Scott Anderson, Ph.D.

  I’m currently parked in a Bardo. What, you may ask, is a Bardo? According to meditation teacher Andrew Holecek, the Tibetan word “Bardo” is translated as “gap, interval, intermediate state, transition process or in between…” The next chapter of life has yet to be written, and the final page of the previous chapter has been turned. Last month I graduated – a milestone I eagerly anticipated since my first day of grad school, nearly seven years ago. While I (mostly) appreciated the process of earning the Ph.D., I never lost sight of the goal. I was not in grad school for the sake of being in grad school – I consistently had a sense of purpose… almost a mission. Interestingly, that mission took multiple twists and turns throughout the duration of the process. Now that the final page on the grad-school chapter has been turned, the first pages of the next chapter aren’t what I expected. The various twists and turns appeared to lead into a long hallway. Like MIT’s Infinite Corridor , th...

"When causes and conditions come together, a result is sure to follow" is a line from one of my favorite meditation practices. This line from the Nectar of the Path, composed by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, reminds me that all outcomes are the result of many factors, of which many are unseen or unrecognized. Ph.Done. Having recently completed a PhD, I've appreciated receiving so many congratulatory messages from friends, family, colleagues, collaborators, students, mentors and so on. It was a long road (7-years), with many twists and turns. Earning this degree took an almost incalculable number of hours, and certainly added more than a few gray hairs to my pate. However, my own hard work and sacrifice were merely the seed that was planted in the soil of conditions. Thankfully, the soil proved to be sufficiently fertile as to support the germination and sprouting of this doctoral vine. The following text is from the introduction to my doctoral dissertation. While I do not alwa...

As a teenager, I couldn’t decide if I found design or the human body more interesting. I voraciously read all the architecture books I could get my hands on, and also found movement and the human body endlessly interesting. When a high school project asked me to explore college programs in an area of interest, I sent away for information on programs in ergonomics (do you remember sending away for program information?) Along the way, I became enamored with the architect Louis Sullivan’s maxim that form follows function . I particularly loved this approach to industrial design, perhaps as a reaction to the overbuilt, suburban world of my childhood. Regardless of the motives that were behind my appreciation of a minimalist design aesthetic, I found it ironic that in my career as a Kinesiologist, this maxim flipped to be function follows form . Due to the natural variations in bony structures, some people can squat more readily than other people. In the body, the form of a structure predi...

Carbs get a bad rap. Carbs are a fundamental fuel for human bodies, and can be great for your gut. The gut is the hub of human health, and nourishing the gut is my primary consideration in making food decisions. The benefits for the gut are among the many reasons I eat a carbohydrate-rich diet. Now, don’t get me wrong. Some carbs are not very beneficial, and may lead to various metabolic disorders, along with contributing to the epidemic of obesity. However, not all carbs are created equal, and far too many people throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater when it comes to carbs. Hooray for fiber! Yesterday's high carbohydrate breakfast: whole grain bread, oats and healthy fats in the form of ground flax and chia seeds. All foods have a glycemic index, which indicates how quickly blood sugar levels rise upon consumption of the food. Some carbs spike blood sugar quite quickly – often called the simple carbohydrates. And other carbs cause a more gradual rise in blood sugar – of...

  I’m a big fan of addressing root causes. While it can be tempting to focus on reducing symptoms, in 30+ years of working with bodies and minds, I’ve found that addressing causes is a much better use of time than addressing symptoms. Symptoms, however, are generally what motivate people to seek support for their wellbeing, and it’s sometimes a hard sell to shift focus from salving symptoms to addressing causes.      I find that focusing on symptoms is a particularly common approach to working with the mind. Whether one is plagued by anxiety-provoking thoughts, negative self-talk or rehashing past events, it’s normal to want those thoughts to go away. Meditation, however, is not generally about the immediate reduction of symptoms – rather, meditation is about addressing the root causes of suffering. There’s a term for this in multiple meditation traditions - pulling out the weed and its roots . In lieu of plucking off a leaf of negative self-talk here and a leaf of a...

As an undergraduate, I liked the idea of studying Physics far more than I enjoyed the study of Physics. The seemingly mystical aspects of Physics drew me into its study, though the reality of undergraduate Physics coursework involved solving complex equations using increasingly sophisticated mathematical techniques. While I did not pursue further study in Physics, I fondly remember the many study sessions with members of my cohort. In one study session, JH predicted that I’d find a career where wearing nothing but my underwear would be acceptable. We all laughed, as I was known for an almost unflinching commitment to wearing shorts and T-shirts independent of social and climactic conditions. The other members of our study group went on to respectable careers as professors, engineers and software developers... and shortly after this conversation, I embarked upon a 30+ year career teaching Yoga. JH’s prediction proved to be quite insightful. While others marched to the beat of a differen...

  Last Summer Collette and I adhered to a diet that was rigorously high-fiber and unprocessed. The results were rewarding – among them clearer skin, clearer mind and a steady energy that lasted well into the evening. For better or worse, however, we felt that the rigors of this eating regimen would be unsustainable once the academic year commenced. Early in September we consciously returned to our previous dietary habits. Not the worst diet, to be sure, though the addition of caffeine (coffee!) and a modest amount of sugar (chocolate!) noticeably shifted how we felt. While we primarily ate unprocessed plant foods, the small quantity of oils, processed grains and caffeine indelibly impacted our lived experience of wellbeing. Fermented foods remain an important part of my diet. We’re now 6+ weeks into our baseline, whole-foods, plant-based regimen, and the results are pretty clear – we don’t feel as vibrant as we did last Summer. Without the rigorous focus on fiber and eschewing any ...