Need to relax? How meditation can help you stay calm

By ElanaMiller, M.D., Resident Psychiatrist, UCLA Follow @ElanaMD 

Arshya Vahabzadeh, M.D., Resident Psychiatrist, Harvard University/Mass.General/McLean

Follow @VahabzadehMD

For many of us, daily life doesn't lend itself well to relaxation and reflection. We find ourselves running around from task to task. We wake up hurriedly, rush to work, get bombarded with calls and emails throughout the day, speed through meals, try to fit in a workout, and schedule time with friends / spouses / kids. . . which leaves us with little to zero time for ourselves. It's a tough way to live, day in and day out. Meditation is one tool we can use to find some calm.

Put simply, meditation is the practice of focused, mindful attention. One starts focusing on the breath, following the breath in and out. Inevitably, we get distracted, and our mind wanders: Did I feed the dog? That was so annoying what Bill did at work today. Oh, I'm getting distracted, I'm so bad at meditating! 

This is okay - and even expected. When the mind wanders we simply bring the focus back to the breath. When a very strong emotion of physical sensation calls our attention away, we can make that sensation the new object of meditation, watching as it gets stronger or weaker. When the sensation isn't so strong anymore, we return to the breath. Training the mind is like training a puppy - when it runs away, we bring it back, over and over.

So how does this simple practice help cultivate relaxation in daily life?

1. Meditation helps you stay in the present

So much of our time is spent in the past and the future that we rarely are present in the moment. We spend so much time remembering, regretting, planning, and worrying that we miss the moments of joy and spontaneity that are right in front of us.

Meditation helps train the mind to focus on the present moment. Instead of regretting things we can't change, or worrying about bad things that haven't even happened yet, we can learn to accept and appreciate our current circumstances.

2. Meditation teaches you how to redirect your mind

Sometimes we get caught up thinking (obsessing!) about a big problem, and we have the idea that if we just think hard enough we can solve it - but that's rarely the case. The best insights usually come in those "in between" moments - in the shower, when you're driving, when you're enjoying a cup of tea.

But even if we're aware that worrying and ruminating won't solve our problems, we don't know how to shut our minds off. Meditation can teach you this skill! Like any skill, it requires practice. But with dedicated practice, even five or ten minutes a day, we can learn how to let go of worries and redirect our mind to the present moment.

3. Meditation teaches you to be more aware of your thoughts and emotions

Too often we have a thought and react to it without considering why. We get angry at someone and start yelling. We hear a critical remark and get defensive. Instead of taking our thoughts and assumptions as facts and immediately reacting (possibly saying or doing something we'd regret), we can pause and consider what's really going on. 

Maybe we feel angry but are really hurt. Maybe we feel defensive because part of what the other person said is true. Meditation teaches us to be more aware of our deepest thoughts and emotions, so that we can choose to react to conflict in a wise way.

4. Meditation helps you tolerate difficult emotions

Some people have a misunderstanding that meditation somehow helps you get rid of all negative emotions - after all, isn't that what enlightenment is?

The truth is, though, that painful emotions like sadness, anger, and shame are part of being human. We make things worse when we fight against these emotions or blame ourselves for having them.

Instead of getting caught up in the narratives of our emotions, we can learn to experience them just as they are. Anger can feel like a tightness and burning of the chest. Shame can be a flushed feeling of the face and churning feeling in the stomach. Meditation teaches us to experience these emotions without getting caught up in the story.

Does Meditation really work? What are the basic elements?

According to a government survey, almost 1 in 10 adults use meditation each year to help them cope with conditions such as anxiety, depression, pain, stress, insomnia, and symptoms associated with chronic illness. It is believed that meditation can improve the ability to focus attention and improve how we handle our emotions. These improvements may have broader benefits for our daily lives including personal relationships.

Researchers have linked meditation to some beneficial changes in the human body. Some experts have suggested that meditation may dampen down our body’s sympathetic nervous system, the system responsible for our “fight or flight” response. There is also continuing interest on how meditation can alter different parts of the brain, although the answer remains unclear and research is ongoing.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a federally funded research organization, suggests that there are several elements that are important when you are trying any type of meditation. These elements include finding a quiet location, a comfortable posture, being able to focus your attention, and having an open attitude to the experience.

Interested in learning more about how meditation can help you lead a happier and more relaxed life?

Check out zenpsychiatry.com where Elana Miller, M.D., blogs about integrative strategies to be happy, live well, and fulfill your greatest potential. To get tips and helpful advice sent straight to your inbox, sign up for her free newsletter.

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Living in the Moment with Mindfulness

By Brandon Cornejo M.D., Ph.D.

I hope your first week of 2012 was a good one! How are those New Year's resolutions going? If your goal is to exercise more, my "Mindfulness" two-part blog post should help you stay motivated. In part-one of my post, I discussed the concept of "mindfulness" or living in the moment.

Now I will share how you can use mindfulness to stay focused on a particular goal like exercising. Since exercise and mindfulness enhance mood, decrease stress, and improve negative thinking, these tips will benefit us all as we enjoy 2012!



Tips for staying in the present moment while exercising:

·         One of the most basic tools that you can use in mindfulness is your breathing. By focusing on the sensation of air traveling in and out of your body (just like you do during meditation), you can be grounded in the present moment.

·         You may also try a mantra to stay in the "now" (for example, runners often count out their footsteps – “1, 2, 3…1, 2, 3” – or a mountain biker or skier may constantly remind themselves to “relax”).

·         Applying either technique will keep you in the moment rather than thinking about negative thoughts and feelings that influence behavior in a non-productive fashion during your exercise.

·         Paying attention to physical feelings of your body and your surroundings as you exercise will prevent you from going into “automatic pilot” (when you act and react without conscious awareness).

·         By learning to stay present, you can accept physical discomfort as a temporary state that will soon pass.

·         As you continue your workout, you can “label” both positive and negative thoughts that occur while exercising. Labeling these thoughts will help you understand which thoughts and feelings are limiting your success and need to be changed.

Try out some of these tips and see how you start removing unwanted negative thoughts to overcome challenges that may have held you back in the past. Mindfulness matters when it comes to achieving that New Year's resolution this year.

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Keeping Your New Year's Resolution with Mindfulness

By Brandon Cornejo M.D., Ph.D.

How many of you are trying to get yourselves back into a regular gym and exercise routine for your New Year's resolution? When it comes to exercise, one of the biggest challenges is staying motivated and consistent. I hope I can help you with this two-part blog post on "Mindfulness."

What is Mindfulness?

• Mindfulness is a nonjudgmental, present-centered awareness in which each thought, feeling, or sensation that arises is acknowledged and accepted.

Mindfulness as a Therapeutic Approach

• Mindfulness based stress reduction means to focus your attention on the "now."

• People practicing mindfulness work on not judging or evaluating the present moment but focus on simply “being” present.

• People in a formal mindfulness class engage in daily meditation along with skill-building homework that ties them to the “here and now.” 

 How Does Mindfulness Work?

• Mindfulness allows a person to pause calmly and reflectively before reacting to things.

• Mindfulness may prevent relapse of clinical depression by allowing a person to have some “space” between who they are and their emotions.

• Mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT), a form of therapy that combines elements of mindfulness with cognitive based approaches to treatment, can be an effective approach for the treatment of anxiety or depressive disorders.

• Mindfulness may enhance mood as well as help eliminate negative thoughts associated with depressive states.

So why is "mindfulness" important to keeping that New Year's resolution of daily exercise? Next week, I will post part two with my tips for staying in the present moment while exercising. Happy New Year's!

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Yoga Helps Heal Heart & Emotional Scars of Cancer

By Felicia Wong, M.D.

“Cancer is a very alienating and existential disease. I know of no other common disease that immediately causes so much fear, anxiety, depression, confusion, and a sense of impending disaster in a patient or his/her significant others when they hear the word “cancer” for the first time.” --- Murray Krelstein, MD, a psychiatrist and cancer survivor.

Although oncologists, family members, and friends can provide significant sources of support, adding a mental health professional to a cancer patient’s treatment team is often helpful. Talking about the emotions and worries associated with cancer can be difficult, and it is important to have a therapist who is familiar with these situations. Additionally, cancer patients and survivors often suffer from sleep disorders, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and other mood changes.

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center found that among patients receiving chemotherapy, over three-quarters suffer from insomnia. Those who suffer from insomnia are, in turn, more likely to suffer from fatigue and depression. For 65% of cancer survivors, insomnia continues even after the completion of chemotherapy.

Cancer is a diagnosis that affects both body and mind. So, it makes sense that cancer patients and survivors practice yoga to improve their quality of life.

While research on the use of yoga for cancer is relatively new, there have been recent studies confirming yoga’s mental health benefits. A Harvard Health Publication highlights the benefits of yoga for stress, depression, and anxiety:

- By reducing perceived anxiety, yoga appears to adjust stress response systems. This, in turn, reduces heart rate, lowers blood pressure, and can make breathing easier.

- There is evidence that yoga practices helps increase heart rate variability, an indicator of the body's ability to respond to stress more flexibly.

Optimizing wellness after a cancer diagnosis and beyond involves a complex integration of interventions that address both the mind and the body. Ideally, a psychiatrist is part of the cancer treatment team. However, if this is not available, please ask your doctor for referrals.

For additional resources on coping with cancer:
http://www.cancersupportivecare.com/live.html
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