Mind Over Malady
Om Shanti,
Once the catchphrase of 1960s counterculture, "mindfulness" has finally graduated from the fringe to the mainstream. "Staying in the moment" is now the guiding principle of millions of devotees who faithfully practice mindfulness meditation to enrich their daily lives. Just as impressively, mindfulness has also attracted another group of admirers: clinical researchers, whose latest investigations document its surprising and powerful physical and mental health benefits—achieved in as little as five minutes a day.
For example, mindfulness meditation—paying close attention to your thoughts, feelings, actions, and body sensations in an objective, nonattached way—is a proven pain reliever. Here's how it works: Pain has not only sensory dimensions ('Ouch!') but also emotional and cognitive ones—the turbulent thoughts and feelings ('This is killing me') that accompany discomfort. "When you zero in on the pain with kind, nonjudgmental attention, you separate the emotional and cognitive elements from the sensory ones," explains Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). "And because you're not identifying with all those turbulent thoughts, and you recognize that the sensations are just sensations—however unpleasant—for that moment, there can be significantly less suffering. When you focus attention in this way, it causes special areas of the brain to tamp down on the signals that are interpreted as pain."
Mindfulness works by interrupting learned behavior—one reason it also helps treat compulsive habits, such as binge eating. Because the practice enables you to observe your actions without judging them, it short-circuits the process that connects stress with eating, explains Ruth Q. Wolever, Ph.D., research director at Duke Integrative Medicine. Once the binge eater is emotionally separated from her usual response, she can see that there are healthier ways to deal with these urges.
Researchers have also learned that brief mindfulness meditation sessions improve memory and attention, ease anxiety—and even deepen personal relationships. Here are four proven health boosts you, too, can receive by simply learning how to "stay in the moment."
1. Gain control over emotional eating
A recent NIH-funded study tracked the eating patterns of 140 binge eaters (people who eat excessively and rapidly while feeling a loss of control, but don't purge). Researchers found that those using mindfulness-based interventions reduced their bingeing from about four times to once per week. The mindfulness group also reported feeling more in control around food than study participants who received only support and education.
(note: not sure about this raisin meditation, but can also try out the meditation experience (see link below) at the end of this email or connect with Brahma Kumaris website at www.bkwsu.org and click on meditation experiences)
The article continues: Try this technique: Raisin meditation (five minutes) This exercise is designed to interrupt the emotional connection you may have with food. Hold one raisin (or other favorite snack) and look it over as if you've never seen one before. Notice how the fruit feels between your fingers, and take in its colors and ridges. Inhale its scent. Simply notice any thoughts you may have (for instance, like or dislike) without trying to push them away. Finally, bring the raisin to your lips, observing the movement of your hand and arm, and notice how you salivate in anticipation of eating the morsel. Chew slowly, taking in the taste. Observe the impulse to swallow as it wells up, then make the conscious decision that you will now do so.
2. Boost your spirits—and immunity
Mindfulness meditation eases anxiety by 44 percent and reduces symptoms of depression by 34 percent while simultaneously jacking up immunity. In a study of stressed biotech employees, Richard Davidson, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, along with Kabat-Zinn, found that those who completed an eight-week MBSR program had a significantly higher level of activity in the left prefrontal cortex (the brain region associated with a happy, calm state) than colleagues who received no training. At the end of the program, both groups were given flu vaccines, followed by blood tests. Results: The meditators produced significantly more antibodies than the nonmeditators.
Try this technique: Mindful walking (10 minutes) Pick a quiet place, such as your bedroom or living room, where you can walk slowly back and forth or in circles. Looking straight ahead, focus on one aspect of walking. For example, home in on your feet: Notice how one foot makes contact with the ground; your weight shifts; and the other foot lifts, moves forward, and finally makes contact. Continue to direct your attention toward your feet, and whenever your mind wanders, gently bring it back.
3. Ease pain
Mindfulness meditation helps older adults better cope with chronic pain in the lower back, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Adults over age 65 with almost daily lower-back pain who participated in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program, in which they reported meditating an average of four days a week, improved their physical function (carrying groceries, for example). Anecdotally, two patients in the study stopped using their walking canes; and at a three-month follow-up, a third of the subjects reported taking fewer pain and/or sleep meds.
Try this technique: Body scan (10 to 20 minutes) Lie comfortably on your back, side, or stomach with your eyes closed. Beginning with the toes of your left foot, focus on any sensations (tingling, warmth) you feel there. Now imagine your breath traveling down to your toes, then back up and out through your nose. Slowly move up your left leg, focusing on the sensations you encounter and directing your breath to your ankle, shin, knee and thigh. Repeat the sequence with your right leg, then move through your lower back, abdomen, upper back, chest, shoulders and both arms. Next move to your neck, throat, face, the back of your head, and—finally—the top of your head. You should also take notice when you don't feel any sensations at all.
Note: Brahma Kumaris CD's entitled TIME OUT and PEACE OF MIND have guided meditations similar to the above to help relax the body.
www.brahmakumaris.com
karuna@godis1.com
02974-228822, 09414153999
SMS-"join godis1" send to 567678
Be The First To Know.. and Be On Top!
Meet Ideal Families & Happy Families. Miliye Aadarsh Parivaar & Sukhi Parivaar. Watch Awakening with Brahma Kumaris daily on Aastha 7.10pm & 10:30pm, Sanskar 9:50pm, Zee Jagran 4:00am, ETV-5.00am,
Once the catchphrase of 1960s counterculture, "mindfulness" has finally graduated from the fringe to the mainstream. "Staying in the moment" is now the guiding principle of millions of devotees who faithfully practice mindfulness meditation to enrich their daily lives. Just as impressively, mindfulness has also attracted another group of admirers: clinical researchers, whose latest investigations document its surprising and powerful physical and mental health benefits—achieved in as little as five minutes a day.
For example, mindfulness meditation—paying close attention to your thoughts, feelings, actions, and body sensations in an objective, nonattached way—is a proven pain reliever. Here's how it works: Pain has not only sensory dimensions ('Ouch!') but also emotional and cognitive ones—the turbulent thoughts and feelings ('This is killing me') that accompany discomfort. "When you zero in on the pain with kind, nonjudgmental attention, you separate the emotional and cognitive elements from the sensory ones," explains Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D., professor of medicine emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and the founder of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). "And because you're not identifying with all those turbulent thoughts, and you recognize that the sensations are just sensations—however unpleasant—for that moment, there can be significantly less suffering. When you focus attention in this way, it causes special areas of the brain to tamp down on the signals that are interpreted as pain."
Mindfulness works by interrupting learned behavior—one reason it also helps treat compulsive habits, such as binge eating. Because the practice enables you to observe your actions without judging them, it short-circuits the process that connects stress with eating, explains Ruth Q. Wolever, Ph.D., research director at Duke Integrative Medicine. Once the binge eater is emotionally separated from her usual response, she can see that there are healthier ways to deal with these urges.
Researchers have also learned that brief mindfulness meditation sessions improve memory and attention, ease anxiety—and even deepen personal relationships. Here are four proven health boosts you, too, can receive by simply learning how to "stay in the moment."
1. Gain control over emotional eating
A recent NIH-funded study tracked the eating patterns of 140 binge eaters (people who eat excessively and rapidly while feeling a loss of control, but don't purge). Researchers found that those using mindfulness-based interventions reduced their bingeing from about four times to once per week. The mindfulness group also reported feeling more in control around food than study participants who received only support and education.
(note: not sure about this raisin meditation, but can also try out the meditation experience (see link below) at the end of this email or connect with Brahma Kumaris website at www.bkwsu.org and click on meditation experiences)
The article continues: Try this technique: Raisin meditation (five minutes) This exercise is designed to interrupt the emotional connection you may have with food. Hold one raisin (or other favorite snack) and look it over as if you've never seen one before. Notice how the fruit feels between your fingers, and take in its colors and ridges. Inhale its scent. Simply notice any thoughts you may have (for instance, like or dislike) without trying to push them away. Finally, bring the raisin to your lips, observing the movement of your hand and arm, and notice how you salivate in anticipation of eating the morsel. Chew slowly, taking in the taste. Observe the impulse to swallow as it wells up, then make the conscious decision that you will now do so.
2. Boost your spirits—and immunity
Mindfulness meditation eases anxiety by 44 percent and reduces symptoms of depression by 34 percent while simultaneously jacking up immunity. In a study of stressed biotech employees, Richard Davidson, Ph.D., and his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin, along with Kabat-Zinn, found that those who completed an eight-week MBSR program had a significantly higher level of activity in the left prefrontal cortex (the brain region associated with a happy, calm state) than colleagues who received no training. At the end of the program, both groups were given flu vaccines, followed by blood tests. Results: The meditators produced significantly more antibodies than the nonmeditators.
Try this technique: Mindful walking (10 minutes) Pick a quiet place, such as your bedroom or living room, where you can walk slowly back and forth or in circles. Looking straight ahead, focus on one aspect of walking. For example, home in on your feet: Notice how one foot makes contact with the ground; your weight shifts; and the other foot lifts, moves forward, and finally makes contact. Continue to direct your attention toward your feet, and whenever your mind wanders, gently bring it back.
3. Ease pain
Mindfulness meditation helps older adults better cope with chronic pain in the lower back, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Adults over age 65 with almost daily lower-back pain who participated in an eight-week mindfulness meditation program, in which they reported meditating an average of four days a week, improved their physical function (carrying groceries, for example). Anecdotally, two patients in the study stopped using their walking canes; and at a three-month follow-up, a third of the subjects reported taking fewer pain and/or sleep meds.
Try this technique: Body scan (10 to 20 minutes) Lie comfortably on your back, side, or stomach with your eyes closed. Beginning with the toes of your left foot, focus on any sensations (tingling, warmth) you feel there. Now imagine your breath traveling down to your toes, then back up and out through your nose. Slowly move up your left leg, focusing on the sensations you encounter and directing your breath to your ankle, shin, knee and thigh. Repeat the sequence with your right leg, then move through your lower back, abdomen, upper back, chest, shoulders and both arms. Next move to your neck, throat, face, the back of your head, and—finally—the top of your head. You should also take notice when you don't feel any sensations at all.
Note: Brahma Kumaris CD's entitled TIME OUT and PEACE OF MIND have guided meditations similar to the above to help relax the body.
www.brahmakumaris.com
karuna@godis1.com
02974-228822, 09414153999
SMS-"join godis1" send to 567678
Be The First To Know.. and Be On Top!
Meet Ideal Families & Happy Families. Miliye Aadarsh Parivaar & Sukhi Parivaar. Watch Awakening with Brahma Kumaris daily on Aastha 7.10pm & 10:30pm, Sanskar 9:50pm, Zee Jagran 4:00am, ETV-5.00am,
Comment
-
Comment by Rajesh Dhari on December 5, 2008 at 12:24pm
-
Om Shanti
Thanks
Welcome to
iPeace.us
Latest Activity
© 2024 Created by David Califa. Managed by Eyal Raviv.
Powered by
You need to be a member of iPeace.us to add comments!
Join iPeace.us