Wise Mind, Open Heart: Tools for Decreasing Suffering and Increasing Joy

1. Wise Mind, Open Heart:Tools for Decreasing Suffering and Increasing Joy Jean Haley, MLS, MS, MSW, LICSW Center for Spirituality and Healing, University of Minnesota

2. Objectives • Understand the nature of stress and its effect on body/mind • Discover how mindfulness and related practices enhance healthy stress responses and increase happiness • Review the scientific research related to the efficacy of mindfulness and compassion in promoting well-being • Learn several guided mindfulness meditations and compassion practices and discover effective ways to integrate them into our daily lives

3. Stressor Body/Mind Stress Reaction

4. Stress in the 21st Century • 54% of Americans are concerned about the level of stress in their lives. (APA Survey 2004) • 75% of all doctors visits are due to stress related disorders. • Internationally, depression has doubled with each successive generation since the 1920s.

5. Stress Stress can be acute or chronic, helpful or harmful. How we perceive andreactto a stressor is the critical factor.

6. Acute & Chronic Stress Acute Stress:The threat is immediate and the need to respond is instantaneous..We have an adaptiveresponse and the sympathetic nervous system is activated. Chronic Stress:The threat is prolonged and unabated. The parasympathetic nervous system is unengaged and we are “on” all the time leading to adverse consequences.

7. Adverse Effects of Chronic Stress • Physiological • Psychological • Behavioral/Social

8. Physiological Effects of Chronic Stress • Increased blood pressure, heart rate, blood flow to muscles • Decreased metabolic rate, digestion • Increased triglycerides and LDL cholesterol • Increased levels of stress hormones (cortisol). • Increased blood sugar, respiratory rate, fluid retention

9. Which can lead to: • Obesity • Diabetes • Hypertension • Heart Disease

10. Psychological Effects of Chronic Stress Mid-brain Living

11. Which can lead to. . . • Anxiety/panic attacks • Depression • Dissociation • Anger • Feeling “hassled” • Fear • Sleep problems

12. Behavioral/Social Effects of Chronic Stress • “Knee jerk reactions” • Eating too much/too little • Addictive behaviors • Isolation/withdrawal • Whining • Loss of productivity at work • Competitiveness

14. Or. . . • Bring awareness/mindfulness to what is happening. • Experience it fully in the body and mind. • Engage the parasympathetic nervous system to “put the breaks on” the stress response. • Make a choice about how we want to respond.

16. Mindfulness “The awareness that emerges through payingattentiononpurpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally, to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.” (Kabat-Zinn, 2003) “A state of consciousness in which the goal is to observe ‘what is’ rather than attempt to manipulate or change it.” (Goldstein, 1993)

17. Emotions Thoughts Physical Sensations Awareness of Our Internal Experience

18. Awareness of the External Environment

19. Attitudinal Foundations of Mindfulness • Non-Judging • Patience • Beginner’s Mind • Trust • Non-striving • Acceptance • Letting go

20. Emotions • Emotions are part of the human experience.  They provide us with information about what's going on inside and outside us and allow us to communicate with others in an authentic way. • It is not emotions themselves  -- but our reactions to them – that is problematic. • Observing difficult emotions arise and pass away allows them to move through. • Bringing awareness to positive emotions allows us to experience joy more deeply.

21. “Ultimately, happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions and the discomfort of being ruled by them.” - Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

22. Thoughts • Thoughts are neurological events in the brain, they are not who we are. • Certain thoughts can become habitual (“neurons that fire together wire together”). This is especially true of negative thoughts. • Learning to observe our thoughts allows us to disengage from these habits of mind and turn toward the pleasant. • This, in turn, positively influences our emotional and physical health.

23. Physical Sensations • Mind and body are deeply connected. Our mind can influence how we respond to what is happening in the body and vice versa. • Our reactions to physical sensationscan make themseemworse. • Physical sensations, like thoughts and emotions, arise and pass away. They, too, can be observed and not reacted to.

24. We Can’t Stop the Waves, but We Can Learn to Surf Them

25. “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”

26. “Stress is an inevitable occurrence in our fast- paced society and life. While we cannot eliminate stress in our lives we can learn how to respond to stress in new, more positiveways.”~Center for Mindfulness, U Mass

28. Mindfulness: The Research • Decreases oxygen consumption, respiratory rate, and blood pressure (Segal, 2003). • Counters stress (Dusek and Benson, 2009). • Improves immune function (Davidson, 2003). • Reduces hypertension (Dusek, Hibberd, Buczynski, et al., 2008) • Preserves cognition and prevents dementia (Xiong, Doraiswamy, 2009).

29. Mindfulness: The Research • Enhances longevity(Annals of the NY Academy of Sciences)my of Sciences, 2009) • Mediates gene expression(Dusek and Wahlhueter, 2008) • Enhances cellular regeneration(Epel, Daubenmier, et al., 2009) • Heightens concentration, enhancesperception(Bushell, 2009)

31. Practicing Mindfulness • Formal Practices • Sitting Meditation • Walking Meditation • Body Awareness Practices (Body Scan, Tai Chi, Qi Gong • Informal Practices • Mindfulness in Daily Life

32. Meditation

33. Mindfulness in Daily Life • Walking meditation • Eating meditation • Brushing teeth, doing the dishes, etc. • The Three Minute Breathing Space • Mindfulness “bells”

34. Wise Mind, Open Heart

35. Practices for Opening the Heart • Lovingkindness: Generosity of heart; the wish that beings be happy. • Compassion: Lovingkindness in the face of suffering; the wish that ourselves and others not suffer • Sympathetic Joy: Taking pleasure in another’s good fortune. • Equanimity: A balanced, open heart in the midst of all of life’s experiences.

36. Self-Compassion • Deep awareness (mindfulness) of one’s own suffering • Self-kindness rather than self-criticism • Sense of common humanity in one’s experiences - Neff, 2003

37. “Compassion fatigue is a state experienced by those helping people in distress; it is an extreme state of tension and preoccupation with the suffering of those being helped to the degree that it is traumatizing for the helper.” - Figley, 2005

38. Compassion Fatigue Burnout

40. Compassion: The Research • Alters brain wave patterns (Bushell and Theise, 2009). • Thickens the left prefrontal cortex (associated with positive emotions) (Davidson, 2007). • Strengthens the circuitry in the parts of the brain associated with empathy and the sense of self and other (Hanson and Mendius, 2009).

41. Cultivating Compassion • Forming an intention to be kind • Focusing attention/meditating on an object (phrase, image, etc.) that evokes kindness and compassion • Practicing kindness in everyday life • Doing it whether you feel like it or not

43. External/Internal Event Decreased health Suffering Internal Response Increased health Happiness

44. Mindfulness and Physical and Mental Health • Some physical and mental discomfort is unavoidable. • How we react to this discomfort determines our level of suffering. • Repressing it, denying it, or pushing it away negatively affects our physical and mental health • Turning toward our experience in a kind, nonjudgmental way, allows us to fully experience it and respond in ways that promote health and happiness. • We can train ourselves to do this through regular practice.