About Pathway to Mindfulness

Valerie Foster and Bill Van Ollefen, owners of Pathway to Mindfulness, LLC, teach clients how to nurture their lives and build awareness of their environments through mindful meditation and mindful eating. They can be reached at info@PathwayToMindfulness.com. For more information, visit www.pathwaytomindfulness.com.

We are not our thoughts!

By |March 18th, 2021|

Stop right now, close your eyes: What are you thinking?

Is the thought positive or negative? If you are like the majority of humans, it is probably negative. Why? It’s the mind’s job to think, and in many cases, we are thinking about the past and the things that went wrong, or the future, and the […]

The new meaning of HOME

By |March 23rd, 2020|

Home is beginning to take on new meaning in our new coronavirus world. It’s always been the place where we sleep, eat and hopefully feel safe and thrive, but now, it’s so much more.

Home is now school, work and play – and in many cases – a place of great frustration. Living in isolation – […]

By |July 27th, 2018|

Discovering life’s pleasant events

By |March 30th, 2018|

When most of us think of a pleasant event, we think big – a wedding, a vacation, the birth of a child.

When we talk about pleasant events with our Pathway to Mindfulness clients, we think small: a bird singing in the morning, a child’s smile, a really yummy piece of cake, an unexpected call from […]

It’s great to be grateful

By |February 13th, 2017|

We’ve all heard that it’s the little things in life that count — those little things that make us grateful to be alive.

Sure, but we live in a culture that idolizes the rich and the famous, and in most cases, we are all too stressed, over-worked and over-scheduled to take the time to notice the […]

How we find time to meditate

By |October 7th, 2016|

We are often asked how we find time to meditate. Our answer is simple: It is the most important thing we do, and when something is a priority, you make time for it no matter how busy your life.

OK – we admit that sometimes life does get in the way, but we do know that […]

A new hope for opiate addicts

By |October 3rd, 2016|

Opiate overdose stats are frightening:

Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., with 47,055 lethal drug overdoses in 2014.
Opioid addiction is driving this epidemic, with 18,893 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and 10,574 overdose deaths related to heroin in 2014. And that number keeps climbing annually.

No one understands this problem […]

Staying calm, cool and collected on any bad day

By |September 29th, 2016|

Ever wake up first thing in the morning tense and anxious because you have a to-do list a mile long? You’re itchy, full of dread and in desperate need of some help. Try these 10 suggestions.
1. Stay in bed and take five deep breaths.
2. Make a list of everything you have to do today and […]

Mindful moments

By |March 31st, 2016|

Mindful moments: Little pauses for you to take daily in April. Every day we will post one way you can bring mindful moments into your life.  It will take mere minutes each day, and hopefully by May 1, you will be naturally adding mindful moments throughout your day. Of course, there is nothing wrong with […]

Why we should meditate 20 minutes most days

By |January 28th, 2016|

We have written previous blogs on how meditation changes our brains and behavioral patterns, but exactly how long do you need to meditate each day to start gaining these benefits? And why?

A quick answer would be 20-minutes a day. But there’s so much more to this question.

Rick Hanson is a neuropsychologist, an author, and […]