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Early spring in San Antonio is beautiful. Our winters are rarely terrible, but the coming of spring — the greening — is a welcome energy shift. This is one of my favorite times of year for another reason too. Every year for the last 5 or so, in mid-to-late February, I’ve been invited to spend a couple of hours with bright, shiny, soon-to-be new doctors talking about mindfulness and playing with different mind-body techniques. I’ve walked away smiling every single time, and it’s not just because I delight in their passion and energy. It’s because the stuff I talk about with them has been such a big, life-changing deal for me, and I love sharing it.
Mindfulness practices, including meditation and yoga, have been a part of my life since the mid-1990s. There is no question in my mind that my life would be very different if I hadn’t discovered them. I am absolutely, positively convinced that mindfulness meditation, yoga, and my growing understanding of the theory behind mindfulness as well as its plethora of benefits altered the course of my trajectory in numerous ways.
Way back in the mid-90s, I was a 20-something student with a nice, years-long history of mood-related struggles and behavioral issues. I had been diagnosed with an eating disorder at 16, Dysthymia at 19, Major Depression at 21, and Bipolar II and then I in rapid succession around 25. By the time I…
