Integrative Mind-Body Connection and Mindfulness

Catalog description

This course will explore research that provides insight into how contemplative practices such as mindfulness and meditation, contemporary psychological approaches, exercise, diet,and sleep alter brain function in positive ways to promote mental health and wellbeing.  In addition to examining diseases related to stress response, the course will focus on how lifestyle choices can alter brain function and lead to enhanced states of mental health wellbeing, resilience and likelihood of decreasing mental health disorders in the future, through underlying neurobiological mechanisms that allow one to lead a life of fulfillment and wellbeing. Stress, the stress response, the relaxation response, and implications of neuroplasticity through the lens of interpersonal neurobiology will be examined.