EARL E. BAKKEN CENTER FOR SPIRITUALITY & HEALING
About Us
The University of Minnesota's Earl E. Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing enriches health and wellbeing by providing exemplary interprofessional education, conducting rigorous research, delivering innovative engagement programs, and advancing innovative models of care. It is our vision to advance the health and wellbeing of individuals, organizations, and communities through integrative health and healing. Learn more at csh.umn.edu.
The following are three guided loving-kindness meditations of differing lengths that you may wish to listen to during a formal meditation period. These meditations may be viewed simply as opportunities to intentionally set aside some quiet time to reflect, and to offer yourself and others wishes for wellbeing, caring, and kindness. Loving-kindness meditations can serve to remind us that regardless of how difficult our life circumstances may be, we can practice appreciating and touching into the more resilient sources of caring and compassion.
Resources
Taking Charge of Your Survivorship
The purpose of the Taking Charge of your Survivorship website is to provide safe, reliable, and evidence-informed information about how to navigate life from diagnosis of a life altering disease, through treatment, and beyond survivorship. We want to build a community for individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer, hematologic, metabolic, or genetic disorders.
Many individuals express that they are not sure what to do after they have gone through extensive medical treatments. Some feel lost and disconnected from who they once were. This site is to serve as a tool to help individuals and caregivers explore their sense of self and to connect with a community that understands what they have gone through.
Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing
The Taking Charge of Your Health & Wellbeing website was created to provide the general public with accurate and credible information about improving and maintaining health and wellbeing. The website contains articles and tips about enhancing wellbeing, exploring complementary and integrative healing practices, and navigating the healthcare system.
The Bakken Center has offered science-based mindfulness programming for more than fifteen years. We are currently offering all of our programming online, and have both self-paced and live, instructor-led options.
Mindfulness is often described as an innate capacity that can be developed and enhanced with practice. Jon Kabat Zinn, Ph.D., author and founder of the internationally acclaimed Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, defines mindfulness as, “the natural awareness that arises through paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and with a non-judgmental attitude.” More than 35 years of mindfulness research has demonstrated that when regularly practiced, mindfulness can aid in the reduction of stress, anxiety and depression, and lead to an overall sense of increased wellbeing. Mindfulness practice has also been reported to assist in pain management by allowing practitioners to create some compassionate space between the actual physical sensation of pain and one’s cognitive and emotional reactivity to the pain.
We host free webinars on various wellbeing topics. Past webinar topics have included purpose, nature-based therapies, and self-acupressure. You can learn more about upcoming webinars and view recordings of past webinars as well. We also host free weekly online Mindful Monday's sessions, which include gentle mindful movement and guided meditation. CODE WORD: HEAL
GIVEAWAY
Win 2 free tickets to the Minnesota Orchestra + Bakken Center's Music & Mindfulness event on May 19th