“Watch your thoughts as you watch the street traffic. People come and go; you register without response. It may not be easy in the beginning, but with some practice you will find that your mind can function on many levels at the same time and you can be aware of them all.” – Nisargadatta Maharaj
When a meditation practice is first begun, this simple activity can seem devilishly difficult; requiring a great deal of effort to be expended to maintain focus. Yet the effort doesn’t seem to make it any easier. Rather, it seems to get more and more difficult to keep the mind from wandering away. This is an important lesson unto itself. It becomes clear that the mind is not under the control that was imagined. In fact, the mind appears to be an unruly beast that is extraordinarily difficult to tame. That is why many teachers refer to it as the monkey mind. This revelation is often startling to the beginner and is itself a great insight.
Over time, however, without really understanding how, meditation gets more and more focused with less and less effort. That’s not to say that the mind doesn’t wander, it does and frequently. But, it does so less often for shorter periods of time and the mind wandering doesn’t evoke the same anger and frustration that it used to. The whole process becomes much more relaxing. The focus of meditation doesn’t seem to require the level of effort that it once did. Relaxed enjoyment of just being becomes more frequent and enduring as the meditator stops fighting the mind and instead becomes an awake detached observer.
What changes with practice? How does meditation become so much easier and relaxed? One possibility is that as practice develops, it changes the brain. Indeed, contemplative practice is known to produce alterations in the structure, connectivity, and activity of brain areas (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/neuroplasticity/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/brain-electrical-activity/). These changes occur in a number of neural areas and systems. But, the changes frequently involve the frontal lobes (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/?s=frontal). This is particularly important as the frontal lobes are thought to be very important for high level cognitive processes sometimes labelled as executive function. Among these frontal lobe functions is attentional ability. It is important to focusing and maintaining attention.
In today’s Research News article “Effortless Attention as a Biomarker for Experienced Mindfulness Practitioners”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4601770/
Tanaka and colleagues investigated the electrical activity of the frontal lobes during a 40 minute session of open monitoring meditation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/25/beginning-meditation-getting-started-4-open-monitoring-meditation/). They recorded Beta band frequencies (13-30 hertz) of frontal EEG activity and compared it between first time meditators and long-term experienced meditators with over 5 years of consistent meditation practice. The Beta band was selected as it has been shown to be associated with attention, vigilance and processing information.
The power of Beta band activity did not differ between groups during the rest period prior to meditation. During meditation Beta band power was significantly higher for the first time meditators than the experienced meditators. Since increased power in the Beta band is associated with attention, the observations suggest that the first time meditators are investing more effort into maintaining attention while the experienced meditators are using minimal effort to maintain attention. These results are in line with what is reported to occur in long-term meditators with maintaining attention described as effortless. These results also suggest the possibility that changes in the frontal lobe may underlie the effortless effort of experienced meditators.
So, regularly practice meditation letting it become effortless.
“In the beginning you will fall into the gaps in between thoughts – after practicing for years, you become the gap”. – J. Kleykamp
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
Meditation
Mind-body Practices Promote Health and Well-being by Changing Gene Expression
There is an accumulating volume of research findings to demonstrate that Mind-body therapies have highly beneficial effects on the health and well-being of humans. These include meditation, yoga, tai chi, qigong, biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, guided imagery, hypnosis, and deep breathing exercises. Because of their proven benefits the application of these practices to relieving human suffering has skyrocketed.
It is clear that Mind-body therapies affect the physiology. In other words, the mind can alter the body. In turn, the genes can affect our minds. In fact, the genes have been shown to affect an individual’s inherent level of mindfulness (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/genetics/). These interactions are well documented. The mechanisms by which they occur, however, are not well understood. It has been shown that contemplative practices help create balance in the inflammatory response (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/inflammatory-response/) which is very beneficial for health. But, the mechanism through which contemplative practices affect the immune system is not known.
The genes dictate all of the chemical processes in our bodies including immune and inflammatory responses. So, it would seem reasonable to investigate whether alterations in gene expressions might be the intermediary between mind-body therapies and health. In today’s Research News article “Functional Genomics in the Study of Mind-Body Therapies”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295747/
Niles and colleagues review the literature on the effects of mind-body therapies on the functional expression of the genes. Out of the vast number of genomic pathways that can be affected, they found one which appears to be altered by mind-body therapies in general. This was a reduction in activity (downregulation) of the expression of genes that elicit the inflammatory response. In other words mindfulness practices reduce inflammation by reducing the activity of the genes that produce it.
This finding is extremely important as an overactive inflammatory system underlies many chronic diseases. Inflammation is a normal response of the body to outside threats like stress, infection, injury, and toxic chemicals. It 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. Mind-body therapies appear to do just that by reducing the expression of the genes that produce inflammation.
Niles and colleagues also found that a number of mind-body therapies increase the activity of telomerase, an enzyme that protects the genes from deterioration, particularly during aging. Hence, mind-body therapies appear to have anti-aging properties by increasing the activity of genes the reduce age related deterioration (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-yoga-and-cellular-aging/).
All of these results suggest that mind-body therapies promote health and well-being by altering gene expression. This is interesting and important. The next question is what are the mechanisms by which these practices affect gene expressions? It will be up to future research to investigate this link in the causal chain from mind-body therapies to the promotion of health and well-being.
So engage in mind-body practices, change gene expression and promote health and well-being.
“Our genes are quite dynamic in their expression and …. the calmness of our mind can actually have a potential influence on their expression.” – Richard Davidson
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
Ease Caregiver Problems with Mindfulness
“Many of us follow the commandment ‘Love One Another.’ When it relates to caregiving, we must love one another with boundaries. We must acknowledge that we are included in the ‘Love One Another.” ― Peggi Speers
Providing needed care for others, particularly loved ones can be very satisfying and rewarding. It may be an opportunity to provide care for someone who provided care for you. It may be an opportunity to express your love for another in a tangible way. It can be a joyful experience. But, particularly over time, caregiving can wear the caregiver out and the stress and sacrifices required begin to take their toll. As a result caregivers experience high levels of anxiety and depression, sleeplessness, physical exhaustion, weakening of the immune system can occur, opening the caregiver up to diseases, burnout, and feelings of hopelessness. All of which leads to an increase in the mortality rate of caregivers.
Dementia is a progressive loss of mental function produced by degenerative diseases of the brain. Dementia patients require caregiving particularly in the later stages of the disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases. Other types of dementia include vascular dementia, mixed dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. For Alzheimer’s disease alone, in 2008 there were an estimated 9.9 million caregivers providing 8.5 billion hours of care at a value of $94 Billion dollars.
Caring for an individual with dementia can be particularly challenging. Over time dementia will lead to loss of memory, loss of reasoning and judgment, personality and behavioral changes, physical decline, and death. If this isn’t bad enough, a little appreciated consequence is that few insurance programs cover dementia care outside of the hospital. So, medical expenses can produce extra financial strain on top of the loss of income for the caregiver.
Dementia is particularly difficult for caregivers and can produce higher levels of stress than other forms of caregiving. The memory and personality changes in the patient may take away all those characteristics that make the loved one identifiable, unique, and endearing, producing psychological stress in the caregiver. The feelings of hopelessness can be overwhelming regarding the future of a patient with an irreversible terminal degenerative illness. In addition, caregivers often experience an anticipatory grief associated with a feeling of impending loss of their loved one.
Obviously, there is a need to care for caregivers, for all types of caregiving but particularly for dementia caregivers. They play an essential and often irreplaceable role. So, finding ways to ease the burden is extremely important. Mindfulness practice for caregivers has been shown to help them cope with the physical and psychological demands of caregiving (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/caregiving/). In today’s Research News article “Feasibility of Central Meditation and Imagery Therapy for Dementia Caregivers”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106977/
Jain and colleagues provided an 8-week meditation and guided imagery mindfulness program to caregivers for family members with dementia. The practice resulted in significant reductions in the caregiver’s levels of anxiety and depression. It reduced levels of insomnia and increased mindfulness. These improvements were still evident three months later. On a more subtle level the caregivers reported qualitative shifts in their relationships with the dementia patients, including greater understanding and compassion, improved ability to manage their day-to-day caregiving, and reduced arguing.
Mindfulness practice focuses the individual on the present moment. This reduces worries about the future and ruminations about problems in the past. This is very helpful for dementia caregivers making them better able to attend to what is needed now and to spend less time catastrophizing, feeling remorse, or experiencing anticipatory grief. Mindfulness practice is also known to reduce the psychological and physical responses to stress. This would obviously be helpful for the caregiver. Finally, mindfulness practice is known to improve emotion regulation so that the caregiver can allow themselves to feel and experience their emotions but at the same time respond to them in a constructive and productive way. This has to be very helpful in dealing with the sometimes overwhelming emotions consequent upon dementia caregiving.
The Jain and colleagues study was a pilot program and as such had only a small group of participants and no control group. The results are exciting enough that it is certainly justified to launch a major randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of mindfulness training to ameliorate the negative consequences of dementia caregiving.
So, ease caregiver problems with mindfulness.
“Many caregivers share that they often feel alone, isolated, and unappreciated. Mindfulness can offer renewed hope for finding support and value for your role as a caregiver…It is an approach that everyone can use. It can help slow you down some so you can make the best possible decisions for your care recipient. It also helps bring more balance and ease while navigating the caregiving journey.” ― Nancy L. Kriseman
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
Sleep Better Mindfully
We require on average 8 hours of sleep a night. But that average number is deceptive as different individuals require different amounts of sleep. If you feel rested and alert you probably had enough sleep regardless of the number of hours. Sleep also varies with age. As we mature we need less sleep but as we get older we require more sleep. Indeed, over half of those over the age of 65 experience disturbed sleep.
Modern society has become more around-the-clock and more complex producing considerable pressure and stress on the individual. The advent of the internet and smart phones has exacerbated the problem. The produced stress can lead to impaired sleep. Indeed, it is estimated that over half of Americans sleep too little due to stress. Not having a good night’s sleep has adverse effects upon the individual’s health, well-being, and happiness. Yet over 70 million Americans suffer from disorders of sleep and about half of these have a chronic disorder. These disorders include insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome.
Beyond problems with sleep disorders, simply not getting enough sleep impairs behavior during wakefulness including constant yawning, the tendency to doze off when not active for a while; for example, when watching television, grogginess when waking in the morning, sleepy grogginess experienced all day long, poor concentration, and mood changes with the individual becoming more irritable. Obviously, people in modern society need to get more and better quality sleep. About 4% of Americans revert to sleeping pills. But, these do not always produce high quality sleep and can have problematic side effects. So, there is a need to find better methods to improve sleep even in the face of modern stressors.
Contemplative practices have been reported to improve sleep amount and quality and help with insomnia (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/sleep/). In today’s Research News article “The Effects of Mind-Body Interventions on Sleep Quality: A Systematic Review”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4487927/
Neuendorf and colleagues review the literature on the effectiveness of mind-body practices for the improvement of sleep. They reviewed findings for biofeedback, guided imagery, hypnotherapy, meditation, relaxation, and yoga, qi gong, and tai chi effects on sleep. They found overall mixed results. But, hypnotherapy, meditation, yoga, and qi gong and tai chi appeared to be somewhat effective in promoting sleep.
How do these mind-body practices improve sleep? One obvious possible mechanism is by stress reduction. Mind-body practices have been shown to reduce both physiological and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/) and stress is known to interfere with sleep. Another possibility is that these practices are known to reduce mind wandering and intrusive thoughts which are often a problem in trying to go to sleep. Additionally, these practices are known to improve emotion regulation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/), and powerful emotions can interfere with sleep. Regardless, of the mechanism, these practices are inexpensive and safe, having very few adverse effects, and have many other beneficial effects in addition to improving sleep. There is not much to lose and potentially a great deal to gain.
So, engage in mind-body practices and sleep better mindfully.
“I’ve always envied people who sleep easily. Their brains must be cleaner, the floorboards of the skull well swept, all the little monsters closed up in a steamer trunk at the foot of the bed.” ― David Benioff
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
Reset the Default Mode Network with Meditation
“I was trying to daydream, but my mind kept wandering.” – Steven Wright
We spend a tremendous amount of our time with our minds wandering and not on the task or the environment at hand. We daydream, plan for the future, review the past, ruminate on our failures, exalt in our successes. In fact we spend almost half of our waking hours off task with our mind wandering. You’d think that if we spend so much time doing this it must be enjoyable. But, in fact research has shown that when our mind is wandering we are actually unhappier than when we are paying attention to what is at hand.
A system of the brain known as the Default Mode Network (DMN) becomes active during wind wandering and relatively quiet during focused on task behavior. It is involved when we are engaged in internally focused tasks such as recalling deeply personal memories, daydreaming, sleeping, imagining the future and trying to take the perspective of others. The DMN involves neural structures including the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior and posterior cingulate cortices, precuneus, inferior parietal cortex, and lateral temporal cortex. These areas of the DMN are functionally connected, such that they are simultaneously active during mind wandering.
In today’s Research News article “The default mode network as a biomarker for monitoring the therapeutic effects of meditation”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4460295/
Simon and colleagues review the literature on the DMN and note that its malfunction is associated with psychiatric disorders and returns to normal upon successful treatment of the disorders. The DMN activity is also affected by meditation which has also been shown to produces improvements in psychiatric disorders. So there would appear to be a common thread here; DMN activity.
They find that the DMN is abnormally active in a number of psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, anxiety, depression, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and Alzheimer’s disease. In addition, successful treatments of these disorders are associated with a return to normal activity in the DMN. For example when a schizophrenic patient responds favorably to antipsychotic medication, DMN activity is normalized.
Meditation training is devoted to improving present moment awareness and decreasing mind wandering. As a result meditation training reduces the activity of the DMN. In addition, meditation has been shown to be beneficial for the treatment of schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, addictions, alcoholism, and mild cognitive impairments.
As a result of these findings Simon and colleagues conclude that the state of the DMN may be an excellent indicator of the psychiatric health of the individual and it can also be an indicator of therapeutic improvement. In addition, it is a metric of the effectiveness of meditation for the treatment of disease. Hence, it is postulated that the DMN may be the common thread linking, psychiatric disorders, to therapeutic effectiveness, and to mindfulness training. If this is true it could lead to more effective diagnosis and treatment of mental illnesses with meditation.
Needless to say the Default Mode Network (DMN) may be much more important than just the seat of mind wandering. It may be a crucial for mental health.
So, reset the default mode network with meditation and improve psychiatric health.
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
The Power of Retreat 5 – Meditation and Spirituality
“Meditation is the discovery that the point of life is always arrived at in the immediate moment.” – Alan Watts
In a prior essay ‘The Power of Retreat 4 – the Container of Silence’ (https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/insights/?section=navPosts), the effects of the container in which retreat is conducted were explored. But, the point of retreat is not the container, it is what transpires within it. Meditation and contemplation are the primary practices of the retreat. The amount varies with different types of retreats. The one we just returned from the amount of meditation varied between 3 to 4+ hours per day occurring in 6 to 8 periods beginning at 7:30 in the morning through 9:30 in the evening. The retreat not only allows for deep meditative experiences that build over the course of the retreat, but it also allows for time for contemplation. Just sitting or walking while reflecting on our environment, immediate experience, or the insights occurring in meditation is as important as the meditation itself.
The specific type of meditation practiced can vary with different retreats (see links below for explanations of meditation techniques). But, all practices emphasize quieting the mind, reducing the internal conversation and chatter, in order to better see and understand the operation of the mind. The amount of meditation is important as it is a ‘practice’ and over time the mind gets quieter. When the mind quiets all sorts of things can emerge, some expected, some a complete surprise, some sublime, but some very uncomfortable and upsetting. Be forewarned, meditation can produce wrenching experiences. We’ve seen many people spontaneously break out in tears at any moment. Most deal with it effectively, confronting and experiencing troubling experiences and the attached strong emotions. This is actually a very good thing as it can help to heal inner wounds that may have festered for decades. But, some participants are overwhelmed and need assistance or need to leave the retreat. Don’t be put off, these are important experiences and may constitute breakthrough moments, leading to self-transformation.
The intent of meditation is not to elicit thinking or emotions, even though thinking and emotions occur frequently during meditation. The intent is to allow inner silence to prevail. At the retreat we attended we all wore tags stating “I am observing silence.” This can be viewed very practically as a message to everyone around who may not be participating in the retreat, that we’re not open to conversation, or even everyday niceties. But, it’s true meaning is deeper. It suggests that we are observing silence itself, the silence within that is ever present and the foundation upon which all experiences emerge. It is a wonderful experience to be deeply immersed in the silence.
A powerful component of retreat is the commitment and intention that the participants bring. Most people coming to a retreat are very committed. The investment of money and especially a week’s time is a concrete expression of that commitment. The week taken away from work and everyday activities is dear to many. It could have been used to take a cruise, tour a foreign country, go to a beach or theme park, visit friends and family, etc. So, the choice to go on retreat instead is meaningful. This commitment provides the motivation for the individual to focus on the work of the retreat and particularly on their intention. Most come with an intention to work on self-understanding, which may paradoxically include a loss of self! In addition, the fact that there is a group of committed individuals with a shared intention present energizes the retreat.
For many the intention is for spiritual development. Some come to retreat with a specific intention to experience spiritual awakening or to experience a union with God. But, even those who come for personal development reasons often migrate toward spiritual development. This is a natural outgrowth of meditation. It is impossible to look deeply inside, particularly at the silence and emptiness and not be spiritually affected, to not glimpse the deeper aspects of existence. In fact, it is common in retreat for people to have awakening experiences. These frequently occur not in the meditation itself but during the contemplative time. That’s frequently where the fruits of meditation ripen. Additionally, the supportive environment of retreat can promote awakenings as the individual knows that these unusual experiences will be accepted and understood, whereas in everyday life they are not.
Silent meditation retreat is an opportunity to move away from our everyday lives. Some may see this as an opportunity to escape them but the power of retreat is not to escape our lives but to provide perspective on them. Yes, work, chores etc. must be done. But, by putting perspective on their true importance we become less stressed and anxious about them and don’t ruminate about unfinished tasks. Rather, we can begin to live our life with balance, making sure that we take care of what constitutes the to do list of our happiness and growth. It has been pointed out that absolutely no one, on their death bed, wishes that they had spent more time at work. Retreat can provide this same kind of perspective. We come away from retreat with a clear realization that we must give higher priorities and more time to our emotional and spiritual lives. We must invest the precious time of our lives in rest and contemplation. We must devote ourselves more to others and especially, to caring for ourselves. We can see how important our relationships, family and friends are to our inner reality. Retreat can provide this perspective for us and is part of its life-altering power.
We highly recommend retreat, especially silent retreat, for those who wish for personal or spiritual development. But, be prepared. It is often not the pleasant relaxing time off that many envision. It can be emotional and spiritual dynamite that needs to be approached with caution.
“As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and purity through meditation and attains Reality. – Adi Shankara”
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
MEDITATION PRACTICE
The following links to the CMCS Blog http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/ review the methods and consequences of meditation.
Beginning Meditation 1 – Preliminaries
http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/20/beginning-meditation-1-preliminaries/
Beginning Meditation 1 – Preliminaries 2
http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/21/beginning-meditation-1-preliminaries-2/
Beginning Meditation – Getting Started 1 – Positions
Beginning Meditation – Getting Started 2 – Breath Following 1
http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/23/208/
Beginning Meditation – Getting Started 3 – Breath Following 2
Beginning Meditation – Getting Started 4 – Open Monitoring Meditation
Meditation Techniques – Loving Kindness Meditation
Meditation Techniques – Body Scan Meditation
http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/27/meditation-techniques-body-scan-meditation/
What to Look for in Meditation
http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/28/what-to-look-for-in-meditation/
Retreat for Longevity
“People seek out retreats for themselves in the country, at the seaside, on the mountains…but nowhere can a person find a retreat more full of peace than one’s own soul. Make use then of this retirement continually and regenerate thyself.” – Marcus Aurelius
The genes govern cellular processes in our bodies. One of the most fundamental of these processes is cell replication. Our bodies are constantly turning over cells. Dying cells or damaged are replaced by new cells. The cells turn over at different rates but most cells in the body are lost and replaced between every few days to every few months. Needless to say were constantly renewing ourselves.
As we age the tail of the DNA molecule called the telomere shortens. When it gets very short cells have a more and more difficult time reproducing and become more likely to produce defective cells. On a cellular basis this is what produces aging. There is an enzyme in the body called telomerase that helps to prevent shortening of the telomere. So, processes that increase telomerase activity tend to slow the aging process. Contemplative practice has been shown to increase telomerase activity thus helping to prevent cellular aging (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-yoga-and-cellular-aging/).
It is thought that this protection of telomeres could protect the body’s cells from aging and deterioration and be the basis for the increased longevity in contemplative practitioners. So, it is important to further investigate the effects of contemplative practices on telomeres and telomerase. In today’s Research News article “Telomere lengthening after three weeks of an intensive insight meditation retreat.”
Conklin and colleagues measured telomere length in individuals participating in an intensive insight meditation retreat both before and after three weeks of retreat. They compared the telomere lengths to a group of individuals with a comparable amount of meditation experience but who were not participating in the retreat. They found that after three weeks of retreat the telomeres had significantly lengthened in the retreat group but not in the controls.
These findings are interesting and potentially important as they suggest that engagement in a meditation retreat can actually lead to improvement in cellular aging. It should be noted that this was not due to the fact that the participants were experienced meditators as the controls were comparably experienced in meditation. The only thing different was participation in the retreat.
This raises the question as to how participation in retreat might be producing a lengthening of telomeres. The authors raise the possibilities that the retreat facilitates “the participant’s cultivation of adaptive mental qualities, which mitigate psychological stress and counter stress-related telomere shortening.” Although this cannot be ruled out as a reasonable explanation, it should be noted that in the retreat the individual is removed from their normal life stresses and this may be the key to the retreat’s effectiveness. It is known that stress decreases telomere length and, if persistent, also reduces longevity. So, the break provided by the retreat may be responsible for lowering stress which in turn lengthens telomeres. It would have been interesting if the researchers had included a three-week vacation group that simply rested without intensive meditation to determine if it were the meditation retreat itself that was effective or simply the rest. Future research will be required to answer this question.
Regardless of the explanation it is clear that participating in a meditation retreat results in a lengthening of a marker of cellular aging, telomeres, and may thereby promote longevity.
So, retreat for longevity.
“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.” ― Albert Camus
Quit Smoking Mindfully
“Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.” – Mark Twain
“Tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Cigarette smoking kills more than 480,000 Americans each year, with more than 41,000 of these deaths from exposure to secondhand smoke. In addition, smoking-related illness in the United States costs more than $300 billion a year. In 2013, an estimated 17.8% (42.1 million) U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers.” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known. But, its addictiveness is not just due to its pharmacological properties. Addiction to smoking also involves learned or conditioned factors, genetics, and social and environmental factors. This makes it easy to become addicted and very difficult to stop. To some extent this is why there still are high rates of smoking even though mostly everyone understands that it has very negative effects on health and longevity.
There are a wide variety of methods and strategies to quit smoking which are to some extent effective. According to the National Institutes of Health, about 40% of smokers who want to quit make a serious attempt to do so each year, but fewer than 5% actually succeed. Most people require three or four failed attempts before being successful. One problem is that after quitting if a single cigarette is smoked, going back to regular smoking is almost assured. As John Polito wrote “nicotine dependency recovery is one of the few challenges in life where being 99% successful all but assures 100% defeat.”
So, better methods to quit which can not only promote quitting but also prevent relapse are badly needed. In today’s Research News article “Randomized trial comparing mindfulness training for smokers to a matched control”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4121076/
Davis and colleagues compared the efficacy of a mindfulness training for smokers (MTS) program to the American Lung Association’s Freedom from Smoking (FFS) program. The MTS program included meditation, group support, and instruction on mindful management of smoking triggers, urges, addictive thoughts and emotions. They applied these programs to quitting smoking with low socioeconomic status smokers, a very difficult segment of the population to treat. Both groups used nicotine patches for the first two weeks of treatment.
They found that at four weeks after the end of treatment 35% of the mindfulness training group and 34% of the FFS group were smoking abstinent. But at 24 weeks 25% of the mindfulness group were still abstinent compared to 18% for the FFS group. This suggests that mindfulness may be helpful in maintaining abstinence after successful quitting of smoking. The mindfulness training group not surprisingly had higher mindfulness scores. Importantly, they showed lower urges to smoke after quitting. In addition, the mindfulness training group showed a lower tendency to avoid experiences. It is important to note that mindfulness training had these effects in a low socioeconomic status group which have traditionally been found to be difficult to treat.
These are exciting results and suggest that mindfulness training may be an important addition to programs for smoking cessation. It appears that mindfulness may be effective by reducing urges to smoke. Mindfulness training increases focus of an acceptance of the present moment. After the physiological symptoms of smoking withdrawal are over the most difficult issues that tend to produce relapse are learned environmental and social triggers to smoke. It is possible that mindfulness training allows the individual to be better at understanding and accepting these triggers and not avoid experiences but confront them. This may then decrease the urge to smoke and improve abstinence.
Regardless of the mechanism, mindfulness training appears to be a beneficial addition to smoking cessation programs. Of course, further research is needed.
So, quit smoking mindfully.
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
Staying on the Wagon with Mindfulness
“It’s Easy to Quit Smoking. I’ve Done It a Thousand Times” – Mark Twain
“…there is a saying used in twelve-step programs and in most treatment centers that “Relapse is part of recovery.” It’s another dangerous slogan that is based on a myth, and it only gives people permission to relapse because they think that when they do, they are on the road to recovery.” ― Chris Prentiss
Drug and alcohol addictions are very difficult to kick and if successful about half the time the individual will relapse. “The chronic nature of the disease means that relapsing to drug abuse at some point is not only possible, but likely.” – National Institute on Drug Abuse. Relapse does not mean treatment has failed. Rather, lapsing back to drug use indicates that treatment needs to be reinstated or adjusted or that another treatment tried. Successful drug abuse treatment requires changing deeply imbedded behaviors particularly in response to emotions and stress. Hence, treatment must include therapy to replace maladaptive behaviors with adaptive ones and build mechanisms to effectively regulate emotions and responses to stress.
Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention (MBRP) has been developed specifically to prevent relapse after successful recovery from substance abuse. It has been shown to be superior to 12-step programs in preventing addiction relapse (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/28/kick-the-drug-habit-with-mindfulness/). MBRP combines meditation with a cognitive therapy based relapse prevention program. The program prepares the individual to deal with high risk situations, contexts and people that have been associated with drug use in the past. So, when they encounter these people or situations in the future they will be better able to refrain from repeating their drug use behaviors. The program also works to develop self-efficacy, helping the individual understand that they have the ability to control their urges and cravings. The addition of meditation appears to strengthen emotion regulation and responses to stress resulting in improved effectiveness and duration of relapse prevention.
In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention: History, Mechanisms of Action, and Effects”
Penberthy and colleagues review the published research on MBRP effectiveness in relapse prevention and conclude that MBRP is effective in preventing substance abuse relapse. They point out, however, that there is a lack of long-term follow-up (over 6 months) to establish whether the program works over the long haul.
An important aspect of mindfulness training in relapse prevention is the improvement in emotion regulation that the training produces (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/10/take-command-and-control-of-your-emotions/). The individual is better able to sense, feel, and understand the emotions they’re experiencing, the intensity of the emotions are maintained at manageable levels, and the individual can respond more adaptively. Intense emotions are often triggers for relapse. So, the mindfulness training provides the individual the means to understand and cope with the emotions in other ways than substance use.
The improved emotion regulation assists the individual in dealing with what is called the “violation effect.” This occurs when a brief lapse in recovery is followed by powerful negative emotions that amplify the lapse into a full relapse. The development of emotion regulation skills and non-judgmental awareness of emotions is essential to withstanding the negative consequences of a lapse thereby preventing it from escalating.
Meditation training is also been shown to improve the psychological and physiological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/destress-with-mindfulness/). Substance use is often triggered by highly stressful situations and the individual uses the drugs to help cope with the stress. By developing a different means of dealing effectively with stress meditation training helps the individual to continue abstinence in the face of difficult and stressful situations.
So, although more research is needed especially investigating long-term effectiveness, Mindfulness Based Relapse Prevention appears to be an effective treatment program for assisting the recovered drug or alcohol abuser from relapsing.
“Recovery is a process. It’s decision by decision, step by step, gain by gain, day by day, month by month, and year after year. Trudge Forward!” – DBT-CBT Workbook
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
Aging the Brain Healthily with Mindfulness
Aging the Brain Healthily with Mindfulness
“He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition, youth and age are equally a burden.” – Plato (427-346 B.C.)
If we are lucky enough to survive long enough we’ll all have an opportunity to experience the aging process. It is a systematic progressive decline in every system in the body. It cannot be avoided. But, there is evidence that it can be slowed. Contemplative practices such as meditation, yoga, and tai chi or qigong have all been shown to be beneficial in slowing or delaying physical and mental decline with aging (see links below).
Using modern neuroimaging techniques, scientists have been able to view the changes that occur in the nervous system with aging. In addition, they have been able to investigate various techniques that might slow the process of neurodegeneration that accompanies normal aging. They have found that contemplative practices of meditation and yoga restrain the loss of neural tissue with aging. The brains of practitioners degenerate less than non-practitioners.
The hippocampus is a large subcortical structure that has been shown to decrease in size and connectivity with aging. It also has been found that long-term meditators are somewhat protected from this deterioration. A part of the hippocampus known as the subiculum is of particular interest because it decreases in size with aging and is associated with memory and spatial ability, both of which decline with aging. In addition, the subiculum appears to be larger in long-term meditators. But it has yet to be seen if the age related deterioration of the subiculum is spared with meditation.
In today’s Research News article “Reduced age-related degeneration of the hippocampal subiculum in long-term meditators”
Kurth and colleagues investigate this question by looking at the size of the subiculum in meditators and non-meditators ranging in age from 24 to 77 years. They found that the non-meditators showed the expected decrease in size of the subiculum with aging. But there was no significant decline in the subiculum size on the left side with aging with the meditators.
Hence, the findings of Kurth and colleagues suggest that meditation practice protects an important part of the brain from deteriorating with age. This is interesting and important and could reflect the mechanism by which meditation decreases the aging individual’s loss of memory and spatial ability.
Meditation is known to decrease the physiological and psychological responses to stress. In addition, stress including childhood trauma is known to produce a reduction in the size of the subiculum on the left side. It follows then the neuroprotective effects of meditation on the age related deterioration of the left subiculum may result from meditations known ability to reduce stress. Further research will be required to test this idea. Regardless, the results clearly demonstrate that meditation can result in less deterioration with aging of an important part of the brain.
So, meditate to reduce brain loss with aging.
“There are no drugs that will make you immune to stress or to pain, or that will by themselves magically solve your life’s problems or promote healing. It will take conscious effort on your part to move in a direction of healing, inner peace, and well-being.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies
Mindfulness practices are known to increase the activity, size, and connectivity of neural structures (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/01/this-is-your-brain-on-meditation/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/19/spirituality-mindfulness-and-the-brain/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/03/make-the-brain-more-efficient-with-meditation/).
Yoga practice has been shown to decrease age related brain deterioration. ( See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/age-healthily-protect-the-brain-with-yoga/).
Meditation improves sleep in aging http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/31/age-healthily-sleep-better-with-meditation/
Mindfulness improves emotions in aging http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/age-healthily-mindfulness/
Qigong improves responses to stress in aging http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/28/age-healthily-with-qigong-soothing-stress-responses/
Yoga practice improves the symptoms of arthritis http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/14/age-healthily-yoga-for-arthritis/
Yoga practice can reduce indicators of cellular aging http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-yoga-and-cellular-aging/
Yoga decreases musculoskeletal deterioration in aging http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/age-healthily-yoga/
Tai Chi reduces inflammation and insomnia in aging http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/06/age-healthily-treating-insomnia-and-inflammation/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/aging-healthily-sleeping-better-with-mindful-movement-practice/