Rick Heller
@rickheller.bsky.social
Author of Secular Meditation (New World Library). Writing a memoir of recovery from chronic neuroplastic pain. Interested in mindfulness, Buddhism and Stoicism.
I've revived my mindfulness newsletter. If there was ever a time to be less reactive and more mindful, it's now. substack.com/profile/2666...
Rick Heller (@rickheller)
My first Substack Note ever. My newsletter went on hiatus in 2022 and is now back. I’m expanding the focus from mindfulness to wellness in general and I hope you’ll take a look at my first new post.
substack.com
September 13, 2025 at 2:41 PM
I've revived my mindfulness newsletter. If there was ever a time to be less reactive and more mindful, it's now. substack.com/profile/2666...
Reposted by Rick Heller
New Mexico is overriding the federal government on the topic of COVID19 vaccines to ensure their residents can access them.
States hold a tremendous amount of public health power. They should use it.
States hold a tremendous amount of public health power. They should use it.
State steps in to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccine
Public health order counters potential limitations set by the USFDA
www.koat.com
August 31, 2025 at 2:53 AM
New Mexico is overriding the federal government on the topic of COVID19 vaccines to ensure their residents can access them.
States hold a tremendous amount of public health power. They should use it.
States hold a tremendous amount of public health power. They should use it.
Will definitely want to read this book: www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...
The Perilous Spread of the Wellness Craze
A new book reveals how health-care inequality fueled the spread of anti-science conspiracy theories.
www.theatlantic.com
May 29, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Will definitely want to read this book: www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...
Reposted by Rick Heller
All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!
May 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
All of NIH funding to Northwestern University is frozen. This pause includes noncompeting approved funding, new and competing grants with fundable scores. No reimbursements for money already spent have been received since March. This situation is rarely reported so please Please get the word out!
AI also created fake discussion points sent to me for a book club I belong to, referencing fake chapter titles in the book.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
At Least Two Newspapers Syndicated AI Garbage
Slop the presses.
www.theatlantic.com
May 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
AI also created fake discussion points sent to me for a book club I belong to, referencing fake chapter titles in the book.
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
Reposted by Rick Heller
There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
A must read
May 18, 2025 at 9:20 AM
There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
Reposted by Rick Heller
How Claude helped a patient
"A.I. isn’t a magic bullet. But it uncovers hidden connections in data at speeds no human can match, freeing doctors to focus on what they do best: care."
gift link www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-h...
"A.I. isn’t a magic bullet. But it uncovers hidden connections in data at speeds no human can match, freeing doctors to focus on what they do best: care."
gift link www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-h...
May 14, 2025 at 1:32 PM
How Claude helped a patient
"A.I. isn’t a magic bullet. But it uncovers hidden connections in data at speeds no human can match, freeing doctors to focus on what they do best: care."
gift link www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-h...
"A.I. isn’t a magic bullet. But it uncovers hidden connections in data at speeds no human can match, freeing doctors to focus on what they do best: care."
gift link www.wsj.com/opinion/ai-h...
Reposted by Rick Heller
Workshop contributors had a variety of initial thoughts in response to the question: “how are bodily signals related to your mental health?” This was conducted prior to any detailed information about the aims of the workshop, or the field's perceived notions of interoception. 🧵4/n
April 1, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Workshop contributors had a variety of initial thoughts in response to the question: “how are bodily signals related to your mental health?” This was conducted prior to any detailed information about the aims of the workshop, or the field's perceived notions of interoception. 🧵4/n
Reposted by Rick Heller
ICYMI Yesterday's broadcast with cognitive philosopher Andy Clark, author of "The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality," is now available for download: podcasts.apple.com/id/podcast/t....
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
This Week: The Power of Predicition
Podcast Episode · Philosophy Talk: Select Episodes · 11/05/2025 · 52m
podcasts.apple.com
May 12, 2025 at 1:52 PM
ICYMI Yesterday's broadcast with cognitive philosopher Andy Clark, author of "The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality," is now available for download: podcasts.apple.com/id/podcast/t....
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
#PhilSky #philosophy #neuroscience
New Age spiritual ideas were associated with the left starting in the 1970s, but if you go back to the 1930s and before, they were more associated with right-wingers, who rejected Marxism, with its atheistic and philosophically materialistic views.
Alas, this wellness rabbit hole now runs science in U.S.
Wellness is turning people into right-wing conspiracy theorists www.the-independent.com/life-style/w...
"Conspirituality is a kind of crowd-sourced knowledge, where the spread of a belief is taken to be support for its content."
Wellness is turning people into right-wing conspiracy theorists www.the-independent.com/life-style/w...
"Conspirituality is a kind of crowd-sourced knowledge, where the spread of a belief is taken to be support for its content."
Wellness is turning people into right-wing conspiracy theorists – here’s how
As a surge of New Age influencers perpetuating right-wing ideologies swarms the internet, Olivia Petter asks how wellness became a gateway to conspiratorial thinking
www.the-independent.com
May 12, 2025 at 3:07 PM
New Age spiritual ideas were associated with the left starting in the 1970s, but if you go back to the 1930s and before, they were more associated with right-wingers, who rejected Marxism, with its atheistic and philosophically materialistic views.
Excellent video on how predictive coding in the brain can produce #chronicpain from Dr. Howard Schubiner
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcI9...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcI9...
#3 Predictive Coding
YouTube video by Howard Schubiner
www.youtube.com
April 4, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Excellent video on how predictive coding in the brain can produce #chronicpain from Dr. Howard Schubiner
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcI9...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcI9...
Reposted by Rick Heller
Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive”
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Theft is not a valid alternative.
April 3, 2025 at 8:57 AM
Today UK authors are protesting against Meta for stealing our work to train their AI model. Authors earn an average of £7000 per year, we are not rich, and yet a trillion dollar company decided it didn’t want to license our work fairly as it was “too expensive”
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Theft is not a valid alternative.
Reposted by Rick Heller
Noticeably silent amid the upheaval at HHS? Big pharma. Every new drug has NIH somewhere in its DNA--and NIH funding supports the training of their workforce. Now they're finding out FDA isn't safe, either. Wrote about how keeping quiet isn't working My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com (gift link):
Big Pharma Needs to Get Off the Sidelines
The industry can’t continue to sit idly by while Robert F. Kennedy Jr. guts the nation’s public health agencies.
www.bloomberg.com
April 1, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Noticeably silent amid the upheaval at HHS? Big pharma. Every new drug has NIH somewhere in its DNA--and NIH funding supports the training of their workforce. Now they're finding out FDA isn't safe, either. Wrote about how keeping quiet isn't working My latest @opinion.bloomberg.com (gift link):
I really enjoyed this song with its reference to a Rube Goldberg machine
soundcloud.com/penny-and-sp...
soundcloud.com/penny-and-sp...
Breakdown
Listen to Breakdown by Penny and Sparrow #np on #SoundCloud
soundcloud.com
March 28, 2025 at 8:28 PM
I really enjoyed this song with its reference to a Rube Goldberg machine
soundcloud.com/penny-and-sp...
soundcloud.com/penny-and-sp...
I'm saving Facebook Live videos and "Your video is partially muted due to a copyright match" is a message I have on an old Live video where some recorded music was played during a live event. But they are not so concerned about ripping off copyrighted books to train their AI
March 26, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I'm saving Facebook Live videos and "Your video is partially muted due to a copyright match" is a message I have on an old Live video where some recorded music was played during a live event. But they are not so concerned about ripping off copyrighted books to train their AI
Reposted by Rick Heller
I'm setting a new goal: being able to meditate while gas-powered leaf-blowers are blasting outside.
#meditation #mindfulness
#meditation #mindfulness
March 24, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I'm setting a new goal: being able to meditate while gas-powered leaf-blowers are blasting outside.
#meditation #mindfulness
#meditation #mindfulness
The birds are back for #spring, so I thought I'd repost an essay from a few years back on #mindfulness of #bird songs.
rickheller.substack.com/p/mindfulnes...
rickheller.substack.com/p/mindfulnes...
Mindfulness of Bird Songs
Step outside and listen to the chorus
rickheller.substack.com
March 21, 2025 at 5:25 PM
The birds are back for #spring, so I thought I'd repost an essay from a few years back on #mindfulness of #bird songs.
rickheller.substack.com/p/mindfulnes...
rickheller.substack.com/p/mindfulnes...
I got new eyeglasses yesterday. They seem distorted to look out of at first, but from experience, I know the eyes adjust. The optician says the adjustment actually happens in the brain. Is this due to predictive processing? #Neuroscience.
March 21, 2025 at 1:46 PM
I got new eyeglasses yesterday. They seem distorted to look out of at first, but from experience, I know the eyes adjust. The optician says the adjustment actually happens in the brain. Is this due to predictive processing? #Neuroscience.
first bloom of the year: Whitch Hazel in Harvard Square
March 21, 2025 at 1:40 PM
first bloom of the year: Whitch Hazel in Harvard Square
Reposted by Rick Heller
mRNA vaccines are legit a near-miracle tech, there's one in testing that might be able to cure pancreatic cancer, and this fucking degenerate might take them from us arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
Report: mRNA vaccines are in RFK Jr’s crosshairs; funding in question
“Kennedy’s war on vaccines has started,” one researcher said.
arstechnica.com
March 18, 2025 at 3:49 PM
mRNA vaccines are legit a near-miracle tech, there's one in testing that might be able to cure pancreatic cancer, and this fucking degenerate might take them from us arstechnica.com/health/2025/...
Reposted by Rick Heller
It is important for people to see this graph/data. #NIH is the irreplaceable leader of USA leadership in biomedical discovery and development of new therapeutics.
March 10, 2025 at 5:17 PM
It is important for people to see this graph/data. #NIH is the irreplaceable leader of USA leadership in biomedical discovery and development of new therapeutics.
"Despite the common use of spine injections in pain clinics around the world, it has been hard to come up with evidence that strongly supports this practice when applied to chronic back pain" #chronicpain
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
Spinal interventions for chronic back pain
Do negative findings demand action?
Despite the common use of spine injections in pain clinics around the world, it has been hard to come up with evidence that strongly supports this practice when ap...
www.bmj.com
March 7, 2025 at 7:23 PM
"Despite the common use of spine injections in pain clinics around the world, it has been hard to come up with evidence that strongly supports this practice when applied to chronic back pain" #chronicpain
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
www.bmj.com/content/388/...
The 2023-24 #covid #vaccine not effective in preventing infection, low effectiveness against hospitalization and death, which declined rapidly over time
I got #Covid 6 weeks after getting the vaccine, so lines up with my experience.
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
I got #Covid 6 weeks after getting the vaccine, so lines up with my experience.
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
Effectiveness of the 2023-to-2024 XBB.1.5 COVID-19 Vaccines Over Long-Term Follow-up: A Target Trial Emulation: Annals of Internal Medicine: Vol 0, No 0
Background: Monovalent COVID-19 vaccines targeting the XBB.1.5 Omicron variant were introduced in September 2023. In the absence of randomized controlled trials demonstrating their efficacy, informati...
www.acpjournals.org
March 7, 2025 at 2:54 PM
The 2023-24 #covid #vaccine not effective in preventing infection, low effectiveness against hospitalization and death, which declined rapidly over time
I got #Covid 6 weeks after getting the vaccine, so lines up with my experience.
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...
I got #Covid 6 weeks after getting the vaccine, so lines up with my experience.
www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/...