Spark
Perspectives, news, and announcements from the Center that will ignite your passion for wellbeing.
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February 11, 2019
A new episode of the Center's "Take 5 for Your Health and Wellbeing" podcast is out! In this episode, we sit down with Center Integrative Health Faculty Research Fellow Brent Leininger to discuss the details of low back pain, and an emerging new study on the topic.
January 17, 2019
The University of Minnesota’s Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing and global online learning leader Coursera announced today the launch of a new online specialization in Integrative Health and Medicine. Through this low-cost Specialization, health care professionals will explore integrative healing through three initial classes, which include: Introduction to Integrative Therapies and Healing Practices, Guided Imagery, and Herbal Medicine. Aromatherapy: Clinical Use of Essential Oils and Mindfulness in Integrative Health will also be offered soon.
January 14, 2019
At the start of each new year, I am tuned into the information shared about lifestyle changes in the news and other popular forms of communication. This year I was pleased with the tidbits of information I was hearing and seeing on Good Morning America, The Kelly and Ryan show, and The New York Times. I wanted to share some of the highlights that stood out to me. They are key strategies for making lifestyle changes that will last.
December 19, 2018
Water is fundamental to survival - it is one of the most important shared resources for and by all and relies on our collective care.
Water is elemental. It is made up of one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms bonded together. It comes in three forms (gas, solid and liquid) all mutually supporting the other. Expressed another way, it comes from the air (gas) and returns to the earth (solid) and in-between it drenches (liquid).
Continue reading: We are Water
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.
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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.
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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