All Articles: Magazine

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As the health care landscape undergoes rapid changes, primary care is no exception to the trend. The future of health care is an exciting blend of traditional primary care and health coaching, a dynamic duo poised to make a lasting impact on patient wellbeing.

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Hundreds of people across Minnesota and around the world tune into the Bakken Center’s free Mindful Mondays sessions each week. 

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The Integrative Health and Wellbeing Research Program is working with community leaders to expand access to drug-free back pain treatments.

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Reimagine medicine through integrative health. That’s the powerful — and daunting — mission that the University of California-Irvine (UCI) set for itself a half-decade ago.

A landscape photo of a snowcapped tall mountain with a clear blue sky backdrop

The Bakken Center’s Tibetan Healing Initiative, previously led by Dr. Miriam “Mim” Cameron, is in transition to the capable hands of Dr. Tenzin Namdul.

Curled up green young ferns growing

Spring arrives not from the ground, but first from the air, on the wings of wood ducks and trumpeter swans. The snow in the forest may still be waist-deep, but as soon as the ice melts from parts of the rivers and edges of ponds, they appear—eager to find the best nesting sites and stake out territories. Photographs from Craig Blacklock’s book, St. Croix and Namekagon Rivers—The Enduring Gift.

Mark umbreit, a white man wearing glasses and a knit sweater

Writer, researcher, speaker. Professor, mentor, and “social worker to the core”: Mark Umbreit embodies all these roles and more. He does it with a warm, low-key demeanor that belies his international influence in the field he helped nurture.

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The three primary missions most often articulated for American universities are research, teaching, and service. All too often, staff and faculty are engaged in only one aspect of the tripartite mission and operate in silos. As a result, research fails to inform teaching, and both teaching and research are disconnected from service. In many ways, it is the service or community engagement mission of the University that offers the opportunity for true integration of research and teaching and partnership with the community that advances wellbeing for all.

A headshot of Mary Jo Kreitzer

This issue of Mandala gives more than a glimpse of the Center’s evolution over time – our own journey of becoming.

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For 10 years, the Wellbeing Series has introduced fresh concepts and sown new ground in wellbeing through world-class speakers.