Get College Students out of the Dumps with Mindfulness

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“College is a great time in a young person’s life. You get to grow in many aspects; socially, academically and even spiritually. . . . Yes, college can be one of the best times, but it also comes with some of the worst times in your life. The constant stress of classes, exams, organization obligations, friend drama and family issues can completely break a person. Sometimes we get so overwhelmed and overworked, that we feel absolutely hopeless.” – Mariah Nicole Wild

 

Depression is a common mental illness. It is debilitating by producing any or all of a long list of symptoms including: feelings of sadness or unhappiness, change in appetite or weight, slowed thinking or speech, loss of interest in activities or social gatherings, fatigue, loss in energy, sleeplessness, feelings of guilt or anger over past failures, trouble concentrating, indecisiveness, anger or frustration for no distinct reason, thoughts of dying, death and suicide. This can be difficult at any point in life, but for college students with the intense demands on them, it can be devastating. Depression in college students is extremely common with 36.4% of reporting some level of depression. Depression is the number one reason students drop out of school. It also can lead to other symptoms including suicide Indeed, suicide is the third leading cause of death among college students.

 

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is most commonly treated with drugs, but they can have problematic side effects and are not always effective. So, there is a need for alternative treatments for Major Depressive Disorder. Behavioral Activation (BA) has been shown to be effective for depression. It involves behavioral strategies to increase positive reinforcement and the encouragement of activities that produce pleasure and feelings of accomplishment in the patient’s life. Mindfulness training is another alternative treatment for depression. It has been shown to be an effective treatment and is also effective for the prevention of its reoccurrence (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/).

 

In today’s Research News article “Mindfulness-based therapy and behavioral activation: A randomized controlled trial with depressed college students”

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McIndoo and colleagues randomly assigned college students who suffered from Major Depressive Disorder to either Behavioral Activation, Mindfulness training, or to a wait list control group who did not receive treatment. Treatment occurred in one hour weekly sessions for four weeks. They found that both the Behavioral Activation and Mindfulness Training produced significant improvements in both self-reported and clinician assessed depression, perceived stress, and rumination, but not anxiety. The Mindfulness training alone produced increases in mindfulness. These were clinically significant changes of moderate to large effect sizes and these improvements were maintained at a one-month follow-up. Importantly, around two thirds of the treated groups attained remission from depression while only one quarter in the wait list group did.

 

These are impressive findings that a relatively brief treatment with either Mindfulness or Behavioral Activation training could produce such dramatic changes in the students. Since both approaches were clinically effective, the study findings suggest that either approach can be selected by clinicians tailored to the client. There were some indications that the Mindfulness training was preferred by the students, possibly because it is simpler and less stressful than Behavioral Activation. Regardless, both appear to be appropriate alternative treatments for major depressive disorder in college students.

 

So, get college students out of the dumps with mindfulness

 

“Imagine what effect it would have on you if someone stood behind you all day telling you how useless you were when you were trying desperately to cope with a difficult experience. Now imagine how much worse it would be if the criticism and harsh judgment came from inside your own mind.” ― Mark Williams
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Don’t Give in to Food Temptation with Mindfulness

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“Eating is a natural, healthy, and pleasurable activity for satisfying hunger. However, in our food-abundant, diet-obsessed culture, eating is often mindless, consuming, and guilt-inducing instead. Mindful eating is an ancient mindfulness practice with profound modern implications and applications for resolving this troubled love-hate relationship with food.” – Am I Hungry

 

Obesity has become an epidemic in the industrialized world. In the U.S. the incidence of obesity, defined as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or above has more than doubled over the last 35 years. Currently more than 2 in 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese and around 35% of the population meets the criteria for obesity. Although the incidence rates have appeared to stabilize, the fact that over a third of the population is considered obese is very troubling. Particularly troubling is that about one-third of children and adolescents are considered to be overweight or obese and half of those are obese. This is having a major impact on the health of the population. Obesity has been found to shorten life expectancy by eight years and extreme obesity by 14 years. This is because obesity is associated with cardiovascular problems such as coronary heart disease and hypertension, stroke, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, and others. Obviously there is a need for effective treatments to prevent or treat obesity. But, despite copious research, drug development, and a myriad of dietary and exercise programs, there still is no safe and effective treatment.

 

Overweight and obesity result from an imbalance between energy intake and expenditure. One tactic to address the problem is to reduce intake.  Countless dietary programs to do just that have been proposed and tested, but the epidemic appears to be getting worse rather than better. One of the problems with intake in the modern world is much eating occurs mindlessly while the individual is otherwise occupied, perhaps with TV, reading, conversation, driving, work, etc. It has been shown that when distractions are present, the individual tends to eat more, and eat beyond the level where the individual feels full. So, recently attempts have been made to increase awareness of eating and decrease distractions.

 

Mindful eating involves paying attention to eating while it is occurring, including attention to the sight, smell, flavors, and textures of food, to the process of chewing and swallowing, and to the physiological feelings of hunger and fullness from the body. It is hoped that mindful eating may help reduce intake. Indeed, high levels of mindfulness are associated with lower levels of obesity (See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/eating/) and mindfulness training has been shown to reduce binge eating, emotional eating, and external eating (See http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/26/eat-mindfully-for-obesity/). These results are encouraging, so, there is a need to explore in detail how mindfulness has its effects on intake.

 

In today’s Research News article “Attention with a mindful attitude attenuates subjective appetitive reactions and food intake following food-cue exposure”

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Fisher and colleagues studied the effects of mindfulness on reactions to food cues and intake. They randomly assigned university students and staff to a mindfulness induction or a control condition. Participants received either a brief instruction in mindfulness followed by a brief breath awareness meditation or listened to a neutral story. They were then exposed to the sight of a number of attractive foods. This resulted in heightened hunger in the control participants but not the mindfulness participants. Afterwards the participants either practiced meditation or reflected on their experience for 10 minutes. Subsequently they were left for 5-minutes with a plate of cookies present that they were told was a reward for participation. The mindfulness group ate significantly fewer cookies than the control group.

 

These results are interesting and suggest that mindfulness training, even when brief, can reduce reactions to food cues and reduce intake. Although this was an artificial laboratory condition, the findings suggest that mindfulness can reduce mindless eating by reducing reactions to the presence of attractive foods. This, of course, does not show that mindfulness will reduce intake in the real world. But, it does demonstrate one of the ways that mindfulness might work to help control real world intake.

 

So, don’t give in to food temptation with mindfulness.

 

“Food reveals our connection with the earth. Each bite contains the life of the sun and the earth…. We can see and taste the whole universe in a piece of bread! Contemplating our food for a few seconds before eating, and eating in mindfulness, can bring us much happiness.” – Thich Nhat Hahn
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Just Breathe

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“When the breath wanders the mind also is unsteady. But when the breath is calmed the mind too will be still, and the yogi achieves long life. Therefore, one should learn to control the breath.” ~Svatmarama

 

There are two basic forms of meditation, focused meditation and open monitoring. For the beginner, most teachers employ the focused meditation strategy. This involves placing attention on a single object of meditation and holding it there. Focusing on the breath is the most common object for focused meditation. But, there are many others including single thoughts or mental objects, or even mantras.

 

Although there has been research comparing focused to open monitoring meditation, there has been very little attention paid to different objects of focused meditation. The question has not been answered as to whether it is better to focus on the breath or some other mental object. The whole idea of focusing on an object is to eliminate wind wandering. So one way to compare the effectiveness of different objects for focused meditation is by comparing their relative abilities to prevent mind wandering or conversely to suppress thoughts.

 

In today’s Research News article “Better control with less effort: The advantage of using focused-breathing strategy over focused-distraction strategy on thought suppression”

Ju and colleagues randomly assigned undergraduate students to a focused breathing condition or a focused mental object (blue sports car) condition. Students were instructed to focus on their respective object for 2 3-minute sessions and report each time their mind wandered. The students were then measured for thought intrusions during a thought suppression task. They found that the focused breathing condition produced significantly fewer mind wanderings and thought intrusions than the focused mental object condition. For the focused mental object condition, the higher the participants working memory capacity the fewer mind wanderings and thought intrusions. This was not true for the focused breathing condition. This suggests that focusing on a mental object requires mental resources and employs a ‘top down’ strategy while simply focusing on the breath does not.

 

So, it appears that focusing on the breath requires less mental resources and is more successful in preventing mind wandering and thought intrusions than focusing on a mental object. This suggests that the ancient practice of focused breathing meditation became so popular for a reason. It is easier to do and it produces better results.

 

It should be kept in mind, however, that the students were only asked to focus for 2 3-minute periods. It is possible that the superiority of focusing on the breathing may only be true for beginners over very brief periods. There is a need to repeat the study with experienced meditators and for longer periods of focus. Nevertheless, it has become common practice with open monitoring meditation to always begin a session with focusing on the breath and only later moving into open monitoring. The current results suggest that this may be very good practice, helping to get the meditator focused, with minimal mind wandering before moving on to open monitoring where it is more difficult to maintain focus and keep the mind from wandering.

 

So, just breathe to better focus in meditation.

 

“So don’t beat yourself up the next time you find yourself far away from where your mind was supposed to be. It’s the nature of the mind to wander. Use it as an opportunity to become more aware of your own mental experience. But you may still want to return to the present moment—so you can come up with an answer to that question everyone is waiting for.” – Wendy Hasenkamp
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

This and other Contemplative Studies posts are available at the Contemplative Studies Blog http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/

ACT for Mental Health

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“ACT work is based more on the psychology of the normal. I think we have every reason to believe that most of the things that people struggle with are based on the failure to bring out normal psychological processes.” – Stephen Hayes

 

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a psychotherapy technique that is based upon Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It focuses on the individual’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior and how they interact to impact their psychological and physical well-being. It then works to change thinking to alter the interaction and produce greater life satisfaction. ACT employs mindfulness practices to increase awareness and develop an attitude of acceptance and compassion in the presence of painful thoughts and feelings. Additionally, ACT helps people strengthen aspects of cognition such as in committing to valued living. ACT teaches individuals to “just notice”, accept and embrace private experiences and focus on behavioral responses that produce more desirable outcomes.

 

Mindfulness practices have in general been shown to be effective in treating depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/depression/) and anxiety disorders (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/) Since Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) employs mindfulness training it is not surprising that it is also effective for a variety of mental health issues including depression (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/contemplative-practice/act/).

 

ACT contains a number of modules that allow the client to work on particular thoughts and actions that are relevant to the individual’s problems. This allows for component analysis research, where certain ACT modules are used or dropped out and the change in ACT effectiveness measured, thus allowing the assessment of the effectiveness of each component module. In today’s Research News article “Acceptance and Commitment Therapy modules: Differential impact on treatment processes and outcomes”

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Villatte and colleagues examined “two ACT component modules; one targeting openness to thoughts, feelings, and sensations and the other emphasizing engagement in meaningful actions.” Participants who were suffering from depression and/or anxiety disorders were randomly assigned to receive ACT therapy emphasizing one of the two modules.  In the ACT OPEN module, the client explores the thoughts and ideas about the depression or anxiety and are then encouraged to let go of these thoughts, to let them diffuse, “(e.g. thoughts are observed as if they are leaves floating on a stream).” In the ACT ENGAGED module the client’s own values are explored as guides to orient actions and as sources of satisfaction. They then explore their experiences with an eye toward allowing their values to guide them through the obstacles that occur in everyday life.

 

Villatte and colleagues found that both modules produced significant improvements in acting with awareness and nonreactivity to thoughts, feelings, sensations. They both also produced significant reductions in anxiety and depression symptom severity, but the ACT OPEN module was significantly more effective than the ACT ENGAGED module. The ACT OPEN module only produced significant improvements in cognitive diffusion and experiential acceptance. Both modules also produced clinically significant improvements in quality of life and values based action, but the ACT ENGAGED module was significantly more effective than the ACT OPEN module.

 

Hence they found that the module emphasizing letting go of thoughts and ideas about their problems, ACT OPEN, was more effective in reducing the symptoms of anxiety and depression than the module emphasizing applications of the individual’s own values to guide actions, ACT ENGAGED. This finding reinforces the importance of the emphasis of mindfulness practice on letting go of thoughts and focusing on present experience. It suggests that this may be a critical component in mindfulness applications to mental health issues. The fact that the module emphasizing applications of the individual’s own values to guide actions, ACT ENGAGED produced greater improvements in quality of life suggests that the emphasis in mindfulness practice on acting with awareness may be crucial to satisfying engagement in life.

 

It is possible that letting go is needed as a prerequisite before values based actions are effective. So, values based actions may not be as effective when practiced before practicing letting go. Future research should investigate presenting these modules in different orders. Regardless it is clear that Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) modules are effective in the treatment of anxiety and depression.

 

So, ACT for mental health.

 

“People don’t go into therapy when life is moving forward at a reasonable clip; they go in when life is stuck or going backwards. And it’s not that they get cured or fixed, because humans are not broken, they don’t need to be fixed. They need to be supported in a way that allows them to grow and do a better job over time with the things that they really care about—their kids, their work, their intimate relationships, their sense of participation and connection with the world around them.” – Stephen Hayes
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

Improve Fertility with Mindfulness

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“Using your mind to improve your fertility? Not as strange as you might think! If you have ever blushed, you’ll understand what I mean. That embarrassment you felt, visible to the world. Research shows emotions influence all body functions, especially fertility hormones. Fertility Mindfulness tips the odds of conceiving in your favor. Re-align your mindset and prepare for conception success, no matter what you have experienced.” – Helena Tubridy

 

Infertility is primarily a medical condition due to physiological problems. It is quite common. It is estimated that in the U.S. 6.7 million women, about 10% of the population of women 15-44, have an impaired ability to get pregnant or carry a baby to term and about 6% are infertile.

 

Infertility can be more than just a medical issue. It can be an emotional crisis for many couples, especially for the women. Couples attending a fertility clinic reported that infertility was the most upsetting experience of their lives. Women with infertility reported feeling as anxious or depressed as those diagnosed with cancer, hypertension, or recovering from a heart attack. Men’s reactions are more complicated. If the reason for the infertility is due to an issue with the woman, then men aren’t as distressed as the women. But if they are the ones who are infertile, they experience the same levels of low self-esteem, stigma, and depression as infertile women do. In addition, infertility can markedly impact the couple’s relationship, straining their emotional connection and interactions and the prescribed treatments can take the spontaneity and joy from lovemaking making it strained and mechanical.

 

The stress of infertility and engaging in infertility treatments may exacerbate the problem. The anxiety and stress may actually make it more difficult to conceive. In fact, recent studies found that higher rates of infertility treatment success in people who were undergoing a mind–body interventions. So, reducing stress and anxiety may be beneficial for conception. Since mindfulness training has been shown to reduce anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/anxiety/) and stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/) it is reasonable to believe that mindfulness training may be helpful for conception in women with fertility issues.

 

In today’s Research News article “Effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on fertility quality of life and pregnancy rates among women subjected to first in vitro fertilization treatment”

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Li and colleagues conducted a 6-week mindfulness training with women undergoing in-vitro fertilization treatment. In comparison to a treatment as usual control group, they found that the mindfulness training produced significant improvements in mindfulness, self-compassion, emotion regulation, improved coping responses and fertility quality of life. There was also a decrease in the influence of infertility on physical health, cognition, and behavior. Importantly, the treatment resulted in significantly higher proportion of the participants who had a viable pregnancy by virtue of in vitro fertilization.  Hence it appears that mindfulness treatment improves the women’s psychological and physical well-being and this in turn improves their ability to have a successful outcome to in vitro fertilization, becoming pregnant.

 

These are wonderful and encouraging findings that mindfulness can have such significant positive benefits for women with infertility. The fact that mindfulness is known to reduce the physical and psychological responses to stress, reduce anxiety, and improve emotion regulation is likely responsible for these benefits. This allows the women to better cope with the difficulties of infertility and its treatment.

 

Mindfulness training is a safe and effective treatment with many benefits for virtually everyone and for many psychological and medical issues. The results from this study add infertility treatment to the usefulness and positive effects of mindfulness training. This can be of great benefit to large numbers of women who struggle with infertility.

 

So, improve fertility with mindfulness.

 

“My bottom line is that if mindfulness and meditation are things that you would be interested in anyway, then using them as a strategy to help cope with fertility treatment sounds logical and beneficial.” – Erin Stronach

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Better Music with Mindfulness

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“The way yoga brings you to yourself can’t but help an artist tap into that deeper well. Yoga and art are actually very similar: The challenge of stretching beyond your comfort zone, of learning to breathe and surrender into places that are painful or tight, is sometimes also what allows a profound artistic opening.” – Diane Anderson

 

Effective musician craft is described as entering a state of “flow.” This refers to a state of complete immersion in an activity such that it becomes totally absorptive leaving no attention left for any distractions. The musician literally becomes totally lost in their music. Musicians report that when they are in “flow” they are at their best and the music is precise and nuanced. “Flow” and the quality of performance is disrupted by anxiety, which is common prior to and during performance, and confusion and uncertainty about the piece that they are playing. So, reductions in anxiety and confusion would be expected to improve “flow” and the resulting performance.

 

Contemplative practices are also geared to producing a state similar to “flow” where the practitioner becomes totally immersed in the present moment and distractions are minimized. The contemplative practice that are most similar to music performance are those that involve movement, yoga, tai chi, and qigong. Yoga practice has been shown to reduce anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/11/yoga-improves-stress-responses-and-mood/ and http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/03/keep-up-yoga-practice-for-anxiety-and-depression/) and improve movement (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/11/improve-physical-health-with-yoga/).  So, it is reasonable to hypothesize that yoga practice might improve musical performance.

 

In today’s Research News article “Yoga Enhances Positive Psychological States in Young Adult Musicians”

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Butzer and colleagues trained a group of young professional classical musicians in yoga for 8-weeks and compared their ability to enter “flow”, mindfulness, and levels of confusion, and performance anxiety to a no-treatment control group. They found that the yoga group improved significantly in mindfulness and their ability to achieve “flow”, and a significant decrease in confusion. In addition, they found that higher levels of “flow” and mindfulness were associated with a decrease in performance anxiety. So, yoga practice appeared to improve mindfulness and “flow” and reduce confusion which in turn reduced performance anxiety in the musicians.

 

This is the first study that I am aware of that demonstrated that yoga practice could improve musician characteristics that are associated with superior musical performance. There are a number of ways that yoga practice might act to do this. Yoga practice improved mindfulness in the musicians. Hence, it improved the ability of the musicians to attend to the present moment which is a necessity to enter “flow.” Also, by reducing the ability of other stimuli and thoughts to intrude and distract attention, yoga should reduce confusion. Mindfulness is also known to improve emotion regulation and decrease anxiety levels. This would in turn allow the musician to reduce performance anxiety and be better able to respond constructively to it.

 

Regardless of the explanation, it is clear that yoga practice is beneficial for musicians producing the conditions for better performances. So, produce better music with mindfulness.

 

“When people get nervous, they think about what other people are thinking, rather than concentrating on the music. Yoga helps you to be more in the moment. When you are stressed you hold your breath, and the nervous energy makes you feel tight, and everything feels ‘up in the air.’ If you take a deep breath with a long exhale you can actually bring that energy back down and ground it.” – Mia Olson
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Add Spirituality to Meditation and Improve Migraines

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“Migraine is a disorder of a hyper-excitable brain, and it makes sense for people with migraine to adopt a stress-reducing . . . One behavioral intervention that may be useful, not only for migraine, but also for life in general, is what is called mindfulness meditation.” – John Wendt

 

Migraine headaches are a torment far beyond the suffering of a common headache. It is an intense throbbing pain usually unilateral, focused on only one side of the head. They last from 4 hours to 3 days. They are actually a collection of neurological symptoms. Migraines often include: visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, extreme sensitivity to sound, light, touch and smell, and tingling or numbness in the extremities or face. Migraines are the 8th most disabling illness in the world. They disproportionately affect women with about 18% of American women and 6% of men suffering from migraine. In the U.S. they affect roughly 40 million men, women and children. While most sufferers experience attacks once or twice a month, 14 million people or about 4% have chronic daily headaches. Migraines are very disruptive to the sufferer’s personal and work lives as most people are unable to work or function normally when experiencing a migraine.

 

There is no known cure for migraine headaches. Treatments are targeted at managing the symptoms. Prescription and over-the-counter pain relievers are frequently used. There are a number of drug and drug combinations that appear to reduce the frequency of migraine attacks. These vary in effectiveness but unfortunately can have troubling side effects and some are addictive. Behaviorally, relaxation and sleep appear to help lower the frequency of migraines. Mindfulness practices have been shown to reduce stress and improve relaxation (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/). So, they may be useful in preventing migraines. Indeed, it has been shown that Mindfulness Based Stress reduction (MBSR) practice can reduce tension headache pain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/09/07/headaches-are-a-headache-reduce-them-with-mindfulness/).

 

Wachholtz and colleagues have previously shown that adding a spiritual dimension to meditation can increase the effectiveness of meditation for increasing pain tolerance. In today’s Research News article “Effect of Different Meditation Types on Migraine Headache Medication Use”

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Wachholtz and colleagues randomly assigned migraine sufferers to four conditions, spiritual meditation, internal secular meditation, external secular meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation. The differences between the meditation groups was solely a phrase that the participants were asked to repeat a few times at the beginning of the meditation. The phrases were for spiritual meditation, “God is peace,” “God is joy,” God is good,” and “God is love,” or alternatively substituting the words “Mother Nature” for God; internal secular meditation, “I am content,” “I am joyful,” “I am good,” “I am happy;” and for external secular meditation, “Grass is green,” “Sand is soft,” “Cotton is fluffy,” “Cloth is smooth.” Practice continued 20 minutes once a day for 30 days.

 

They found that over the 30 days of practice all groups had a decrease in the frequency of migraines and the amounts of pain medications taken, but the spiritual meditation group had a significantly greater decrease in frequency and medication use than the other three groups. None of the treatments appeared to change the severity of the migraines. Hence, adding the spiritual dimension to the meditation enhanced its effectiveness with migraines. Unfortunately, once a migraine began, nothing altered its magnitude or duration.

 

There is evidence that meditation can reduce pain (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/pain/). But, it is not known how the addition of simple spiritual phrases at the beginning of the meditation might improve its effectiveness. It is possible that the spiritual phrases were more effective than the secular phrases in focusing attention for the meditation session and thereby making it more effective. It is also possible that the phrases increased the individual’s ability to let go of struggling by turning over responsibility to a higher power. But, these are pure speculations. It will take further research to clarify the mechanism of action. But, it is clear that adding a spiritual dimension to meditation increases its effectiveness against migraine headaches.

 

So, add spirituality to meditation and improve migraines.

 

“although mindfulness is often thought of as a method of spiritual enlightenment, the underlying principles for healing are based on science. In a nutshell, mindfulness is capable of changing our brain chemistry, which impacts each and every one of our systems and organs.” – Cynthia Perkins
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Relativity of Time and Awareness

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“But Einstein came along and took space and time out of the realm of stationary things and put them in the realm of relativity—giving the onlooker dominion over time and space, because time and space are modes by which we think and not conditions in which we live.”- Dimitri Marianoff

 

Einstein’s theory of relativity is based upon the notion that everything that is observed has to be viewed relative to the observer. Indeed from the perspective of an observer on earth, the moon appears to be orbiting the earth. But, from the perspective of an observer on the moon, the earth appears to be orbiting the moon. One of Einstein’s great insights was that not only the position of things is observed relatively, but so is time. He postulated that time is not constant but also changes relative to the observer. In other words, time is not constant, but is variable. Indeed as an observer is moving relatively approaching the speed of light time slows down and at the speed of light time stops entirely. In other words space-time is not a constant but varies with relative position and speed of the observer.

 

It should be noted that an observer is a conscious entity. So, how might we look at the experience of the observer? Perhaps, we might look at awareness in a relativistic way. The observer’s awareness is of the present moment and only of the present moment. The past is gone and the future isn’t here yet, so all the observer has is the present. What the observer experiences in the present can be viewed in two very different ways. It can be looked at that the observer is moving through time and viewing the changes that occur in time. The observer’s awareness is of the different things that are occurring at different moments in time. The observer is simply watching the stream of different sensations. This is the usual and typical way that humans look at their internal observer, otherwise known as awareness.

 

Alternatively, we can look at the experience of the observer as time has stopped but things are moving in observer’s awareness. The observer’s awareness in the present moment is the movement in the observer’s awareness.  Experiences then are arising and falling away in that singular moment. Time is defined as change. Because the observer detects things changing, the observer concludes that time must be passing. But as Einstein said “time is an illusion.” It is only because change is observed in the present moment that the observer concludes that time has passed. Perhaps time hasn’t passed but awareness has moved.

 

Let’s translate these ideas to the meditation cushion. When meditating the individual can sit and watch things happening as time passes. Maybe it’s the movement associated with the breath, or the sounds of a bird song, or the light penetrating our eyelids, or the odors wafting through the room. That is how most people meditate. But, in essence we’ve just translated how we view the everyday world to the cushion, making meditation just like everyday experience. Perhaps that’s why many people meditate for years without becoming awakened. How can we expect to see things differently if we’re looking at them the same way?

 

On the other hand when meditating we can sit and observe things moving in our awareness at a fixed point in time called the present moment. This is a radically different approach that is unlike our everyday way of experiencing the world. The rising and falling of the breath, the bird song, the light, odors, are simply movements of our mind that awareness observes in a stationary present moment. Time has stopped, but things are moving in our awareness. Perhaps this could lead to a redefinition of experience as the product of a moving mind being observed by a stationary awareness. Now this is different. It is unlike our usual way of experiencing everyday life. Perhaps this change in the perspective of the observer can lead to a different view of reality. Perhaps this can lead to an awakening.

 

This perspective then needs to be broadened and employed with our everyday experience and not just in the cloistered environment of meditation. All that is happening in the “real world” should be viewed as sensations and thoughts simply arising in our awareness in a present moment that does not move in time. There is no time, only things entering, changing, and leaving in our awareness. From this perspective it is possible that we will begin to see that time is an illusion and our essence is pure awareness in which experiences are created. This may take a while, as lifelong mental habits of viewing everything occurring outside in time with us as simply an observer that is also moving along through time, has to be unlearned and replaced with the new perspective. For some this happens suddenly in a life altering opening termed an awakening experience. For others, it is a slow progressive change that is hardly noticeable, but move inexorably to the same point, awakening.

 

So, try looking relatively at your awareness and see where it leads.

 

“I had a sneaking suspicion that time was not constant, but I guess I could never prove it…. I even had a theory that time didn’t go in straight line at all…… I had the sneaking suspicion that everything had happened, was happening, or would happen was really happening all the time. There was no past, present, and future. Everything was going on all at once and forever. If that was true, then each moment was eternity.”  ― Mark A. Roeder

 

CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Rejuvenate Doctors Conveniently with Mindfulness

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“Mindfulness gives doctors permission to attend to their own health and well-being. But it also allows doctor to help patients by listening more, talking less, and seeing what the patients need.” – Dr. Mary Catherine Beach

 

“That’s the thing: You don’t understand burnout unless you’ve been burned out. And it’s something you can’t even explain. It’s just doing something you have absolutely no passion for.” – Elena Delle Donne

 

It is estimated that there is a shortage in the U.S. of over 9,000 physicians. The shortages are not just due to training insufficient numbers of healthcare provides but also due to high turnover rates. In part because of the shortage and high patient loads, physicians experience high stress and burnout. They experience a loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of personal accomplishment. This is known as burnout.

 

In a recent survey 46% of all physicians responded that they had burnout. Currently, over a third of healthcare workers report that they are looking for a new job. Nearly half plan to look for a new job over the next two years and 80% expressed interest in a new position if they came across the right opportunity. Since there is such a great need to retain experienced physicians, it is imperative that strategies be identified to decrease stress and burnout.

 

Mindfulness training has been shown to be effective for burnout of health care professionals (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/burnout/). But todays physicians are extremely busy and have little time to devote to mindfulness training. Hence, it is important to develop a mindfulness training that can be administered conveniently and is effective. In today’s Research News article “Brief Video-Module Administered Mindfulness Program for Physicians: A Pilot Study”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1160431203980804/?type=3&theater

Pflugeisen and colleagues developed a mindfulness training consisting of “three live sessions, eight online video trainings, and weekly teleconference coaching calls.”  Other than the live sessions all of the trainings could be accessed at a time and place of the physicians’ convenience. In a pilot study, they found that in comparison to pre-training the physicians showed large and significant decreases in stress and emotional exhaustion, and increases in feelings of personal accomplishment, and mindfulness. These improvements were still present 16-weeks later.

 

These pilot results are very encouraging. The program was not only effective in improving physician well-being, it was convenient for the physicians, as it was delivered for the most part when the physicians had time to engage. This makes this program much more likely to be initiated and completed by busy physicians. There is, of course, a need for a randomized controlled trial before rolling out this program for widespread use.

 

These results suggest that mindfulness is to some extent an antidote to high stress and burnout in physicians. There are a number of effects to mindfulness training that could be responsible for the reduced perceived stress and increased well-being. In particular mindfulness has been shown to reduce both physiological and psychological responses to stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/stress/). Mindfulness has also been shown to increase emotion regulation, allowing the individual to experience and respond to emotional situations appropriately and constructively and thereby reduces stress (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/emotions/). Finally, mindfulness training is targeted to increasing focus on the present moment. This tends to reduce catastrophizing, worry, and anxiety which are focused on potential negative future events (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/category/research-news/worry/) and thereby can reduce psychological stress in physicians.

 

Regardless of the reason it is clear that mindfulness training can be delivered conveniently to busy physician and it can reduce burnout and improve well-being.

 

So, rejuvenate doctors conveniently with mindfulness

 

“If you asked my patients, I think they would say I listen more carefully since the training and that they feel they can explain things to me more forthrightly and more easily. Even the brief moments with patients are more productive. Are there doctors who desperately need this training? Yes, absolutely.” – Edward Stehlik, M.D.
CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies

 

Log-on for Less Anxiety with Mindfulness

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“Needless anxiety and stress cannot burden us if the thoughts don’t enter our mind. And fortunately, we are only capable of focusing on one thing at a time. When you’re aware of only what you’re working on and the sensations of your body, conscious worry is not possible.” – Jordan Bates

 

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, affecting 40 million adults, or 18% of the population. (Source: National Institute of Mental Health). Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) affects about 3.1% of the U.S. population. GAD involves excessive worry about everyday problems. People with GAD may excessively worry about and anticipate problems with their finances, health, employment, and relationships. They typically have difficulty calming their concerns, even though they realize that their anxiety is more intense than the situation warrants. Physically, GAD sufferers will often show excessive fatigue, irritability, muscle tension or muscle aches, trembling, feeling twitchy, being easily startled, trouble sleeping, sweating, nausea, diarrhea or irritable bowel syndrome, and headaches.

 

Anxiety disorders are not only a torment for the victims but they also place tremendous pressure on the health care system. People with an anxiety disorder are three to five times more likely to go to the doctor and six times more likely to be hospitalized for psychiatric disorders. Anxiety disorders are treatable but only about a third of the sufferers get treatment. The most common treatment for GAD is drugs. Anxiolytic drugs are some of the most prescribed drugs in the U.S. Psychotherapy is another common form of treatment with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy particularly effective. Mindfulness practices are known to reduce anxiety (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/11/02/be-open-or-focused-in-meditation-to-reduce-anxiety/,  http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/the-mindfulness-cure-for-social-anxiety/, http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/07/17/stop-worrying/), and appear to do so by altering brain activity (see http://contemplative-studies.org/wp/index.php/2015/08/13/get-the-brain-to-reduce-anxiety-with-meditation/).

 

The problems with these treatments is that drugs can have very troublesome side effects and psychotherapy can be expensive and time consuming. Therapy also demands that there be a qualified professional in the immediate area and the patient has the time and transportation available to attend therapy sessions. So, there is a need for cost-effective, convenient, and safe alternative treatments.

 

One way to lower costs and make therapy available for patients over wide geographical areas is to deliver therapy over the internet. In today’s Research News article “Internet-delivered acceptance-based behaviour therapy for generalized anxiety disorder: A randomized controlled trial”

https://www.facebook.com/ContemplativeStudiesCenter/photos/a.628903887133541.1073741828.627681673922429/1159827387374519/?type=3&theater

Dahlin and colleagues developed a form of mindfulness based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for delivery by a therapist over the internet. They recruited participants with GAD over the internet and assigned them randomly to either receive therapy for 9-weeks or to a waiting list control condition. They found significant improvement in Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and depression for the therapy group with large to moderate effect sizes. These improvements were still present 34-weeks later.

 

These are exciting results. Anxiety disorders are so prevalent and so infrequently treated that it’s important to demonstrate that a safe and effective therapy can be inexpensively delivered over the internet. This opens the door to widespread access to safe, convenient, effective, and inexpensive treatment. Future trials should employ a more active control condition and open up treatment to a wider array of GAD sufferers.

 

Mindfulness practices have a number of effects that appear to be helpful with anxiety disorders. They have been shown to improve emotion regulation. This allows the individual to experience the anxiety but react to it in a constructive way and thereby preventing an upward spiraling of anxiety as the patient becomes more anxious of becoming more anxious. Mindfulness practices also appear to blunt physiological and psychological reactions to stress. Since, high levels of anxiety are stressful, mindfulness practices may reduce the reactions to this stress, making the anxiety more bearable. Finally, anxiety involves worries about the future. By focusing the individual on the present, mindfulness practices interrupt worries about the future.

 

Regardless of the explanation, it is clear that mindfulness based Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is effective for Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) even when delivered over the internet.

 

So log-on for less anxiety with mindfulness.

 

“I confessed to him that I saw breathing exercises as an attempt to distract. He said, “Yes. It’s a tool. Mindfulness is all in the subtleties.” Then he paused and told me, “Instead, when thoughts and feelings come, you simply say to them ‘Hello. I see you. Welcome.’”” – Lucy Roleff


CMCS – Center for Mindfulness and Contemplative Studies