Living Skillfully: Your Mind and Health

Euclid is said to have told a king looking for a quicker way to learn mathematics, “There is no royal road to geometry.”

photo credit: POSITiv
Part of the challenge of practicing hypnotherapy is to balance two truths: Hypnotherapy can bring about rapid and significant change, but only regular practice brings about the deepest change.
And regular [...]

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I’m a science fiction fan from way back, and have always been interested in the idea of brain-computer interfaces. So when the BBC reports that a musical piece has been performed in part controlled by brain waves, I sit up and take notice.
The Multimodal Orchestra included several performers fitted with EEG caps and leads. “There [...]

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This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Positive PsychologyI’m studying biological psychology at the moment, and in one of the articles set for us to read I came across a reference to research showing the powerful effect of mental attitude.
The study is called “Does humor moderate the effects of experimentally-induced stress?” (Newman [...]

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A reminder that the first round of the Wellbeing Study is currently open – I urge you to participate in this important piece of research on factors that make our lives better.
Speaking of which, I’m pleased to report that I’ve been following the advice which I dispense to my clients with a ladle. I had [...]

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My new Pain Management CD is now in the online shop – only $10 NZD. Isn’t it pretty? Kudos goes to Mrinkk for the photo.
On the audio CD are 10 tracks:

Pain Series Introduction: Introduces the rest of the tracks in the series.
Therapeutic Relaxation: Enjoy refreshing deep relaxation which de-stresses your mind and body – good [...]

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I’ve just come across the website CALM, which stands for Computer Assisted Learning for the Mind. It’s been created by Auckland University’s School of Medical and Health Sciences, initially as a resource to help their students manage stress. As if teaching doctors to manage stress wasn’t laudable enough, they’ve now thrown it open to the [...]

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This entry is part 3 of 3 in the series Building Self-EfficacySharpBrains have an interesting interview with neuroscientist Michael Posner, in which he talks about attention and how a new neuroimaging technique called diffusion tensor is helping to reveal the brain’s networks.
Posner’s research suggests that what we call “attention” has three elements:

Alerting – you might [...]

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Medical News Today reports a study in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology called Effect of compassion meditation on neuroendocrine, innate immune and behavioral responses to psychosocial stress.
Compassion meditation, as you may recall, involves cultivating an attitude of compassion and love towards others while in a meditative frame of mind. I wrote about it previously in my [...]

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Conflict Resolution Day seems like a good day to post a review of The Language of Emotional Intelligence: The Five Essential Tools for Building Powerful and Effective Relationships, by Jeanne Segal with Jaelline Jaffe. Not that conflict resolution is all it covers, but it’s certainly a key element.
To get the disclosure over with early, the [...]

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My first degree was in English language, and besides the various other things I do, I write fiction. I’ve completed a novel, City of Masks, which is told in the first person as a series of journal entries and letters, and am working on another, Gu, which is told rather unusually in the second person [...]

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