Understanding Mindfulness and Meditation: A Deep Dive into Well-being and Emotional Balance

2. Mindfulness meditation is NOT: • Positive thinking • A relaxation technique • Going into a trance • Trying to blank your mind

3. Meditation can be conceptualized as a family of complex emotional and attentional regulatory training regimes developed for various ends, including the cultivation of well-being and emotional balance." (Lutz, Slagter, Dunne, and Davidson)

4. Meditation… • Derived from two Latin words : • Meditari(to think, to dwell upon, to exercise the mind) • Mederi (to heal). Its Sanskrit derivation 'medha' means wisdom. • With regular practice of a balanced series of techniques, the energy of the body and mind can be liberated and the quality of consciousness can be expanded • Not a subjective claim but is now being investigated by the scientists and being shown by an empirical fact

5. Mindfulness and Meditation

6. Background to Mindfulness Courses Mindfulness has its origins in Eastern, Buddhist philosophy. It was adapted to a secular, 8 week programme format Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction(MBSR) in the USA by Jon Kabat-Zinn in 1979. It was initially offered in a hospital setting for people with a variety of health conditions.

8. Four aspects are cumulative and build on each other m1 < m2 < m3 < m4 Kristen Neff, University of Texas, Austin

9. It is important to understand differences between m’s for training • All four aspects may spontaneously unfold,especially among long-term practitioners • More direct training is sometimes needed, and there are specific practices for each “m” !* Training in compassion for oneself probably most needed

10. Mindfulness Practice Is a Radically Different Approach to Living Our Lives and Managing Stress... • Increasing awareness - We come to realise that we are usually operating on “automatic pilot “ - our tendency for our minds to be more frequently in the past or in the future rather than with our experience in this moment. • Placing our attention where we want it to be (concentration meditation) and... • Developing a new relationship with our experience (mindfulness meditation). • Being Mind rather than Doing Mind - making space for and turning towards rather than resisting or working to change experiences we don’t like. • Responding to experience based on awareness of what’s actually here rather than habitually reacting

11. Coming to our Senses! Learning through meditation practice to approach our experience in new ways Moment by moment non-judgmental awareness of body sensations, thoughts and emotions • Formal meditation practice - bodyscan, mindful movement, sitting practice • Informal practice - awareness of present moment experience during daily life

12. Becoming Aware of our Mind’s Activity. As we practice mindfulness it becomes apparent that the mind will “have its say” in all that we do. The mind thinks just as the heart beats! We will notice: Judgements = liking or disliking Associations = memories, stories, comparisons Emotional inter-relationship with thoughts Thoughts don’t occur singularly or without some emotional “flavour”. Commentary = our thoughts comment on all our experiences.

13. Dealing with Stresses in our Lives • When we perceive a threat we tend to react automatically using one of two ancient doing mind strategies: • Adrenalin based reactions – saving ourselves from danger by fighting with, running away from, protecting or camouflaging ourselves... ....fight, flight and freeze. • Problem-solving processes where we attempt to fix or resolve the perceived problem

14. Problem Solving Discrepancy Monitoring : mind the gap thinking. Perceived gap between how things are and how they should be. Focus is on closing the gap and will remain forefront of our awareness until the gap is closed. Appropriate for some tasks and problems we encounter. The mind becomes very active trying to resolve emotional problems through thinking. This ruminative thinking often increases the problem. Let’s try this.....

15. But also...... ...........a third way Approaching our experience and responding mindfully rather than reacting.

16. Mindfulness: Being With and Approachingour Experience • Seeing things as they actually are, here and now/in this moment • Bringing a friendly curiosity to our experience, however that is • Investigating the detail of our experience • Non-fixing, not trying to change what’s here. • Choices to respond based on full and current information - rather than habitual reacting. • Opening to a broader view including what is “right” as well as perceived problems.

17. Managing Stress Mindfully Responding wisely and appropriately rather than adding to the difficulty, as it is perceived, through habitual reactions.

19. Three Core Elements of Mindfulness

20. Intention Your intentions set the stage for what is possible. They remind you from moment to moment of why you are practicing…I used to think meditation practice was so powerful…that as long as you did it at all, you would see growth and change. But time has taught me that some kind of personal vision is also necessary. What is your intention for being here?

21. Attention Present Moment Awareness! Monkey mind! Racing Thoughts Mindfulness practice tames and stabilizes the mind so we can see clearly.! “An unstable mind is like an unstable camera; we get a fuzzy picture.” Christopher Germer

23. Attitude • What we practice becomes strong Acceptance Openness Curiosity Nonstriving Trust Kindness Patience Letting Go Caring Compassion

24. Neuroplasticity Our repeated experience shapes our brain. Mindfulness practice increases grey matter density in areas of the brain associated with learning, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, interoception and compassion.(Lazar, 2005; Britta Hölzel, 2011) Cortical thickening correlated with experience: The more you practice the stronger the cortex. (Lazar, 2005)

25. Right brain, left brain and mindfulness According to neuroscientist, Dr Shanida Nataraja, westerners use the left hemisphere of their brain too much.  For simplicity of explanation, the left hemisphere is associated with analytical, rational and logical processing, where as the right hemisphere is associated with abstract thought, non verbal awareness, visual & spatial perception and the expression and modulation of emotions. In the western world, most individuals navigate through their everyday life in a fashion dominated by left brain thinking. Missing out on right brain activity results in too much thinking going on: too much frantic doing, not enough time being. Practicing mindfulness can bring about calmness, stilling the brain chatter, and help us shift towards right brain mode. By engaging our right brain we activate the parasympathetic nervous system (as opposed to the adrenaline releasing sympathetic system). More parasympathetic activity means less stress and therefore better health. According to Neuroscientist Dr Shanida Nataraja's  studies, those new to meditation practices such as mindfulness often put pressure on themselves to be successful and "get there" quickly - a left brain "are we there yet?" approach - and consequently take longer to benefit. Shinda suggests that the key is to be kind to yourself, acknowledging thought and letting go. This activates certain pathways in the brain which reduce left brain activity. Mindfulnet.com

26. How Mindfulness is like a Tree: How we are like a Tree. Patient Keep growing Changes colors Needs compassion to grow (e.g., air, nutrient soil, water, sun, etc…) Goes Dormant Or is Evergreen

27. The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. Mindful awareness helps develop the ability to drop into the gift of your intuitive mind. If more fish cultivated this practice... well, just imagine the results! I believe in intuitions and inspirations...I sometimes FEEL that I am right. I do not KNOW that I am. Most fish aren't stopping long enough to know how they feel about anything. Mindfulness helps us feel into what is true. When we understand that, we can begin making better choices for ourselves and the people we love. Imagination is the highest form of research. Imagination? Feeling into your heart? Intuition? None of these concepts is high on the list of most organizations. What might be wrong with this picture? Start asking yourself what you need to know. Do it through mindful awareness. Align with Einstein. The tragedy of life is what dies inside a man while he lives. How much of you is dying inside while you're madly trying to climb a tree when you really belong in the water? Develop your mindfulness muscle. Start living. Everybody is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it'll spend its whole life believing that it is stupid. -- Albert Einstein Billions of fish try to climb trees every day. Just look around the office, or at those poor souls who so valiantly strive their entire lives in going-absolutely-nowhere work mode. 70 percent of the American workforce is disengaged, according to a recent Gallup poll. Melanie Harth, Ph.D., LMHC Become a fan

28. Breathing and Body Practice Being here in this moment.

30. Breathe

31. Breath is the bridge which connects life to consciousness, which unites your body to your thoughts, Thich Nhat Hanh

34. Recent research into MBSR Mindfulness research now mainstream in USA e.g.: • MBSR for cancer patients (Carlson & Speca), for medical students (Shapiro) etc. • Neuroscience research on mindfulness meditation (Davidson) • Tools to measure mindfulness have been developed

35. Early research into MBSR Chronic pain (See Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth & Burney, 1985, The clinical use of mindfulness meditation for the self-regulation of chronic pain, J. of Behavioural Medicine, 8, 163-190; Kabat-Zinn, Lipworth, Burney & Sellers, 1987, Four-year follow up of a meditation program for the self-regulation of chronic pain: Treatment outcomes and compliance, Clinical J. of Pain, 2, 159-173) Anxiety (See Kabat-Zinn, Massion, Kristeller et al., 1992, Effectiveness of a meditation-based stress reduction program in the treatment of anxiety disorders, American J. of Psychiatry, 149, 936-943) Psoriasis (See Kabat-Zinn, Wheeler, Light et al., 1998, Influence of a mindfulness meditation-based stress reduction program on rates of skin clearing in patients with moderate to severe psoriasis undergoing phototherapy…Psychosomatic Medicine, 50, 625-632)

36. Williams, Teasdale, Segal (2000) MBCT was adapted MBSR for a specific population of depressed patients, incorporating some CBT. A multi-site randomised control trial explored the effectiveness of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) for people with a history of depressive illness. Found that MBCT reduced the likelihood of depressive relapse by half for those with 3 or more episodes of depression. Teasdale and Ma (2004)- replicated findings of previous trial. MBCT is now the recommended treatment for recurrent depressive illness (ahead of anti-depressant medication). Research into Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy