the group. It’s important to share their experiences with others because participants see how similar their responses can be. At the same time, it’s also very important to learn that each of us is uniquely different. Group sharing achieves this.

Motivational interviewing, the power of group

What differentiates my meditation class at the cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation center is that it combines mindfulness-based meditation with a coaching model for desired behavioral modifications in the group, specifically in the areas of exercise, diet, and stress. For many years, physicians and healthcare professionals failed to change patients’ behavior in the use of tobacco and alcohol. This failure fueled the conception and development of motivational interviewing in Norway in 1982 by some scholars. The underlying concept of motivational interviewing is that people will not change their behavior unless their own motivation aligns with the change. Participants gradually understand that exercise is mandatory, that they should avoid bad food and stress, and that they need to have a healthy amount of sleep and a quality lifestyle.

Occasionally, I ask participants to establish their own objectives for their health over the next few months. Speaking about their objectives within the group creates a sort of commitment among the other members, and other members may add more information to help each individuals’ needs. Others’ willingness to be healthy and their efforts toward that goal always inspire participants to change their behaviors.

I have found that group work is much more efficient both in terms of cost and outcomes. As the facilitator, I have often observed that participants learn from each other and reduce their harmful behaviors one by one without me lecturing. This is the power of the group. Dr. William R. Miller, the author of Motivational Interviewing, describes the four key aspects of motivational interviewing: partnership, acceptance, compassion, and evocation. All participants act as each other’s partner, listening, understanding, sharing, and sometimes encouraging each other during the group session. I have sometimes observed that participants who showed depressive emotion about their conditions in the group will overcome it or at least try to behave positively when they learn other participants’ difficulties.

For example, “Jeff” had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) so severe that it required him to use an oxygen tank while he sat on a waiting list for a lung transplant. He shared his emotional distress in our meditation class on several occasions. Then one day he suddenly told another group participant that “Medical technologies are developing day by day. Your condition will be treatable in three to four years.” I was surprised that Jeff, who had revealed anger over his condition several times in the class, was demonstrating a significant change in attitude by encouraging other participants like a big brother.

Scientific evidence-based, nonreligious meditation class

I use mindfulness techniques, motivational interviewing techniques, and evidence-based science in the class. I update my awareness of the latest peer-reviewed journal articles as often as I can. I also sometimes introduce news articles and new information that I’ve learned from academic conferences.

In addition to my students being well-educated, the class is also not religious and do not identify with a political affiliation. Sometimes physicians have asked me whether a faith-based meditation class is possible in a hospital setting. I answer that if participants all have the same religious background or perspective, sharing their specific faith in a meditation class may work beautifully. However, mindfulness does not take a specific religious form. Mindfulness is universal human nature.

Sometimes participants expect me to teach meditation in an “authentic Asian way.” I could reference the Buddhist/Zen background of mindfulness from Japanese culture. However, I’m not facilitating meditation classes based on the centuries-old cultural context of my home country. Similarly, I’m not trying to teach mindfulness study methods and manners as Japanese learn them from their parents or in Japanese temples. No doubt the current boom in mindfulness and meditation in the West–and the techniques that have been successfully extracted from them–will benefit many people, even in Asian countries. However, mindfulness and meditation techniques were originally parts of a more abundant teaching, which they embody. All take time to learn.

Dr. Tamami Shirai

Dr. Shirai is a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Medicine, University of California San Diego. She is a researcher, educator, and advocate of lifestyle medicine, and the facilitator of a meditation class at a cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation in San Diego with more than 350 patient interactions. She is originally from Tokyo, Japan. Dr. Shirai’s research interest is cardiovascular disease and global comparative research. She also served as assistant director research of Lifestyle Medicine Global Alliance.

Successfully embracing growing older and wiser

6 June 2018
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If you wonder why a focus on human behavior and the importance of elders might be important, consider this: The world is in the midst of a unique and irreversible process of demographic transition that will result in a growing population of aging people everywhere.

With fertility rates declining significantly in the millennial generation and the increased health and well-being in our elderly population, the proportion of people ages 60 and above is increasingly outpacing births. This challenge isn’t going to go away either. According to the United Nations, the global population of people over 60 is expected to rise from just over 900 million in 2015 to 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050, when there will be roughly the same number of people over 60 as there are children under 16. Sadly, until now, no one has asked the question, “How do societies age successfully?”
Instead, this rapid aging of our world’s populations is often presented as a disaster or problem, with headlines fearing the upcoming “silver tsunami”  or the “aging time bomb.” Labeled the invisible generation, “the elderly among us are often regarded as feeble-minded and lacking in the ability to contribute to society in a meaningful way.” This ageist attitude has risked robbing senior citizens of their self-worth, leaving them the victims of prejudice and disrespect in an ever-growing, anti-aging campaign against our inevitable path of living our whole life fully. Compassion, courtesy, and respect have gone by the wayside. The result of this isn’t just damning for the aging, which is all of us; it is an inevitable burden on society’s collective psyche for not one of us can be whole if we all aren’t.

Recommended Read: “Learning to actually ‘live’ before I die“

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that “ending ageism and securing the human rights of older persons is an ethical and practical imperative.” Historically, different cultures have had different attitudes and practices around aging and death, and these cultural perspectives can have a huge effect on our experience of getting older. Yet today we find our contemporary modern world full of people who are scared to death of the impending darkness of their aging years. So, instead of venerating our elders and valuing them for their lived wisdom, too many of us cast them aside as if they’re no longer of use. In reality, they are a reminder that life is precious and our time is short.

Our elders are important to all of us for so many reasons. Aging isn’t just a biological process. It’s also very much a cultural one. Our elders are carriers of community wisdom, knowledge, ways and traditions. They strive to show by example, by living their lives according to deeply ingrained principles, values, and teachings as taught to them by their elders from times gone by. In telling their stories, elders help us make sense of our experiences in the everyday life we live in. We need to remember that elders in our society can, and want to, make important contributions to the economy and well-being of families and communities through many activities well into their late 70s and beyond when we let them.

Becoming an elder is not about age or growing old; it is an expression of a wise leader who has lived a full life and is capable of contributing greatly, in non-instrumental or ego-driven ways, to the whole of one’s community. These elders have undergone the process of transforming themselves and are thus more able to provide leadership that is transformational in a world undergoing much change. These elder leaders have contemplated the meaning of life, have been through the initiation of the midlife passage, and now deeply understand how life transcends the limiting notion of self. In this ascension to self-transcendence, these elders contribute to society in meaningful, inclusive ways that provide cultural guidance and wisdom to the youth, while helping adults initiate into a life greater than their own notion of prosperity and wealth.

Why do I share all this with you? Because the world needs our elders today more than ever before. But not just elders who want to bring more analytical, linear thinking to an already over-rationalized world. Our world needs initiated elders who understand the role of community, of society, and of the power and importance of being the backbone and holding the container safe when our world is turning upside down—individually or collectively. Only initiated elders are the ones who know how to sit in council and listen to the words between the words—what are people saying but not doing, doing but not talking about or just unable to face in the light of current times.

Our aging societies are not a problem to be solved. They are an opportunity for us to remember the important and necessary roles that our elders play in keeping the whole of our human container safe while the uninitiated youth rail against the confining structures of prior generations in pursuit of defining their own way forward.

About the author: Carol A. Grojean, Ph.D., specializes in the areas of organizational effectiveness, project management and transformational change. She is also a Saybrook graduate with an M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science in Leadership and Organizational Development and a Ph.D. in Existential Leadership Transformation. 

Are you a Saybrook University alumna or faculty member who is interested in submitting a blog post for potential publication on Unbound? You may do so by submitting your finished piece or pitch on the right-hand side panel of Unbound pages. 

Once upon a hashtag

27 April 2018
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A plot by a foreign government to hack a U.S. presidential campaign sounds like the narrative of a spy film, invoking images of high-tech gadgets and ending with a foiled plan. But in reality the gadgets that could do such a thing are tools that anyone can use anywhere: social media.

And because real life isn’t Hollywood, the insidious plot did, in fact, succeed.

On February 16, a federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for interfering in the 2016 presidential election. They stole American citizen identities; posed as political activists; and fired up social media posts on already divisive political topics, such as immigration, religion, and race. These Russian nationals manipulated and divided American constituents, and declared “information warfare” on the U.S., using the Internet Research Agency as a cover.

The Russian indictment is another layer on the already hefty topic of “fake news.” There is actual fake news, where individuals create inaccurate stories to spread false information through the population. Then there is Trump’s version—where he attacks the credibility of legacy publications for “unrelenting bias, unfair news coverage, and even downright fake news.”

We are living in a changing media landscape where once-trusted sources have lost influence, everyday citizens are able to produce and amplify news stories simply by posting them on private social media accounts, and foreign entities can influence national elections and affect the lives of millions of people.

Through all the noise, how can we contribute productively and make a positive impact? Is it possible to counteract the negative consequences created by this new media landscape?

For almost 10 years, Sahar Driver, Ph.D., faculty in Saybrook University’s Transformative Social Change program, has worked to create impact campaigns for social action projects. For Dr. Driver, what has persisted through time is the ability to fight for social justice with storytelling.

“It’s gotten more difficult, that’s all,” Dr. Driver says. “What hasn’t changed is that the stories that I work with are an entry point. The real work happens when we’re able to use those stories and that media to get people to interact and engage with one another face to face, and then begin to organize together.”

Social campaigns take planning and preparation to execute properly. It requires groundwork before even moving into the online world and getting people involved; it isn’t enough to start posting and hope the movement follows. According to Dr. Driver, the best approaches target a specific audience with their values and what they care about, and relate to their everyday experience. However, that doesn’t mean trying to create a message with mass appeal either.

On February 16, a federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for interfering in the 2016 presidential election.

“If you are communicating in a way that everyone, from the left to the far right, agrees with you, then that message actually hasn’t done anything,” Dr. Driver says. “You’ve come up with a message that’s palatable to everyone, but not one that challenges anyone to go beyond their current viewpoint. What you really want is a message that pushes those people who are somewhere in the middle.”

Yet the sheer amount of content available online makes it challenging for this type of advocacy to work. With too much information and too many groups vying for support—and no distinction between what’s real and what isn’t—there is a risk that people will tune out every message they encounter. There is also a risk that the subconscious effect of seeing fake news so consistently will lead people to start believing it, almost as if by osmosis. A 2017 study shows that repeating information, even to say it is incorrect, instead reinforces the untrue statement.

Retweets and shares matter, and can cause questionable stories to seem totally legitimate. This is what allowed the Russian Internet Research Agency to succeed: In a crowded online sphere, the agency’s posts, and actions, were able to catalyze voters to act out the whims of Russian agents—and even be okay with doing so.

One incident of this occurred when two Russian agents posed as “Joshua” and “Matt”—fake University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) students who worked for a grassroots organization called “March for the Trump.” They organized a pro-Trump rally in Florida and called local Trump supporter Anne-Marie Margaret Thomas to ask if she’d participate while dressed up as Hillary Clinton. The agents also called Harry Miller, another Trump supporter, to ask him to build a cage and put the actors playing Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton in it at the event.

By the time Miller arrived on August 20, 2017, the day of the protest, a few dozen people were already there, chanting “Lock her up!” Thomas was in a Hillary Clinton mask and a prison uniform she made herself. Photos of the event garnered 500,000 online views in just 24 hours.

In a conversation between Thomas and reporter Simon Adler from Radiolab’s episode “The Curious Case of the Russian Flash Mob at the West Palm Beach Cheesecake Factory,” Thomas defended her role in the Russian-organized protest:

Adler: Are you concerned that you may have been used as a puppet by people in St. Petersburg [Russia]?

Thomas: No, I wasn’t used as a puppet.

Adler: But would you have done it if they hadn’t reached out to you in the first place?

Thomas: Well, I wanted to help Trump.

She went on to say: “I’m not unwitting. And I’m not a Russian. I’m an American. And I decided that I didn’t want to vote for Hillary.”

This form of fake activism, called “astroturfing,” held tremendous weight. It didn’t matter to Thomas that “Joshua” and “Matt” didn’t exist. To her, it was a matter of supporting Trump—no matter what.

“I think there’s a lot to learn from the indictment because if nothing else the Russian operation has been effective at getting the message out and striking a chord in at least some individuals to take action,” says Britt Christensen, Ph.D., faculty in the Social Impact Media specialization of the Transformative Social Change program. “A major takeaway for me looking at all of this is that they have a pretty savvy understanding of the societal issues in the U.S. They used the societal cleavages to cause conflict between groups and individuals.”

It’s easy to demonize social media. After all, the Russian agents discovered the real Thomas and Miller on Twitter. The Internet Research Agency used Facebook for their political posts and to mobilize Americans to attend their organized protests. But becoming disillusioned with social media in general because of such abuses would be a mistake, says Joel Federman, Ph.D., chair of Saybrook’s Transformative Social Change program.

Dr. Federman emphasizes the good that can be accomplished through these tools: “Social media has democratized the flow of information and political opinion everywhere. It also helps create global solidarity, by allowing people all over the world to support each other’s political causes and social movements, unmediated by governments or traditional news media channels.”

“What’s at risk here is that people will become so disillusioned by the misuse of social media that they will give up on its positive potential,” Dr. Federman continues. “When people who have been traditionally marginalized withdraw from political conversations, they cede these important spaces to those who already dominate political, economic, and cultural power.”

“The Russian Internet Agency attempted to deceive people and spread lies; that is propaganda and deception,” Dr. Driver says. “Strategic communications, however, is about communicating in a way so that you can be heard. It’s about cutting through the noise or other barriers that exist for understanding (preconceived notions, misunderstandings, biases, etc.) so you can bridge the gap and help people understand different perspectives.”

“Storytelling in particular is magic,” Dr. Driver says. “I think it helps connect people in ways that a lot of media can’t do. It’s that connection and emotional resonance that matters more.”

We see examples of storytelling in the most current movements. On February 18, 2018, 17 people lost their lives at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. In the aftermath, student survivors started #NeverAgain, a new movement to stop school gun violence in America. Its origins played out in real-time on social media during the Parkland shooting. The whole premise of the movement is based in storytelling—because each of the survivors and activists have their own story and truth from that day.

In a crowded online sphere, the agency’s posts, and actions, were able to catalyze voters to act out the whims of Russian agents—and even be okay with doing so.

Emma Gonzalez, a senior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School gave an electrifying speech to a gun control rally in Fort Lauderdale. A video of the speech has now gone viral: “Instead of worrying about our AP Gov. Chapter 16 test, we have to be studying our notes to make sure that our arguments based on politics and political history are watertight. The students at this school have been having debates on guns for what feels like our entire lives…Some discussions on the subject even occurred during the shooting while students were hiding in the closets. The people involved right now…are being listened to for what feels like the very first time on this topic that has come up over 1,000 times in the past four years alone.”

Gonzalez’s speech has catapulted her into a “visual icon” and leader of the movement. Since joining Twitter in February 2018, she has amassed 1.23 million followers. It goes to show that a scene, rooted in facts and relatable to the targeted audience, can be more impactful than a one-off, polarizing post.

Out of the national spotlight, storytelling can be seen in the beginnings of social change movements. Transformative Social Change student Joslin Roderick is using the tools she has learned about to start her own revolution: reframing peace.

Currently, Roderick has a business model in place for PeaceinPower, LLC, the parent company of four for-profit divisions and one nonprofit she is developing. The inspiration came from a desire to put power back into peace.

“All of the social change work is a fight against power,” she says. “So, how do we use the power that exists within us, or the power that exists in business, in my case, to become peacefully empowered?”

Roderick is currently launching this movement and is using her courses at Saybrook to deepen her understanding of not only what peace is, but also the ecosystem of creating a movement: the research, strategy, and trajectory needed to build it.

With a few hashtags already created (such as #ThereAreAnswers, #TheNewPeaceMovement, #FitforPeace, and #PeaceNow), Roderick plans to employ one of the most iconic storytelling structures in developing her movement: Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey.

“For me, it really centers on creating a story that has the arc of mythic hero ideas: people who are not really sure about their place, then figure themselves out and save the world,” Roderick says. “What we see in popular culture about heroes is them using violence to fight evil. In redefining peace, I want the new hero of peace to be somebody who’s completely empowered with consciousness and care for the self and the other—someone who is truly tough, strong, and has the fitness and capacity for substantive and powerful peace-filled action.”

For Roderick, this message emphasizes that anyone can be a hero. It fits well with the Transformative Social Change program’s mission of encouraging students to become agents of positive change. The program supports students as they seek to raise awareness about the stories that are often untold, but need to be shared.

“Universities have often been centers of independence from political and economic power,” Dr. Federman says. “Within a university environment, there can be space for inclusive dialogues that challenge existing social structures and create alternatives to them. We designed the Transformative Social Change program to provide that kind of space.”

In the United States, student activists have long led the charge. Now they can use new media in intelligent and productive ways to create change.

“The purpose of our program is to enable our students to perceive beyond the noise and to make actual transformative social change,” Dr. Federman says. “We provide students an environment that allows them to deeply reflect on their values and the larger historical context in which they live, and supports their unique ideas for making the world better with a variety of social change tools and strategies—including effective and ethical use of social media.”

Psychophysiology treatments: Using biofeedback therapy to treat phantom limb pain

29 March 2018
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 Phantom limb pain is a common–and commonly misunderstood–condition that affects amputees. Dr. Richard Sherman explores how biofeedback therapy can be used as an effective treatment.

Phantom limb pain is a condition that affects amputees, causing them to feel pain or sensation that seems to emanate from the missing limb. It is a commonly misunderstood condition. So, Saybrook faculty member Dr. Richard Sherman, Ph.D., is helping to clear some things up. Let’s explore phantom limb pain, its causes, and biofeedback therapy as a treatment below.

What is phantom limb pain and what are its symptoms?

Virtually all amputees experience at least some sensations which seem to emanate from the amputated portion of a limb. These sensations may be intermittent or continuous, and range in intensity from nearly nothing to excruciatingly painful. They are frequently described as itchy, warmth, unusual position, or a “pins & needles” sensation. An amputee may experience only one or many of these sensations simultaneously or at separate times.

Phantom limb pain occurs when the sensations which seem to come from the amputated portion of a limb are sufficiently intense for the amputee to consider them painful. Phantom pain has been reported from most organs including the breasts and the most common descriptions of phantom limb pain are cramping/twisting, burning/tingling, stabbing, & shocking/shooting

Just as with phantom sensations, an amputee may experience only one or many of these sensations simultaneously or at separate times. The pain may be intermittent or continuous and intensity generally varies tremendously over time.

The silent experience of phantom limb pain

While U.S. military veterans aren’t the only population who experience phantom limb pain, they do make up a large population. And surveys of many thousands of U.S. veterans have proven that nearly all amputees experience phantom pain with about half finding it debilitating at times. Most want treatment but few tell their health care providers that they have the problem let alone request treatment for it. Sadly, those who find it debilitating tend to “self-medicate” in excess with alcohol, and other drugs.

Some common reasons amputees refuse to tell their health care providers about their phantom limb pain include:

  • They don’t want their health care providers to think they are nuts.
  • The “word” in the amputee community is that any time a health care provider is told about phantom pain, the provider’s trust in the patient goes to nearly zero – and many are referred to psychiatrists.
  • When treatment is provided, it is not only ineffective but is frequently physically exhaustive, like a major surgery.
  • They want to return to their pre-amputation activities so they don’t want reports of phantom pain to interfere with a prosthetic provision.

What are phantom limb pain causes?

While phantom limb pain has been reported for hundreds, if not thousands of years, its causes have been unknown until recently. As recently as the American civil war, everybody “knew” that people could still feel their amputated limbs.

Thus, if a person reported burning sensations from the phantom limb pain, it was because the amputated limb had been burned. The same logic applied to crawling feelings (worms in buried limbs), and biting feelings (fish eating limbs that were thrown into lakes).

It wasn’t until recently that clinicians realized people couldn’t actually feel what was happening to their amputated limbs.

Sadly, the general conclusion was that the problem must stem from psychological problems such as the “pain” of “grieving” for the lost limb.  Surgeons felt that there must be something wrong with the remainder of the limb – even if they didn’t know what – so they frequently cut off more of the stump to solve the problem.

Without actual evidence of underlying physiological and anatomical causes of phantom pain, there was no way to develop mechanism-based interventions. Thus, clinicians eventually wound up trying over 63 unrelated treatments – ranging from benign massages through horrible neurosurgical procedures – on many thousands of amputees. No actual follow-up studies of their effectiveness were performed so clinicians didn’t realize until recently that nearly all were useless. Many of these unsubstantiated interventions are still being used today.

It is important to know that the actual physiological mechanisms causing burning and cramping descriptions of phantom pain have been identified. Knowledge of mechanisms has led to the development of effective treatments such as biofeedback therapy.

Biofeedback therapy as a treatment for phantom limb pain

Instruments such as biofeedback devices help the therapist and patient recognize what is happening in the body and how well control strategies are working. This makes biofeedback training an extremely important technique which every clinician of any background can incorporate into his or her practice.

Biofeedback is the process of using psychophysiological recording techniques to monitor one or more physiological parameters whose malfunction is causing the pain and showing the instantaneous levels of the parameters to the patient. The patient and therapist use the information to change the level at which the parameter is functioning from a pattern leading to pain to a pattern which avoids the onset of the pain or stops the pain.

Biofeedback is an excellent tool for showing the therapist and patient what a physiological parameter (e.g. tension in the muscles of the residual limb or heat emanating from the limb) is doing. This process of recording and immediate display cannot be used alone for either assessment or treatment as it provides no integral interpretation of the display’s meaning. It has to be incorporated into some logical therapeutic process aimed at eliciting meaningful responses. Biofeedback is one tool among many in a professional’s armamentarium. It provides one bit of the information needed to make decisions and is only one element of the treatment process.

Modern biofeedback devices range from tiny ambulatory recorders to larger units meant to be used with personal computers. Virtually all of them are highly sophisticated, microprocessor-based systems which can provide unparalleled quality and flexibility in signal recording and display. Nearly all of the controls are accessed through the computer’s software.

For more information on biofeedback, check out my introductory YouTube video.

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Interested in pursuing a degree in psychophysiology? Explore graduate-level psychophysiology degrees at Saybrook.

Mary Kay Chess, Ph.D.

21 March 2018
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Mary Kay Chess, Ph.D.
Business Administration

“Teaching values is fundamental in leadership. I appreciate Saybrook being invested in our communities because that’s where we examine justice, inclusion, and innovation.”

Community Builder

“Our students will become the leaders our society needs. What I hope is that they apply the gift, science, and art of critical thinking and think about other perspectives and why that’s important. And I hope they do all of that with joy, enthusiasm, and a thirst that can’t be quenched.” 

Mary Kay Chess, Ph.D., believes in the power of uniting people in the pursuit of knowledge.

“There is stupendous innovation and creativity in coming together,” Dr. Chess says. “Boxes are turned inside out and containers no longer exist when you get diverse voices talking.”

Dr. Chess is chair of the Department of Business Administration at Saybrook University. She began teaching at Saybrook several years ago, implementing systems thinking and leadership into the Mind-Body Medicine program before joining faculty in the Leadership and Management program.

“You need to know yourself and your values—no leader can do it all,” Dr. Chess says. “I believe that we lead from every seat. You really need diverse perspectives and skills as well, because in life we’re dealing with many, many complex cases.”

She initially started her career in the health care sector and has held numerous leadership roles in higher education systems. These positions have given Dr. Chess relevant experience on what it takes to effectively manage others and has instilled in her a passion to amplify diverse ideas and voices.

“The way I define diversity is that you open up a safe space for as many different beliefs to be in respectful dialogue at the table,” Dr. Chess says. “I tend to not go to categories—I go to perspectives. I go to beliefs. And those are the two things that I believe allow all other categories we attach to diversity to be acknowledged.”

This desire to connect different voices and to continue her work in the health care realm led to the creation of Coffee and Tea Chats in 2015. These chats, created for executives of similar services organizations, connect individuals from across the United States for an hour-long phone conversation.

She speaks of these conversations as innovation in action, since oftentimes these executives are competitors. The executives discuss developing and growing their leadership, as well as the issues they face in their practices, like how best to listen to constituents, work with diverse populations, and address short-term and long-term needs.

“It’s similar to what we do in academic situations—get folks together for peer coaching and conversation,” Dr. Chess says. “Because the real purpose is executives talking to executives—like-minded people sharing solutions and opportunities to gnarly problems. When you build an atmosphere of safety, people feel comfortable teeing up really complex and hard issues.”

At Saybrook, Dr. Chess is also working to call attention to the voices of those she believes should be heard. Wanting to give a fellow faculty member, Jimmy Jia, the opportunity to share his expertise on sustainable energy management, she created the first pilot of an Energy Leadership immersion course. As leadership is a universal need for organizations across the globe, Dr. Chess uses the study of it to connect to other fields.

A true leader in practice and in theory, Dr. Chess states that a quality leader listens deeply, thinks about long-term consequences of actions, and most importantly, knows their limits. She enjoys sharing her knowledge and incorporating the lessons she learned professionally into the classroom through real-world examples and case studies. Her belief in the power of connection and collaboration in creating solutions has influenced the way she uses her network as well.

“My professional and academic work helps connect people with big ideas,” Dr. Chess says.

In the Saybrook community, Dr. Chess celebrates the opportunity to continue to build the next generation of leaders in her students.

“When I went to teach my class on values at Saybrook’s Residential Conference, I was amazed at the stories that poured forth from students about how they’ve stood in their values in the past,” Dr. Chess recalls. “I was so proud of being in the presence of leaders who are going to make a difference in the world. All of us felt a sense of community. There was such clarity and commitment in the room you could almost touch it.”

Dr. Ruthann Russo

21 March 2018
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Dr. Ruthann Russo
Ph.D. Mind-Body Medicine, 2015

“I’ve held a lot of different jobs but I never felt like I was in any of them. The exception to that would be my time at Saybrook. It was a defining period for me.”

Lifelong Learner

After exploring integrative health practices on her own, Dr. Russo put passion to practice by pursuing a degree in Mind-Body Medicine at Saybrook.

Ruthann Russo, Ph.D., DAc, M.P.H., J.D., is many things: a previous health care attorney, a CEO, a researcher, a health care professional, and most proudly a Saybrook trustee and alumna from the College of Mind-Body Medicine.

Her Saybrook journey started after a life-altering event. When her daughter Emmalea was diagnosed with epilepsy as a teenager, the family turned to integrative health practices—like yoga, meditation, guided imagery, and biofeedback—to do what conventional medicine was unable to. These practices worked; Emmalea was seizure-free for four and a half years.

The whole experience changed Dr. Russo’s career trajectory. Instead of working for healthcare, as an attorney and CEO, she started to work in it.

She first went to acupuncture school. After graduating, she started attending the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, where she met Dr. James Gordon, the founder of the Center and the dean of the College of Mind-Body Medicine at Saybrook. He told her she should look into the Ph.D. in Mind-Body Medicine that Saybrook offered because it was helping to legitimize this concept of integrative health practices.

Dr. Russo not only completed this degree in 2015; she has created and taught both “Health Informatics: The Science of Healthcare Information” and “Ethics in Healthcare” at the College of Mind-Body Medicine.

“This is a scientifically rigorous program,” Dr. Russo says. “We are always backing up what we are putting out there by going to the research; we’re not going to recommend interventions that are not backed by research.”

Dr. Russo is now a certified health coach, a yoga teacher, and a licensed acupuncturist. She has authored twelve books, including one on the raw food diet. She researches the effectiveness of different integrative health care practices and advocates for self-care to treat chronic conditions. She has eight degrees to her name and is currently starting the fourth company of her professional career. Dr. Russo even gave a TEDx talk on a re-envisioned health care system.

Despite all of this, Dr. Russo is surprisingly relatable. After speaking on her own life journey, she often finds herself surrounded by people sharing their own stories.

“There are always a few people who come up and say, ‘my daughter has epilepsy’ or ‘I have epilepsy,’” Dr. Russo recalls. “People are so thrilled that they have this opportunity to look into something they never realized was there to help them help themselves.”

Scholarship winner proves #ChangingLivesMatter

6 March 2018
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Lucinda Rost, the owner and sole proprietor of Unique Body Balance in Sierra Vista, Arizona, consistently passes on one piece of advice when she speaks at a commencement: “Once a student, always a teacher.” And this Saybrook student and winner of an American College of Nutrition scholarship wants to teach others to improve their mind-body medicine knowledge.

When the American College of Nutrition offered a scholarship contest for aspiring professionals interested in an aspect of nutrition science, a faculty member had Lucinda Rost in mind. Lucinda Rost—who earned a master’s in integrative oncology and is currently working on her Ph.D. from Saybrook in Mind Body Medicine—jumped at the chance to enter and found out she won in September. She was also a first-time attendee of ACN’s 58th Annual Conference from November 8-10 at The Westin Alexandria.

Lucinda Rost

“The conference was reinforcement of the base knowledge that I have had through both experiential and academic learning,” Rost says. “I’ve been to many conferences, and I really have to say the ACN one was the best I’ve ever attended—extremely educated speakers and vendors, user friendly presentations, well-organized, and top-notch students. I’m kind of an ACN groupie now.”
As the recipient of the Community Outreach and Education Scholarship, Rost was required to create a demonstration showcasing her initiative, leadership, and organizational skills through a community outreach or educational event on the topic of nutrition within the past 12 months.

“I was very fortunate with this option because I had already been presenting different briefings to my community. My demonstration focused on the connection between nutrition and cancer. As a cancer thriver since 2012, nutrition was my very first step in the process of healing. I researched information about how nutrition affects and can better improve my body, and how I could achieve body balance.”

Rost has also done presentations on mind body medicine for communities and focus groups.

“I like to serve those who serve,” Rost says. “I highlight various organizations in the community. The Sierra Women’s Club was the organization I featured in one of my quarterly newsletters. For that newspaper, the topics are about women’s health and overall nutrition. Sierra Women’s Club has business and community leaders of diverse interests, talents, and backgrounds all united with a dedication to community improvement through volunteer service. I used my newsletter and community project with the Sierra Women’s Club for my ACN scholarship submission.”

Every month, the group members meet to discuss stress, energy, medicine, and balancing their busy lives through prepared presentations. They also spread the word about educational courses in the surrounding areas.

Rost’s company Unique Body Balance, an alternative and holistic health service organization, also brands her company’s motto by using the hashtag #ChangingLivesMatter.

“It’s all about helping individuals readjust patterns that are not working for them,” Rost says. “From nutritional wellness, they get to learn to eat better and make better choices. I’ve got a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner who also does energy work for my clients that can’t walk very well. By the time they’re done with her, they’re walking and happy. We’re changing lives. Not only do we see it in our clients, but I see it in my practitioners as well. It reaffirms the value of what they do.”

Although her clients are usually adults who may or may not be cancer survivors, she is also interested in working with other groups who are interested in mind-body medicine. Next up on her to-do list is sponsoring a Girl Scout troop.

“They get to learn about Nutrition 101,” Rost says. “I make it fun for these young girls who are also helping their community. I’m always looking for groups that are already serving those in their communities. If I can drop that little pebble in the pond and let it grow, I can reach out to groups that are already reaching out to their own communities. These efforts will then multiply and hopefully benefit across the world. We continue our hope in knowing that changing lives matter.”

My Journey Into Mindfulness

20 February 2018
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Over the last few years, the theory and practice of mindfulness has been catching on with individuals and has increasingly worked its way into greater consciousness across various sectors from telecommunications to technology and from healthcare to higher education.

My own journey into mindfulness as well as meditation began when I arrived at Saybrook University in 2014. Initially a skeptic (some would say due to my “Midwestern sensibilities”), I at first struggled to understand the benefits of mind-body practices that seemed grounded in more California/West Coast “woo.” However, I eventually found myself on a journey seeking greater exposure to the science of mindfulness, along with deeper immersion into its practice..

Dr. Nathan Long

As a result, I have found a renewed way of being in the world that permeates my personal and professional life. The journey is far from complete but one that I have found has had tremendous benefits. Moreover, I have discovered what many alumni, students, and faculty alike attest: Saybrook has transformed them from the inside out.
Here is the story of my journey into mindfulness.

The journey begins: A transformative moment

My memory remains somewhat fuzzy about my early days at Saybrook. There was little time for reflection on what could only be described as both an exciting and chaotic time personally and professionally. We had just moved from our Front Street location in San Francisco to the Downtown Oakland City Center campus.

While I was getting up to speed on the institution, Saybrook had recently partnered with The Community Solution Education System. Our partnership necessitated the integration of various systems, in addition to numerous policy and procedural revisions. My calendar soon filled up with myriad other events, including several different residential conference experiences; an accreditor site visit; travels to our Seattle campus; and meetings with community members, faculty, staff, alumni, and students. All of this was exciting, and in general, par for the course for university presidents. Having served in such a position for four years previously, I felt prepared to handle the rigors of the job.

Still, there was a looming sense of unsettledness. My family was several thousand miles away. My kids had to leave their beloved schools. My wife was in the throes of a final professional theatre gig, faced with the prospect of restarting her acting career on the West Coast. Life was happening at a pace I had not quite anticipated.

Sometime in mid- to-late August, a seed was planted. I attended several sessions at the various Saybrook residential conferences. Making my way to the School of Mind-Body Medicine conference in Seattle, I attended a session in which Dr. Luann Fortune began with a moment of mindfulness. The sound emanating from her Tibetan singing bowl resonated throughout the room, calling each of us to focus our attention. From there, we went through a mindfulness exercise. I can’t remember precisely what the exercise entailed, but the intention was clear: try to be in the moment–this moment–be present.

The sound emanating from her Tibetan singing bowl resonated throughout the room, calling each of us to focus our attention.

Such a request was initially jarring yet immediately eye-opening. In just a few short weeks since starting the role, I found this one moment incredibly clarifying. Fidgeting, uncomfortable, I realized I had not been present at all. Instead my mind was jumping from one thing to the next, ignoring each request to be present with thoughts of my ever-growing to-do list.

Later during the conference, she and Dr. Rockefeller both mentioned the importance of ritual as a mechanism to establish even greater awareness, being more present in the here and now. Such rituals could serve as anchors. Again, for me this seemed all well and good. But life was happening, and work had to be done.

Despite what seemed like annoyed interest, I was intrigued enough, writing both of these ideas down in my journal chronicling events of those early days. Tucked away into my rolling backpack, these ideas would eventually resurface, offering the opportunity for personal and professional growth.

The path toward mindfulness: Personal rituals and mission

By the time the holidays rolled around in 2014, I realized I was emotionally and physically exhausted. Looking back on the previous 4.5 months, we were joyful about accomplishing so much personally and professionally. We had made the move across the country without losing each other or a single part of our dish collection. Our kids were enrolled in school, having made the transition without too much trouble and even making a few friends in short time. We had also wrapped up the initial phase of our strategic planning process with well over 100 hours of interviews and focus groups. The process was neither easy nor a slam dunk as far as processes go, but the university was positioning itself for a turnaround.

Concurrently, I was reading articles online about the importance of crafting a personal mission statement as a device to remaining centered.

Over the next two weeks, I unplugged from work with the hope of rebalancing in preparation for what I knew would be a difficult year ahead. In between time with the family, I began reflecting on my notes from the previous semester. I came across the two concepts of mindfulness and ritual. Concurrently, I was reading articles online about the importance of crafting a personal mission statement as a device to remaining centered. The mindfulness piece was a bit much, I thought. Still, in the interest of self-improvement, I decided to take some time to develop a personal mission and rituals, which ideally might ground me a bit more. I took to the task and found it immensely clarifying, even satisfying. These rituals and development of a personal mission provided me anchors, as Dr. Fortune had noted in her presentation. These anchors would be critical during a time of immense change.

The creation of rituals came first. Guiding questions informed my process: What did I need to do to center myself? What was needed for me to connect to my family given the pace of the job? How could I more effectively manage my daily workload? How could I ensure space in my day for the things that would help me grow intellectually, creatively, and professionally? In those early days, I created three rituals, which remain to this day though each has been modified over the last few years, conforming to my personal evolution.

How could I ensure space in my day for the things that would help me grow intellectually, creatively, and professionally?

My morning ritual consisted of working out, journal writing, reading while drinking coffee, and making connections with my wife and kids before the day began. This simple ritual was a crucial stabilizing force in my day. Working out, reflecting on the previous day, taking time to read the latest news, drinking my coffee out of my favorite mug, and making time to connect with the family were actions that helped me feel better about my world and the world around me.

The second daily ritual I created centered on professional, routine activities: daily emails, engaging on social media, and connecting with the Saybrook team. Email has become―for good or ill―the instrument of choice where communication is concerned. Given Saybrook’s largely virtual place in the world, I found myself becoming increasingly anxious looking at my inbox expand to three and four times the size of what I was used to managing. Thus, ritualizing the practice of email enabled me to address that anxiety head-on, ensuring that dedicated time was planned for this important communication. Creating space and time for social media and connection with the team also helped prioritize my time and the people critical to our success.

My last ritual of the day focused on personal enrichment and family time. Particularly, this ritual involved making dinner/spending time with family, reading, and engaging in creative endeavors (e.g. music and poetry). This ritual often was, and continues to be, the most difficult to achieve due to time demands from my position, my wife’s acting career, and our kids’ activities. Nevertheless, clearly stating the intention improved my attentiveness to making the time for myself and my family.

I agreed with the idea that if organizations require missions that guide their work, individuals should too.

The development of a personal mission came soon after. I agreed with the idea that if organizations require missions that guide their work, individuals should too. I commenced drafting my personal statement with the following questions in mind: What do I expect from myself? What personal attributes matter most to me? What do I aspire to become as a person, husband, father, and leader? Why? At last, I landed on the following, which has undergone some minor revisions over the years for clarity:

To achieve my fullest human potential, I will live my life each and every day with consistent, determined focus; boundless love, unyielding compassion, and deep sincerity; impeccable integrity, holding myself and others accountable to the highest personal and professional standards; dedication to balanced, healthy living that prioritizes self- and family care; and immersion in intellectual and creative pursuits that add more beauty, joy, and truth to this amazing, chaotic world.

A moment of clarity and the path toward sustained mindfulness meditation

After a few months of practicing these rituals and putting into practice my personal mission, I was talking with a colleague about how impactful these had been for me. Admittedly, I still felt un-centered at times, occasionally (or perhaps more often than not) allowing my calendar to overrun my rituals. I also remarked that while the whole mindfulness piece didn’t make sense to me, this approach did and it was making a difference albeit in fits and starts.

My colleague laughed, and then made the point that I was in fact engaging in a form of mindfulness practice through the implementation of these rituals. Mindfulness as a practice, I was reminded, is being present in the moment and making space for being present. Still, my colleague noted, there is the ability to go further, leveraging the benefits of mindfulness meditation in combination with my daily rituals as an opportunity for deeper emotional and physical growth.

I admit I felt a bit ridiculous at the obviousness of it all. But then, I was new to all of this and was thrust into being reminded that I didn’t know what I thought I knew. I then began reading and inquiring more about mindfulness meditation as a practice (my first book was by Dr. Ian Gawler and Paul Bedson titled “Meditation: An In-Depth Guide”). I started trying several techniques, downloaded several meditation apps, all-the-while learning from others about their own mindfulness journey. Over the span of a year and a half, I moved from sporadic mindfulness meditation to incorporating the practice as part of my daily morning ritual. I went in gently with no prescribed amount of time. Even if I spent five minutes, I found the time was incredibly valuable for its effects on my emotional well-being.

A brief view inside my approach

I have created an approach or practice that works for me. Each person’s approach to mindfulness meditation is unique, while certain techniques are fairly common. In addition to my own mantras, I use the aid of an iPhone app called Calm. Each day, the app updates with a “Daily Calm,” usually a 10-minute meditation that typically starts with about seven to eight minutes of breathing and then two minutes of observations from the narrator. Coming out of the practice, there are usually a few moments where I sit in silence, focusing on the breath with the goal of being as present as possible, allowing the flurry of thoughts to pass without judging those thoughts or engaging them. I merely observe them.

Specifically, the meditations emphasize two important aspects of being present: the breath and “calming” that flurry of thoughts that the mind produces (both intended and unintended). What I have learned in this process is that by recognizing and observing these thoughts, I am able to mentally create the conditions for quieting my mind more effectively, bringing my attention back to the present. The focal point or anchor for the “present” in most of my practice is the breath. Ultimately, the results are both powerful and ongoing.

Observed results and the next part of the journey

By actively being present, I have observed several noticeable results, including but not limited to slowing down my words and actions, being more deliberative in decision-making, letting go of past mistakes, focusing more intently on present interactions with family members and colleagues, and being more at peace with who I am.

There are moments when I find that my thoughts begin spinning, sometimes wildly, in directions I cannot explain

I have also been able to take this practice with me into my day. There are moments when I find that my thoughts begin spinning, sometimes wildly, in directions I cannot explain. Many people experience this as the brain produces mental images and thoughts that can be welcome but sometimes, like that iconic uncle who spouts off unwelcomed views about religion or politics at Thanksgiving, random thoughts enter uninvited.

When this happens, the work I have done thus far has enabled me to implement a technique called S.T.O.P. Various versions of this exist. My mnemonic is similar and stands for Stop (what I’m doing); Take a breath; Observe my thoughts (and then let them go); and Proceed with my day. This technique has enabled me to be less reactive to events―especially those out of my control or that just pop into my brain―and instead help me become more centered, more present, and allowing for increased ability to manage whatever is at hand.

The next part of my mindfulness-meditation journey is to expand these concepts more deeply into my leadership. As mentioned in the introduction, mindfulness (and meditation) practice is no longer a fringe technique. Incorporating mindfulness more authentically and deliberately into my work as president of Saybrook University has the potential for additional grounding in the humanistic values that make us who we are as an institution.

My hope is that my continuously evolving mindfulness practice coupled with a stronger connection to my personal mission will lead to further blossoming spirit of collaboration, innovation, and transparency in all that I do, while helping advance our fine institution forward to its next stage as a progressive institution of higher learning. The aforementioned are lofty aspirations, but in my view worthy ones for which to strive.

Transformation from the inside-out

Many of our students and faculty say that Saybrook University has transformed them from the inside-out. Indeed, like my fellow university travelers, Saybrook has had this effect on me. From that series of interactions in 2014 to today, I am a different―hopefully better―person, better father and husband, and better leader. I also know I have much to learn and even more personal-professional work to do in becoming the best version of myself. Indeed, the present-day results of my rituals and mindfulness meditation practice on who I am are not fixed or static. With each day, I discover more about me, about who I am and how I can become better with each practice, with each breath. And for me this is one key part of what being humanistic is all about: enabling each individual to achieve her or his greatest potential.

The journey has been and continues to be amazing.