The Mindful Nest

02/06/2026

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The storm doesn’t come to stop you. It comes to show you.

02/05/2026

February is American Heart Month! In addition to the benefits of nutrition and exercise in those with existing heart disease and in the area of prevention, mindfulness has a strong role to play. Hope you will take a moment to see the benefits below as a part of a heart healthy lifestyle.

Cardiovascular Benefits of Mindfulness
Mindfulness Based Interventions (MBI’s) may offer many psychological, physiological, cognitive and behavioral changes that have positive benefits for patients with cardiovascular disease. There may also be a role in preventing these diseases or decreasing the likelihood of the progression of heart disease. MBI’s are designed to assist participants to learn non-judgmental sustained, moment to moment awareness of physical sensations, emotional states and thoughts. The core practices are focused attention training – re-directing attention to a chosen anchor and open awareness training – cultivating an attitude of open acceptance to what is noticed in emotional states, patterns of behavior, and thoughts. Over the last 40+ years, these practices have been shown to elicit the “relaxation response”, a termed coined by the late Harvard Medical School professor and cardiologist, Dr. Herbert Benson.
These potential benefits lie in the mechanisms of:
• Reduced sympathetic nervous system activity, (which includes a decrease in the “fight or flight” mode, decreased blood pressure, specifically systolic BP, and decreased heart rate). This is the same activity reduced by beta-blockers, a common cardiac medication.
• Improved vagal control (increasing the body’s ability to manage stress better, lower heart rate and decrease inflammation).
• Decreased psychological distress, which is common among patients with CVD. Studies have shown that patients with acute MI are 3x more likely to suffer from depression and increase in recurrent cardiac events and mortality. Lower levels of stress have been shown to improve mortality rates post MI.
• Beyond the above, there are also benefits seen assisting patients in decreasing emotional reactivity, negative thoughts and feelings and leading to improved depression and anxiety.
• There have even been small-moderate effects seen in decreased binge and impulsive eating in adults with obesity.
• There is moderate evidence that learning these life skills can lead to - improved sleep patterns – important as poor sleep is a risk factor, quite significant, for heart disease, stroke, HBP, diabetes and obesity.
• Improved cognitive function – this was even seen in adults with mild cognitive impairments.

Much more research is needed and is ongoing to continue to learn how to provide specific recommendations for cardiac patients and the public, but the research is leading in the right direction. As these practices are not for all people, and not without risk, like other psychological interventions, a monitored program such as Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a good option. With a very vigorous process looking at medical and psychological history, participants are appropriately screened for the program, instructed by trained teachers and followed for the duration of the 8-week program.

01/20/2026

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied together into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality... Before you finish eating breakfast in the morning, you’ve depended on more than half the world. This is the way our universe is structured, this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize the basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.”—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. from his last Christmas sermon

01/19/2026

At any time you can ask yourself: At which threshold am I now standing? At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter? What is preventing me from crossing my next threshold? What gift would enable me to do it? A threshold is not a simple boundary; it is a frontier that divides two different territories, rhythms, and atmospheres. Indeed, it is a lovely testimony to the fullness and integrity of an experience or a stage of life that it intensifies toward the end into a real frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual. It is wise in your own life to be able to recognize and acknowledge the key thresholds: to take your time; to feel all the varieties of presence that accrue there; to listen inward with complete attention until you hear the inner voice calling you forward. The time has come to cross.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

Excerpt from his books: To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

Clonmacnoise, County Offaly, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill

01/18/2026

The Art of Unhurried Living

Make time to savor the simple moments in life.
Step outside without a destination.

Let your feet find their own rhythm.
Take walks not shaped by exercise or efficiency.

Notice the quiet conversations of birds,
the familiar beauty along paths you have always walked.

A slower pace asks for your presence.
It invites you to feel the day unfolding
instead of racing past it.

In slowing down,
you begin to hear your own thoughts more clearly,
and, sometimes,
the gentle hush beneath them.

There is a richness in unhurried living,
where time becomes a place you inhabit,
not something you hurry through.

When you choose to slow down,
you create space
for these moments
to find you.

✍️ Mary Anne Byrne

01/17/2026

January in World Mindful Eating month. Take a look at the LVHN blog on Mindful Eating. First intro class I will be holding with LVHN Center for Mindfulness is at Cedar Crest in Allentown on 1/29/2026. Offerings in the area to be posted soon!

Focusing on why and how we eat rather than calories

01/14/2026

Sending some your way today and every day.

12/22/2025

✨🌘 A sacred pause at the year’s edge.

“The light will return—it always does. May we meet it with kindness, presence, and an open heart.”

✨🌘 A sacred pause at the year’s edge.

The light will return—it always does. May we meet it with kindness, presence, and an open heart.

11/23/2025

It that time of year!💚🌲💚🌲. Trees ready for you at Valley Scoops and More, 683 PA-93, Sugarloaf beginning Friday, November 26th from 10 AM - 6 PM daily! 🌲

10/04/2025

Silence and reflection are powerful whenever you choose to do it, but there is something special about gathering to practice in this way with community. I honor all those that decided to join me for the 8 week MBSR class and the great work of getting to know oneself better, finding more skillful ways to manage the daily stresses of life, and recognize the joy woven in between. Today’s All Day of Silent Practice is the halfway mark, a chance to come close to all your experiences, which is your very life. Looking forward to the day. 💚

07/06/2025

🩵

06/29/2025

TO COME HOME TO YOURSELF

May all that is unforgiven in you,
Be released.

May your fears yield
Their deepest tranquilities.

May all that is unlived in you,
Blossom into a future,
Graced with love.

JOHN O'DONOHUE

From his books: To Bless the Space Between Us (US) / Benedictus (Europe)
Ordering Info: https://johnodonohue.com/store

County Clare, Ireland
Photo: © Ann Cahill