5-a-day for your mind

Where Mindapples started. What do you do that’s good for your mind?

The Psychiatrists’ Mindapples

All pretty quiet here in the Mindapples Orchard after our exertions at the Big Treat and all our various festival activities. We’ve been at the Secret Garden Party, Camp Bestival, The Big Chill and the Playgroup Festival, as well as at Edexcel and the BBC, and now we’re having a little rest. Meanwhile, I’d like […]

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The missing middle of modern meditation

I have a lot of conversations about meditation.  And over the last few years, as the mainstream interest in meditation has grown and I’ve met more and more people wanting to learn the practice and the theory of meditation – and in particular mindfulness-based meditation –  the supply to satisfy the demand of that interest […]

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A brief history of mindfulness

Hang out around mental health circles either side of the Atlantic at the moment and soon enough you’ll hear someone talking about mindfulness. And here in the UK, the status of mindfulness as official flavour of the psychotherapist’s month was secured this year when the Mental Health Foundation launched its Be Mindful project. With its […]

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In Patagonia

They say travel broadens the mind, and for those of us who are lucky to do it once in a while, it certainly does. I’ve been in South America for the past month taking a very overdue holiday, and the effect on my mental state has been quite remarkable. I feel happier, healthier, more energised […]

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Cerro Campanario, in the Argentine Lake District

We Feel Fine Book

Lots of people I know will love this new We Feel Fine book. “Since August 2005, We Feel Fine has been harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs. Every few minutes, the system searches the world’s newly posted blog entries for occurrences of the phrases “I feel” and “I am feeling”. When it […]

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5 herbs for happiness

My friend Sorrell at the Chamomile Clinic has sent me something to share with you: her five herbs for happiness. Lemon balm – a truly balancing herb, whether you are anxious or depressed this herb can bring back a sense of balance into your life and it tastes delicious as a herbal tea. Valerian – […]

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Solitude

We’ve been a bit quiet here on the Mindapples blog (my book coming out, Lauren’s MA due in, Tessy on holiday…), but there’s a lot going on behind the scenes. One of the things I’ve been up to is contributing to a new Channel 4 programme, Alone in the Wild, in which Ed Wardle will […]

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Steph’s Mindapple

Thank you to Product Designer Steph Fulke for sharing her mindapples space. “Mindapples are trying to get people to identify their place in which they feel happy and relaxed. By appreciating a place helps you to be mindful. Here is mine. A window seat on either a train, buss or car. I drift… I daydream…Where […]

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Video your mindapples

Look! Lauren has filmed her friends’ five-a-days and turned it into a lovely video! Please send us your videos of you and your friends talking about what you do to stay mentally in shape. We’ll compile the best footage into a short video explaining the Mindapples idea and hopefully inspiring lots more people to do […]

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Celebrities – your votes are in

Mindapples volunteer Heleana has done a marvellous job of tallying up all your answers about which celebrities you’d like to hear from. Here are the top 20 people whose five-a-days you’d like to know: 1. Stephen Fry (we love you Stephen!) 2. Barack Obama 3. Gordon Brown 4. Dalai Lama 5. Nelson Mandela 6. Richard […]

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