After years of research, the Healthy Minds Framework for Well-Being is here.
On Monday, December 7, in the culmination of years of scientific research, the Healthy Minds Framework (found in the Healthy Minds Program App, Healthy Minds @ Work and the Healthy Minds MasterClass), a new framework for well-being co-authored by scientists from the Center for Healthy Minds and Dr. Cortland Dahl, Center scientist and the creator of the Healthy Minds Program App, was published in the prestigious scientific journal, PNAS, or The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
One of the world’s most-cited multidisciplinary scientific journals, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences publishes cutting-edge research reports, commentaries, reviews, perspectives, and colloquium papers spanning the biological, physical, and social sciences.
This is an enormous recognition of the hope and potential of training the mind in the areas of Awareness, Connection, Insight and Purpose.
We asked Dr. Dahl about the beginnings of this paper.
Early research was so focused on mindfulness as if that was it for meditation and other contemplative practices, but mindfulness is really just the tip of the iceberg.
So we started to think about it and thought, how can we surface the rest of this iceberg? How can we broaden our perspective within the scientific community to see there are many other forms of meditation that may be equally powerful in terms of cultivating well-being?
Dr. Cortland Dahl
This led to Dr. Dahl’s first major paper, which was mapping different forms of meditation practices and ultimately to the development of the Healthy Minds Framework which utilizes the best in neuroscientific research to make recommendations for contemplative practice interventions to support well-being.
What’s different with the Healthy Minds framework is that it views well-being as something we can learn. It is such a hopeful perspective and one that can lead to interventions and programs. Everyone already agrees that you can do things to support your physical health – that’s accepted and proven. What we’re saying is – you can intervene in your well-being just like you can your physical health. It is both trainable and learnable.
Your well-being is not your destiny, any more than you are destined to never be able to run more than a mile. You can train it – you can improve.
Imagine if everyone got that message?
Dr. Cortland Dahl
Take a look at this breakdown of the paper to gain further insight. Or, put the framework into action and download the app or sign up for the MasterClass today!
Get more practices and tips by downloading the Healthy Minds Program App, signing up for the Winter MasterClass, or bringing Healthy Minds@Work to your office.
