About Ucla mindful
Diana Winston is the director of UCLA Mindful, the mindfulness education center of UCLA Health, and the author of The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering Your Natural Awareness. A sought-after speaker, Diana has been called by the Los Angeles Times “one of the nation’s best-known teachers of mindfulness." She has taught mindfulness since 1993 in a variety of settings including hospitals, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and schools in the US and Asia. During her 17-year tenure at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center, Diana developed the evidence-based Mindful Awareness Practices (MAPS) curriculum and the Training in Mindfulness Facilitation program which trained more than 500 mindfulness teachers worldwide. She is a founding board member of the International Mindfulness Teachers Association.Her work has been featured in the New York Times, NPR, O Magazine, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Bloomberg, Women’s Health, and in a variety of magazines, books, and journals. She is also the author of Wide Awake: A Buddhist Guide for Teens, Glimpses of Being, and the co-author, with Susan Smalley PhD, of Fully Present: The Science, Art and Practice of Mindfulness, and has published numerous articles on mindfulness. She is considered one of the early founders of meditation programs and retreats for youth. Her meditations have a global reach through UCLA Mindful and other apps, and recently her meditations have become a feature of the California governor’s mental health website.Diana is a member of the Teacher's Council at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Northern California where she was
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And were sustained at three months later and on par with the benefits seen with in-person interventions including therapy,” says Cortland Dahl. “Just five to 20 minutes makes a big difference, and the teachers who were really stressed seemed to get the most benefit.”A regular meditation practice benefits students too. (This school replaced detention with meditation—and the results are mind-blowing.)Where can you sign up? Before shelling out any cash, check out these 6 free ways to calm your body and mind.Download a free app or twoThere’s an app for everything these days so, of course, there are several that can teach you how to meditate, many of which are totally free, including UCLA Mindful, Smiling Mind, and the HealthyMinds Program App.“On our UCLA app you can start with a five-minute meditation and slowly increase over time to 15 minutes or an amount that makes sense in your life,” says Winston.Even leading commercial meditation apps such as Insight Timer, 10% Happier, Calm, and Headspace have free versions, and you can always pay for more enhanced services.You can try out various meditation practices and styles to see which one works best for you, including mindfulness, where you pay attention to your body and thoughts, often focusing on the breath; or movement meditation, where you focus on your body, often breathing in time with your footsteps.Whatever the app or apps you download, there will be meditations geared toward the trait, temperament, or tendency that you are hoping to improve. Do you want to be happier? Less stressed about the small stuff? Sleep better? Be more patient with your kids? You name it, and there’s a meditation for it.You don’t need to dive in headfirst right away either. Apps like Insight Timer offer a free seven-day course to help you get started and master the basics. Check out these 9 free meditation apps that experts love.Teach yourselfSpoiler alert: You don’t really need a teacher, coach, or even an app to try meditation, Winston says. Simply begin by noticing your breathing, feeling the rise and fall of your chest or abdomen, or the in-and-out sensations at your nose.Your attention will wander, and when it does, rein it back in to your breathing. Keep doing this over and over…and voila, you are meditating.It takes time to cultivate a practice and start reaping the benefits of meditation, she says.“Once you understand how to train your attention, learning to bring your mind into the present moment via the meditation, then you can practice mindfulness throughout the day,” Winston says. “When you start worrying about the future, you can take a mindful pause, coming into the present moment, feeling your feet on the floor, or taking a mindful breath.”She
