Tag Archives: mindfulness for aid workers
Aid to Zen: X/Y/Z – Xanax, Yoga and Zen
This post is part of Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z by Alessandra Pigni. Today I’m serving you a trio of common (or not so common) practices among do-gooders: drugs, yoga and…Zen. … Continue reading
Aid to Zen: Q – Qigong
This post is part of Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z by Alessandra Pigni. *** The term qigong is not part of “aidspeak“, so let me introduce you to a practice that … Continue reading
Aid to Zen: P – PTSD and Post-Traumatic Growth
This post is part of Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z by Alessandra Pigni. *** “An abnormal reaction to an abnormal situation is normal behavior” wrote psychiatrist Viktor E. Frankl. At a time where … Continue reading
Aid to Zen: M – Mindfulness
This post is part of Aid to Zen – A Quick Guide to Surviving Aid Work from A to Z by Alessandra Pigni Why mindfulness is (still) relevant for aid workers In 2011 I started a project called Mindfulness for NGOs: back … Continue reading
Mindfulness and Self-Care in Humanitarian Action
This post was originally published as Protecting the Humanitarian Individual: Mindfulness and Self-Care in Humanitarian Action on The Individualisation of War blog, a project by the European University Institute *** I arrived in Nablus in 2008, amid the human and emotional devastation … Continue reading
Mindfulness and human rights at work
How do you get from mindfulness to human rights? A more appropriate question for me is “how you don’t?”. All the attempts to separate our inner world from the world out there may be soothing, but deny our fundamental interconnectedness … Continue reading
Posted in Letters to the field
Tagged activism and aid work, mindfulness for aid workers
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Where is home?
“For more and more of us, home has really less to do with a piece of soil than, you could say, with a piece of soul. If somebody suddenly asks me, “Where’s your home?” I think about my sweetheart or my closest friends or the … Continue reading
Mindfulness at the checkpoint
Transformation, the new section of Open Democracy, just published my reflection on mindfulness, burnout and ‘doing good’ in Palestine (and beyond). The Original article appeared on here on July 17, 2013. *** Is caring for ourselves an act of self-indulgence or social change? Alessandra … Continue reading
Mindfulness is an outward journey
What’s your idea of mindfulness? A person sitting cross-legged with eyes closed? Peaceful bamboo trees? A serene zen garden? In spite of much research to illustrate the difference between mindfulness and relaxation, mindfulness is still perceived by many as a … Continue reading
Posted in Letters to the field
Tagged mindfulness for aid workers, reflection and action
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Self-care: selfish or intelligent?
‘Some people have resistance to the whole idea of taking time for themselves. The Puritan ethic has left a legacy of guilt when we do something for ourselves. Some people discover that they have a little voice inside that tells … Continue reading