Month: September 2015

Add Spirituality to substance Abuse Treatment to Amplify its Benefits

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“What fascinates me about addiction and obsessive behavior is that people would choose an altered state of consciousness that’s toxic and ostensibly destroys most aspects of your normal life, because for a brief moment you feel okay.” – Moby

 

Substance abuse and addiction is a large and difficult problem for all groups. But, it is especially a problem for Native American and Alaska Native populations. The rates of binge alcohol use and illicit drug use are higher among American Indian or Alaska Native adults than the national averages (30.6 vs. 24.5 percent and 11.2 vs. 7.9 percent, respectively) and  the  need for treatment is higher than the national average for adults (18.0 vs. 9.6 percent). But only one in eight (12.6 percent) in need of treatment received treatment.

 

There is a great need for effective treatments for substance abuse overall, but particularly for the Native American and Alaska Native populations. Mindfulness based treatments have shown promise. The mindfulness based therapeutic technique Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) has been demonstrated to be effective for the treatment of substance abuse. Similarly, spirituality has also been shown to be beneficial in recovery from addictions and alcoholism (see links below).

 

In the treatment of Native American and Alaska Native populations there has been a glaring lack of incorporation their spiritual beliefs into the therapeutic process. This is a problem as these spiritual beliefs are critical and central to their cultures and integration of them into therapy is critical in working with this population.

 

In today’s Research News article “Dialectical behavior therapy with American Indian/Alaska Native adolescents diagnosed with substance use disorders: Combining an evidence based treatment with cultural, traditional, and spiritual beliefs.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1091066804250578/?type=1&theater

Beckstead and colleagues integrate Native American and Alaska Native spiritual beliefs into the evidence based treatment Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and applied it to treating substance abuse and addiction in Native American and Alaska Native adolescents. Remarkably they found that 90% of the 229 patients treated showed clinically significant improvement and 6% more showed improvement. No patients demonstrated deterioration.

 

These results are remarkable as reflected in the very large calculated effect size for the integrated treatment. This suggests that integrating culturally appropriate spiritual beliefs into treatment greatly amplifies the effectiveness of the treatment. As we discussed previously (see links below) spirituality has a number of positive characteristics that make it effective in recovery from addiction. So, its integration into secularly based treatments appears to have an amplifying effect, making these treatments even more effective.

 

So fight substance abuse with spiritually appropriate treatment.

 

“All the suffering, stress, and addiction comes from not realizing you already are what you are looking for.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

LINKS

Spirituality improves recovery from addictions

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/spirituality-improves-recovery-from-addiction/

Spirituality improves recovery from alcoholism

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/spirituality-and-alcoholism-treatment/

 

 

Love thyself

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“Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are.” ~Malcolm S. Forbes

 

There is a widespread problem in the west that many people don’t seem to like themselves.  The term used to describe this in psychology is self-loathing, although this term is far too strong and is not an appropriate descriptor for the majority of people. In general, the dislike of self has a much smaller magnitude than the word loathing implies. As a result I prefer self-dislike.

 

The self-dislike sometimes means that the individual dislikes every aspect of themselves; but most frequently people only don’t like certain aspects of themselves. Often it is there physical appearance, their school achievement, their career, their social behavior, etc. Making matters worse, they tend to overlook their strengths and discount them, focusing instead in the parts that they find problematic.

 

The discounting and overlooking of strengths shows up in what psychologists call the Imposter Syndrome. Here very successful people do not appear to be able to assimilate their success and instead attribute it to luck. The esteem with which they’re held makes them feel like imposters. It is estimated that two out of five successful people consider themselves frauds that 70 percent of all people feel like impostors at one time or another.

 

When this issue of self-dislike was raised to the Dalai Lama he was totally perplexed and repeatedly asked for clarifications. Not liking oneself is unheard of in his culture. So, he was dumbfounded and without comment. Hence, the problem seems to be primarily one of western culture. This suggests that self-dislike is learned within a particular cultural context with western culture and its values particularly adept at producing it.

 

There are sometimes circumstances that underlie self-dislike. Abuse or bullying, belittling parents, learning disabilities, physical appearance or disabilities are apt to result in self-dislike. But, most frequently it originates from western culture’s tendency to promote unrealistic expectations.

 

Physical appearance is a good case in point where the media holds up extraordinarily attractive individuals as what we should strive to be. Very, very few people can ever measure up and so can end up disliking their appearance. Academic achievement is another case where for many anything less than an “A” is seen as failure. Once again few can measure up and most end up disliking their intellectual ability. Sports are another case where the media holds up professional athletes as role models. These are exceptional people and the vast majority of the population can’t perform anywhere near their level and thus feel inadequate. It is relatively easy to think of many other unrealistic expectations prompted by our hyper-success oriented culture.

 

What can we do to overcome self-dislike. Unfortunately, the self-dislike is usually deeply ingrained and becomes resistant to persuasion or evidence. No matter how successful the person becomes or how much praise is received the person cannot truly believe that he or she has value or worth. They believe themselves to be imposters.

 

Self-dislike is an indicator that the individual is unsatisfied with the way things are. There is a strong desire for them to be different and the individual believes that if one or more aspects of themselves changed, then things would be much better. This is in fact rarely true. An overweight person who loses a significant amount of weight doesn’t usually become happier instead it frequently produces depression. A far better approach is for people to learn to accept things, including themselves, just as they are.

 

Meditation is uniquely suited to promote accepting things as they are. So, it would seem appropriate for dealing with self-dislike. Meditation focuses on awareness of the present moment. As we’ve seen, self-dislike is often rooted in the past. By learning to focus on now, the past recedes in importance. When individuals learn to look closely at what is actually going on in the present moment they can begin to see that there is nothing wrong at all. In fact, there is tremendous good present. So, meditation can move the individual away from the past where the self-dislike originated and can then move forward in the present moment to develop self-acceptance.

 

Another method to address self-dislike is to employ what psychologists call counterconditioning where one behavior or belief is eliminated by replacing it with its opposite. Self-dislike can be eliminated by replacing it with self-love.  Loving Kindness Meditation (LKM) is designed to do just that. We practice loving ourselves and wishing ourselves well. It seems overly simple, but experience and research has shown that it can have remarkable impact.

 

Self-dislike is deeply ingrained. It will not be changed overnight. It will take practice and patience to weaken and eventually overcome it. But, contemplative practice can help.

 

So, engage in contemplative practice and learn to love thyself.

 

“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love & affection.” ~Buddha

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Don’t get Stroked Practice Tai Chi

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“The medical literature tells us that the most effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and many more problems are through healthy diet and exercise. Our bodies have evolved to move, yet we now use the energy in oil instead of muscles to do our work.” – David Suzuki

 

A stroke results from an interruption of the blood supply to the brain, depriving it of needed oxygen and nutrients. This can result in the death of brain cells and depending on the extent of the damage produce profound loss of function. Strokes come in two varieties. The most common (87%) is ischemic stroke resulting from a blocked artery. But strokes can also occur due to leaking or rupture of a blood vessel in the brain, known as hemorrhagic stroke.

 

Every year, more than 795,000 people in the United States have a stroke and it is the third leading cause of death, killing around 140,000 Americans each year. It is estimated to cost $34 billion each year in health care services, medications, and missed work. In addition, Stroke is the leading cause of serious long-term disability.

 

There are a number of risk factors for stroke that are unchangeable, such as family history, age, and genes. But there are a very large number of factors that are under our control including high blood pressure, smoking, high cholesterol, poor diet, sedentariness, and obesity. Given this list it is clear that basic physical fitness and exercise would be excellent for stroke prevention.

 

The ancient mindful movement technique Tai Chi is a very safe form of gentle exercise that is even appropriate for the elderly.

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-sleeping-better-with-mindful-movement-practice/. But, can such a gentle exercise help reduce strokes by altering the risk factors for stroke. In today’s Research News article “Tai Chi Chuan for the Primary Prevention of Stroke in Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults: A Systematic Review”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1090006691023256/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4345078/

Zheng and colleagues review the literature investigating this very point and find that Tai Chi does significantly reduce the incidence of non-fatal strokes and reduces a number of risk factors for stroke.

 

The practice of Tai Chi was found to reduce the stroke risk factors of body weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), waistline and hip circumference, blood pressure, plasma lipids and cholesterol. It even was effective in reducing these risk factors for stroke in patients with chronic diseases. It had all of these positive effects without any reported adverse effects.

 

It should be mentioned that the effect sizes were small to moderate. Hence, Tai Chi cannot be seen as a magical treatment for the prevention of stroke. It simply makes it less likely that a stroke might occur. Since it is safe and has many other benefits particularly for the elderly http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/06/age-healthily-treating-insomnia-and-inflammation/, it should be seriously considered as an exercise to assist in healthy aging.

 

So practice Tai Chi so you don’t get stroked!

 

“The most important reason to study T’ai-Chi Ch’uan is that when you finally reach the place where you understand what life is all about, you’ll have some health to enjoy it.” – Professor Cheng Man-Ch’ing

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

ACT for Depression

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ACT depressed_man

 

“That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key.” – Elizabeth Wurtzel

Depression is challenging and potentially deadly. It permeates the individual’s entire life and being. It is also widespread, affecting millions of people in the U.S. and worldwide. Recently mindfulness based therapies have been developed to treat depression and have been found to be quite effective (see links below). In fact, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) was developed specifically to treat depression. But Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), Mindfulness Meditation, and Loving Kindness Meditation have all been shown to be effective.

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a new form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) that has been shown to be effective for depression. It helps the individual examine how their thoughts, feelings, and behavior interact to impact their psychological and physical well-being. It then works to change thinking to alter the interaction and produce greater life satisfaction. ACT employs mindfulness practices to increase awareness and develop an attitude of acceptance and compassion in the presence of painful thoughts and feelings. Additionally, ACT helps people strengthen aspects of cognition such as in committing to valued living.

 

As impressive as the effectiveness of many of the therapies for depression are, they require the supervision of a trained therapist working either with a single individual or in small groups. With the magnitude of the problem of depression, these therapies can only touch a small fraction of depression suffers. Recently the internet has been used to provide therapy to a wide audience. It allows for therapies to be made available to a much larger number of patients over a much larger geographical area.

 

In today’s Research News article “Web-Based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for Depressive Symptoms With Minimal Support: A Randomized Controlled Trial.”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1089478137742778/?type=1&theater

Lappalainen and colleagues use the internet to deliver Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (iACT) for the treatment of depression and compared its effectiveness to a group of participants on a wait list for treatment. They found large significant and much greater improvements for the iACT group for depression overall and also marked improvements in experienced psychological and physiological symptoms, psychological flexibility, mindfulness, frequency of automatic thoughts, and thought suppression. In addition, the improvements continued and even increased over the year following treatment, demonstrating the long lasting effectiveness of iACT.

 

These are impressive results and indicate that ACT can be delivered effectively over the internet, producing long-lasting improvement in depression. The results suggest that iACT worked the way it was designed to, by producing more mindful, positive, and constructive thought processes. Thinking was more targeted to the present moment reducing rumination about past events, it was more under control and less automatic, and provided much greater flexibility in evaluative thinking. So the depressed individuals’ broke the cycle produced by the ideas and thoughts they have regarding their depression contributing further to their depression, allowing them to understand better the nature of their problems and the sources of their feelings.

 

So, ACT for depression.

 

“Depression isn’t about, ‘Woe is me, my life is this, that and the other’, it’s like having the worst flu all day that you just can’t kick.” – Robbie Williams

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

LINKS

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is effective for major depression even after drugs fail

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/dealing-with-major-depression-when-drugs-fail/

Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is effective for depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/does-spirituality-account-for-mindfulness-anti-depressive-effects/

Loving Kindness Meditation is effective for depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/04/get-out-of-the-dumps-with-loving-kindness-meditation/

Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is effective for depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/15/spiraling-up-with-mindfulness/

Mindfulness Meditation alters the brain to relieve depression

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/19/this-is-the-brain-on-meditation-major-depressive-disorder/

 

Reduce Pain with Meditation

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“Find a place inside where there’s joy, and the joy will burn out the pain.” – Joseph Campbell

 

Pain can be difficult to deal with, particularly if it’s persistent. But, even short-term pain, acute pain, is unpleasant. But acute pain is an important signal that there is something wrong or that damage is occurring and some form of action is needed. It’s an important signal that is ignored at the individual’s peril.

 

So, it’s important that pain signals not be blocked or prevented. But, it would be useful to establish a method to lower pain and improve recovery from a painful stimulus. Contemplative practice has been shown to be useful for both chronic and acute pain (see links below). But the question remains as to how much practice is needed to assist with pain.
In today’s Research News article “A Brief Mindfulness Meditation Training Increases Pain Threshold and Accelerates Modulation of Response to Tonic Pain in an Experimental Study”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1089069581116967/?type=1&theater

Reiner and colleagues examine whether a very brief (2-week) meditation practice can reduce pain in an experimental situation. They found that a brief meditation reduced the perception of pain by increasing the level of stimulation required to produce pain and by decreasing the time it takes to recover from the painful stimulus.

 

How does a 2-week meditation practice change the perception of pain? One way is by altering the brain’s processing of painful stimuli. It appears that meditation practice results in an uncoupling of the brain areas that process pain stimuli and the areas involved in the conscious appreciation and reactivity to pain. Also, meditation practice by focusing on the present moment, letting the past recede from attention, may promote recovery from pain. Rather than continuing to think about past pain and thus prolonging the experience, meditation may lead the individual to focus on the present when the painful stimulus is absent. This may allow the individual to let go of the pain faster.

 

Regardless of the mechanism the results are important in that meditation appears to reduce sensitivity to pain, but still allows the pain to be experienced. So the individual will be less uncomfortable but still able to respond appropriately to the painful stimulus, thus preventing further injury. The results also indicate that it doesn’t take years of meditation practice to provide the relief from pain. Two weeks of practice was sufficient. That such a brief practice still is effective is quite remarkable and suggests that the benefits of meditation can be obtained fairly soon after initiating practice.

 

So, reduce pain with meditation, even with only 2-week practice.

 

“There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.” – Aeschylus
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

LINKS

Meditation reduces pain sensitivity in adolescents

http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/07/pain-is-a-pain-relieve-it-with-meditation/

Mindfulness Based Stress reduction (MBSR) improves quality of life in fibromyalgia patients http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-the-pain-killer/.

Yoga improves quality of life with arthritis pain http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/14/age-healthily-yoga-for-arthritis/

 

Control PTSD with Mindfulness

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“It is as though some old part of yourself wakes up in you, terrified, useless in the life you have, its skills and habits destructive but intact, and what is left of the present you, the person you have become, wilts and shrivels in sadness or despair: the person you have become is only a thin shell over this other, more electric and endangered self. The strongest, the least digested parts of your experience can rise up and put you back where you were when they occurred; all the rest of you stands back and weeps.” – Peter Straub

 

Experiencing trauma is quite common. It has been estimated that 60% of men and 50% of women will experience a significant traumatic event during their lifetime. But, only a fraction will develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But this still results in a frightening number of people with 7%-8% of the population developing PTSD at some point in their life. For military personnel it’s much more likely for PTSD to develop with about 11%-20% of those who have served in a war zone developing PTSD.

 

PTSD involves a number of troubling symptoms including reliving the event with the same fear and horror in nightmares or with a flashback. PTSD sufferers avoid situations that remind them of the event this may include crowds, driving, movies, etc. and may avoid seeking help because it keeps them from having to think or talk about the event. They often experience negative changes in beliefs and feelings including difficulty experiencing positive or loving feelings toward other people, avoiding relationships, memory difficulties, or see the world as dangerous and no one can be trusted. Sufferers may feel hyperarousal, feeling keyed up and jittery, or always alert and on the lookout for danger. They may experience sudden anger or irritability, may have a hard time sleeping or concentrating, may be startled by a loud noise or surprise.

 

Obviously, these are troubling symptoms that need to be addressed. There are a number of therapies that have been developed to treat PTSD. One of which, mindfulness training has been found to be particularly effective (see links below).

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Veterans: A Randomized Clinical Trial”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1088524461171479/?type=1&theater

Polusny and colleagues tested Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) against Present Centered Group Therapy (PCGT) for the treatment of PTSD in military veterans. They found that MBSR was superior to PCGT and produced clinically significant improvements in PTSD symptoms and improved quality of life and mindfulness skills in the veterans. This superiority was enduring as it was present not only at the end of treatment but also significantly two months later.

 

These are exciting results that mindfulness practice can be of significant help for PTSD sufferers but especially because the treatment was superior to another form of therapy. In addition, its’ effectiveness continued to produce improvements even two months after the completion of therapy.

 

It is not known how mindfulness training could be so effective for PTSD. It can be speculated that the improvement in present moment awareness might have helped by focusing on the individual on the present rather than the past when the trauma occurred and by reducing rumination about the past. In addition, mindfulness training is known to improve emotion regulation and this may allow the veterans to not avoid but fully experience the emotions and then respond to them in a constructive fashion.

 

Regardless, it’s clear that PTSD sufferers benefit from mindfulness training.

 

“Often it isn’t the initiating trauma that creates seemingly insurmountable pain, but the lack of support after.” – S. Kelley Harrell

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

LINKS

Yoga has been shown to be effective in treating children who have experienced trauma http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/yoga-for-trauma-in-children/ and mindfulness has been shown to improve an individual’s ability to deal with the aftermath of trauma http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/dont-be-afraid-2-dealing-with-trauma/

 

 

Caring for Caregivers

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“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” – Dalai Lama

 

There is a tremendous demand for caregiving in the US. It is estimated that over 65 million (29% of the adult population) provides care to someone who is ill, disabled or aged, averaging 20 hours per week spent caring for their loved ones. In addition, caregiver demand is increasing due to the increase in our older adult population. But, this caregiving comes at a cost to the caregiver. It exacts an economic toll in lost work hours, income, and even the opportunity to take a promotion or relocate for a better position. But, more significantly, it exacts a tremendous toll on caregivers’ health and well-being. Caregiving has been associated with increased levels of depression and anxiety as well as higher use of psychoactive medications, poorer self-reported physical health, compromised immune function, and increased mortality.

 

Palliative care of a dying loved one is particularly difficult as the emotional toll supplements the time and energy demands of the caregiving. The adverse effects of providing the care increase over the course of the disease, particularly as death approaches and tend to continue with bereavement. Hence there is a need to care for the caregivers. They are providing much needed care and support for the terminally ill family member, but need care and support themselves. This care for the caregiver is often totally lacking.

 

Mindfulness practice has been shown promise in improving the health and well-being of caregivers (see links at the bottom). Is it also effective for individuals providing end-of-life care? In today’s Research News article “Evaluating the effects of mindfulness-based interventions for informal palliative caregivers: A systematic literature review”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1087911851232740/?type=1&theater

Jaffray and colleagues review the literature exploring this question. They report that the published literature shows that mindfulness practice reduces depression and caregiver burden and increases quality of life in informal caregivers of palliative care.

 

The effect sizes for the reported improvements were moderate. This suggests that mindfulness practice is helpful but is not a miracle treatment for this difficult situation. This indicates that there is need for further study to try to identify what sorts of practices are most effective to improve the effectiveness of mindfulness techniques.

 

Some studies obtained interviews with the caregivers who reported that the practice increased acceptance of the care recipient’s illness, as well as of the self and family, increased a sense of presence, increased the sense of peace and reduced stress, and decreased the reactivity response to difficult care recipient behavior. These reports are interesting and suggest that the mindfulness practice may be having its effects by improving non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. This is exactly what mindfulness practices are aimed at developing. These reports also suggest that improved emotion regulation may also be responsible for the improvements, allowing the caregiver to be more in touch with their emotions and improving their ability to respond appropriately to the emotions.

 

So, caregivers should practice mindfulness to care for themselves.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

 

LINKS

Mindfulness practice improves the stress levels experienced by caregiver for autistic children (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/mindfulness-and-caregiving/) and in caregiving for spouses with chronic pain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/18/have-a-healthy-relationship-with-mindfulness/).

Yoga’s Lost Spirituality

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Yoga developed in India millennia ago as a deep spiritual practice. It developed as a contemplative practice that unified body and mind. Yoga was known to have physical benefits, but the most important benefit was seen to be spiritual development. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in has address to the United Nations proposing an International Day of Yoga stated that “yoga is not just about fitness or exercise, it is about changing one’s lifestyle.” It is “a holistic way of life that stresses harmony between man and nature.”

 

Yoga was engaged in as a meditative practice. Awareness was focused on the movements, the postures, the sensations from the muscles, joints, and tendons, and in coordination with an aware controlled breathing. It was more complex, but in essence, no different from the simple meditative practice of following the breath. It was a mind-body focused attention practice, one that has immense subtlety and beauty and that can lead to profound insight.

 

But, as yoga emerged and was practiced in the west it was secularized. This was for good reason, as western society was not ready to accept an ancient eastern spiritual practice. In a sense, the tactic of secularization worked and resulted in an unprecedented and rapid acceptance of yoga in western culture. I commented to my yogini spouse that a clear indicator of yoga being not only accepted, but adopted by western culture was when yoga attire became a fashion statement.

 

There are many forms of yoga and many practitioners who are focused on the spiritual aspects of yoga. But, to the vast majority of westerners yoga is an exercise for physical fitness. It is a means to mold the body to look good, as a health promoting practice, and as a strategy to help loose weight. These are good and reasonable goals. But, they have replaced the far more important spiritual development promoted by yoga. As Jon Kabat-Zinn has remarked, ‘there is the potential for something priceless to be lost.’

 

Our research has demonstrated that a typical western yoga practice produces significantly less spiritual benefits than a meditation practice does, that spiritual awakening experiences are far less likely to be associated with yoga practice than meditation practice, and when people practice both yoga and meditation, it is the meditation component that is responsible for spiritual development. In fact, the way western yoga is practiced, it produces smaller increases in mindfulness than meditation.

 

Fortunately, the recognition that spirituality is being lost may very well be the first step toward the recovery of the spiritual nature of yoga. People who practice yoga feel something special has happened during the practice, but don’t have the understanding of what it is. Yoga practitioners do show increased mindfulness and spirituality, but far less than meditation practitioners. They interpret these feelings, not as spiritual but as relaxation, as a high, similar to a runners high, or as a physical arousal. It is not a great leap to reinterpret this as the beginnings of a deep spiritual experience.

 

Now that yoga has been accepted in the west and not looked on as some kind of pagan or demonic ritual, there is the potential to slowly and gently reinsert the fundamental spirituality of yoga practice. The promotion of deep and relatively lengthy yoga nidra as the conclusion of each yoga session is an important beginning. The return to a deep focused awareness being preeminent in yoga practice is another important step.

 

There also needs to be teaching that yoga spirituality is not a religion. It is entirely different and does not in any way contradict the religious beliefs or practices that are common in the west. This is a subtle teaching that cannot be taught without the groundwork being completed of the experience of the spiritual feelings that are the outgrowth of focused awareness yoga practice. But, once in place, a new understanding can emerge that is entirely acceptable to western sensibilities. It can lead to a return to the true spiritual nature of yoga.

 

So practice what Prime Minister Modi termed “India’s gift to the world,” and become healthier physically, psychologically and spiritually.

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Make better Decisions with Meditation

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“For me, the most interesting people are ones who often work against their best interests. Bad choices. They go in directions where you go, ‘No no no nooo!’ You push away someone who is trying to love you, you hurt someone who’s trying to get your trust, or you love someone you shouldn’t.” – Paul Haggis

 

We are confronted daily with a myriad of decisions, many small of little importance; chocolate or strawberry, pass or follow, do the dishes or empty the trash, watch a movie or sports, etc.. But some have a major impact on ourselves and others; take a new job, get married, buy a home, retire or stay working, exercise or not, etc. The problem is that humans are not always good decision makers.

 

We often make decisions for emotional reasons; buying a new car, not because we need one but because it makes us feel like a race car driver, selling a stock out of fear of losses, marrying someone out of fear of being alone, etc. We also have a tendency to make decisions based upon how we’ve made them in the past regardless of whether that strategy is still appropriate. Having decided to finish high school, get a college degree, and going back to school to get an MBA may have helped our careers, but then going back to school again may not.

 

We respond to the fact that we’re already invested resources in something and hate to give up, called sunk-costs bias. So, we may continue on in a marriage even after the partner has become abusive. We often procrastinate in making decisions out of fear of making a wrong choice. We frequently fall prey to the gamblers fallacy and believe that “we’re due” for a lucky break. We take unnecessary risks because of we love the adrenalin rush and the thrill of risk. We tend to weigh negative information to a greater extent than positive information and thus respond more to the possibility of loss than the possibility of gain.

 

The marketing and advertising industries well understand the illogic and emotionality of human decision making. Ads are tailored to appeal to our emotions rather than our reason. Salesmen and telemarketers use pressure tactics because they recognize that people have difficulty with confrontation and saying no to another human. Stores are designed to evoke spur of the moment impulse buying.

 

Decisions are important to our prosperity, health, and happiness. So, how can we make better decisions? In today’s Research News article “Calm and smart? A selective review of meditation effects on decision making”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1086560198034572/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4513203/

Sun and colleagues review the literature on the effects of meditation on decision making and conclude that meditation practice helps to make people better decision makers.

 

They propose that meditation practice works to improve decision making in three ways. First it has been shown to improve attention, memory, and rational thought processes. (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/overcome-attention-problems-with-mindfulness/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/when-are-distractions-not-distractions/). So, meditation leads to a more reflective consideration of the information, better ability to differentiate between relevant and irrelevant information, reduced irrational behaviors, reduced habitual tendencies, reduced risky decisions, and overreacting to negative information.

 

Secondly, meditation practice is known to improve emotion regulation and non-judgmental acceptance of the present moment (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/rethink-your-emotions/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/control-emotions-the-right-way-with-mindfulness/). Meditators are better at sensing their emotions and controlling their reactions to those emotions. Thus meditation practice can reduce the influence of emotion on decision making and lead to better decisions. Finally, meditation practice improves empathy and compassion for others and it improves our ability to listen to the concerns of others (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/17/be-positive-with-loving-kindness-meditation/). This more compassionate understanding of others and attention to their desires and needs can lead to superior social decisions.

 

So practice meditation and make better decisions.

 

“We need to know how we are feeling. Mindfully acknowledging our feelings serves as an ’emotional thermostat’ that recalibrates our decision making. It’s not that we can’t be anxious, it’s that we need to acknowledge to ourselves that we are.” – Noreena Hertz

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Reduce Inflammation with Yoga

psyjdc 1 Comment

“You can’t live without inflammation, but it can also be hazardous to your health.”

 

Inflammation is a normal response of the body to outside threats like stress, infection, injury, and toxic chemicals. It is a response of the immune system that is designed to protect the body and ward off these threats. It works quite well for short-term infections and injuries and as such is an important defense mechanism for the body.. But when inflammation is protracted and becomes chronic, it can itself become a threat to health.

 

Chronic inflammation can produce autoimmune diseases such as colitis, Chron’s disease, arthritis, heart disease, increased cancer risk, lung disease, sleep disruption, gum disease, decreased bone health, psoriasis, and depression. Needless to say chronic inflammation can create major health problems. Indeed, the presence of chronic inflammation is associated with reduced longevity. So, it is important for health to control the inflammatory response, allowing it to do its job in fighting off infection but then reducing its activity when no external threat is apparent.

 

Contemplative practices appear to relax the physical systems of the body including the immune system, reducing inflammation. Mind body techniques such as the ancient practice of Tai Chi http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/06/age-healthily-treating-insomnia-and-inflammation/ and meditation  (LINK TO “Control Inflammation with Mind-Body Practices – with RN Bower 2015”) have been shown to reduce inflammation. In addition, yoga practice has been found to reduce the inflammatory response in industrial workers http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/healthy-balance-through-yoga/.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effect of Yoga Practice on Levels of Inflammatory Markers after Moderate and Strenuous Exercise”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1086016591422266/?type=1&theater

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4525504/

Vijayaraghava and colleagues found that yoga practitioners had lower levels of immune system agents that are associated with inflammation, Tumour Necrosis Factor alpha (TNF-α), Interleukin-6 (IL-6). Additionally, they found that when exposed to strenuous exercise there was less of an increase in these agents than in participants who did not practice yoga. These results suggest that yoga practice reduces chronic inflammation and also blunts the inflammatory response to exercise.

 

Yoga is both a mind-body relaxation technique and a mild exercise. Both of these aspects of yoga practice may be involved in reducing the inflammatory response. This may occur by creating an overall state of physical and psychological relaxation, by reducing the the response to stress, and by exercise moderating pro-inflammatory cytokines.

 

Regardless of the mechanisms involved, these results are exciting and indicate that the relatively safe practice of yoga can be very good for health by reducing chronic inflammation. This may be one of the reasons that yoga practitioners appear to be healthier and live longer.

 

So, practice yoga, reduce inflammation, and be healthier.

 

“I don’t think anybody would argue that fact that we know inflammation in the body, which comes from a lot of different sources, is the basis for a lot of chronic health problems, so by controlling that, we would expect to see increased life expectancy.”. – Josie Znidarsic

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies