When the reality of impermanence and change in life hits you, it can feel sad, even terrifying. Seeing your children grow up before your eyes. The end of a love relationship. Losing your job, fearing you might never get "back on track." The death of someone close. Some freeze with fear when faced with how impermanent everything is, especially the things we're attached to and define us. Others can't redirect what they were aiming for, with damaging consequences.

Of course, people know in their heads that everything in life is impermanent. Yet it's difficult to incorporate that awareness, flow with change, yet retain energy and well-being. Impermanence doesn't penetrate so easily because what you fear losing when it confronts you is largely external -- beliefs, values, "needs," and all that defines who you are. The culture conditions us into defining ourselves by such external criteria. That creates a false, surface ego.  read more »

Image credit: Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty ImagesWhat was killing all those honeybees in recent years? New research shows a link between an increase in the death of bees and insecticides, specifically the chemicals used to coat corn seeds.

The study, titled “Assessment of the Environmental Exposure of Honeybees to Particulate Matter Containing Neonicotinoid Insecticides Coming from Corn Coated Seeds,” was published in the American Chemical Society’s Environmental Science & Technology journal, and provides insight into colony collapse disorder.

Colony collapse disorder, or the mass die-off of honeybees, has stumped researchers up to now. This new research may provide information that could lead to even more answers.  read more »

What did Lincoln have in common with many men and women today? Lincoln adopted a yoga lifestyle! He dubbed himself “a mystic,” and behaved in a way that corresponds with the teachings of yoga and meditation. Lincoln shared many attitudes with millions today who embrace a spiritual way of life.

Richard Salva, a yoga and meditation expert and author of 'Soul Journey: From Lincoln To Lindbergh', who has done an in-depth, eight-year study of the life of Lincoln, gives you an entirely new view of America’s greatest president. He has uncovered more than 200 connections between the life and words of Abraham Lincoln and the deeper teachings of yoga. Here're are a few:  read more »

''You are Life passing through your body, passing through your mind, passing through your soul. Once you find that out, not with logic, not with the intellect, but because you can feel that Life - you find out that you are the force that makes the flowers open and close, that makes the hummingbird fly from flower to flower. You find out that you are in every tree, and you are in every animal, vegetable, and rock. You are that force that moves the wind and breathes through your body. The whole universe is a living being that is moved by that force, and that is what you are. You are Life.''

Diane: Don Miguel, I understand that you were born into a family of healers - your mother was a curandera and your grandfather a nagual. How did you come to take up the Toltec ways?  read more »

The following is an excerpt from the Dalai Lama's latest book, "My Spiritual Journey," a collection of personal memories, anecdotes and reflections on his boyhood in Tibet, his early life as a monk and his experiences as a world leader living in exile:

I am a professional laugher

I have been confronted with many difficult circumstances throughout the course of my life, and my country is going through a critical period. But I laugh often, and my laughter is contagious. When people ask me how I find the strength to laugh now, I reply that I am a professional laugher. Laughing is a characteristic of the Tibetans, who are different in this from the Japanese or the Indians. They are very cheerful, like the Italians, rather than a little reserved, like the Germans or the English.  read more »

Rigorous practice of yoga can help reduce episodes of irregular heartbeat and improve the symptoms of anxiety and depression often associated with atrial fibrillation, a new study has found.

On average, yoga cut patients' episodes of atrial fibrillation in half and significantly improved quality of life, according to research presented today at the American College of Cardiology's 60th Annual Scientific Session.  read more »

Susan Piver
Good morning! It is my pleasure to introduce you to meditation practice, or -- if you already have a practice -- to revisit the foundations with you.

The Practice of Tranquility is more than 2,500 years old and has been practiced by countless people over the millennia. I say this so you can know that what I'm going to teach you is ancient and time-tested. It may or may not be for you, but, in any case, you can trust it. I didn't make it up.

Our culture keeps uncovering more and more reasons why it is a good idea to meditate. For example, according to studies, it has tremendous health benefits, like decreasing stress (by lowering cortisol), improving focus and memory (by raising the level of gamma waves), and preventing relapse into depression by 50 percent (according to studies by Jon Kabat-Zinn, M.D., and Zindel Segal, Ph.D.).  read more »

We have recently witnessed the result of one man's madness that was unleashed on a group of innocent people in Tucson, Ariz. This recent horror occurred largely because no one responded when the young killer was previously silently screaming for help.  read more »

I like to meditate. It makes me feel at ease and I am convinced that the sense of calm it produces helps me to handle the daily challenges of my life.  read more »

Opening the Door
Fighting Against Our Gifts

Are you fighting your natural born gifts? Open to them and watch your world unfold into the flow.

As human beings we often have a tendency to fight against using our natural gifts. Many stories of success start with an individual who is ignoring the call of his or her inborn abilities.  read more »

The benefits of meditation are many and varied from reducing stress to increasing one's cognition and creativity. Additionally, meditation heightens our concentration, allowing us to be more productive.  read more »

Lauren C. GorgoRemember in the last update when I said...."if we can walk through this VERY narrow doorway, fully present and completely void of an agenda, we will experience a major shift on many levels"?  read more »

Americans spend twice as much as residents of other developed countries on healthcare, but get lower quality, less efficiency and have the least equitable system, according to a report released on Wednesday.

The United States ranked last when compared to six other countries -- Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand, the Commonwealth Fund report found.  read more »

It is now being proven scientifically that a happy and healthy outlook to both ourselves and to life affects our mind in many noticeable ways. We do not get such a mindset by ignoring or denying negative feelings and pretending to be happy. Rather, we do it by becoming a good gardener, methodically and carefully removing the weeds of discontent while cultivating beautiful flowers.

Qualities such as kindness, compassion and forgiveness are the seeds we want to plant in order to cultivate a beautiful garden. But the self-centered ego's need for grasping, gaining and selfishness easily buries them. We are all capable of losing our cool, getting caught up in hot emotions and causing harm.  read more »

Jason WachobI'm not your typical yoga person.

In fact, I don't even come close to fitting the profile of a yoga person. First of all, I'm a dude. I'm tall (6'7" to be exact). Yes, is the answer to your next question: I played basketball. I played for four years in college at Columbia, in New York City. I also was president of my fraternity.  read more »

Awakening the Spine"We have three friends: gravity, breath, and wave (connected with the supple movement of extension along the spine). These three companions (fused in one) should be constantly with us."

According to Vanda Scaravelli, author of Awakening the Spine, "we have lost contact with our bodies, and re-establishing this connection is what we try to do. The body should respond immediately to the requests of the mind. The less the gap between the two, the more efficient the action will be."  read more »

In Step two of the 12 Steps of recovery, we're asked to Come to Believe that a Power Greater than Ourselves Could Restore Us to Sanity. What 12-Steppers tell you in the beginning is that you can choose your own concept of what that Higher Power is, as long as you choose something. That said, one big criticism of 12-Step programs is that even though they say you can choose your own HP, they really mean God when they say God. The subtext: if you don't believe in God, you're not going to make it. And if you argue about it, you're not willing. And you have to be willing to make it. And if you don't believe now, you'll come around eventually. This leaves some people feeling like they can't do 12-Step recovery.  read more »

PORT MATILDA, Pa. – The walk down a hill at the St. Joseph Institute ends at the Forest Chapel, nestled in the woods between two streams. Only the sounds of chirping birds and a breeze blowing through leaves pierce the silence.

It's a serene setting where co-owner Michael Campbell hopes visitors experience a spiritual reawakening — regardless of whether one is seeking a religious retreat or a personal wellness break.

Frazzled Americans look to such destinations increasingly to decompress from their mile-a-minute lifestyles, redefining the concept of "spiritual travel." State tourism gurus in Pennsylvania in recent years have produced literature promoting what they called "growing interest in spiritually based retreat destinations."  read more »

If you are heavy, it could be making you sick and tired and age prematurely. And I don't mean heavy with fat ...

I mean heavy with heavy metals -- like mercury!

Unfortunately, toxic mercury problems are common. Along with polar bears, beluga whales, ducks, otters, panthers, and all river fish as well as most large ocean fish, we humans are poisoning ourselves with mercury at ever increasing rates.

There's no doubt about it, mercury is the most alarming, disease-causing source of environmental toxicity that I see daily in my practice. Many of patients have toxic levels of mercury -- and they're not alone. I personally suffered from mercury toxicity and chronic fatigue syndrome --which I cured myself from, in part by getting rid of the mercury in my body. So I know about this first hand.  read more »

hey do not love that do not show their love."

William Shakespeare

As the month of love begins and Valentine's Day approaches, I've been giving a lot of thought to love. (It's hard to avoid thinking about it when stores' shelves are stocked with all things red and pink and heart-shaped!) It's complex, fascinating term that can many so many things to so many people. It brings people the greatest joy and the deepest pain. It's hard to describe but undeniable when you experience it. It's something that can bring the biggest smile to your face or create a puddle of tears in your pillow. Love is pretty amazing. And, for that reason, I'm going to be celebrating a month of love here at Positively Present. For the month of February, I'm going to be writing all about love -- and not just romantic love, either. I'm going to be writing, as I always do, about life, but this month I'm going to be incorporating a whole lot of love into those posts.  read more »