New York Times Doctor and Patient - How Mindfulness Can Make for Better Doctors is not just an example of the use of meditation and mindfulness as something abstract or removed from the daily grind. Mindfulness is applied to a concrete challenge.
Last month, The Journal of the American Medical Association published the results of a study examining the effects of a year-long course for primary care physicians on mindfulness, that ability to be in the zone and present in the moment purposefully and without judgment. Seventy physicians enrolled and participated in the four components of the course — mindfulness meditation; writing sessions; discussions; and lectures on topics like managing conflict, setting boundaries and self-care.
The effects of the sessions were dramatic. The participating doctors became more mindful, less burned out and less emotionally exhausted. But two additional findings surprised the investigators. Several of the improvements persisted even after the yearlong course ended. And, those changes correlated with a significant increase in attributes that contribute to patient-centered care, such as empathy and valuing the psychosocial factors that might affect a patient's illness experience.
Labels: brain_science, health, meditation, news
Educators, Scientists and Contemplatives Dialogue on Cultivating a Healthy Mind, Brain and Heart
How can our educational system evolve to meet the challenges of the 21st century? How will we educate people to be compassionate, competent, ethical, and engaged citizens in an increasingly complex and interconnected world? The urgent challenges of a globalized and interdependent world demand a new vision of world citizenship that is not confined to national boundaries, but encompasses moral and ethical responsibilities to all humanity.
In this case, there will be conversation with educators, including the US Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, as well as the usual suspects from previous encounters. Universities like Harvard, George Washington , Stanford, Virginia, Penn State, and Wisconsin are sponsoring the event, along with the American Psychological Association and the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning.
Labels: brain_science, dc_yoga, news, reading
I had been meaning to point to GoogleTalks as a fabulous source of videos of interesting people talking about interesting things. Today, I chanced across this video Transform Your Mind, Change Your Brain, by Richard J. Davidson at the Google Campus in California, just a few weeks ago, September 23. Davidson has been the academic research pointman for the contemplative sciences, and I've mentioned him in the blog before. His new research center is Center for Investigating Healthy Minds. Here he speaks about the latest work in that field. Be advised that he can slip into neuroscience geek speak on a few slides but he quickly switches back to plain English.
Google has thrown itself behind some ideas that have nothing to do with Internet search, advertising or computer sciences. Scores of insightful people are brought to speak about their work for the betterment of the staff, and these chats are made available online to the general public. This list below is not comprehensive and there are other interesting chats in other areas of personal development.
- Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation by Daniel J. Siegel
- Cognitive Neuroscience of Mindfulness Meditation and The Neuroscience of Emotions by Philippe Goldin
- Mindfulness, Stress Reduction and Healing by Jon Kabat-Zinn
- The Inner Condition of Authentic Happiness by Matthieu Ricard
- Stress Relief for the Creative and Constantly Connected by Soren Gordhamer
- Lululemon Founder Chip Wilson on yoga, lulu and more...
- Yoga: Personal Transformation and Global Sustainability by BK Bose
Labels: brain_science, meditation, mind health
New York Times Musical Pharmacology - Concerto in the Key of RX gives some interesting insights in efforts to marry music to the healing sciences. Most of this stuff is in the early stages of investigation and trial, but it all rings true.
Stefan Koelsch, a senior research fellow in neurocognition of music and language at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, agrees, and is working on participatory musical treatments for depression. But in the long term, he sees broader possibilities. "Physiologically, it's perfectly plausible that music would affect not only psychiatric conditions but also endocrine, autonomic and autoimmune disorders," he said. "I can't say music is a pill to abolish these diseases. But my vision is that we can come up with things to help. This work is so important. So many pills have horrible side effects, both physiological and psychological. Music has no side effects, or no harmful ones."
One discovery is that if the music is too familiar or has identifiable words it does not have the same effect as "anonymous music." I suspect that's one of the reasons why kirtan chants and Sanskrit lyrics are so appealing.
Labels: brain_science, mind health, news, therapy
NY Times H. M., an Unforgettable Amnesiac, Dies at 82 is about Henry Molaison, who opened the way for modern neuroscience because he revealed the crucial role of memory:
"And for those five decades, he was recognized as the most important patient in the history of brain science. As a participant in hundreds of studies, he helped scientists understand the biology of learning, memory and physical dexterity, as well as the fragile nature of human identity."
Molaison could not form long-term memory, and had to live each day as if its events were the first time he had faced them. He lived in an eternal present, without the weight of a future and with only a remote past (prior to the surgery that cut his hippocampus in 1953). He then went through years of investigations into how the operation affected his mental processes. He was known in the scientific literature as "H.M."
Expect to see more articles and blogs about H.M.'s importance in science in the coming days. For a start: A Blog Around the Clock ::: NPR ::: The Day His Day Stood Still ::: Wikepedia
Labels: brain_science, history, news
Dan Rather reports on "Mind Science" for HDNet. He draws on the partnership between the Dalai Lama and the Life Mind Institute, as well the recent book by Sharon Begley that I've already written about here and here. Rather does a good job of pulling together the most salient research findings and presenting them clearly and succinctly. He can seem a bit full of himself at times, but that's what being on TV five nights a week in prime time does to you. If you can't bring yourself to read, Begley's book, then this is a viewer-friendly route.
This is a long feature, 51 minutes, and you are going to need high speed connection. If that's too much, go directly to the online site where it's broken into shorter segments.
Labels: brain_science, videos
If you ever need an intellectual motivation to get you off your butt and into an active program of exercise, read Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
"The prescription ... varies from varies from person to person, but the research consistently shows that the more fit you are, the more resilient your brain becomes and the better it functions both cognitively and psychologically." (p. 247)
To cut to the chase, his formula calls for 30-60 minutes of aerobic exercise, usually running or equivalent intensity exercise, six times a week. On two days, he recommends five short sprints (30 seconds max) injected into a normal session (the max intervals seem to trigger the body's optimization). Strength-training helps maintain or build muscle and bone mass, which can be affected by the aging process. Ratey also suggests that yoga, tai chi, martial arts or other similar activities be added to improve balance and flexibility, as well as body awareness and concentration. Obviously, it takes time, discipline and effort to work up to the condition of being able to sustain aerobic exercise for such long periods, but you will be rewarded.
Exercise has an impact on the brain's neuroplasticity, creating new neurons as the building blocks. Ratey covered stress, anxiety, depression, attention deficit disorder, addiction, hormonal change (menopause in women) and aging in separate chapters. Far and away the best thing you can do for your brain power, mental health and physical well-being is an active daily exercise regime.
Ratey gets down to the complex, inter-related chemical processes and components that create and balance the neurotransmitters that fire up the brain within the human body. Ratey's conclusions are not new. There has been a steady drumbeat of stories in newspapers, magazines and on the web about how physical exercise can radically improve mental performance, ward off illnesses and aging and overcome mental disorders, like depression. He emphasized that it's necessary to engage in physical exercise every day, both to make it a consistent habit and to make the body respond appropriately.
Ratey is a researcher and neuro-psychiatrist at Harvard Medical School who earned a reputation working on attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). More information is available on his website and his blog, which links to news stories and features about his new book.
Labels: brain_science, conditioning, health, reading, running
My friend and infrequent yoga teacher, Rachel Permuth-Levine, is one of the organizers behind 2008 NIH Yoga Week: Exploring the Science and Practice of Yoga. NIH is the National Institutes of Health, for those not up on Washington acronyms. From May 19 to May 23, there will be guest speakers, reports on NIH's own research on yoga and meditation and yoga practice on the NIH campus lawn (weather permitting). Most events are to take place from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm so I will probably not be able to attend.
Among the speakers are Timothy McCall, M.D., Medical Editor of Yoga Journal Magazine and author of Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing
Thrive Yoga will be holding an event outside the NIH daytime schedule. Sat Bir S. Khalsa, will speak on " Yoga and Meditation in the Management of Stress" on Thursday, May 22, 6:00 - 8:00 pm. There is limited space so you will have to register Sign up online..
Labels: brain_science, dc_yoga, meditation, therapy
I just got through watching this video from the TED conference in Monterey, California, February 28. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a neuroanatomist, recently gave an chat about her life-altering experience of a brain stroke. This emotionally charged story is going to spread like wildfire because it captures a vital life story and marries it to both science and spiritual insight. I'm still reeling from my first viewing so just don't mind me and set aside 18 minutes to be astounded.
Her website also contains a link to her self-published book, My Stroke of Insight through lulu.com. I got on to this because the New York Times featured it on the Well blog.
TED is heavy-weight conference that deals in thinkers of great ideas and doers of impressive deeds — and good story tellers. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. It's worth exploring.
Labels: brain_science, inspire, philosophy, videos
Boston Globe Don't just stand there, think - Embodied cognition means that motor experience can influence intelligence, and that idea resonates with a yoga practice and the mind-body connection:
"It's a revolutionary idea," says Shaun Gallagher, the director of the cognitive science program at the University of Central Florida. "In the embodied view, if you're going to explain cognition it's not enough just to look inside the brain. In any particular instance, what's going on inside the brain in large part may depend on what's going on in the body as a whole, and how that body is situated in its environment."
My own efforts with yoga are to explore the full range of my physical body and its dynamic relationship with space, movement and gravity, something that I never attempted when I was younger. Intellectual knowledge was cut off from the body, isolated in the head, confined to a book. There was also a divorce between thought and action.
Via Mind Hack who also points to here for a more complete academic explanation.
Labels: brain_science, news
Labels: brain_science, videos
I finished reading Sharon Begley's book, but I could have put off buying the book all together because Washington Post put out a story GET SMART(ER): You're No Genius? Don't Worry. You Can Still Beef Up Your Brain With a Little Effort. It is a breezing feature article that skims off the cream of neuroscience, types of intelligence, nutrition, health science, meditation and curiosity (and lots of name-dropping of scholars and researchers at big name universities) to let you know that you can improve your mental powers:
The idea that there are multiple intelligences -- that people can be intelligent visually, musically, mathematically, athletically, interpersonally and intrapersonally -- was introduced by Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner. (He later added naturalistic intelligence.) Still, whatever the type of intelligence, most people judge brainpower on practical factors, including how much you know, how well you can access what you know and what you do with it.
Labels: brain_science, health, reading
