Reduce Stress and Improve Health with Meditation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“If you have unproductive worries, you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. You might think ‘I’m late, I might lose my job if I don’t get there on time, and it will be a disaster!’ Mindfulness teaches you to recognize, ‘Oh, there’s that thought again. I’ve been here before. But it’s just that—a thought, and not a part of my core self,’” – Elizabeth. Hoge

 

We spend approximately 25% of our adult lives at work. How we spend that time is immensely important for our overall well-being, including our psychological and physical health. Indeed, the work environment has even become an important part of our social lives, with friendships and leisure time activities often attached to the work environment. But, more than half of employees in the U.S. and nearly 2/3 worldwide are unhappy at work. This is primarily due to the fact that stress is epidemic in the workplace. A recent Harris poll found that 80 percent of workers feel stressed about one or more things in the workplace. This stress can lead to physical and psychological problems for managers and employees, including fatigue, sleep problems, depression, absenteeism, lower productivity, lower job satisfaction, and personal and professional burnout. Indeed, 46.4% of employees, report having psychological distress.

 

Mindfulness training of employees is a potential help with work related stress. It has been shown to reduce the psychological and physical reactions to stress overall and particularly in the workplace and to reduce burnout. A problem in implementing mindfulness programs in the workplace is the time required for the training. This makes many managers reticent to try it. So, it is important to develop programs that do not seriously impact on work time. A mindfulness training program that can be delivered quickly in a single session would be optimum. In today’s Research News article “Effect of yoga based techniques on stress and health indices using electro photonic imaging technique in managers.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1333462190011037/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4969271/

Kushwah and colleagues investigate the effectiveness of Cyclic Meditation on stress and psychological well-being in managers. Cyclic Meditation is a mixture of meditation practice and yoga postures that are alternated. It can be implemented in a single 35-minute session. They recruited managers and assigned them randomly to either receive a Cyclic Meditation practice or a 35-minute period of supine rest. Assessments of health status and stress were measured with an indirect Electro Photonic Imaging (EPI) technique that was taken before and after the practice.

 

They found that that the Cyclic Meditation group in comparison to the rest group had a significant, 14.5%, reduction in stress and an 18.5% increase in health status. This is potentially an important finding as the intervention was delivered in a single 35-minute session. This may be highly acceptable for managers in the workplace and make it more likely that they would participate. This would also be a cost-effective strategy that would be acceptable to cost conscious employers.

 

The findings, however, are very short-term. More research is needed to determine if the single intervention has lasting effects or if the effects can be sustained by repeated, perhaps daily practice. It is impossible to determine if the meditative component or the yoga component of the practice or both in combination were responsible for the effects. Since, both meditation practice and yoga practice have been shown separately to reduce stress, it is likely that both were responsible for the current effects. More research is needed to investigate whether their effects are additive in reducing stress and improving health.

 

So, reduce stress and improve health with meditation.

 

“Meditation is a simple technique that, if practiced for as few as 10 minutes each day, can help you control stress, decrease anxiety, improve cardiovascular health, and achieve a greater capacity for relaxation.” – WebMD

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Kushwah, K. K., Srinivasan, T. M., Nagendra, H. R., & Ilavarasu, J. V. (2016). Effect of yoga based techniques on stress and health indices using electro photonic imaging technique in managers. Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine, 7(2), 119–123. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaim.2015.05.001

Abstract

Background: Meditation techniques are known to elicit relaxation response in which moving meditation which combines the practice of yoga postures and guided relaxation is known as Cyclic Meditation reported helpful in reducing the sympathetic arousal and improving health of practitioners.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Cyclic Meditation on stress and health indices in managers as measured by Electro Photonic Imaging (EPI) technique.

Materials and methods: EPI technique was used to assess participants before and after 35 min of Cyclic Meditation (CM) and equal duration of Supine Rest (SR) session. A total of sixty six male managers, age ranges from 35 to 60 years (mean ± SD 53.97 ± 5.96) were included in the study. EPI parameters, including Activation Coefficient, Integral Area left and right and Integral Entropy, left and right were taken for statistical analyses.

Results: Cyclic Meditation has produced a highly significant reduction in stress level, whereas this reduction was not found significant within SR group. There was a significant improvement in health index ‘Integral Area’ values in both left and right sides within the CM group while only IA right side showed a significant improvement within the CM group. The integral entropy value right side decreased significantly within the CM group, whereas IE left was found deteriorated within the SR group. Moreover, only IE left side has shown a significant difference between the groups.

Conclusion: The investigations in this study suggest that Cyclic Meditation practice reduces stress and improves psychosomatic health indices more effectively than Supine Rest in managers.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4969271/

 

Improve Heart Failure Treatment Adherence with Spirituality

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Given the mechanism by which we think religion/spirituality influences physical health, i.e., through psychosocial and behavioral pathways, and the strong influence that psychosocial and behavioral factors have on risk of developing cardiovascular disease, there is no medical condition that R/S is more likely to influence than CVD.” – Fernando A. Lucchese

 

Cardiovascular disease is the number one killer, claiming more lives than all forms of cancer combined. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year–that’s 1 in every 4 deaths. Every year about 735,000 Americans have a heart attack.” – Centers for Disease Control.

 

A myriad of treatments has been developed for heart disease including a variety of surgical procedures and medications. In addition, lifestyle changes have proved to be effective including quitting smoking, weight reduction, improved diet, physical activity, and reducing stresses. Contemplative practices, such as meditation, tai chi, and yoga, have also been shown to be helpful for heart health. In addition, mindfulness practices have also been shown to be helpful for producing the kinds of other lifestyle changes needed such as smoking cessation, weight reduction, and stress reduction. Mindfulness has also been shown to be linked to spirituality and

Spirituality and religiosity are known to help with a wide range of physical and psychological problems. So, it would make sense to investigate the relationship of spirituality and religiosity to recovery from heart failure.

 

In today’s Research News article “Association between Spirituality and Adherence to Management in Outpatients with Heart Failure.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1332516243438965/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4940148/

Alvarez and colleagues measured adherence to therapy, quality of life, depression, religiosity and spirituality in adult patients with heart failure. They found that there were significant relationships between spirituality and adherence to pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapy, such that the higher the spirituality of the patient the greater the adherence. This was true for all of the spirituality subscales including spiritual connection, meaning of life, awe and wonder, wholeness & integration, spiritual strength, inner peace, hope & optimism and faith and was also true for intrinsic religiosity but not overall religiosity. They also found that the higher the levels of spirituality the higher the quality of life, both overall and disease specific, and the lower the depression.

 

It should be pointed out that these results are correlational and as such causation cannot be concluded. It could be that the kinds of people who tend to adhere to medical recommendations are also the kinds of people who pursue spirituality. It will take a study where spirituality is manipulated to establish a causal connection.

 

These findings indicate that spirituality has very positive relationships with adherence and quality of life and negative relationship to depression in heart failure patients. Adherence is particularly significant. One of the biggest challenges in all of medicine is to get patients to actually take the prescribed medications, perform the recommended life style changes, and participate in the prescribed therapy sessions. So, increasing adherence is very important for increasing the likelihood of patients getting the full benefit of their medical recommendations. For heart failure patients this could literally be the difference between life and death. These findings, like many others, point to the importance of spirituality and intrinsic religiosity, but not simple participation in religion, in the health and well-being of the individual.

 

So, improve heart failure treatment adherence with spirituality.

 

“the link between improved health and spiritual wellbeing was at least partially explained by the role gratitude plays in spirituality. It seems that a more grateful heart is indeed a more healthy heart. Gratitude journaling is an easy way to support cardiac health.” –  Paul Mills

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Alvarez, J. S., Goldraich, L. A., Nunes, A. H., Zandavalli, M. C. B., Zandavalli, R. B., Belli, K. C., … Clausell, N. (2016). Association between Spirituality and Adherence to Management in Outpatients with Heart Failure. Arquivos Brasileiros de Cardiologia, 106(6), 491–501. http://doi.org/10.5935/abc.20160076

 

Abstract

Background: Spirituality may influence how patients cope with their illness.

Objectives: We assessed whether spirituality may influence adherence to management of outpatients with heart failure.

Methods: Cross sectional study enrolling consecutive ambulatory heart failure patients in whom adherence to multidisciplinary treatment was evaluated. Patients were assessed for quality of life, depression, religiosity and spirituality utilizing validated questionnaires. Correlations between adherence and psychosocial variables of interest were obtained. Logistic regression models explored independent predictors of adherence.

Results: One hundred and thirty patients (age 60 ± 13 years; 67% male) were interviewed. Adequate adherence score was observed in 38.5% of the patients. Neither depression nor religiosity was correlated to adherence, when assessed separately. Interestingly, spirituality, when assessed by both total score sum (r = 0.26; p = 0.003) and by all specific domains, was positively correlated to adherence. Finally, the combination of spirituality, religiosity and personal beliefs was an independent predictor of adherence when adjusted for demographics, clinical characteristics and psychosocial instruments.

Conclusion: Spirituality, religiosity and personal beliefs were the only variables consistently associated with compliance to medication in a cohort of outpatients with heart failure. Our data suggest that adequately addressing these aspects on patient’s care may lead to an improvement in adherence patterns in the complex heart failure management.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4940148/

 

Be a Better Parent with Self-Compassion

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Parental depression negatively affects fathers’ and mothers’ caregiving, material support, and nurturance, and is associated with poor health and developmental outcomes for children of all ages, including prenatally. Depressed mothers are more likely than non-depressed mothers to have poor parenting skills and to have negative interactions with their children.” – Child Trends

 

Clinically diagnosed depression is the most common form of  mental illness, affecting over 6% of the population. In general, it involves feelings of sadness, emptiness or hopelessness, irritability or frustration, loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, sleep disturbances, tiredness and lack of energy, anxiety, agitation, feelings of worthlessness or guilt, fixating on past failures or blaming yourself for things that aren’t your responsibility, suicidal thoughts, suicide attempts or suicide. Needless to say individuals with depression are miserable.

 

Depression does not occur in isolation. When an individual in a family is depressed it affects all of the members of the family. When it is a parent, it affects how the child is raised and what he/she experiences during the formative years. This can have long-lasting effects on the child. So, it is important to study how depression affects childrearing and the child and what are the factors that might mitigate or eliminate the effects of parental depression on the child.

 

A characteristic of western society is that many people don’t seem to like themselves.  The term used to describe this that I prefer is self-dislike. This is often highly associated with depression. Its opposite is self-compassion; being kind and understanding toward yourself in the face of inadequacies or short-comings. So, it would make sense to investigate the relationship of self-compassion with depression and child rearing. In today’s Research News article “Self-Compassion and Parenting in Mothers and Fathers with Depression.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1331610153529574/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4923280/

Psychogiou and colleagues do just that. They recruited parents of young children (2-6 years of age) who were also suffering with depression. They measured them for depression, self-compassion, parental emotions, children’s internalizing and externalizing, and parental coping with children’s negative emotions.

 

They found that for both mothers and fathers, low levels of depression were significantly associated with high levels of self-compassion. Parenting ability was also associated with self-compassion, with mother who were high in self-compassion expressing fewer critical comments and more positive comments toward their children. In addition, parents who were high in self-compassion had fewer distressed reactions to their children’s behavior. High parental self-compassion was also significantly associated with the children having low internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Hence, depressed parents who have high levels of self-compassion are less critical of their children, responded better to their children’s behaviors, and produced less self-blame (internalizing) in their children.

 

These findings suggest that self-compassion may be to some extent an antidote to depression and to mitigate the effects of that depression on parenting. It would appear that if the parent is kind and understanding toward themselves it reduces their depression level and the kindness and understanding appears to transfer to their children producing more positive and productive parenting behaviors. But, the interpretation of these findings must be tempered as the results are correlational and as such do not demonstrate causation. Future studies should attempt to manipulate self-compassion and determine the effects of increasing it on depression and parenting. Since, mindfulness practices are known to increase self-compassion and improve caregiving and parenting, it would make sense to apply mindfulness training to depressed parents and observe its effects.

 

So, be a better parent with self-compassion.

 

“We are all used to working on our self-esteem by asking ourselves, “Am I being a good parent or a bad parent?” The problem is that having high self-esteem is contingent upon experiencing success. If we don’t meet our own standards, we feel terrible about ourselves. Self-compassion, in contrast, is not a way of judging ourselves positively or negatively. It is a way of relating to ourselves kindly and embracing ourselves as we are, flaws and all.” – Kristin Neff

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Psychogiou, L., Legge, K., Parry, E., Mann, J., Nath, S., Ford, T., & Kuyken, W. (2016). Self-Compassion and Parenting in Mothers and Fathers with Depression. Mindfulness, 7, 896–908. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-016-0528-6

 

Abstract

Depression in parents impairs parenting and increases the risk of psychopathology among their children. Prevention and intervention could be informed by knowledge of the mechanisms that break the inter-generational transmission of psychopathology and build resilience in both parents and their children. We used data from two independent studies to examine whether higher levels of self-compassion were associated with better parenting and fewer emotional and behavioral problems in children of parents with a history of depression. Study 1 was a pilot trial of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy that included 38 parents with recurrent depression. Study 2 was a longitudinal study that consisted of 160 families, including 50 mothers and 40 fathers who had a history of depression. Families were followed up approximately 16 months after the first assessment (time 2; n = 106 families). In both studies, self-compassion was assessed with the Self-Compassion Scale. Parents reporting higher levels of self-compassion were more likely to attribute the cause of their children’s behavior to external factors, were less critical, and used fewer distressed reactions to cope with their children’s emotions. Parents’ self-compassion was longitudinally associated with children’s internalizing and externalizing problems, but these associations became nonsignificant after controlling for child gender, parent education, and depressive symptoms. Future larger scale and experimental designs need to examine whether interventions intended to increase self-compassion might reduce the use of negative parenting strategies and thereby the inter-generational transmission of psychopathology.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4923280/

 

Permanently Improve Brain Dynamics with Meditation Practice

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“The nature of brain vs. mind vs. consciousness is a question that may remain unanswerable but the important thing to remember is to live in awareness of how interconnected each of these aspects of yourself really are. Using these tips, you will grow in self-awareness and strengthen your connections with the deepest parts of your consciousness.” – Operation-Meditation

 

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 unhappy compared to 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.

 

Meditation is known to reduce the size and activity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) through a process known as neuroplasticity where the size and connectivity of neural structures are modified by experience. In today’s Research News article “Temporal Dynamics of the Default Mode Network Characterize Meditation-Induced Alterations in Consciousness.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1330785286945394/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4956663/

Panda and colleagues further investigate the effects of meditation on the DMN. They recruited male experienced meditators with over 20 years of daily meditation experience and a matched group of non-meditators. They then simultaneously measured brain activity with both functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f-MRI) and with electroencephalography (EEG) both while the participants were at rest and during meditation.

 

They found that the meditators in comparison to the non-meditators had reduced connectivity of the posterior cingulate cortex that was further reduced during meditation. The posterior cingulate cortex is a key structure of the DMN. This suggests that meditation reduces the ability of the DMN to produce mind wandering. They also found increased connectivity in the middle frontal and middle temporal gyri that increased further during meditation. These are both structures associated with focused attention. These effects suggest that meditation experience increases the activity of the attentional system while decreasing the activity of the mind wandering system.

 

Panda and colleagues analyzed the electroencephalography (EEG) signals recorded simultaneously with the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (f-MRI) characterizing periods of stable activity over brief periods of time called microstates. They found that meditators had these stable states more often and for longer periods of time both at rest and during meditation. The more years of meditation practice the greater the increased stability in the DMN. With the non-meditators these stable states in the DMN occurred more frequently and for longer periods during meditation. These findings suggest that meditation increases stability of the DMN and extensive meditation experience permanently alters the DMN to be more stable all of the time.

 

These findings suggest that meditation reduced the activity of the Default Mode Network (DMN) briefly during meditation or permanently with experience with meditation. This further suggests that meditation experience permanently alters the tendency for the mind to wander both during meditation and also at rest. The studies of the alterations of the nervous system with meditation suggest that the changes in the states of consciousness seen with meditation are reflected in changes in the underlying neural systems, producing great focus and less mind wandering.

 

So, permanently improve brain dynamics with meditation practice.

 

“we do know that meditation is a tool that can change brain activity to bring it closer to this optimal, high-performance brain wave pattern. Subjective experiences of meditators with this optimal brain wave pattern reveal that they experience bliss in this state.” – Shanida Nataraja

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Panda, R., Bharath, R. D., Upadhyay, N., Mangalore, S., Chennu, S., & Rao, S. L. (2016). Temporal Dynamics of the Default Mode Network Characterize Meditation-Induced Alterations in Consciousness. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 372. http://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00372

Abstract

Current research suggests that human consciousness is associated with complex, synchronous interactions between multiple cortical networks. In particular, the default mode network (DMN) of the resting brain is thought to be altered by changes in consciousness, including the meditative state. However, it remains unclear how meditation alters the fast and ever-changing dynamics of brain activity within this network. Here we addressed this question using simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare the spatial extents and temporal dynamics of the DMN during rest and meditation. Using fMRI, we identified key reductions in the posterior cingulate hub of the DMN, along with increases in right frontal and left temporal areas, in experienced meditators during rest and during meditation, in comparison to healthy controls (HCs). We employed the simultaneously recorded EEG data to identify the topographical microstate corresponding to activation of the DMN. Analysis of the temporal dynamics of this microstate revealed that the average duration and frequency of occurrence of DMN microstate was higher in meditators compared to HCs. Both these temporal parameters increased during meditation, reflecting the state effect of meditation. In particular, we found that the alteration in the duration of the DMN microstate when meditators entered the meditative state correlated negatively with their years of meditation experience. This reflected a trait effect of meditation, highlighting its role in producing durable changes in temporal dynamics of the DMN. Taken together, these findings shed new light on short and long-term consequences of meditation practice on this key brain network.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4956663/

Improve Elderly Cancer Survivors’ Health with Tai Chi

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“A growing body of carefully conducted research is building a compelling case for tai chi as an adjunct to standard medical treatment for the prevention and rehabilitation of many conditions commonly associated with age.” – Peter M. Wayne

 

Modern medicine has markedly improved the treatments for cancer. But, unfortunately, these treatments themselves can be difficult on the patient and produce great discomfort and suffering. In addition, if the treatment is successful, the cancer survivor is left with a whole different set of challenges. Fatigue accompanies cancer and its treatment in from half to all cancer patients depending upon the type of cancer and treatment regimen. The lasting impact of the cancer and its treatment are particularly evident and dangerous for the elderly. “Senior cancer survivors are a particularly vulnerable population because they have an increased risk for the development or progression of chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular, hypertension, stroke, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, arthritis, etc). . .  In senior cancer survivors, this is highly relevant as twice as many deaths occur as a result of chronic diseases other than cancer, with cardiovascular disease emerging as a leading cause of death” (Campo et al. 2016).

 

Tai Chi has been practiced for thousands of years with benefits for health and longevity. Tai Chi training is designed to enhance function and regulate the activities of the body through regulated breathing, mindful concentration, and gentle movements. Only recently though have the effects of Tai Chi practice been scrutinized with empirical research. It has revealed that it is effective for an array of physical and psychological issues. It appears to strengthen the immune system, reduce inflammation and increase the number of cancer killing cells in the bloodstream. All of these effects suggest that Tai Chi may be effective for elderly cancer survivors.

 

In today’s Research News article “Blood Pressure, Salivary Cortisol, and Inflammatory Cytokine Outcomes in Senior Female Cancer Survivors Enrolled in a Tai Chi Chih Randomized Controlled Trial.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1329823277041595/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4344390/

Campo and colleagues examine the effectiveness of Tai Chi practice to improve the health of elderly (>= 55 yrs.) female cancer survivors. The women were randomly assigned to receive 12 weeks of Tai Chi practice or Health Education for one hour three times per week. They were measured before and after training for blood pressure, salivary cortisol levels, and inflammatory cytokines. Campo and colleagues found that the Tai Chi group had a significantly greater reduction in systolic blood pressure (12%) and salivary cortisol levels (24%), but not inflammatory cytokines, than the Health Education group.

 

These are excellent findings. The fact that Tai Chi improved systolic blood pressure suggests that it improved cardiovascular health. This is particularly significant as cardiovascular disease is the greatest threat to the longevity of these vulnerable patients. The fact that Tai Chi reduced the salivary cortisol levels, an indicator of stress, suggests that Tai Chi reduced the levels of physiological stress in these patients which is also associated with decreased health and longevity. Hence, Tai Chi practice lowers chronic illness risk factors in elderly female cancer survivors.

 

It is known that exercise lowers cardiovascular and stress related risk factors and Tai Chi is a gentle exercise. This may be responsible for its effectiveness. Mindfulness practice is also known to reduce these risk factors. So, it is also possible that this is the reason for the effectiveness of Tai Chi practice. Regardless, Tai Chi is an almost perfect practice for elderly cancer survivors. It is gentle, has virtually no adverse side effects, and can be practiced in groups or alone at home at very low cost.

 

So, improve elderly cancer survivors’ health with tai chi.

 

“The gentle approach makes tai chi an ideal physical and mental exercise for cancer patients. The world of cancer treatment is filled with messages that tell patients to fight a war against their cancer, which can make them feel at war with their own bodies. Tai chi is particularly beneficial for anyone affected by cancer because it teaches people to respond peacefully and mindfully to forces out of their control.” – Michelle Whitmer

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Campo, R. A., Light, K. C., O’Connor, K., Nakamura, Y., Lipschitz, D., LaStayo, P. C., … Kinney, A. Y. (2015). Blood Pressure, Salivary Cortisol, and Inflammatory Cytokine Outcomes in Senior Female Cancer Survivors Enrolled in a Tai Chi Chih Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Cancer Survivorship : Research and Practice, 9(1), 115–125. http://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-014-0395-x

Abstract

Purpose: Older cancer survivors are a vulnerable population due to an increased risk for chronic diseases (e.g., cardiovascular disease) compounded with treatment late-effects and declines in physical functioning. Therefore, interventions that reduce chronic disease risk factors (i.e., blood pressure, chronic inflammation, & cortisol) are important in this population. Tai Chi Chih (TCC) is a mind-body exercise associated with reductions in chronic disease risk factors, but has not been examined with older cancer survivors. In a feasibility randomized controlled trial of TCC, we examined secondary outcomes of blood pressure, salivary cortisol, and inflammatory cytokines (interleukin (IL)-6, IL-12, tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-10, IL-4) due to their implications in chronic diseases.

Methods: Sixty-three senior female cancer survivors (Mage=67 years, SD=7.15) with physical functioning limitations (SF-12 physical functioning≤80 or role-physical≤72) were randomized to 12-weeks (60-minutes, three times a week) of TCC or Health Education control (HEC) classes. Resting blood pressure, 1-day salivary cortisol samples, and fasting plasma samples for cytokine multiplex assays were collected at baseline and 1-week post-intervention.

Results: Controlling for baseline values, the TCC group had significantly lower systolic blood pressure (SBP,p=0.002) and cortisol area-under-curve (AUC, p=0.02) at post-intervention than the HEC group. There was no intervention effect on inflammatory cytokines (p’s>0.05).

Conclusions: This TCC feasibility trial was associated with significant reductions in SBP and cortisol AUC in senior female cancer survivors. Larger, definitive trials are needed to confirm these findings.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4344390/

 

Improve Type II Diabetes with Yoga Therapy

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

 

“many people who practice yoga report a deep sense of relaxation, substantially increased flexibility and blood and oxygen supply after regular classes—regardless of aerobic exercise. In addition, some reports suggest that because yoga can decrease stress, it may be helpful in controlling glucose levels in people with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes.” – Jacqueline Shahar

 

Diabetes is a major health issue. It is estimated that 30 million people in the United States have diabetes and the numbers are growing. Type 2 diabetes is a common and increasingly prevalent illness that is largely preventable. Although this has been called adult-onset diabetes it is increasingly being diagnosed in children. One of the reasons for the increasing incidence of Type 2 Diabetes is its association with overweight and obesity which is becoming epidemic in the industrialized world.

 

Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. In addition, diabetes is heavily associated with other diseases such as cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, stroke, blindness, kidney disease, and circulatory problems leading to amputations. As a result, diabetes doubles the risk of death of any cause compared to individuals of the same age without diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes results from a resistance of tissues, especially fat tissues, to the ability of insulin to promote the uptake of glucose from the blood. As a result, blood sugar levels rise producing hyperglycemia.

 

A leading cause of this tissue resistance to insulin is overweight and obesity and a sedentary life style. Unlike Type I Diabetes, Type II does not require insulin injections. Instead, the treatment and prevention of Type 2 Diabetes focuses on diet, exercise, and weight control. Recently, mindfulness practices have been shown to be helpful in managing diabetes.

A mindfulness practice that combines mindfulness with exercise is yoga and it has been shown to be helpful in the treatment of Type II Diabetes. Yoga practice is primarily provided in groups where everyone performs exactly the same postures, body scans, and meditation. Yoga Therapy, on the other hand, is a method of applying yoga practice for the treatment of mental and physical conditions that is customized to the individuals’ needs.

 

In today’s Research News article “Impact of individualized yoga therapy on perceived quality of life performance on cognitive tasks and depression among Type II diabetic patients.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1329115460445710/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4959323/

Satish and Lakshmi apply yoga therapy, individualized practice, to the treatment of Type II Diabetes. Patients with Type II diabetes were recruited and assessed before and after yoga therapy treatment for diabetes quality of life, depression, cognitive ability, and postprandial blood sugar, fasting blood sugar, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HBA1c). Participants received yoga therapy in 12 individualized sessions over 3 months, including postures, breathing exercises, chants, and diet advice.

 

They found that following yoga therapy the patients showed significantly reduced depression levels and frequencies of depression and improvements in cognition, including improved attentional inhibition of irrelevant information and short-term memory. The patients with diabetes also showed lower fasting blood sugar levels. In addition, the patients reported improved quality of life, including better sleep quality, lower craving for food, and improved subjective well-being.

 

These results are encouraging and clearly demonstrates that yoga therapy is effective in treating Type II diabetes. There are a number of possible mechanism of how yoga could produce these positive effects including the fact that yoga practice involves physical exercise and exercise has been repeatedly found to be beneficial for Type 2 Diabetes patients. Yoga may also act by reducing body weight and body fat, improving the management of stress, reducing physiological activation by the nervous system, or through encouraging a generally healthier lifestyle. But it is unclear if the individualized yoga therapy is superior to group yoga practice. Future research is needed to compare the effectiveness of the two.

 

So, improve type ii diabetes with yoga therapy.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

“there’s nothing to fret about because the condition can be controlled with a little awareness and care. Good food, regular exercise, and a few minutes of yoga practice everyday – the three golden rules to remember if you are a diabetic.” –  Art of Living

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Latha Satish, V Subbu Lakshmi. Impact of individualized yoga therapy on perceived quality of life performance on cognitive tasks and depression among Type II diabetic patients. Int J Yoga. 2016 Jul-Dec; 9(2): 130–136. doi: 10.4103/0973-6131.183707

 

Abstract

Context: An individualized approach of providing yoga support can address many of the disease-related concerns indicated in the management of diabetes, specifically the impact on other life activities and long-term functional wellbeing.

Aim: To analyze the role of regular yoga practice as a self-management approach to achieve glycemic control and psychological wellbeing in Type II diabetic patients.

Methods: Ninety-one subjects of both sexes responded to the announcement and consented to participate in the study. This was a single group, before and after yoga evaluation without control comparison. The fasting and postprandial blood sugar, glycosylated hemoglobin (HBA1c), cognitive tasks, depression, cognitive failure, and diabetic-related quality of life (QOL) were measured as pretest. The subjects underwent one-to-one individualized yoga therapy sessions, which included 12 supervised sessions spread over a 3-month period. The posttest data were analyzed using paired t-test and Wilcoxon paired rank test.

Results: Showed significant reduction in fasting blood sugar. QOL of the diabetic patients had improved significantly. There was a significant reduction in the frequency (mean difference of 7.58, P > 0.01) of depressive symptoms and intensity of depression (mean difference 1.66, P > 0.05). Concentration and attention span improved significantly and mean discrepancy score reduced (mean difference 3.42, P > 0.01). There were no marked changes in the postprandial blood sugar and HBA1c.

Conclusion: Yoga practice enhances the subjective wellbeing, QOL, improves mood and concentration, and facilitates achievement of adequate glycemic control among Type II diabetic patients.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4959323/

 

Reduce Mind Wandering Produced by the Brain with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“the default mode network always takes you somewhere other than where you are. You are not focused on the immediate environment and will also be “time-travelling” in the past or future – never in the present moment. . . Interestingly, researchers have found that the default mode network is less active when people meditate.” – Mindful Call

 

Mindfulness is the ability to focus on what is transpiring in the present moment. It involves a greater emphasis on attention to the immediate stimulus environment. Mindful people generally have better attentional abilities and have fewer intrusive thoughts and less mind wandering. As a result, mindfulness has been shown to be associated with differences in thought processes. A system of the brain known as the Default Mode Network (DMN) becomes active during mind 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.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to alter the size and activity of neural structures including reducing the size and activity in the Default Mode Network (DMN) as a result of neuroplasticity. The DMN, however, is a network of interconnected structures which are, in turn, connected to a number of other neural structures. This interconnectivity reflects the ability of these structures to affect other structures in the brain, in other words, the effects of mind wandering on other brain systems. Hence, it is important to investigate the effects of mindfulness training on the functional connectivity of the structures of the Default Mode Network (DMN) and the neural structures connected to these structures.

 

In today’s Research News article “Data for default network reduced functional connectivity in meditators, negatively correlated with meditation expertise.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1328281653862424/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340916304504

Berkovich-Ohana and colleagues performed functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of the brains of experienced meditators in comparison to similar individuals who did not meditate while at rest and during meditation.

 

They found that at rest the functional connectivity within the structures of the DMN and within the neural structures associated with vision were lower in meditators and that this functional connectivity decreased during meditation. They also found that the meditators had greater functional connectivity between the DMN and the visual system structures than the non-meditators and this also decreased during meditation. In addition, they found that the greater the experience with meditation the lower the functional connectivity between the DMN and other neural structures. These findings suggest that meditation lowers the ability of the structures associated with mind wandering to affect other structures in the nervous system. They also suggest that meditation practice produces less internal connectivity within these structures underlying mind wandering. Finally, these findings suggest that visualizations dissociated from the focus of attention may be higher in the meditators. This may indicate that when meditators’ minds wander they contain more vivid visual imagery.

 

These data are interesting and demonstrate that meditation alters the internal connectivity of the structures that produce mind wandering and their ability to affect other neural structures. Hence, the functional connectivity of brain structures reflects the experiences of meditators of reduced mind wandering. Meditation appears to change the brain to produce less mind wandering.

 

So, reduce mind wandering produced by the brain with mindfulness.

 

“What may happen when people practise mindfulness is that, over time, this weakens the connection between their thalamus and the rest of the default mode network. Their trait mindfulness score would climb as a result and they might just become more mentally robust and less prone to depression and other mental illnesses. That really would be brain plasticity in action.” – Plastic Brain

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Berkovich-Ohana A, Harel M, Hahamy A, Arieli A, Malach R. Data for default network reduced functional connectivity in meditators, negatively correlated with meditation expertise. Data Brief. 2016 Jul 15;8:910-4. doi: 10.1016/j.dib.2016.07.015. eCollection 2016 Sep. PMID: 2750824

 

Abstract

FMRI data described here was recorded during resting-state in Mindfulness Meditators (MM) and control participants (see “Task-induced activity and resting-state fluctuations undergo similar alterations in visual and DMN areas of long-term meditators” Berkovich-Ohana et al. (2016) [1] for details). MM participants were also scanned during meditation. Analyses focused on functional connectivity within and between the default mode network (DMN) and visual network (Vis). Here we show data demonstrating that: 1) Functional connectivity within the DMN and the Visual networks were higher in the control group than in the meditators; 2) Data show an increase for the functional connectivity between the DMN and the Visual networks in the meditators compared to controls; 3) Data demonstrate that functional connectivity both within and between networks reduces during meditation, compared to the resting-state; and 4) A significant negative correlation was found between DMN functional connectivity and meditation expertise.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352340916304504

http://ac.els-cdn.com/S2352340916304504/1-s2.0-S2352340916304504-main.pdf?_tid=3b020506-60c4-11e6-bbcf-00000aacb360&acdnat=1471030840_5c9ab5e6d389861ca100e4384dec9a9f

 

Relieve Fatigue Accompanying Neurologic Disease with Mindfulness

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Mindfulness meditation — or mentally focusing on being in the present moment — has also proven an effective tool to help people with cognitive and behavioral issues after TBI. With meditation of all kinds — from chanting to visual imagery — people can make peace with their new self and not get swept up in the constant maelstrom of mental obsessions.” – Victoria Tilney McDonough

 

Brain damage is more or less permanent. The neurons and neural structures that are destroyed when the brain is damaged for the most part do not regrow. Brain Injury is caused by a number of different events from a violent blow to the head (Traumatic Brain Injury, TBI), to interruption of the blood supply to the brain (strokes), and to demyelinating diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). These neurological diseases are common and disabling. In the United States it is estimated that annually 1.7 million people sustain Traumatic Brain Injury, while 400,000 people are diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, and about 800,000 people have strokes.

 

Regardless of the cause, the brain is damaged, and the tissues that are destroyed are permanently lost. But, we know that people can recover to some extent from brain injury.  How is it possible that recovery can occur when there is no replacement of the damaged tissue? There appears to be a number of strategies that are employed by the brain to assist in recovery. Other areas of the brain can take over some of the function, other behavioral strategies can be employed to accomplish the task, and non-injured areas of the brain can adapt and change to compensate for the lost function. Rehabilitation usually involves strategies to promote these recovery mechanisms.

 

Each of these neurologic diseases are accompanied by a profound fatigue. This disrupts rehabilitation as it makes it difficult for the patients to engage in the needed activities. In fact, the depth of fatigue is associated with lower levels of quality of life, everyday functioning, and life expectancy. So, it is important to find methods to reduce fatigue in patients with neurologic diseases. Mindfulness training has been found to be helpful in recover from Traumatic Brain Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, and stroke. It would seem likely then that mindfulness training reduces fatigue.

 

In today’s Research News article “Clinical Utility of Mindfulness Training in the Treatment of Fatigue After Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury and Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis.” See:

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1327481707275752/?type=3&theater

or see summary below or view the full text of the study at:

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00912/full

Ulrichsen and colleagues review the published research literature on the effects on fatigue of mindfulness training on adult patients with neurologic diseases. In all of the studies 8-weeks of either Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) or Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) were employed as therapy. They found that mindfulness training significantly reduced fatigue with moderate effect size.

 

These are encouraging results as fatigue plays such a crucial role in the disease and its reduction is needed for other rehabilitation activities to be effective. It isn’t clear exactly how mindfulness training reduces fatigue. It is possible that by improving present moment awareness, especially of the patient’s physical state, that worry and rumination that contribute to the feelings of fatigue may be lowered or that the improved attentional mechanisms allows the patients to perform well in spite of fatigue.

 

Regardless, relieve fatigue accompanying neurologic disease with mindfulness.

 

“Imaging studies show that mindfulness soothes the brain patterns underlying pain and, over time, these changes take root and alter the structure of the brain itself, so that patients no longer feel pain with the same intensity. Many say that they barely notice it at all.” – Danny Penman

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are also available on Google+ https://plus.google.com/106784388191201299496/posts

 

Study Summary

Ulrichsen KM, Kaufmann T, Dørum ES, Kolskår KK, Richard G, Alnæs D, Arneberg TJ, Westlye LT and Nordvik JE (2016) Clinical Utility of Mindfulness Training in the Treatment of Fatigue After Stroke, Traumatic Brain Injury and Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-analysis. Front. Psychol. 7:912. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00912

 

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Fatigue is a common symptom following neurological illnesses and injuries, and is rated as one of the most debilitating sequela in conditions such as stroke, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and multiple sclerosis (MS). Yet effective treatments are lacking, suggesting a pressing need for a better understanding of its etiology and mechanisms that may alleviate the symptoms. Recently mindfulness-based interventions have demonstrated promising results for fatigue symptom relief.

OBJECTIVE: Investigate the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions for fatigue across neurological conditions and acquired brain injuries.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Systematic literature searches were conducted in PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, and PsycINFO. We included randomized controlled trials applying mindfulness-based interventions in patients with neurological conditions or acquired brain injuries. Four studies (N = 257) were retained for meta-analysis. The studies included patients diagnosed with MS, TBI, and stroke.

RESULTS: The estimated effect size for the total sample was -0.37 (95% CI: -0.58, -0.17).

CONCLUSION: The results indicate that mindfulness-based interventions may relieve fatigue in neurological conditions such as stroke, TBI, and MS. However, the effect size is moderate, and further research is needed in order to determine the effect and improve our understanding of how mindfulness-based interventions affect fatigue symptom perception in patients with neurological conditions.

http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00912/full

 

Mindfully at Sea

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“my gaze shifts to the Atlantic. Each wave is completely new and distinctive. No matter the size of the wave or its intensity, the beach gladly accepts each one as an offering from the sea. I smile and feel the rise of gratitude in my body for this lesson and for my teacher, the seashore. Without any fanfare, the sea meets the land and the message is simple: welcome everything.”– Brandon Nappi

 

I’m on a cruise in the Pacific Ocean and seeing nothing but water. From horizon to horizon on the starboard side, on the port side, aft, and forward; nothing but ocean. Living on land away from the ocean I’ve lost track of the fact that the Earth is also called the water planet, with over two thirds of its surface covered in water. Looking out on the ocean mindfully I am struck by how much our existence is dependent upon these vast waters. I am reminded of how interconnected everything, including ourselves, is with the oceans and how the oceans are interconnected with us. And, in spite of my ego, I am humbled by how powerless, miniscule, vulnerable, and insignificant I am. The timelessness of the ocean underscores how brief my life is; an eye blink in geologic time. This resets my thinking and puts perspective on existence.

 

The ocean is the cradle of life. It is the birthplace, the origin, of all life on the planet. Only relatively recently did creatures emerge from the oceans to occupy land. But, even though new forms of life developed on land, they carried with them the oceans of origin. The blood has the same electrolytes at the same concentrations as sea water. In essence, rather than being divorced from the sea, I carry the sea with me. Even our terrestrial existence is dependent upon the seas. Without them there are no clouds in the sky, there is no rain, and there is no vegetation. Life on land is dependent upon the oceans. It reminds me of how interconnected I am to the entirety of my planet and how without those interconnections, I would not be able to exist or for that matter would never have existed at all.

 

Seeing the ocean helps me to realize how weak and vulnerable I am. My life dangles by threads. Should I fall overboard, I would not last long in the cold waters. It would be too far to swim to shore. No matter how powerful and strong I believed myself to be, the sea unmasks my vulnerability. Society and human advancement has to some extent provided protection, including the wonderful machine I’m riding on. This allows my ego to generate the illusion of strength. But, when there’s a storm at sea, or even when it is calm, the delusion of invulnerability is stripped away and my true condition revealed. This generates a mindful appreciation for my life and the precious seconds that compose it. It opens my eyes to my dependence on others and society for protection, for being my port in the storm. It creates vast gratefulness and appreciation for others and all that I have surrounding and protecting me. When I mindfully look at things this way, I can see interdependence and impermanence in action, moment to moment.

 

Looking out mindfully at the vast expanse of ocean I see myself as a speck on the surface. Self-importance melts away and a tremendous humility emerges. All the events in my life and accomplishments seem so insignificant. Looking out mindfully at the agelessness of the ocean I see my life as a microsecond of oceanic time not to mention cosmic time. My ego has convinced me of a delusion that what I do and have done is important. A mindful examination of the ocean corrects this delusion. My life is but a drop in the ocean. In some ways that seems sad, but seeing the truth is never sad, it can liberate, eliminate unsatisfactoriness, and produce great happiness. All of the difficulties with career, family, and society all now seem so minor that I can’t believe that they so defined my life and determined my happiness.

 

When I mindfully look at the ocean the sadness lifts as I become awed by the wondrous beauty and infinite wisdom of existence. I may not be able to change it or even alter it in minor ways, but I can experience and enjoy it. I can see my life as a supremely lucky accident in the vastness of time and space, a time to be savored, a time to enjoy and a time to appreciate and learn from, in other words, a time to be mindful. It is a gift from the cosmos to me, a time not to be squandered. The seeming timelessness of the ocean underscores the brevity of my own life, like a solitary wave building and passing away, impermanent and ever changing.

 

With this mindful perspective my trials and tribulations become laughable trivial constructs of my ego. In the face of such vastness, how can I see an interpersonal slight as meaningful, an unattained career step as important, or a new car or a bigger house in a better neighborhood as necessary. But, this perspective doesn’t just remove delusion, it replaces it with love, wisdom, and happiness. With the death of delusion comes the birth of equanimity; seeing things, myself, and others exactly as they are and finding them not just OK but extraordinary, not just static but ever evolving, and not just real but spiritual. With the death of delusion comes the birth of deep noncontingent love, for myself, those close to me and extending to all of humanity.

 

Putting these thoughts behind and becoming mindful as I speed walk around the upper deck I let the present moment come into and dominate my awareness. Looking out to the horizon I feel the peace, quiet, and serenity of the horizon to horizon sea. Watching the ocean race by, feeling the breeze on my skin, smelling the fresh salt air, feeling my leg muscles at work and the clothing against my skin, hearing the engines purring, the bow breaking against the water, and the waves breaking against the side of the ship, I feel so totally alive. With my mind clear of thoughts and the ego’s delusions, I am totally awake and loving every moment. Quieting the inner voice, I am mindfully blissful at sea.

 

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Mindful Vacation

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By John M. de Castro, Ph.D.

 

“Fatigue sets in, rigidity applies, and all creativity and innovation are lost — both of which need time away for other activities to increase the probability of new ideas. Unhealthy overwork costs companies money for healthcare and creates stressful and unrewarding lives, both of which detract from the good work they are supposed to be furthering.” – Lotte Bailyn

 

The Buddha taught that we should follow the middle way. He taught that an instrument’s string, if it is too loose, it doesn’t produce a note and if it’s too tight it will break. It is best in the middle, producing beautiful music. So it is with us. To be successful in almost anything, but especially in our spiritual practice, we must follow the middle way. We should neither meditate too little or too much, we should neither work too little or too hard, we should not relax too much or too little, we should not eat too much or too little, etc. We should find the happy medium in all things.

 

Unfortunately, Americans do not follow the middle way. In their careers they work far too hard. Hard work is laudable and productive if balanced with sufficient rest, relaxation, exercise, and being with family and friends. But for far too many Americans, work has been overemphasized and has become over weighted in their lives’ balance sheets. One clear example of this is vacation time. It’s gotten so bad that America has been dubbed the “No-Vacation Nation.” Fully 41% of Americans took no vacation at all in 2015 and another 17% said that they took fewer than 5 vacation days. In other words, approximately 2/3rds of Americans took less than a full week of vacation in the entire year.

 

It is estimated that half a billion days of vacation that were available to Americans are not taken each year. In addition, many of the vacation days taken were used not for rest and relaxation, but for other work or medical needs. To make matters worse, Americans when they do take real vacation bring their laptops and cell phones with them and continue working even while supposedly relaxing on a beach somewhere. It is no wonder that Americans are so overworked, stressed, and unhappy. It is no wonder that Americans suffer from stress related diseases. As the Boston Globe commented “we are a nation of vacation-deprived, work-obsessed, business casual-attired zombies.”

 

Under the conditions of stress, overwork, and lack of sleep experienced by most Americans, vacation becomes terribly important. It can begin to rebalance life by increasing rest and replenishment. We have to give vacation a much higher priority and not only take our available vacation, but use it as it was intended. In addition, it is important that we not only prioritize and take vacations, but also that we take them mindfully. This means that we should invest vacation time in reconnecting with our world, ourselves, and our families. We should rest, relax, and have some fun, but do so totally in the present moment, without distraction.

 

To reconnect we need to disconnect; that is, we need to remove all of those distraction that so occupy our time and attention, that we end up without connection to those things that really matter. On the death bed there is no recorded incident where the person regretted not working enough or not making enough money, or sending enough emails, or not making more tweets or social media posts. What they regret is not having spent enough time with family and friends, not investing in their own happiness and that of others, and not being themselves and letting their emotions out. These are what we must reconnect to. This is what vacations are designed to do.

 

It’s really important to disconnect. Get away, staycations involve far too many distractions. Leave the computers and cell phones at home. Go somewhere where you can disconnect from the net. Go somewhere that you enjoy and where you can rest, the beach, the mountains, the wilderness, etc. Go there with the people you are closest too. It would be useful if TV and radio were unplugged; nothing to stand between you and a real vacation. This can be difficult to do as many vacation spots pride themselves in providing you with all of the things that distract you at home. But make the effort to either go somewhere where these things are absent or turn them off when you get there. In this way you can truly spend time in the present moment. Get to really know yourself and perhaps your family.

 

You should begin with sleep and rest. Before you set an agenda to do anything, first get physically rested. So many people in the modern world are actually sleep deprived and don’t realize it. When they go on vacation the first things they do is dive into activities and exhaust themselves further. The first step in having a vacation should always be to start letting your body rest and recover. Take my word on it, your vacation will be so much better if you do this. Sleep late, take naps, don’t schedule much on the first couple of days of vacation. There is a tendency to feel that vacation time is precious, which it is, and shouldn’t be wasted on doing nothing, but actually it should. This is much more important to the quality and effectiveness of your vacation than you can imagine. Prioritize it and you’ll be amazed at how much more you get out of your vacation.

 

Once you’ve disconnected, it’s time to reconnect. Spend some time just being still and quiet. Just look carefully and mindfully at your surroundings, hear the sound, smell the aromas, connect totally with your environment. Don’t feel that you need to finish and move on to the next thing, you’re doing the next thing. Recognize how hard it is for you to do this and see how conditioned you are to constantly return to those things that you’re trying to get away from. Watch your thoughts. See how they keep looking for something else other than what is right in front of you. Notice how they return again and again to work and your daily distractions. This may not be easy but it can be a revelation. It can show how much you need to reprogram yourself to achieve balance. If you stick with it, slowly, ever so slowly, it will begin to take hold and you’ll begin the long process of becoming truly mindful.

 

Spend time with you family and friends. But, do so without distractions. Don’t watch TV, go to a movie or send each other text messages. Really be with them. The most important thing that you have to give them and they you, is undivided attention. Once again, it may be hard to do. We’re so programmed to be with people while doing something else. Drop out the something else and you can truly be with people. Practice deep listening. As someone else is talking, don’t be thinking of your response or the next thing you’re going to say, simply listen, really listen, deeply listen, to what it is that they’re trying to communicate. Then, when it’s your turn, you’ll be continuing on the same theme they were. You’ll truly be responding to them, not showing how smart or clever or funny you are, but how compassionate, understanding, and caring you are. This also will take time. Your conditioning is deep and strong. But, if you stick with it, slowly, ever so slowly, it will begin to take hold and you’ll begin the long process of becoming truly connected to those you’re closest too and they to you.

 

Next, mindfully watch yourself. Take note of when you feel happy and when you don’t, when you feel relaxed and when you don’t, when the people around you are happy and when they’re not. Feel what it feels like when you happy at a visceral level, not in your mind, but in your body. Let theses explorations reveal to you what is really important for making yourself and others happy. Don’t look at peak moments, those are obvious. Rather look at the little moments of contentment and happiness. These are the ones that make up most of your life. If you can learn them, you can begin to arrange your life to promote happiness. If you stick with it, slowly, ever so slowly, it will begin to take hold and you’ll begin the long process of becoming truly happy.

 

Finally, don’t leave what you’ve gained on vacation behind. Try to take it with you as you return to work and everyday life. The lessons that you’ve learned need to be practiced there as well to insure that vacation has a continuing effect. It’s hard to do and probably shouldn’t be tried all at once with everything. Just see if you can incorporate some of what you’ve learned occasionally into daily life. Try listening deeply at least sometimes with some people, try getting a good night’s sleep as often as you can, try to notice how you feel at times when you’re happy, and try to occasionally be mindful. Give it a shot. The positive effects it has will reinforce it and slowly, ever so slowly, it will creep more and more into your life.

 

These are my recommendations for a mindful vacation. But, everyone is different. You’ll need to explore for yourself what works for you and what doesn’t. There are no rules and no mandatory processes or activities. Learn from your experiences and experiment with new experiences. Look at it as an investigation which is based upon what produces well-being and happiness in yourself and the people around you. In other words, vacation mindfully.

 

 “The benefits are huge. Not only is the society measurably happier, but workers are more rested and productive, relationships are closer and people are healthier.” – Terry Hartig

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies