Spark
Perspectives, news, and announcements from the Center that will ignite your passion for wellbeing.
Tags: Mandala, Thought Leadership, Wellbeing
December 10, 2018
A beautiful September weekend gave me the chance to enhance dimensions of my personal wellbeing, informed by the Center’s Wellbeing Model (at right). Biking (Health) in Door County was something I had looked forward to since spring (Purpose), and riding in glorious weather on back-country roads (Environment) with ten compatriot cyclists (Community) created an amazing fall experience. Adventuring, eating, laughing, and working together permitted me to deepen bonds and make new friends (Relationships). That’s five out of the six Wellbeing dimensions, Security being the other.
Tags: Community Stories
December 7, 2018
Photo by Bill Phelps
Today’s conventional wisdom says that the best way to live a life is to keep all the components partitioned— love, money, friends. You’re not supposed to date your boss, or go bowling with your analyst, or borrow large sums of money from your drinking buddies. We think of ourselves as a store-bought cake with a sheet of wax paper separating all the slices so that they never touch: neat, single servings.
Tags: Mindfulness, Wellbeing, Workplace
December 6, 2018
THE CENTER’S NEW ONLINE LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES INCLUDE PARTNERSHIPS WITH COURSERA AND THE BIG KNOW
“Through online education, anyone can learn anything,” says Allison Gage, president of The Big Know. “This is the democratization of education and learning!” This fall, the Center is partnering with Minneapolis-based company, The Big Know, to offer cinematic, affordable, online courses to learners around the globe.
Tags: Faculty Stories, Mandala
December 4, 2018
Written by Erik F. Storlie, Ph.D.
“The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will. No one is compos sui if he have it not. An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. But it is easier to define this ideal than to give practical instructions for bringing it about.”
William James, Principles of Psychology (1890)
Tags: Integrative Nursing, Mandala, Wellbeing
December 3, 2018
Integrative nurses from around the globe will gather from May 22 – 24, 2019 at the Third International Integrative Nursing Symposium in the beautiful Irish oceanside town of Galway.
November 30, 2018
On the rivers, there is the pull of gravity drawing me downstream. It creates its own rhythms of standing waves and swirling eddies. Then there is the long, slow inhalation and exhalation of changing water levels.
Tags: Mandala
November 29, 2018
Today, more than half of medical students and more than a third of physicians in the United States are women. In the early 1950s, however, when Mary Goepfert, ’47 B.S., ’51 M.D., began practicing internal medicine, only about 6 percent of physicians were women, a fact that didn’t deter her one bit. She had a calling, coupled with an unconventional outlook on life.
Tags: Integrative Nursing, Mandala
November 29, 2018
Megan Voss, D.N.P., R.N., knows the power of essential oils and aromatherapy to relieve pain, anxiety, and nausea. She saw it work frequently and effectively with her oncology patients, helping them relax and breathe easier during long and often arduous hospital stays.
Tags: Faculty Stories, Mandala
November 29, 2018
Center friend, mentor, and namesake Earl Bakken passed away on Sunday, Oct. 21. Through articles and columns in past issues of Mandala, you have come to understand the Center’s deep connections with Earl and the many ways in which he has influenced our work to advance wellbeing for all.
Since 2004, the Center has been hosting integrative healing and wellbeing courses in Hawaii. These include academic courses for graduate students, such as those in the Doctor of Nursing Practice and Integrative Health and Wellbeing Coaching programs, and a two to three week rotation for medical students. Below, past students who attended these immersive learning experience share memories of meeting Earl.
In 2017, the Center dedicated a special issue of Mandala to Earl. To view this magazine online, visit z.umn.edu/BakkenMandala
Tags: Care-Model Innovation, Mandala
November 29, 2018
As a society, we’re starting to pay more attention to low back pain. The mounting public health crisis around opioid addiction, the huge costs of procedures to diagnose pain, and the aggressive treatment options like spinal surgery have spurred the search for alternative ways to treat this condition, which affects at least 40 percent of adults at some point in their lives.
But what about their younger counterparts? Research shows low back pain is developing with increasing frequency in adolescents, and many carry it on into adulthood.
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Mandala is a biannual magazine produced by Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing. It captures the core aspects of the Center: reflection, transformation, spirituality, creation, and the ongoing journey that continues to shape what we are to become.
About
The Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing blog covers a range of integrative health and wellbeing topics. For more information about our blog, contact us at csh@umn.edu