Improve Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with Tai Chi By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Tai chi does not mean oriental wisdom or something exotic. It is the wisdom of your own senses, your own mind and body together as one process.” – Chungliang Al Huang Myalgic encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) occurs in about […]
Different Meditation Techniques Improve Well-Being Through Different Brain Systems By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. ‘Meditation can alter the mechanism of your brain after some time.” – Perpetua Neo There has accumulated a large amount of research demonstrating that meditation practice has significant benefits for psychological, physical, and spiritual wellbeing. One way that meditation […]
Improve the Symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease with Long-Term Tai Chi Practice By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Tai chi training appears to reduce balance impairments in patients with mild-to-moderate Parkinson’s disease, with additional benefits of improved functional capacity and reduced falls.” – Fuzhong Li Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is an incurable progressive degenerative […]
Change the Brain to Increase Sustained Attention with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “as the popularity of mindfulness grows, brain imaging techniques are revealing that this ancient practice can profoundly change the way different regions of the brain communicate with each other – and therefore how we think – permanently.” – […]
Increase Relaxation with Focused Meditation while Increasing Activation with Open Monitoring Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness meditation consists of focused attention meditation (FAM) and open monitoring meditation (OMM), both of which reduce activation of the default mode network (DMN) and mind-wandering.” – Masahiro Fujino Meditation training has been shown […]
Improve Brain Processing in Mood Dysregulated Adolescents with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness-based interventions—practices that promote non-judgmental attention to the present—can help individuals respond with acceptance to challenging circumstances or emotions and is a promising approach to treatment of mood lability.” – D. M. Hafemann Adolescence is a time […]
Meditation Changes the Brain Areas Underlying Executive Function and Mind Wandering By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditation nurtures the parts of the brain that contribute to well-being. Furthermore, it seems that a regular practice deprives the stress and anxiety-related parts of the brain of their nourishment.” – Mindworks Mindfulness training has […]
Improve Brain Function and Mental Health in Chronic Pain Patients with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “With the ACT approach, learning to let go of behaviors, memories, thoughts, and emotions creates space to explore new experiences, including acceptance of chronic pain sensations.” – Rosemary Black We all have to deal with […]
Change the Brain to Improve Emotion Regulation in Bereaved Individuals with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “It takes a boat load of self-compassion to allow oneself to feel whatever it is you are feeling at any given time, without judgment, without comparison relative to another’s explicit portrayal of their own process. […]
Improve the Brain for Better Emotions with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “meditation affects the brain. . . four regions of meditators’ brains associated with healthy brain function become more substantial, while one of the areas associated with undesirable behavior actually shrinks.” – Mindworks Mindfulness training has been shown to […]