Mindfulness Meditation for Cattle Veterinarians

AABP Executive Director Dr. Fred Gingrich has a conversation with District 1 Director Dr. Liz Brock on how mindfulness meditation has impacted both of their lives in a positive way. They share their stories about their messy lives and how they have incorporated meditation practice to improve mental health, reduce stress and anxiety, manage work-life interaction, improve focus, and being generally happier. Gingrich and Brock talk about what brought them to meditation practice, its importance for bovine veterinarians who are suffering, and feeling our thoughts and emotions on a practical level. While neither are experts in mindfulness coaching, they share their direct experiences on the positive impacts it has had on their lives and encourage other veterinarians to try to start a daily practice. They talk about the basics of beginning the practice and offer resources for further information. 

The neuroscience of mindfulness meditation
Nature Review Neuroscience
https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3916

Brief, daily meditation enhances attention, memory, mood, and emotional regulation in non-experienced meditators
Behavioral Brain Research
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2018.08.023

Meditation-induced effects on whole-brain structural and effective connectivity
Brain Structure and Function
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-022-02496-9

Books:

10% Happier – How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress without Losing my Edge, and Found Self-Help that Actually Works by Dan Harris

Don't Just Do Something, Sit There: A Mindfulness Retreat by Sylvia Boorstein

 Zen and the Art of Running: The Path to Making Peace with Your Pace by Larry Shapiro