The Pain Chronicles: Author Event in Boston on Tuesday, April 12

"Rarely has a single book so intelligently illuminated a universal human experience.  Melding science, literature, religion, memoir and history, Melanie Thernstrom has created a masterpiece that reveals how we seek diverse dimensions of meaning to transcend suffering."

~Jerome Groopman, MD, Harvard Medical School, and author of The Anatomy of Hope, How Doctors Think, and New Yorker columnist 

The author of the critically acclaimed, The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering, Melanie Thernstrom, will be speaking in Boston at the Tufts Medical Center's Wolff Auditorium on Tuesday, April 12 at 4 PM.  The event is free and open to the public.  

Melanie Thernstrom is also a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, and other publications. She has taught creative writing at Harvard University, Cornell University, and the University of California. Through her own journey with chronic pain, Ms. Thernstrom explores the universal experience of pain through metaphor, medicine, society, history, belief, narrative, and art.  The Pain Chronicles, a New York Times bestseller published in August 2010, is her third book and has been critically acclaimed by literary and scientific reviewers. She currently serves on the Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Education and Care of the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine.

This event is hosted by the Tufts University School Of Medicine's Pain Research, Education and Policy Program with support from the Public Health and Professional Degree Program's student activity fund.

Teen Yoga Series Starting in Boxborough, MA on April 10

Connecting the body and mind is as essential for teens as it is for adults.  A new yoga class is beginning this Sunday, April 10 from 4-5 PM in Boxborough, MA.  This 4 week program is specifically for teens and taught by experienced Iyengar yoga instructor, Ann Seymour, at the Boxborough Yoga Center.  For information about the Teen Yoga Series, please contact Ann Seymour.

"No spring session of group MBSR this year?" I have been asked this question a lot over the past month. 

As many of you know, for the past 8 years I have always offered group Fall, Winter and Spring MBSR classes.  This spring, however, I am finishing up my graduate research at the Tufts University School of Medicine's Pain Research, Education and Policy Program and will not be teaching a spring session due to research deadlines. Don't worry though, I am still offering individual MBSR sessions throughout the spring and summer.

I anticipate the Fall MBSR sessions will be heavily enrolled due to pent up demand, so I am opening registration early this year. Registration for the Fall Group MBSR classes will begin on May 1. 

Stress Resources Can Help You Begin or Maintain a Mindfulness Practice

How would you depict a single word: compassion on a blank square of canvas? 

This was the task given to over 10,000 students in Appleton, Wisconsin who took part in a community art project entitled, The Appleton Compassion Project, which is now on exhibit at the Trout Art Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin.  Through a partnership with the Appleton Education Foundation, The Trout Art Museum, and the Appleton Area School District, students in grades K-12 received a 6-inch-by-6-inch art panel to draw or paint their idea of compassion.

The inspiration behind the project came from Richard Davidson, PhD, a University of Wisconsin-Madison brain researcher who has found that those who practice compassion have measurably healthier brains. Dr. Davidson's research also shows that compassion can be learned, and should be practiced, as a skill.  "A little more joy might be within everyone's reach," says Dr. Davidson. 

Through this simple act of visualizing compassion perhaps comes a greater understanding of the interconnected nature of humanity.  Kudos to the Appleton Area School District for this innovative initiative. Check out this short YouTube video about the Appleton Compassion Project

I am exploring the idea of offering a 4-day MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) Camp for adults this August and would love your input.  The MBSR Camp would be held in Concord, MA and would include training in MBSR tools and techniques over the course of 4 consecutive half-days for a total of 16 hours of group instruction (similar to a traditional 8-week MBSR course)

The MBSR Camp would be experiential in nature and include both indoor and outdoor meditation training, as well as a field trip to a New England labyrinth.  MBSR Camp would be particularly suited to teachers and educators interested in incorporating mindfulness into their classrooms, but also open to anyone who is interested in MBSR training.  If you are not local to the area, this would be a beautiful time of the year to visit New England, work with me, and enjoy local sightseeing in the afternoons (a list of local accomodations would be provided). 

I am currently soliciting level of interest as well feedback for the idea.  The MBSR Camp would most likely be offered the last week of August (Mon-Thurs, Aug. 29-Sept 1).  If you are interested, or know someone who may be interested in MBSR Camp, please email me

Stress Resources is on YouTube

Check out the new Stress Resources Channel on YouTube.com  You will find a collection of clips, dialogs, and lectures from some of the world's foremost teachers of mindfulness, compassionate communication, stress reduction and relaxation methods...and some videos that I just plain like!  This will be an evolving and expanding collection, so be sure to check in often by clicking this link and subscribing to the Stress Resources Channel (it's free!)