A new Swiss study reports that a form of meditation known as mindfulness may help patients with multiple sclerosis.
Patients with MS — a nervous system disease that typically surfaces in early adulthood and can cause muscle weakness, coordination/balance problems and thinking and memory problems, among other symptoms — often suffer from depression and anxiety.

The study compared multiple sclerosis patients who meditated to MS patients who didn’t. Dr. Moses Rodriguez, a professor of neurology and immunology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., who’s familiar with the study’s findings, said meditation is safe and cheaper than the drugs that MS patients take.

“Patients should try it and see if it is helpful for them,” Rodriguez added.

Previous research has suggested that half of …

A Chinese-influenced meditation technique appears to help the brain regulate behavior after as little as 11 hours of practice, according to a study released Monday.

Researchers at the University of Oregon and Dalian University of Technology charted the effects of integrative body-mind training (IBMT), a technique adapted in the 1990s from traditional Chinese medicine and practiced by thousands in China.

The research to be published in the upcoming issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences involved 45 test subjects, about half of whom received IBMT, while a control group received relaxation training.

Imaging tests showed a greater number of connections in the anterior cingulate — the part of the …

The first course in Scotland using a non-pharmaceutical technique to treat depression has been launched at Aberdeen University.

Doctors, nurses, psychotherapists and teachers have signed up for the part time MSc in mindfulness, a revolutionary Buddhist-based non-medication approach to dealing with the condition.

Mindfulness is based on Buddhist meditation but can also be taught in a secular way. Proponents say it is a practical method of understanding how the mind works and can provide insights into how dysfunctional thinking can lead to illness. It can also be used to treat stress and chronic pain.

Graeme Nixon, programme director of the course, said: “The University of Aberdeen’s new masters degree programme in mindfulness has been developed in order to meet the growing interest …

Many new moms suffer from postpartum depression. Now a new imagery program is helping many of them get through it.

First-time mom Ashley Bell thought motherhood would be like a fairy tale. But soon after she gave birth, reality hit.

“I was really sad,” said Bell. “I remember just sitting there and crying, just sobbing, because I just couldn’t get happy and I wanted so badly to be.”

Extreme hormonal changes occur after birth. Experts say four out of five moms experience negative feelings for the first two weeks, known as ‘baby blues.’ But if these negative feelings persist it could turn into …

A young man in a troubled relationship seeks advice for Wildmind’s resident advice columnist, Auntie Suvanna. What’s the best path when you’re hooked up to someone who sees you as being the source of all her problems?

Dear Auntie,

I stumbled upon you while searching for Buddhist relationship advice, and I hope you can help me. It is a rather long story, but you did say in the post I read that you need details so here goes…

First, I have not been studying Buddhism for very long now, only a few months, and not very consistently at that. But a lot of it matches my own feelings already.

I have been …

It’s been a busy year. We’ve redesigned the site, reorganized our news section, and added many hundreds of new posts on the theme of meditation and spiritual practice. So now it’s time to pause and look back with some fondness and appreciation at the most popular blog articles that were published on Wildmind in 2008. But before we do so, we’d like to thank you, our 1.5 million dear readers, for taking an interest in what we do and for posting interesting and insightful comments. All the best in 2009!

10. Back in February Wildmind welcomed the awesomeness that is Auntie Suvanna (aka Dharmacarini Suvarnaprabha of the San Francisco Buddhist Center). Auntie Suvanna dispenses wit …

For some of us meditators, our disembodiment reaches excruciatingly painful and completely unacceptable proportions. It is almost as if our practice itself and the sensitivity it develops have brought us to a level of awareness in relation to our somatic situation that is unbearable.

We feel out of touch with our body, our emotions, our sense perceptions, even the basic experience of being alive. Perhaps this awareness has been slowly growing over many years; perhaps it happens upon us one day, rather abruptly. We realize that we are not really living our life, not really going through our relationships and our experiences in anything but a numb and mechanical way. Although everything may seem …

Contrary to what you might think, negative emotions are not “bad” things we need to get rid of. Sunada sees them as gold mines – opportunities to learn more about ourselves and walk the path toward uncovering our innate purity.

Meditation is supposed to help us become calm, peaceful, and happy, right? But then when we sit, all this other stuff seems to get in our way – anxiety, worry, depression, irritation, hateful thoughts … So we try harder to get rid of them because, after all, meditation is supposed be about freeing ourselves of all these ugly states of mind, right?

Well, let me stop you right there. Meditation isn’t about …

Postpartum depression affects nearly 20 percent of new mothers. It usually occurs in the first two weeks to six months after the baby is born. One way to prevent postpartum depression is to focus on the positives of being a new mother.

“It’s important that new mothers don’t become overwhelmed and lose the excitement of the child’s birth amidst all the stress of having a baby,” says Ellen Sue Stern, author of “Reflections for New Mothers” (Meadowbrook Press). After giving birth many mothers experience anxiety and low self-esteem. They may lack confidence in their parenting ability. One way to overcome these feelings of inadequacy is …