Healthy Connections providers all believe in the power of connections, not just between us but within ourselves. A healthy body benefits from a healthy mind, and vice versa.
One of the things that makes our practice unique is the integration of these mindfulness and heartfulness practices into our member care. Clinic Director and Health Coach Heather Nielsen is also a Certified Mindfulness and Compassion facilitator, and her support is available to all members.
As defined by Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, one of the early pioneers of modern mindfulness in the United States, mindfulness is:
This sounds rather simple and straightforward. The regular practice can be a bit more challenging than it sounds!
However, our team aims to break these practices down into accessible bites and to personalize them for you and your needs and lifestyle.
These practices can be purely secular for those appreciating the scientific benefits of the practices. They can also be spiritual for anyone wanting to incorporate their spiritual life with their health care. The mindfulness-based practices taught and supported in our clinic are based on wisdom traditions from a variety of faiths and cultures, combined with modern neuroscience that proves how particular types of focused attention, breath awareness, compassion cultivation, and intention of equanimity can all benefit our mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
An example of how mindful awareness can help us to help you might be in the simple practice of “interoception,” or “inner seeing.” When we are actually paying mindful attention to our bodies, we notice a tightness here, a sharp tingling there, a congestion in our nasal passages, a gurgling and bloating in our bellies. WITHOUT mindfulness (or body-fulness!), we are less able to describe what our bodies are communicating!! And thus, less able for our providers to understand how to diagnose and treat the real issue(s).
Another couple of simple daily mindfulness practices that can deeply improve our health might be:
The practice of Mindful Awareness and the many options for mind-body connections are available to all clients via several options.
Heather was interviewed in September, 2025 for the podcast Your Best T1D Year regarding mindfulness and type 1 diabetes (which she has been living with since 1997) and her volunteer work with DiabetesSangha. Tune in here to listen.
