Today, I am blessed to have here with me Amanda Gilbert. One of Amanda's high school teachers led her in meditation. This particular homeschool in the middle of West Virginia focused on search and rescue and outdoor survival skills, but it was also a special high school that included South American wisdom and philosophy because its founder visited indigenous cultures in South America and brought the wisdom of the four winds to the high school curriculum that he developed and then implemented. At this high school, Amanda spent the majority of the mornings working with a teacher who helped her focus on the present moment. Early in her 20s, Amanda kept hearing about meditation, so she decided to include it in her college undergraduate program. She was frequently given meditation books. Whayout made Amanda become a consistent meditator and a serious meditator was on the heels of a difficult early adulthood life moment.  Amanda was aware that the key to any healing process was meditation. She then went in pursuit of her first meditation teachers, committed herself to daily meditation for a few hours, and started working as a clinical researcher on meditation and mindfulness at the University of California, San Francisco. After that, Amanda became a meditation teacher, and most recently, a professor of mindfulness at USC. In this episode, Amanda Gilbert dives into understanding meditation and mindfulness. She shares some advice on how you can practice meditation and mindfulness, as well as how you can show love and compassion in this world full of selfishness, judgement, and hatred. Amanda will also share how you can deal with impostor syndrome and practice gratitude, and its impact on your life.  Register your FREE spot for the next 7 day keto kickstart challenge with Dr Jason Fung, Dr Ken Berry, Dr Annette Boz and many others: http://www.ketokampchallenge.com  Order Keto Flex: http://www.ketoflexbook.com -------------------------------------------------------- Download your FREE Vegetable Oil Allergy Card here: https://onlineoffer.lpages.co/vegetable-oil-allergy-card-download/ / / E P I S O D E   S P ON S O R S  Wild Pastures: $20 OFF per Box for Life + Free Shipping for Life + $15 OFF your 1st Box! https://wildpastures.com/promos/save-20-for-life-lf?oid=6&affid=132&source_id=podcast&sub1=ad BonCharge: Blue light Blocking Glasses, Red Light Therapy, Sauna Blankets & More. Visit https://boncharge.com/pages/ketokamp and use the coupon code KETOKAMP for 15% off your order.  Text me the words "Podcast" +1 (786) 364-5002 to be added to my contacts list.   [9:09] Does meditation increase telomere length? Meditation as an anti-aging tool! Dr Elissa Epel's research focuses on stress reduction and stress management, including mindfulness and meditation and how these affect our cellular aging biomarkers like telomeres and telomerase. Meditation and mindfulness actually helped produce more telomerase at times in the body, which helped build back the length of our telomeres. Overall, our cell health and our cell aging are largely helped by spending time in meditation. The meditation retreat is well worth your time for your mental health and emotional health and overall psychological well-being. [13:40] A strong distinction between defining meditation and mindfulness Meditation is the active practice and training that we engage with in a consistent way, where we are working with our muscle of mindfulness in the mind. It is a training for our brain's attention, that helps us grow our ability to hold our brain's attention in the present moment.  Mindfulness is having our attention in the present moment, moment to moment, in a non-judgmental and kind-hearted way.  Mindfulness is something that we can always be practicing out in the midst of our daily lives. The first step to any change that we want in our lives always begins with awareness, meditation, and mindfulness. [23:52] The classical teachings of the Brahma vihara: L