Quieting the mind using Journey Dance

On a given day, the average person spends way to much of their attention to their mind and way too little attention is directed to the body and to the soul. Our mind and egos are so powerful that they often make us see reality as a substantially distorted reflection.

This is a sign of our times and many of us seek to change this imbalance by practicing mindfulness, meditation and yoga. Any other sports such as running, walking, or team sports can be powerful as well. The only catch is that if you get overly competitive over a prolonged period of time then your ego is taking charge again.

Why should you care about Journey Dance? Your ego is so powerful that it will convince you and try to convince others of distorted realities. However when you dance, the ego has to surrender to the body and your soul. This may be uncomfortable for many, but it is an extremely powerful way of expressing and processing what is really going on in your life.  And it's not about how "good" of a dancer you are. The only currency is that you bring your authentic self. It is quite naturally actually, although some of us may feel a bit rusty at first.

Where can you attend a Journey Dance event? I attended a Journey Dance event at the Elkins estate in Philadelphia last Friday. The teacher was Toni Bergins, the talented host that made 75 people feel extremely comfortable in sharing inner and outer spaces through dance and music. I loved that we peaked on "Break on Through" by the Doors. It reminded me a lot of a rock concert actually. The event was a great success and all 75 attendees were certified rock stars by the end of the night.

Toni travels nationally and internationally to host Journey Dance events, teacher trainings and dance related workshops. She will be back in Philadelphia on May 14th and 15th at Dhyana Yoga studio. If you are interested in trying Journey Dance then mark your calendar this will be a great event to experience it.

Dhyana Yoga Studio Philadelphia:

Friday May 14th : "Sacred JourneyDance"  : 7-9pm

Saturday May 15th : "JourneyDance Workshop"  :9:30-12:30

Links:

More on the health benefits of Journey Dance

Other JD events, and classes in your area

Dhyana Yoga Studio in Philadelphia

Elkins Estate Journey Dance event

Shackleton’s Ultimate Leadership Tool Discovered – Whiskey!

Ernest Shackleton is universally known for his incredible leadership skills. However, he will now be known for another great feat…providing the world with a taste of perfectly preserved early 19th century whiskey! According to this fascinating blog article, whiskey left behind by Ernest Shackleton and his crew during their SS Nimrod expedition in Antarctica has just recently been discovered. This blast from the past might get removed from its icy grave and returned to civilization - and I’m sure it will make one heck of an expensive old fashion (the whiskey community will surely have my head for even suggesting not drinking this rare spirit neat).

Now I only jest when I say Shackleton used Whiskey as his ultimate leadership tool. While, a nice glass of scotch whiskey is a wonderful reward for a job well done…Shackleton was not one for mere carrots and sticks. According to this excellent paper from the Wharton School of Business (1st Google result for “shackleton leadership”) about the infamous Endurance expedition, Shackleton’s leadership can be nicely, but not completely, summed up with these six ideals:

• Put your people first
• Be flexible in tactics
• Choose your people carefully — for character, not just competence
• Sustain optimism in the face of adversity;
• Lead by example
• Strive for equal treatment

While I highly suggest you take ten minutes and read the Wharton article, I’d like to leave you with my favorite story from it. This story exemplifies how Shackleton never accepted preferential treatment and always put his men first (some of today’s leaders should take note): “When the men took to the ice and drew for sleeping bags, Shackleton somehow ensured that he and the other senior officers drew wool bags, while the more junior men got the warmer fur bags.” I’m sure Shackleton was also low man on the totem pole when it was whiskey rationing time…

What do you think Shackleton’s greatest leaderships skills were? What lessons from Shackleton have helped you be a better leader? And most importantly, how much would you pay for a taste of the manliest whiskey on the face of the planet?!


-Tom

HealthPanda offers a therapist directory to help you find all types of Philadelphia therapists and psychologists. Find a therapist that fits all your needs in our fast growing directory today.

The Science of Happiness

I recently attended a workshop conducted by Christopher Maxwell entitled, Building on Your Strengths: Lessons from Positive Psychology. I’ll be honest; I entered this workshop with skepticism. How can positive psychology be a field? Is it really scientifically based? It seems so, well, soft.
Well, as I learned in this workshop, Positive Psychology continually fights a stigma of being the “happy field” and its founder, Martin Seligman, points out that the practice is evidence-based, meaning that interventions have been scientifically tested to see what works. (Raymond wrote about evidence based therapy here). 

And positive psychology is more than just the study of happiness. The Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania defines positive psychology as the scientific study of the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive. As I listened to this definition, I realized that I may have misjudged positive psychology. But I thought to myself, what about negative emotions and stress—how does this fit into positive psychology?

Dr. Maxwell must have read my mind because he then talked about how negative emotions promote survival and help us focus. The most interesting part of the workshop was the discussion and research on character strengths, which I’ll talk about in a later post. Positive psychology builds on character strengths to promote well-being.

After attending this workshop, I am intrigued by the positive psychology field. I left thinking that positive psychology is more than just the art of being happy. There is a science to happiness and understanding the impact of positive emotions, traits and institutions can lead to more balance in individuals and communities.

What are your thoughts on positive psychology? What do you do to keep your life positive?


Resources:Seligman and his colleagues reported on the empirical progress of positive psychology interventions in this article from 2005.
Authentic Happiness: learn more about Dr. Seligman's work


--Lisa

Website Usability Review: Council for Relationships

As part of an ongoing series, every few weeks I will be reviewing various psychology and psychiatry websites with an eye towards user centered design and usability. Hopefully you'll be able to get some ideas on what to do and what to avoid when it comes to your own website.

This week: Council for Relationships

I have to say: I really like this site, when looking through the lens of usability. Here are some of the things they get really right.

Clear, consistent navigation: always in the same place on every page. Common links, including a contact method. Demographic based navigation: "for clients" "for professionals" gives visitors clues to where they should be clicking.

Updated content in common places: the Tip of the Week, In the Spotlight, and Upcoming Classes are all content that is easily updated and encourages repeat visitors to the homepage, but gives links to more information

Calls to action clearly marked: They want most visitors to do one (or more) of 3 things: sign up for newsletter, donate money, or make an appointment. Each one is clearly marked (the donate repeats), and easy to find. They stand out and draw the eye.

From a purely usability view, I'd only suggest two changes and they are pretty minor.

The first is the logo for "OPERATION Home & Healing". I understand the purpose of the words "OPERATION" are to enforce and remind of military and service. I also understand that the contrast in font from "OPERATION" and "Home & Healing" is meant to be there. However, the execution of the text makes the Home & Healing hard to read at first glance. The bisecting lines of the OPERATION text make visual disruption and effort on the part of the user to read. By moving the "Home & Healing" down just a little, less than 1/2 the height of the text, so that the full "Home & Healing" is below the "OPERATION" would make the whole logo much more legible.

The second is the menu link "Media Experts & Speakers". This title is not indicative of the content that is listed there. I expected the content to be a library or directory of experts with bios. Instead, it is a calendar of events. Even as I tried to write this paragraph, I kept reading it as "Media EVENTS". Users who are looking for events to attend wouldn't necessarily think to click on this menu. Instead, "Upcoming Events" or just "Public Events" would be much more clear and get the users to the content they want.

As I said, pretty minor items. From a purely "usable" focus, this is a very good site.

However, from a "user experience" or a "design" focus, this site is not very good. It looks much more like a print/newsletter item rather than a website. The initial reaction is not positive, as it feels crowded, "text-heavy", and jumbled. There are 5 different color blues* on the page, not necessarily complimentary. The stark contrast between the blue & the gold makes the gold the first place your eye looks, and makes the top navigation tend to disappear.

I don't claim to have any expertise in pure design. I always say: I design experiences and interactions, I don't do fonts, colors, or logos. I don't have any clear suggestions on how to improve, other than "it needs some work."

Ultimately, any website carries on a conversation with its user. It sends a message to the user. What message is the Council for Relationships sending to their visitors?

But heck, these are just my opinions. What do you think?


* Dark blue in top navigation, medium/dark blue in the logo banner, medium/light blue in the newsletter signup, light blue in the Upcoming Classes and Spotlight, and the electric blue of the links. The blue of the borders appears to match either the logo blue or the link blue, but it could be a 6th blue.

Is the world really coming to an end in 2012 ?

Frequently I see messages on Facebook or other that suggest the world coming to an end in 2012. If this is referred to as the Aquarian age that spiritual seekers predict will start in november 2011, then there seems to be quite some misunderstanding. The notion is that we will shift into a new era of a higher consciousness. This era is identified by an increase in sensing, being and mindfulness. As opposed to the current Piscean age which is goal focus, hierarchical, competitive, machine oriented that we will emerge from. Of course the latter will still be ingrained, but a shift will take place that simply will tip the balance to experiencing the journey rather than getting there.

So, good news, the world is not coming to an end. The prediction is that we are moving into a new realm of consciousness, where truthful actions matter and not the masks that you represent. The immense popularity of the movie Avatar is an indicator that many people relate to the notion of a rich fantasy world and that humans are have primordial powers beyond our current understanding (see post on Kundalini & Carl Jung). Perhaps this is a sign for what is to come. I hope that cleared up some of the misunderstanding.

--Raymond.

Rated Xfinity: What's the Psychology behind Comcast's New Brand?

Verizon has FiOS, AT&T has U-verse, Cablevision has Optimum…now Comcast has Xfinity? Make sense? Hmmm…not really…

Xfinity is the new name for Comcast's internet, phone and TV services (the former Comcast Triple Play). According to Comcast: "Xfinity communicates Comcast's constant product upgrades and innovation." But most importantly, Comcast says the name is NOT a futile effort to escape its image as a horrible service provider (even though its customer-satisfaction rating is among the lowest in the industry).

So why did Comcast change the name of its services and why the heck did it chose such a weird, sci-fi, quasi-pornographic moniker like Xfinity? I personally believe Comcast made the change because it's feeling the pinch from Verizon’s FiOS brand. FiOS has great brand awareness, and Verizon's done a great job marketing the product as a fun, complete and improved solution to cable. So for Comcast to fight the stigma of being "the cable company" they had to do some re-branding. Oh and I have no doubt Comcast would love to shed some of their poor reputation – just like when Philip Morris became Altria and Blackwater became Xe.

So why Xfinity? To most at first listen, this new brand name sounds like an adult film production company (here is a hilarious Time/CNN blog about this confusion). While I don’t believe Comcast was shooting for a porn reference, I do believe they might have hired a few too many pharmaceutical brand consultants. So many branded pharmaceuticals include either an X or Z in the name. So many in fact, the FDA had to put a moratorium on using these letters in branded drug names to stop confusion (z 's and x's sound alike...don't want to get your Zantac confused with your Xanax). According to a great Stanford Medical Magazine article, Z's and X's imply speed. So next time you're taking Zyrtec, XYZal, Zoloft, Zocor, Clarinex, Xopenex, or Zithromax see if you feel the drug kicking-in extra fast….just like your cable and internet thanks to Comcast's "constant product upgrades and innovation." OHHH…I get it now!

Overall, here is my humble opinion on Comcast's new brand. Other than sounding like something you’d find on the front of a dirty movie box, the name Xfinity describes a techie's dream…something that’s going to bring you more bytes and gigahertz. FiOS on the other hand sounds playful - something fun and entertaining; something that’s going to make your life more enjoyable not just increase your connectivity statistics. Seeing that there aren't nearly as many techies out there as people that would like their $150/month Xfinity bill to bring more fun to their lives…I think Comcast might have missed the boat with this name change. But with a roughly infinite (or should I say Xfinite...sorry for the cheese, I just couldn't help it) marketing budget, I’m sure we’ll choke down Xfinity in whatever way Comcast wants us to…and with a stranglehold on most markets (for the time being), Xfinity is all we got.

What do you think about the Xfinity brand? At first listen, what emotions and images were triggered by this name in your mind? How is this new identity going to affect Comcast's reputation and more importantly, bottom line (is it waste of advertising money or valuable defensive measures against the emerging FiOS brand in major markets like Philadelphia)?

-Tom

HealthPanda offers a therapist directory to help you find all types of Philadelphia therapists and psychologists. Find a therapist that fits all your needs in our fast growing directory today.

Behavioral Health Care in a Primary Care Setting?!

This seems like a genius idea. How great would it be to receive comprehensive care during a visit to your primary care doctor? Not only would your body receive a wellness exam, but your head, too! What if you could develop a relationship with an on-site behavioral health therapist who you could talk to you about your fears about medical procedures or who could help you create lifestyle changes such as improving diet or exercise?

Three years ago, the Health Federation of Philadelphia started such an initiative to promote the integration of behavioral health into primary care settings. The Federation works with community health centers that serve uninsured and under-insured in Philadelphia. Details about this initiative are featured in this month's edition of the online Philadelphia Social Innovations Journal. The article highlights the development of this model of care, its implementation in the Philadelphia community health centers, the process of creating a reimbursement mechanism, and indicators of success. By all measures this initiative has been successful. Conservative estimates suggest that this model saved 3.7 million dollars in 2008. (The article details the formula used to establish this estimate.) In addition, the patients reported they were helped by the services and they would recommend the service to a friend or family member.

Given these results, I wonder, why are we (i.e., society) not investing in clinics that integrate behavioral and physical health? What are your thoughts about integrating behavioral health into a primary care setting?


posted by Lisa

HealthPanda offers a therapist directory to help you find all types of Philadelphia therapists and psychologists. Find a therapist that fits all your needs in our fast growing directory today.