“Getting” religion, getting spiritual

It’s April 22 (Happy Earth Day!), and if you’ve been following along on the blog, you’ll know that the past month has seen me on the West Coast, in the…

When the power goes out: on habit + ritual

I once asked a native Michigander why, while rain and snow storms are common in Michigan and even tornadoes occasionally pass through, the city where we live—Ann Arbor—seems to largely go…

How I learned to meditate

About five years ago, I switched from a conventional primary care physician to an integrative medicine physician. My hope was that when I brought up alternative therapies such as massage…

What my father left me

A love of language… The legacy of Russian for Everybody (the version for Americans): I’m always amazed when I meet people who studied Russian in the 1970s – 1990s: without exception, they used…

Hitting the pause button

Our modern lives are full of demands on our time and energy – they come at us 24/7 in surround sound, whether in the real world or in the virtual…