Testimonials
From Colleagues
Dr. Salmon is top of the class in terms of knowledge regarding the latest research and developments in mindfulness, neuroscience, and psychological assessment. Dr. Salmon and his wife Jan have put together some of the most comprehensive courses for psychological health and wellness available. Their courses uniquely integrate various frameworks from neuroscience and psychology. Most importantly, Dr. Salmon is a wonderful person and compassionate, dedicated, and energetic colleague. He puts clients at ease with his warm, down-to-earth personality (whether playing the keyboard and singing a song or giving a brief lecture on the neurobiology of meditation).
Rob Durr, Roots Psychology, PLLC, Adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law and the University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
“I met Jan twenty years ago when she was the Training Coordinator for the federal Bankruptcy Court in NYC and I was there doing a workshop on diversity for the judges. Her enthusiasm and dedication to making the court a place of dynamic learning and collaboration were immediately apparent, as was the high regard of her coworkers. I was impressed by the intelligence and creativity with which Jan conceived and implemented interventions that improved their work lives—and their lives more generally.
Jan’s work with her husband Don has focused on making easily available the latest research-based modes of mindfulness and other practices aimed at maximizing the potential of our brain-mind to allow for more creative, productive, and effective ways of working and living. Our close friendship these past years had been a gift to me, as it has been to so many others she has helped.”
Martha Miller works as a consultant on leadership and cross-cultural management for numerous clients including the Center for Disease Control, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Unilever, and the U.S. Foreign Service. She continues to teach in Executive Education Programs at both Yale and UCLA
“Don Salmon and Jan Maslow are long-time teachers of mindfulness and stress management. I have experienced them as having the wonderful capacity to explain and make available in a very practical way the interface between neuroscience and the experience and value of the practice of mindfulness in daily life. Using a blend of well-presented information, meditative exercises, music, and movement they encourage and inspire the use of these practices as agents of healing and transformation that can be truly life changing.”
Ken Lenington, MD, Leader of the Open Circle Mindfulness Group, Ken has studied and practiced meditation for over 35 years in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. As a physician with 40 years of medical practice, he specialized in addiction medicine and general psychiatry
Back in early 2017, Don and Jan participated in the planning meetings for the expansion of the Haw Creek Commons, an initiative to strengthen community bonds among the approximately 7,000 residents of the Haw Creek neighborhood of East Asheville. They offered to help bring a unique contemplative element to the project through a series of contemplative workshops. As part of these contemplative evenings at Haw Creek, they shared illuminating wisdom, evoked a sense of deep peace and contentment, and inspired much joy through their music and meditative movement. It was special to spend time with them as they bring their whole selves to each moment of teaching.
Reverend Karen Doucette serves as Community Pastor for Haw Creek Commons, which includes the Bethesda UMC congregation in Asheville North Carolina, and is an ordained elder of the United Methodist Church.
I have used Don and Jan’s breathing videos in my Kindergarten classroom for the last three years. It is a wonderful way to start the day even before the morning circle time. The children become relaxed with the magical mandala visuals, the slow movements, the deep breathing, and the sweet music. . I would recommend it to anybody who needs a quick and easy way to calm down and get a more positive perspective.
Kirti Hemsell has taught at Globe Charter School in Colorado Springs, CO, Sweet Pea Cottage School in Seattle and currently teaches at Countryside Montessori in Kirkland, WA.
Don and Jan’s breathing videos have become a staple in my toolbox for my own practice and also what I recommend to my clients. They have simple and clear instructions, mesmerizing and beautiful graphics that always draw me in and keep my attention focused, and Don and Jan have such soothing, yet engaging voices.
Joanne Spence, BSW, MA, Director of Urban Oasis and Exercise Director of Yoga In Schools, www.yogainschools.org, www.joannespence.com
From Students: About Our
Effortless Sleep Course
“Thank you so much Don! Last night was the first night of restful relaxed sleep in a long time. I even woke up not stiff and achy this morning. I always hit the ground running every morning but this morning I did not have to rush because I woke up refreshed on my own. And I only woke up one time last night. I usually wake up 3 or 4 times. And this course is even helping me lose weight by reducing my stress levels which make me overeat.”
Sheri K.
“Effortless Sleep has markedly improved my sleep quality. Don and Jan are caring facilitators and I really appreciate how they provide specific feedback for each student as they go through the course. The combination of CBT-I (the gold standard treatment for insomnia), with effortless mindfulness, has been a very potent remedy for my sleep issues.”
Aaron C.
“All aspects of my sleep have changed for the better since taking the effortless sleep course. I’m falling asleep just about right away using your wonderful Yoga Nidra recordings. I’m amazed to find I’m sleeping through the night regularly, with almost no interruptions, something that hasn’t happened this frequently for a long time. What a difference this course has made!”
Assetou X
“I found the music and the various practices in this course both helpful and enjoyable. I especially love the practices that involve deep yet relaxed awareness of the body, as it feels like they are helping me to continue to heal from an injury I had several years ago. My thoughts, my nerves, my entire body softens and calms to this beautiful combination of practices. I have found several of the techniques to be particularly helpful when I wake up in the middle of the night and at first have difficulty getting back to sleep. I sometimes even use some of the practices in the middle of the day just to relax myself.”
Elizabeth I.
“After less than half-way through the course, I found myself not only getting to sleep much more easily, I’ve at times gotten as much as 6 hours of sleep at a stretch - something that I haven’t experienced for years. The “wind down” routine before sleep has been especially helpful. I listen to the music while going about my regular bedtime prep (washing dishes, getting dressed for bed, and so on). When I’m finally ready to get into bed, I’m so much more relaxed, that instead of taking me close to an hour to fall asleep, now it takes as little as 15 minutes. I’d say in general, as a result of what I’ve learned in the course, I’ve found it easier to get to sleep and get back to sleep when I wake up in the middle of the night, and overall I’m feeling more energy when I wake up and throughout the day. Thank you so much for this course.”
Karun Das
“I felt the course was well structured and included all the tools and resources needed to help improve my sleep. I found that the videos and practices included in each lesson - especially the Yoga Nidra audios - were very helpful to my overall sleep quality. I also appreciated the live zoom sessions and the Conversation Lounge where our questions were answered so quickly and appropriately. I loved the emphasis on shifting to effortlessness and to experiential mode. The more I was able to make this shift, the more relaxed I felt, the calmer my mind was and the easier it was for me to get to sleep and get back to sleep.”
James B.
“The sleep course has been so helpful. The principles of sleep are explained very clearly and the music for sleep is so beautiful. Being a visual person, I especially appreciate the videos Jan made to go along with Don’s music. I find it easier to get to sleep and wake up feeling more rested.”
Connie G.
“Thank you for this inspiring and very helpful journey. The effortless sleep course certainly helped me in making progress! Dr. Salmon's competence and longstanding experience shine through the course, enhanced by a huge variety of relaxation, breathing, and mindfulness practices and music. All the sleep course exercises and videos are great and very useful. This has all helped me a lot in dealing with my chronic sleeplessness. I wholeheartedly recommend this course!"
Marco M.
“Take this course, even if you don’t have insomnia, because Don and Jan are two of the most beautiful souls, who are offering you an opportunity to learn to live a better way of life, as well as learn to sleep better. Don begins this course by encouraging bedtime to be an enjoyable activity one looks forward to rather than dreads – helping one to loose the reins of control around insomnia. Simply beginning to observe when I was actually tired and allowing myself to stay up (without guilt) doing something enjoyable, like reading, mindfulness, easy movements and stretching “fixed” 90% of my sleeplessness I was experiencing between 3-5 am!
A few weeks into the course I realized this was not just an insomnia class, but a lifestyle class where one could learn to live more deeply and find presence and joy in little moments throughout the day so the nervous system begins to calm. Don incorporates audio for you to listen to with his beautifully composed music interwoven with Jan’s lovely and lulling voice to guide you into relaxation (I joked to Jan that if I ever met her in person and she spoke to me I would probably instantly fall asleep!) Don is super responsive to any questions you ask, and easily conveys his thoughts and his passion for helping others. Overall the course is just a lovely lovely experience, opening my eyes to a peaceful way of life, and helping me close my eyes and enjoy a peaceful night’s rest!”
Thank you again for this opportunity, I so so so appreciate it!”
Tiare S.
“I haven’t even finished this course and I’m already sleeping better and more consistently than I can remember. Jan and Don have created a comprehensive course that includes beautiful, mesmerizing videos created by Jan and deeply soothing, healing music composed by Don. The videos with breathing exercises and yoga Nidra practices that are a basic part of the course have been especially effective for helping me get into a restful state. There is also helpful information about the science of sleep, as well as an extensive resource library. This is a course about sleep, but more than that, it gently teaches a way of living that involves less effort, more awareness and greater ease. Highly recommended.”
Anne P.
“I have to admit, I was skeptical about the sleep course at first; and I’m a long-time insomniac who was very motivated to like it. Well, I think I just started to get what the course is about. I’ve started listening to some of the sleep music and I have found it puts me in a much deeper sleep than I usually experience. I also appreciate the regular support that Don provides when I ask questions about what I’ve been learning.”
Paul S.
From Students: About Our Effortless Mindfulness Course
I loved the course, “Train Your Brain, Change Your Life.” For about a year before taking it, I had been learning mindfulness from a number of different sources. I feel like after taking Don and Jan’s course, I really “got” mindfulness for the first time, The music and videos are works of art, enjoyment, and instruction.. and, this is the best psychotherapy I have ever had. And I had lots of different kinds over my long life.
Paul S,
I found the instructions and practices were easy to understand, fun to do, and very effective for opening my heart and deepening my general appreciation for day-to-day life. And I loved the soothing voices and music in the instructional audios.
Dr. Shelley Thomas, Director, Center for Accelerated Language Acquisition, Middle Tennessee State University
Though I’ve been practicing meditation for quite a few years, I have found that with your “Train Your Brain” course I am better able to access that place of calm within, and that I have more fluidity and ability to change. The understanding of neural pathways has helped motivate me to be less obsessive, more able to let go of habitual ways of reacting and doing things.
Liz I.
From Reviewers of Our Book, “Yoga Psychology and the Transformation of Consciousness:
Seeing Through the Eyes of Infinity“
"For the reader who is sincerely interested in knowing about the positive, transformative changes and states of consciousness that are possible to be experienced by right personal endeavor, this book will be extremely helpful."
From the Foreword by Roy Eugene Davis, direct disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda and Director of The Center for Spiritual Awareness
"What a beautiful and hopeful book Don Salmon and Jan Maslow have given us! In an age of oppression and anxiety they offer us a path of hope and redemption. But don't think this is another book on how to relax and breathe properly under stress, though such books surely have their place. It is rather a deeply intelligent and compassionate exploration of the profound evolutionary possibilities of the human soul and spirit."
Allan Combs, Ph.D., Psychologist, author of The Radiance of Being, founder and president of the International Society for Consciousness Studies
"Developing a global consensus about the nature and evolution of consciousness provides a major challenge for 21st Century thought… the authors provide an in-depth account that sheds a very different light on the view currently prevalent in the West. Fascinating and provocative."
Max Velmans, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London, author of Understanding Consciousness and science editor of The Blackwell Companion to Consciousness.
“The human future depends on a spreading awakening to a spiritual reality that our modern cultures have been prone to deny. Salmon and Maslow bring together ancient spiritual teachings with the most advanced of modern science to help us penetrate the illusions of culture, helping us not only to understand the nature of spirituality, but even more, to experience it. A profoundly important book.”
David C. Korten, Ph.D., board chair YES! Magazine; author, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community
"This book tackles in an elegant yet incisive manner one of the necessities of our time -- the synthesis of science and spirituality. It offers optimism about our world's future which is needed in this time of transformation. Read it."
Elmer Green, Ph.D., Psychophysicist and Biofeedback Pioneer
“Here is a map to help us escape the confines of our contemporary cultures, a way to understand what it really means to be fully alive to our infinite nature. Here are signposts for individual and collective transformation: read them!
Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, Sufi teacher; author, Awakening the World: A Global Dimension to Spiritual Life
Reviews of the Book, “The Experience of Meditation,” which includes a chapter by Don
“This is a superb collection not only for beginners who would like an exquisite introduction to meditation, but also for advanced practitioners who would like to refine their own understanding of this most precious gift of the great sages of our human family.”
Ken Wilber, author of: A Theory of Everything: An Integral Vision for Business, Politics, Science and Spirituality;
“For years, I have been seeking a comprehensive and authoritative survey of the world’s major meditation practices that I can recommend to students. Now I have one.”
Peter Russell, author of: Waking up in time: Finding Peace in Times of Accelerating Change; Letting Go of Nothing: Relax Your Mind and Discover the Wonder of Your True Nature