wbur Anita Walker, executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council, talks at the Councils official announcement that Lenox has been designed as the states 48th Cultural District on September 9, 2019. Walker announced she will be retiring from the Council in June. (Courtesy Ben Garver/The Berkshire Eagle)

As executive director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), Anita Walker has been running on what sometimes appears to be a boundless reserve of energy. For more than a decade, shes worked to nurture hundreds of organizations, historic sites and artists from all genres throughout the state always with a big smile on her face. An ardent arts cheerleader, Walker has been seen bouncing between the corridors of the State House to Cape Cod then off to Springfield and the Berkshires. Now, after 13 years on the job, shes retiring.

During her tenure, the independent state arts agency has distributed millions in grant funding from the state and the National Endowment of the Arts. The money goes to large institutions like the Museum of Fine Arts and Boston Symphony Orchestra, but also smaller organizations including the Aquinnah Cultural Center on Marthas Vineyard.

Walker and her team have also supported artists through fellowships, apprenticeships and youth programs, along with launching innovative initiatives to make art more available and affordable to the public, especially in underserved communities.

Walker listed a few examples. Our Up program, which is really focused on accessibility for people who have difficulty navigating the world; our Creative Youth Development Program, which really unleashes the agency of vulnerable teenagers; and our newest initiative, CultureX, which is really at the intersection of the health and well-being of the people of Massachusetts and the power of arts and culture to improve that.

When asked why shes ready to hang up her hat after enthusiastically greasing the wheels that keep the states creative economy humming, Walker said it feels right because the MCC is in great shape. If Im going to move on, this is the time to do it, she added, the work its doing is at the top of its game.

Walker is clearly proud of her many accomplishments with the MCC, but speaks about them in we terms not me terms.

I think we've built an environment of trust between our state agency and the constituents that we serve, she said. We've built strong relationships in communities whether it's in the offices of the mayor, or elected officials, or the working artists, or the chambers of commerce, or the people that are running cultural organizations and nonprofits.

Walker has worked closely with state legislators and fought for budget increases every year. Shes had an impact on buildings and grounds around the state, too, via the Cultural Facilities Fund.

This is the only state in the nation that has consistently addressed cultural infrastructure, Walker said. You know, we're the caretakers not just of treasures here in Massachusetts but we're responsible for the nation's historic sites. I mean, we're the birthplace of democracy. Im so proud of Massachusetts for rising to the challenge and being good stewards.

Walker is gratified by the January release of research from the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies that found the MCC grants more money to more recipients and communities than in any other state in the U.S.

We support 400 cultural nonprofits in the arts, humanities and interpretive science, Walker said. This is brand new research from our national association. So we do more grantmaking than Massachusetts, than New York and California and Texas and much larger states. Talk about punching above your weight.

The MCC also supports 329 local cultural councils and about 50 cultural districts.

There's really no part of life in Massachusetts that doesn't in some way benefit from the intersection with the arts and culture, Walker said.

Walker will be missed, according to Nina Fialkow, chair of the MCC. The Council has deep gratitude and appreciation for Anitas vision, passion and leadership in the nonprofit cultural sector, she said in the councils retirement announcement. We are thankful for her 13 years of service and grateful that she will be with us four more months to ensure the important work of the council continues.

The MCCs governing council is working with a search firm to find the MCCs next executive director.

Walker grew up in California and said shell be heading west after retiring in June to spend more time with her sons.

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Anita Walker, Head Of The Mass. Cultural Council, Is Retiring - WBUR

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In this guided meditation you follow a sleeping exercise and then a relaxing story about visiting a beautiful secluded meadow for a peaceful afternoon in the sun. No haste, just rest, as you drift off into tranquility...

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At first I worried that a 21 minute session would not be nearly long enough for me to truly unwind. But I am thrilled to report that I've used this for three nights and have fallen asleep each time before the meditation was over! Thanks so much for providing this great service--especially for free. I am grateful.

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Falling Asleep free meditation for natural sleep ...

Transcendental meditation (TM) involves sitting with eyes shut for 1520 minutes twice a day while saying a mantra. The practice has several advantages for mental health but, until now, it was unclear how those effects came about.

TM differs from other meditation practices in that it does not require concentration or visualization.

Instead, TM practitioners come up with a mantra, which is a word or phrase that has no real meaning.

The practitioners silently think this mantra, allowing the mind to naturally transcend, while both the mind and body remain awake, yet relaxed.

Most people can learn TM in a few months, and benefits from regular practice may include reduced feelings of stress and anxiety in a persons everyday life.

Research has found some evidence of this. A 2013 study, appearing in Military Medicine, listed TM as a feasible treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in active-duty military personnel.

Similarly, a study appearing in The Permanente Journal in 2014, concluded that a TM program was effective in reducing psychological distress in teachers.

A 2016 study from the same journal found significant reductions in symptoms of trauma, anxiety, and depression in prison inmates who practiced TM.

With benefits seen in a relatively short period, one field of study has dived deeper into TM to find out exactly how it helps.

Now, new findings published in Brain and Cognition point to measurable functional effects in the brain of TM practitioners.

The study took place in the Molecular Mind Laboratory of Italys IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca and involved 34 participants.

Of the volunteers, 19 had to complete two 20-minute TM sessions a day for 3 months one session in the morning and one in the evening.

The remaining 15 participants continued with their usual daily routines.

At the beginning of the study, the researchers used psychometric questionnaires to measure how well each participant could handle stressful situations.

All participants also underwent a functional magnetic resonance imaging test (fMRI) to assess brain activity and functional connectivity between various areas of the brain.

At the end of the 3 months, each participant underwent another fMRI test and filled in the questionnaires again.

After 3 months, the participants who practiced daily TM perceived feeling markedly less stress and anxiety.

Specifically, following TM practice, the group of meditators reported a reduction in psychometric scores reflecting perceived depression, anxiety and stress in opposition to resilience and social skills, the authors write in the paper.

Results from the fMRI scans also showed that the reduction of anxiety levels is associated with specific changes in the connectivity between different cerebral areas, such as precuneus, left parietal lobe, and insula, which all have an important role in the modulation of emotions and inner states, says first author Giulia Avvenuti.

However, none of these changes [were] observed in the group that did not practice TM, Avvenuti points out.

Pietro Pietrini, study coordinator and IMT Schools director, says these findings raise further questions about the link between the brain and the mind.

The fact that [TM] has measurable effects on the dialogue between brain structures involved in the modulation of affective states opens new perspectives for the understanding of brain-mind relationships, he says.

The results may also indicate just how quickly TM can have a tangible effect on the brain and the feelings of individuals.

Organizations such as the David Lynch Foundation which co-funded the study encourage people with trauma or individuals who experience high levels of stress in work and education environments to practice TM.

The organization will likely use the results to amplify their work across the globe.

This work adds to the growing body of evidence in support of this form of meditation. It also raises other questions.

As Pietrini explains, his teams findings extend the results of recent research suggesting that drug therapies and psychotherapy leverage on the same biological mechanism.

Future research may, therefore, look at different ways of targeting these biological pathways.

Read more:

How transcendental meditation alters the brain - Medical News Today

Ease your mind, soothe your soul and connect with your inner self with a little help from these easy-to-use meditation apps.

Its widely known that regular meditation can help you feel less anxious, more focused and better able to handle the stresses of the day. But even more remarkable,researchers at Harvard, Yale and MIT suggest that practicing meditation could actually increase the size of the brain in areas responsible for sensory processing and attention. Thats pretty exciting news for people who suffer from ADHD, sensory processing issues, anxiety disorders and an overwhelming stress load.

RELATED:Your music playlist really does affect your workout, study says

Whether youre new to meditation and need help starting a practice, or just interested in deepening a meditative study, try these apps to help you chart a course on your journey to well being.

Aura

Cost: free basic, premium memberships from $5.99 per month and up

If you feel like your life is way too hectic to meditate, or you just feel chaotic and have trouble remembering to stop and take time for yourself, the Aura app is for you. This mindfulness-oriented system offers thousands of diverse meditations, life coaching sessions and inspirational stories from some of the worlds most renown therapists and coaches. With options ranging from 3 minutes to an hour, youll have no trouble practicing self care with this one.

Download Aura

Calm

Cost: free, premium subscriptions/memberships from $14.99 and up

Called the Happiest App in the World by the Center for Humane Technology, this award-winning app is the top pick for beginners and people suffering from insomnia and anxiety. Filled with guided meditations, soundscapes, Sleep Stories and programs for breathing, stretching and relaxing, the Calm app has it all. Guided meditation sessions range from 3 to 25 minutes, and Calms exclusive Sleep Stories feature talent from iconic voices such as Matthew McConaughey, Bob Ross and Leona Lewis.

Download Calm

RELATED:Looking for a way to reduce work stress? Get a plant, study says

RELATED:Trying to quit caffeine? Study says exercise could have same effect on brain as coffee

Buddhify

Cost:$4.99 monthly or 29.99 annually

Buddhify can help even the busiest people find time for meditation, and it offers a beautiful collection of guided meditations for every mood of the day. This empowering family-run app focuses on mindfulness and encourages users to customize their own meditations. Sessions range from 4 to 30 minutes, and categories include Work Break, Walking, Waking Up, Stress & Difficult Emotion, Going to Sleep and much more.

Download Buddhify

10% Happier

Cost:$99 annually with a seven-day free trial

Who knew it could be so easy to feel 10 percent happier. Based around the New York Times best-selling book, the 10% Happier app will help you discover how to lead a calmer, lighter and happier life through a variety of guided meditation, powerful teachings and practical life lessons.

Download 10% Happier

RELATED:How womens poor sleep can increase risk of heart disease

Insight Timer

Cost:Free, premium membership offers 30 day free trial and $60 per year

Featuring the largest library of free guided meditation on the planet, Insight Timer features over 30,000 different sessions to choose from, specially curated meditations for children, music tracks, and inspirational talks from powerful speakers like Anthony DeMello and yogi Sadhguru.

Download Insight Timer

Make 2020 your year to shine by combining a meditation practice with a regular fitness routine. Thesenew workout studios in metro Atlantawill help you take your health and wellness to a whole new level.

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Keep calm and manage stress with these 5 meditation apps - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Headspace - The Wake Up

How long does it take for you to pick up your phone after you wake up in the morning? A minute? Two? Does it even take that long before you're scrolling through the emails that accumulated overnight or the social media that's piled up?

Most of us are trapped in a cycle of addiction where we're in permanent FOMO and scrambling to catch up as soon as possible every day. Headspace has been trying to get its users to slow down and take just ten minutes each day to disengage, reflect, and be a little more mindful.

But reminders are dismissible, part of the background noise, so Headspace is doing something different. It's finding its users where they're spending their spare minutes.

Getting sucked into a never-ending spiral of viral videos is a mindless activity, something that we do when we're bored, tired, or simply overwhelmed. In a case of "hidden vegetables" Headspace has launched "The Wake Up" a new feature that combines short, informative videos with mindfulness practices.

Each day, there's new Wake Up content designed by Headspace to help its members start their day on a mindful note. The 3-5 minute videos are informative or thoughtful, focusing on five key elements of living more mindfully: meditation, sleeping, moving, eating and playing.

So far the videos all follow the same pattern, a short intro to get you hooked and then a breathing exercise that helps you focus. After that the video continues and things are wrapped up with an animation and a lesson that ties in to the session. It reminds me of the "Moral of the story" bits that would play at the ends of 80s cartoons (but without the lasers and giant robots...see if you can do something about that Headspace).

The content is varied. The first segment I saw was about glass blowing and, honestly, I don't remember the lesson. But it did get me to break the cycle of hitting my phone first thing in the morning and starting to scroll. The meditative guided breathing helped me ease into my day rather than the usual pre-coffee jumble that I force my brain into when I jump right into work.

Today's Wake Up was about decluttering and, while I feel a bit seen (my office is still recovering from the holiday rush), it got me thinking about how the act of decluttering has a mental effect as much as a physical one.

The videos are well done, engaging while not being preachy or heavy-handed. Really, my only wish with the new Wake Up feature is that I could set a time for the notification to pop up (right now the notification activates at the same time for everyone). If it was the first thing I saw on my lock screen when I got up early in the morning, it would be even more useful.

It's a great move for Headspace and something that I think will help them find a user base beyond those that might not have time or aren't interested in traditional meditation.

In addition to The Wake Up, Headspace has also introduced Move Mode. Its meant to help you strengthen your mind while you're strengthening your body and features 28-day courses that guide you through quick workouts, mindful cardio runs, and rest day meditations.

The first series is led by British Olympic diver Leon Taylor and was developed by high performance expert Brandon Marcello PhD in close partnership with Headspace co-founder Andy Puddicombe. US Olympic volleyball player Kim Glass is also part of Move Mode and while she doesn't have a workout series of her own yet, she's featured in several of the individual workouts. You'll also find the rest of Headspace's workout-focused meditations in the new Move category in the app.

I'm really enjoying how Headspace is growing and adapting. With the addition of last year's Sleep category, the Nike Run Club collaborations, and the new Wake Up and Move features, it's clear that Headspace wants to give us every opportunity to try and find the balance we need to be our best.

If you haven't yet, download the Headspace app and sign up for a free trial. You can also check out their website for more information.

Read more from the original source:

Headspace Is Using Your Viral Video Addiction To Get You To Meditate More - Forbes

Another trap many organizations fall into is believing that the introduction of a mindfulness program can make up for significant underinvestment or inattention to employees actual working conditions, Dr. Worline said.

She recalled visiting a major hospital system to help with a unit of doctors who were dealing with an increasing error rate in their work. After she ran a session for the team focused on compassion and restoring meaning to medicine, she discovered that the unit was short seven staffers and many employees were working double shifts.

They very rightly said to me, You could sit here and talk to us about compassion all day long, its not going to make a difference in our stress levels, Dr. Worline said. No wellness management is going to work until you fix the working conditions for people there. In that case, wellness programs were a Band-Aid over a gaping wound.

Still, Mr. Israel, the meditation expert, is confident that as stress levels in the workplace increase, so will the demand for this kind of programming. Last year, at a hospitality design conference in Hollywood, Fla., he presented in front of hundreds of people from the industry.

Ninety-five percent of the people in the room had never meditated or done any of this before, and it was risky for the organizer to book me, but people loved it, he said. In these more traditional spaces where people are not in New York or Los Angeles, theyre starting to open up to this stuff.

And through these sessions, some of them are finding practices they can replicate on a more regular basis. Mr. Santulli, the office manager at WayUp, said he would look into hosting a weekly mindfulness session for the whole staff.

Stress and anxiety has been a big part of our life, and everything gets overwhelming sometimes, he said. This was the first time in a long time that I let go of this list of things I have to do, even for a moment.

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Can Wellness Heal the Workplace? - The New York Times

With virtual reality headsets, some clients are now being not just pampered in place but transported.

The new Kohler Waters Spa in Chicago is on a bustling street in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. But once inside, clients can find themselves a spot on a private beach, along a quiet mountainside or even inside a dark, comforting cave.

Well, thats if they fork over $95 for a 50-minute virtual reality pedicure (a traditional 50-minute pedicure there is $79).

It was perhaps only a matter of time before virtual reality was elevated from the gamers basement to the marble-lined, lavender-infused realm of luxury self-care.

Wellness has become a huge marketing term to attract those guests who want to not just have a beauty result at the end of their service, but want to feel relaxed, calm and now, increasingly so, de-stressed, said Patricia Heitz, a spa consultant in Delmar, N.Y. Virtual reality, she said, is taking that wellness service to the next level by transporting the guest to a place of inner peace and calm.

People receiving pedicures have long read fashion and gossip magazines or, more recently, poked at their phones. But while clients at Kohler stare off into a sunset, waterfall or relaxing scene of their choice, they also get to choose a meditation to accompany the view as they chill out in massage chairs and get their nails buffed.

And some spas are offering V.R. as a treatment unto itself.

At G20 Spa & Salon in Boston, customers pay $45 for a 30-minute guided virtual meditation. They pop on a V.R. headset while sitting in a reclining chair and choose a guided meditation along with an environment, like the Northern Lights or a forest.

Its gaining popularity, said William Engvall, the assistant spa director at G20, where the V.R. meditation has been on the menu since 2018. An average of five to 10 people a week visit the spa specifically for the guided V.R. meditation, he said.

A similar setup awaits visitors to Esqapes Immersive Relaxation, a V.R. meditation center in a Los Angeles office building, where clients can visit a garden, a desert, a Moroccan resort or snowbank cabin while sitting in a massage chair ($45 for 30 minutes).

V.R. and the extrasensory components are a key component of the treatment, said Micah Jackson, the C.E.O. of Esqapes. Giving the mind something to focus on, rather than letting it wander freely, is one of the tenets of meditation, he pointed out.

Adding virtual reality to the menu is also relatively low-cost for spas; an investment in equipment is required, but not the labor of extra aestheticians or staff, said Kate Mearns, the director of spa and wellness at LIVunLtd Spa & Wellness, a wellness service provider for residential and commercial buildings.

Because of staffing shortages, spas are looking for services that dont require licensed therapists, Ms. Mearns said.

Virtual reality allows spa guests to heighten their spa experience in a more D.I.Y. service setting, she said.

Many of the spas are using Guided VR, a service of Cubicle Ninjas, a digital agency in Glen Ellyn, Ill. Staff members there came up with the idea five years ago during a particularly bad winter, when they started hanging out on virtual beaches.

Our team didnt want to leave, said Josh Farkas, the C.E.O. and founder of Guided VR.

They decided to create guided meditation V.R., and started offering the service to dentists, elder care centers and spas.

The spas pay $150 to $300 per month per headset based on the size of the spa, and Guided VR provides the headset license, hardware setup and relaxation content.

When we built the B2B side, we thought that dentists, doctors and elder care would be a much bigger market, but spas are the most interested and willing to adopt, Mr. Farkas said.

Perhaps this is because spas are accustomed to charging for add-on services; if not milk and honey in the pedicure water, why not a trip to paradise?

A virtual reality experience at the beginning of a facial bumps the price up to $555 for 100 minutes from $350 for 90 minutes (the cost of a comparative standard facial at the same spa) at Qua Baths & Spa in Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.

The extra time at the beginning is devoted to a virtual relaxation, the aesthetician helping with the relaxation by touching the clients body in time with the meditation. Then the goggles are removed and the facial portion of the service begins.

This really allows the guest to be in that moment, to really relax, said Kristin Carpenter, the director of spas and salons for Caesars Palace.

But some people think V.R. has no place in settings traditionally devoted to pampering and spiritual escape.

Mary Bemis, the editorial director for Insiders Guide to Spas, believes that virtual reality and all the gadgets that come with it dont belong inside a spa.

In an all too virtual synthetic world, spa culture provides a high-touch, utterly human, unduplicatable experience, Ms. Bemis said. In a world of counterfeits, the gold-standard spa experience is that which is real, not virtual.

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Do You Honestly Find Spas Kind of Boring? - The New York Times

Global Mindfulness Meditation Application Market Overview Global Mindfulness Meditation Application Market presents insights on the current and future industry trends, enabling the readers to identify the products and services, hence driving the revenue growth and profitability. The research report provides a detailed analysis of all the major factors impacting the market on a global and regional scale, including drivers, constraints, threats, challenges, opportunities, and industry-specific trends. Further, the report cites global certainties and endorsements along with downstream and upstream analysis of leading players.

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This Mindfulness Meditation Application market report aims to provide all the participants and the vendors will all the details about growth factors, shortcomings, threats, and the profitable opportunities that the market will present in the near future. The report also features the revenue share, industry size, production volume, and consumption in order to gain insights about the politics to contest for gaining control of a large portion of the market share.

Top Key Players in the Mindfulness Meditation Application Market: Insight Timer, Headspace, Calm, YOGAGLO, Enso Meditation Timer & Bell, Ten Percent Happier, Breethe, Stop, Breathe & Think, Smiling Mind, Inner Explorer, Meditation Moments B.V., Committee for Children, Buddhify, Simple Habit.

Competitive landscape The Mindfulness Meditation Application Industry is severely competitive and fragmented due to the existence of various established players taking part in different marketing strategies to increase their market share. The vendors operating in the market are profiled based on price, quality, brand, product differentiation, and product portfolio. The vendors are turning their focus increasingly on product customization through customer interaction. Mindfulness Meditation Application Market segment by Regions/Countries: United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India, Central & South America.

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Major Types of Mindfulness Meditation Application covered are: IOS,Android,Web,VOSSAutomotive

Major end-user applications for Mindfulness Meditation Application market: IOS,Android,Web,VOSSAutomotive

Points Covered in The Report:

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Access full Report Description, TOC, Table of Figure, Chart, etc. @ https://www.garnerinsights.com/Global-Mindfulness-Meditation-Application-Market-Size-Status-and-Forecast-2019-2025 Thanks for reading this article; you can also get individual chapter wise section or region wise report version like Asia, United States, Europe.

Contact Us: Kevin Thomas Contact No: +1 513 549 5911 (US) +44 203 318 2846 (UK) [emailprotected]

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Mindfulness Meditation Application Market Accelerating Immense Growth During 2020-2025 with Emerging Top Key Players: Insight Timer, Headspace, Calm,...

When I went to Kobers studio, a sunny building set up behind his Studio City home, I was surprisedbyhow much fun the process was. Unlike most sterile photo studios where you passively have a photo taken of you, this one wasalternatelyrelaxing and collaborative. Kober explained that since this antique form of photography has a super-short focal length (i.e., image area that can be in sharp focus), and since the photo plate needs a long time to be exposed, subjects have to sitvery stillfor way longer than the usual iPhone shutter click. (For me, it wastenlong seconds.)

I sat on a stool in front of a backdrop, Kober focused the camera on my eyes (the part of the photo we look at most, he said, so that area that needs to beas sharp as possible), then placed a wire neck support behind my head so that I wouldnt be tempted to sway during meditation. After meditating for a few minutesit could have beenfive, maybe ten, who can tellwhilemeditating?I heard the shutter snap, and Kober swept the exposed plate to the back of the studio to develop it. AfterZen-ing out for maybetenminutes more, I opened my eyes and Kober took my photo again.

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Before-and-After Meditation Portraits Will Show You a Whole New Side of Yourself - PureWow

Meditation is now mainstream and practiced in many different places in many different ways. The meditation that will be taught in these workshops has its roots in Zen practice. In our everyday lives, we can see how complex life can be and how we need to have a place to relax and catch our breath sometimes. In these workshops, you will learn that this place of rest already exists in our own bodies. The most important point in these workshops is to learn how to simply sit, and be comfortable and restful a practice and tool that can be applied to any life endeavor.

These informative workshops are being held the first Thursday of each month. The next workshop will be held from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 5. The instructor is Joseph Armenio.

This workshop is free to 60+ Center members, and for everyone else there will be a $2 drop-in fee.

To register for this workshop, go online: http://www.newportoregon.gov/sc and click on the dark blue banner Browse the catalog and register. For more information, stop by the office located at 20 SE Second St., Newport, or call 541-265-9617.

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Meditation workshops offered at Newport 60+ Center - Newport News Times