You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Mindfulness’ category.
A study published in August 2010 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science showed that meditation is effective in managing anxiety and depression.
Drs. Michael Posner and Yi-Yuan Tang led the study of a type of mindfulness meditation called integrative body-mind training (IBMT). Adapted from traditional Chinese medicine by Dr. Tang, it uses a focus on present-moment experience rather than on a mantra.
After just 11 hours of IBMT, brain scans showed significant favorable changes in white matter around the anterior cingulate, a part of the brain involved in managing emotions and self-control. These changes did not take place in the brains of control group participants who practiced relaxation techniques.
A University of Oregon news release said that Drs. Posner and Tang found in 2007 that students who did IBMT for five days before a test showed low levels of the stress hormone cortisol. They were also better able to pay attention, and had less anxiety, depression, anger, and fatigue than those in the relaxation control group.
In the United States, IBMT is only taught to the University of Oregon students involved in the study. Speaking on NPR’s Science Friday, Dr. Posner recommended practicing any form of mindfulness meditation, and also said they hope to release material about learning IBMT in the coming months. Dr. Tang’s website also provides information on IBMT.
Worry is draining. You try to get busy, but your mind keeps going back to the same thing. You forget about it for a while, and then a sick feeling in your stomach brings it all back. You can’t enjoy your family and friends because you aren’t really present. Popping awake at 3 am and knowing that you’ll lie there for the next two hours gives you something new to worry about.
What can you do to stop worrying and effectively solve your difficulties? The first step is to realize that worry is a problem in itself. The situation troubling you may well be serious, but worry keeps you from thinking clearly and taking effective action. Once you get a better handle on your worry problem, you’ll be better able to solve your other problems.
These suggestions may help you exit the worry trap:
- Do some exercise — it’s very effective for reducing worry. Next, take a hot shower or bath.
- Decide that for 15 minutes, whenever you catch yourself worrying, you will gently return your mind to the business at hand. Tell yourself that you can worry later if you wish, but right now, you’re going to focus on what you’re doing.
- Without realizing it, you’re probably repeating over and over, “What if……what if…..what if?” Get a little distance from this by stepping back and telling yourself: I’m thinking “what if?”
- Remind yourself that, whatever your problem is, many other people have faced the same difficulty and figured out a solution. You will, too.
Your solutions may include talking to a therapist, especially if you find that you cannot stop worrying despite using strategies like these. If so, please call me. I am experienced in helping people with a variety of worry and anxiety problems. Things really can get better.
The ways we spend and don’t spend money have such rich information about both our internal landscapes and how we interact with the world.
The next time you’re standing in a store and you see something you want, try this short exercise:
Move out of the aisle into a quiet spot, or go into the rest room. Look at or visualize your object of desire. Now, find where it is in your body that you want. It may be a watering in your mouth, a fluttering in your stomach, some muscle tension.
This sensation is not good or bad. There is no need to figure out if the sensation is telling you “buy” or “don’t buy.” Your only job is to notice that this is what your body is creating in response to this desire, today, in this store.
Notice if any statements like these come into your mind:
The kids need this.
The kids would like this.
“You spend too much!”
I never get to have anything!
I should get this.
“You don’t need this!”
Check in again with your body. What are you feeling now, in your chest, your gut, your arms, your face?
There is no hidden agenda here of “spend less money, you over-consumer!” You may, in fact, do well to spend more, especially on certain things. How can you know how much to spend if you don’t know your internal landscape? Right now, we just want to see what’s there. You’ll learn how to access your own internal wisdom to guide you in spending decisions. If there is any “agenda,” it would be to learn to give yourself what truly satisfies you.
Jean did the mindful spending exercise I wrote about in Mindful Spending, Part 1. She had this experience a few days later:
“I realized I was driving behind a Mercedes when the driver stopped for no apparent reason. I began judging: rich, entitled people. Bad.
When we both got to the stoplight, I noticed there were three women in it. Rich, snotty people. Arrogant. They think they’re better than you. They don’t need cars like that. Nobody needs to spend that kind of money on a car.
Next I noticed I was judging, so began to just look at the car. I thought, good quality. I asked myself if I’d like one, a pertinent question as I’m in the process of buying a new car.
I then became aware of feeling very uncomfortable. Status symbol, status symbols are bad, ostentatious display of wealth, wealth is bad, is wealth bad? “
When we want to find the roots of our “ancient, twisted karma,” there is such benefit to first seeing what is in our internal landscapes before doggedly making ourselves spend less. Jean was surprised to discover these thoughts and feelings within herself, as she’ been working on her “poverty mentality” for quite some time. Maybe there are times she should spend more money than she initially feels comfortable with. But she won’t know that, either, until she learns more about her poverty consciousness, the beliefs that maintain it, and whether or not she wants to continue holding these beliefs.
“In the meantime, though, I still need a new car,” she said. “My raggedy ’97 Chevy has the paint wearing off on the roof, and I’m embarrassed for my co-workers to see it. Talk about the embodiment of poverty mentality!
“There’s no need for me to get this all figured out first. The point is, I’m working on it.”
Anxiety, stress, worry — whatever we call it, many of us are much more familiar with it than we would like to be. Our natural tendency is to fight it, try to make it go away, or distract ourselves with activities that waste our time or even harm us. Unfortunately, this just makes it stronger. If we learn to fear the first inklings of anxiety, it can quickly take over our lives.
A mindful approach to anxiety, even when it is severe and persistent, starts with acceptance. Does this mean just giving up and feeling miserable or gritting your teeth and enduring it? No. Mindful acceptance of anxiety is a very active approach. It is quite different, though, from how most of us naturally try to do battle with worry or tension. And the good news is that, paradoxically, it lowers your fear and helps you feel much better.
How can you use mindfulness to work with anxiety? One method involves locating a place in your body where you feel fear, tension, or worry. You may feel it as a cold pit in your stomach, “butterflies,” or tightness in your chest, back, or jaw. Close your eyes, take two or three deep breaths, and go to that place. Feel the sick feeling, tightness, trembling, burning. Sit with the feeling like you would with someone you love who is in the hospital, with warmth and caring. Do this for a few minutes without looking for any particular outcome. Just see what happens, see what you notice.
A friend who is troubled by mild yet bothersome panic attacks finds that going in this way to the “awful feeling” in her chest quickly lowers her discomfort. You may or may not experience relief so readily. The important thing is that you are developing a new relationship with anxiety. Rather than trying to get rid of it, you are going towards it with kindness and attention. Your symptoms of stress and anxiety may well be trying to give you some important information that your body and mind cannot communicate in any other way.
There is no need to run from anxiety, and medication is very often not necessary. Your fear may simply be inviting you to make changes that will bring you greater happiness and peace of mind.
