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According to the program’s flyer, “The intent is to provide Veterans with connection, community and tools that support them in using their strengths and experiences to find a meaningful and productive path in civilian life. Mindfulness-­based interventions have proven to be successful at transforming stress, anxiety and trauma in a number of diverse populations and are being used within the VA system for returning veterans as well as deployed soldiers.” Lee Klinger Lesser and Chris Fortin of the San Francisco Zen Center co-founded the program in 2007....

Dan Harris, anchor of ABC News, Nightline, and Weekend Edition of Good Morning America, recently wrote a memoir about his public breakdown and journey to mindfulness entitled 10% Happier. Harris was drawn to meditation despite massive misgivings about the way some people talk about mindfulness, and has since taken up the mantle of bringing meditation to the masses. Harris’ story was covered in the August issue of Mindful magazine. He recently sat down with renowned neuroscientist Richard Davidson in New York City to talk about using meditation to train your brain (watch the webcast)....

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Many aspects of technology hijack our attention so that we become disconnected from the present moment. We can easily lose track of time and our surroundings. We might be caught up in habitual reactions rather than making time for thoughtful responses. We might communicate in ways that do not actually serve our basic human needs or those of others. We can start to have a sense of not being fully connected to our lives and the people in them....

A recent post on the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute blog—a program developed at Google—suggests small ways to bring mindfulness to work without raising eyebrows. In particular, the blog tackles the topic of bringing mindfulness to meetings. While Mirabai Bush and others who have worked with major companies suggest practicing two or three minutes of mindful meditation before a meeting, Search Inside Yourself tries a modification of that: taking a moment to pause before meetings....