Improve Neural Regulation of Negative Emotions with Mindfulness By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Meditation might help depression, stress and anxiety but it’s not a ‘positive thinking’ tool that pretends everything is fine when it isn’t. It’s a way of being able to be with things as they are, in pain or in […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “What yoga has to offer people who are dying is acceptance, not just of death, but also of all the difficult feelings that come with it.” – Molly Kenny Depression is very common in the elderly. The elderly cope with increasing loss of friends and family, […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “People with anxiety have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power. They can’t distinguish between a problem-solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit. If you have unproductive worries you can train yourself to experience those thoughts completely differently. “You might think […]
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 […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “Before we can teach a kid how to academically excel in school, we need to teach him how to have stillness, pay attention, stay on task, regulate, make good choices. We tell kids be quiet, calm yourself down, be still. We tell them all these things they need […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “People at risk for depression are dealing with a lot of negative thoughts, feelings and beliefs about themselves and this can easily slide into a depressive relapse. MBCT helps them to recognize that’s happening, engage with it in a different way and respond to it with equanimity and […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “MBSR is a practice that can help you “turn the volume down” on the perception of back pain by teaching you to look into the pain, and being with the experience and not resisting it so much. Looking into our emotional reactivity to it. Focusing on the present, […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “What’s encouraging about meditation is that even if we shut down, we can no longer shut down in ignorance. We see very clearly that we’re closing off. That in itself begins to illuminate the darkness of ignorance.” – Pema Chodron Wisdom is considered to be an extremely […]
By John M. de Castro, Ph.D. “The functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are a group of more than 20 chronic and hard to treat medical conditions of the gastrointestinal tract that constitute a large proportion of the presenting problems seen in clinical gastroenterology.” – Jennifer Wolkin Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders are the most common disorders […]