Meditation: Healing more than just minds?

[Northerner]

Researchers examine how meditation and mindfulness affect people with diabetes mellitus and coronary heart disease. Mindfulness-based interventions have been hailed as effective in targeting negative cognitions such as worry and thought suppression, but their ability to improve long-term conditions (LTCs) has remained unexamined. Mindfulness, as defined by the study, is a "heightened sense of present centered self-awareness that fosters non-judgmental observations of emotions, bodily states, and other sensations in the attentional field, leading to mental well being."

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/05/140529142313.htm

 

[smithgareth]

Hi Northerner,
have you had a try with mindfulness? I've got a 2 hour introductory session on Wednesday, want to see if it can help with my bouts of depression which can be very destructive to my glucose control and weight. Has anyone else tried this?

 

[Mrs Mad Ronin]

I have a book on mindfulness and i have practised meditation since i was a teenager. They have both been helpful to me. Obviously it if your problem is mild then for the most part it will work amazingly but if it's more deeper rooted then it will work but you will still have problems. Just not as bad or at least you will have a few things that will help you when you need them 🙂

 

[KookyCat]

I did a course on mindfulness last year and I really got a lot out of it. As a former psychology student I noticed it shared a lot of principles with cognitive behavioural therapy which always interested me. I really liked it, but it didn't godown well with some of the other participants. You have to be prepared for the fact that you may not be able to change how your body reacts to perceived threat, but you can control how you react to your body. There were two ladies who couldn't get there with it so some of it was a bit fraught 😱

 

[trophywench]

Well I think you do have a need to detach yourself from yourself, both in CBT and mindfulness really, so if you can't, you won't 'get' it.

It's a bit like 'seeing how others see you' - and looking at yourself from THEIR POV.

I think ......

 

[KookyCat]

Well I think you do have a need to detach yourself from yourself, both in CBT and mindfulness really, so if you can't, you won't 'get' it.

It's a bit like 'seeing how others see you' - and looking at yourself from THEIR POV.

I think ......

Yes, very much, the ladies sort of misunderstood the focus on being objective about the anxiety response to "break" the emotional response and thought he was saying they could control the anxiety response. It didn't start well with them when they both objected to the notion that anxiety is a physiological response to threat, I don't think they could separate the two. Still a good course just a bit difficult.

 

[Mrs Mad Ronin]

I did a course on mindfulness last year and I really got a lot out of it. As a former psychology student I noticed it shared a lot of principles with cognitive behavioural therapy which always interested me. I really liked it, but it didn't godown well with some of the other participants. You have to be prepared for the fact that you may not be able to change how your body reacts to perceived threat, but you can control how you react to your body. There were two ladies who couldn't get there with it so some of it was a bit fraught 😱

CBT interests me as well. Mind you all that sort of thing does. Anything that involves peace, positivity and wellbeing does. I take alot from Buddism, Zen, certain witchcraft/pagan things to help me through the rough times. I find it all can work together and be a good tool to cope with the rollercoaster of life.

 

[KookyCat]

It usually shocks people that I'm very interested in alternative therapies because my background is very science based but to me it's all much the same. The brain/mind exerts a huge influence over the body and the brain is a complex creature. It amuses me when people poo poo homeopathy, because immunisation is based on the founding principles of homeopathy, modern medicine has it's roots in witchcraft/midwifery and doctors will admit that using the sense of smell to help people with dementia recall events is a valid medical approach but then laugh at aromatherapy, despite the fact that lavender is known to have quite a powerful effect on the human body. Pain management is an interesting area too, and one where non drug therapies are taken more seriously. I'm off again, rambling on, but I think it's very interesting stuff so I get carried away. In fact this is why I'm thinking that after being made redundant I should get back on my original track and get back into Psychology

 

[Mrs Mad Ronin]

You are not rambling on at all. I completely agree with you and i am just as interested as yourself, so you can always ramble on in my direction about it all