Optimize This: If You Care About Mental And Physical Health, This May Be The Missing Piece | Kasley Killam

Chris Ruane has been a member of the British Parliament for more than 20 years. As a meditation and mindfulness practitioner, he wanted to share the benefits of these practices with his colleagues in government. In 2013, he set up free mindfulness classes in the UK Parliament. Since then, more than 150 British Members of Parliament and peers have received mindfulness training, along with 250 members of their staff. Jamie Bristow serves as Director of The Mindfulness Initiative, which was founded in 2013 to support British politicians in forming the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Mindfulness (MAPPG), a cross party group dedicated to developing public policy on mindfulness in health, education, criminal justice and the workplace. Ruane and Bristow have joined forces to bring mindfulness techniques to legislators around the world, hoping it will lead to more thoughtful decision-making and constructive dialogues between opposing political parties. Plug Zone Chris Ruane Bio: http://oxfordmindfulness.org/people/chris-ruane/ Chris Ruane Email Address: ruanec@parliament.uk Chris Ruane Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chris_RuaneMP Jamie Bristow Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamiebristow The Mindfulness Initiative: https://www.themindfulnessinitiative.org/ Ten Percent Happier Meditation - Jeff Warren's Training the Mind: https://10percenthappier.app.link/Sx7HisBOiX ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

12 Kesä 20191h 8min

As a child Annaka Harris suffered from migraines. Searching for ways to cope with that pain, she became curious - wondering "what is this pain" and "where is it coming from?" The line of questioning shifted her perspective and propelled her into a quest of understanding the mystery of consciousness. Harris takes us with her on this quest in our interview and in her book Conscious, which looks at the many definitions of consciousness and challenges long-held assumptions about this complicated concept. The Plug Zone Website: https://annakaharris.com/about/ Conscious: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind: https://annakaharris.com/conscious/ I Wonder: https://annakaharris.com/i-wonder/ Twitter: @annakaharris Meditation From Joseph Goldstein on Ten Percent Happier "Turbo-Charge Your Meditation" aka, Busy Life Meditation: https://10percenthappier.app.link/o431sZ4XWW ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

5 Kesä 20191h 14min

Diana Winston first learned about meditation as a kid, but it wasn’t until she traveled to Asia following college that her practice really took off. She has been practicing mindfulness meditation since 1989, including a year as a Buddhist nun in Burma! Thankfully for us, she has returned to mainstream society where we can learn from her teachings. She’s been called one of the nation’s best-known teachers of mindfulness and has taught mindfulness for 20 years at hospitals, universities, corporations, non-profits, and schools in the US and Asia. Currently she is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA Semel Institute’s Mindful Awareness Research Center (MARC) and the co-author of Fully Present, the Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness. She is also the author of Wide Awake for teens, and has published numerous articles on mindfulness. In our conversation, Winston shares stories from her own practice, including her time as a Buddhist nun, as well as what she calls her most challenging and rewarding practice - trying to mindfully parent her nine-year-old daughter. The Plug Zone Website: http://www.dianawinston.com/about_me.html The Little Book of Being: http://www.dianawinston.com/ UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center: www.uclahealth.org/marc Twitter: @dianawinston “Just This” Talk by Diana Winston in the Ten Percent Happier app: https://10percenthappier.app.link/EPje4jnDXW ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

29 Touko 20191h 15min

It’s hard to deny our society’s increasing dependence on, if not addiction to, email, apps and social media. If we recognize it as a problem, then how do we fix it? Cal Newport is a computer science professor at Georgetown University and the author of the New York Times bestseller: Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Newport writes about our growing dependency on technology and its negative consequences. From deleting apps on your phone to spending time alone with your thoughts, Newport provides valuable steps to break away from our increasing digital dependency. The Plug Zone Website: http://www.calnewport.com/ Digital Minimalism: http://www.calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/ ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

22 Touko 20191h 27min

Daniel M. Ingram sparked controversy in the Buddhist world when he declared himself to be an arahat, the term commonly used for a person who has reached the final stage of enlightenment. In this week's episode, Ingram responds to his critics and details what he experienced during the course of this journey. He also talks about his book, Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha, which aims to help people navigate their path to enlightenment, which he insists is an attainable goal for any of us. The Plug Zone Website: http://integrateddaniel.info/ Book: https://www.mctb.org/ Twitter: @danielmingram Additional sites: https://firekasina.org/ https://www.dharmaoverground.org ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

15 Touko 20191h 59min

Helen Tworkov first encountered Buddhism in Nepal during the 1960's and has studied in both the Zen and Tibetan traditions. She has also studied with Mingyur Rinpoche, a well-known Tibetan Buddhist meditation master. Together they have written the book "In Love with the World: A Monk's Journey Through the Bardos of Living and Dying." The book details Rinpoche’s intimate account of his three year journey away from his monastery and the near-death experience that allowed him to gain life-changing wisdom. The Plug Zone Tricycle: https://tricycle.org/ Book: https://www.amazon.com/Love-World-Journey-Through-Bardos/dp/0525512535 ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

8 Touko 20191h 29min

Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston and has spent the past two decades studying courage, vulnerability, shame, and empathy. She is also the author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers. Her TED Talk "The power of vulnerability" has been viewed nearly 40 million times and Netflix has just released her special, "Call to Courage." In these speeches, and in our conversation, Brown explains why you can’t have courage without vulnerability. The Plug Zone Website: https://brenebrown.com/ TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability?language=en Netflix Special: https://www.netflix.com/brenebrown ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

1 Touko 20191h 20min

At just 21 years old Marc Lesser took a year-long leave from his education to explore meditation. His one year leave would turn into 10 when he became the director of the first Zen monastery in the western world. He’s a Zen priest, an avid meditator and teacher, the author of several books and has been the CEO of several companies including his current company, which aims to integrate business practices with mindfulness - also the focal point of his new book Seven Practices of a Mindful Leader: Lessons from Google and a Zen Monastery Kitchen. The Plug Zone Website: https://www.marclesser.net/ ***VOICEMAILS*** Have a question for Dan? Leave us a voicemail: 646-883-8326

24 Huhti 20191h 29min