Neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson Takes Part in New Working with Mindfulness Webinar

Oct. 31, 2012 - PRLog -- Northampton, MA – Mirabai Bush, co-founder of The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and a key adviser to Google’s Search Inside Yourself curriculum, hosts a free, one-hour webinar series once a month called Working with Mindfulness: Research and Practice of Mindful Techniques in Organizations. (http://www.morethansound.net/WWMWebinar.php) Presented by publisher More Than Sound (www.morethansound.net), the next webcast features a discussion with neuroscientist and author Dr. Richard Davison, Director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior and the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The discussion will also include a Twitter-generated Q&A (using the #workingwithmindfulness feed) and a short, guided mindfulness exercise led by Mirabai Bush. Access to the streaming video will be available on www.morethansound.net shortly after the live webcast.

Participants of the Working with Mindfulness webinar series will learn more about the benefits of mindfulness practices in the workplace and ways to introduce them to their organization’s teams. Topics for the next installment of the series will also include:

- Dr. Davidson’s research on meditation as it relates to happiness, distraction, neuroplasticity and recovering from negative information;

- Discussion of key findings from his latest book The Emotional Life of Your Brain;

- Mirabai Bush’s experience with developing the curriculum for Google’s Search Inside Yourself course, including participant reports of reduced stress, increased productivity, and more creative problem solving after taking the course.

“Most people today are asked to improve performance at work with fewer resources and tighter deadlines, all while dealing with equally stressed co-workers and clients,” said Mirabai Bush, author of the CD Working with Mindfulness. “This combination leads to employee burnout and harms organizations. While people may not have control over stressors at work, mindfulness-based exercises are a scientifically proven, natural way to manage one’s responses to them. This series will allow my colleagues from various industries and disciplines to share their insights of how to bring these practical techniques into the workplace.”

Visit http://www.morethansound.net/WWMWebinar.php to register for the webinar.

About Dr. Richard Davidson

Richard J. Davidson is the William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, Director of the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior and the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience, Founder and Chair and the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in Psychology and has been at Wisconsin since 1984. He has published more than 290 articles, many chapters and reviews and edited 14 books. He has been a member of the Mind and Life Institute’s Board of Directors since 1991. He is the author (with Sharon Begley) of The Emotional Life of Your Brain published by Penguin in 2012. His research is broadly focused on the neural bases of emotion and emotional style and methods to promote human flourishing including meditation and related contemplative practices. His studies have included persons of all ages from birth though old age and have also included individuals with disorders of emotion such as mood and anxiety disorders and autism, as well as expert meditation practitioners with tens of thousands of hours of experience. His research uses a wide range of methods including different varieties of MRI, positron emission tomography, electroencephalography and modern genetic and epigenetic methods.

About Mirabai Bush

Mirabai Bush was a co-founder of the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society and served as Executive Director until 2008. Under her direction, The Center developed its programs in education, law, business, and activism and its network of thousands of people integrating contemplative practice and perspective into their lives and work. Before entering the foundation world, Mirabai was the first professional woman to work on the Saturn-Apollo moonflight at Cape Canaveral. She later co-founded and directed Illuminations, Inc. in Cambridge, MA. Her innovative business approaches, based on mindfulness practice, were reported in Newsweek, Inc., Fortune, and the Boston Business Journal. She is co-author, with Ram Dass, of Compassion in Action: Setting Out on the Path of Service (Random House). Her latest audio work, Working with Mindfulness (More Than Sound), offers guided mindfulness exercises for the workplace to help reduce stress, increase productivity, and encourage creative problem solving.

About More Than Sound

More Than Sound collaborates with today’s leading thinkers to produce original audio and video content, podcasts, online trainings and books that spark and support personal growth. Our informational and inspirational work is centered on emotional intelligence, leadership, and mindfulness. (www.morethansound.net)

Contact Mike Sjostedt at 413-587-0818 or mike@morethansound.net for more information. Visit www.morethansound.net to learn more about More Than Sound.

-30-