By Melvin McLeod, August 28, 2019, Lion's Roar
The Democratic primary contender is the leading proponent of mindfulness in American politics. He talked to Lion’s Roar editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod about how to address the trauma in the heart of America.
Tim Ryan, Democrat of Ohio, is currently running for president in the Democratic primaries. He is also the leading proponent of mindfulness as public policy. He talked with Lion’s Roar editor-in-chief Melvin McLeod about presenting mindfulness to America, trauma in American society, and becoming America’s “zen president.” This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Melvin McLeod: When you’re speaking to your colleagues or speaking to the public about mindfulness, what specific areas do you point to in which the introduction of mindfulness practice and others such as yoga can be beneficial?
Tim Ryan: I think there’s three key areas. One is what we’re doing with our veterans, making sure that they have access to mindfulness-based stress reduction and other practices and approaches that help them reduce their post-traumatic stress.
Next, having these practices taught to teachers and implemented in the classroom — having the teacher model that behavior, learn some of these techniques and then begin to share them with the kids in the classroom. My approach to education is: how do we deal with trauma. If we don’t start with the trauma, we’re not going to get anywhere with the test scores.
And then the last piece is the healthcare piece. We want to start building out a system where doctors have training in mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based relapse prevention for addiction. Where doctors are actually teaching this stuff to their patients before they start writing all kinds of prescriptions. This should be, you know, a tool in the toolbox too.
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