Control Chronic Pain with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindfulness is not like traditional painkillers, which are intended to dull or eliminate pain. While many experts recommend mindfulness-based practices to manage pain, the goal of those practices is typically not to remove pain entirely, but to change your relationship with it […]
Improve Health and Treat Illness with Qigong By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “in order to do qigong … we have to be pretend to be empty, so the first thing to empty is the mind, so we try not to think of anything and only listen to our breathing, relax all the […]
Improve Anxiety and Depression in Iranian Chronic Pain Patients with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “mindful meditation can help ease psychological stresses like anxiety, depression, and pain.” – Julie Corliss We all have to deal with pain. It’s inevitable, but hopefully it’s mild and short lived. For a wide swath […]
Improve Medically Unexplained Symptoms with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Mindful people might have lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar, and better heart health. One study found that people who got a flu vaccine after 8 weeks of mindfulness training developed more antibodies against the flu than those who only got the vaccine. It may relieve symptoms of irritable bowel […]
Mindfulness Improves Physical Health By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “mindfulness benefits our bodies, not just our minds.” – Jill Suttie Mindfulness training has been shown to be effective in improving physical and psychological health and particularly with the physical and psychological reactions to stress. Techniques such as Mindfulness Training, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness-Based […]
Improve Mood with Tai Chi or Qigong Practice By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “adding a mind-body exercise like tai chi that is widely available in the community can improve the outcomes of treating depression in older adults. . . With tai chi, we may be able to treat these conditions without exposing […]
Reduce Pain and Falls and Improve Mobility in the Elderly with Tai Chi By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Solid research shows that tai chi can benefit people with osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, tension headache, and other ongoing, painful conditions.” – Harvard Health The process of aging affects every aspect of the physical […]
Treat Depression with Tai Chi By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “A 12-week program of instruction and practice of the Chinese martial art tai chi led to significantly reduced symptoms of depression in Chinese Americans not receiving any other treatments.” – Science Daily Clinically diagnosed depression is the most common mental illness, […]
Relieve Chronic Low Back Pain with Tai Chi By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Tai Chi has demonstrated usefulness in the prevention and treatment of certain problems such as back pain. Importantly, Tai Chi is non-invasive, relatively inexpensive, and gentle on the spine, so many people with back pain are starting to try […]
Improve Psychopathology with Meditation By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The research is strong for mindfulness’ positive impact in certain areas of mental health, including stress reduction, emotion and attention regulation, reduced rumination, for reducing mild to moderate depression and anxiety, and preventing depressive relapse.” – Kelle Walsh There are vast numbers of people who suffer with mental illnesses; psychopathology. In the […]