Here is a very interesting study on Mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT). In this article patients were trained to employ mindfulness as a stress reducing, quality of life enhancing therapy. The results are quite compelling. Be sure to download the entire article at the bottom of this excerpt.

~ Enjoy!

The impact of Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) on mental health and quality of life in a sub-clinically depressed population

In a previous study [1], non-clinical participants showed to benefit from mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) in order to combat depression and anxiety, normally induced by a real stressful setting. Following this study, we employed an experimental, randomized-controlled design in a real field among sub-clinically depressed students, to examine whether MBCT is effective to enhance quality of life and also to reduce anxiety and depression naturally experienced before, during and after exam (a real stressful situation).

Traditionally rooted in Eastern culture, mindfulness proved to be effective in stress reduction programs [2] placing emphasis on non-judgmental attention in a certain way; namely, on purpose and in the present moment. Mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) integrates elements of cognitive– behavioral therapy (CBT) for depression [3] into the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) training program developed by Kabat-Zinn [2]. As a manualized group-skills training program, MBCT is conducted in 8 weekly sessions of approximately 2.5 hours duration [4]. People undergoing such training program learn to see thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations as passing events in the mind rather than self-evident truths or aspects of the self. In this way the skills learned from MBCT help people recognize and disengage themselves from habitual dysfunctional cognitive routines, which in turn protect them against future risk of experiencing anxiety and depression.

Teasdale and colleagues [5] compared a group of recovered patients with recurrent depression, receiving treatment as usual (TAU), with a group receiving TAU plus MBCT in a randomized design. They demonstrated that MBCT would significantly reduce the risk of relapse. Ma and Teasdale [6] replicated previous findings. They showed that MBCT training halved relapse rate (from 78% to 36%) in patients with 3 or more previous episodes. Cognitively speaking, the vicious cycle between depressed mood and patterns of negative, self-defeating, automatic thinking may result in a vulnerability to relapse of depression. In a recent study [7], MBCT proved to be an effective maintenance therapy with antidepressants in reducing relapse over a 15-months follow-up.
There are also studies showing that MBCT reduces excessive worry or anxiety symptoms [8], relieves insomnia symptoms by reducing worry associated with sleep problems in patients with anxiety disorder [9] and improves quality of life in the physical and psychological domains [7]. There are studies showing that university students are prone to experience anxiety and depressive symptoms mostly related to exam [10, 11]. This, in turn, has been regarded as a serious factor which results in lower test scores and under-achievement [12]. Anxiety management programs [13, 14] and cognitive behaviour techniques [15] have been successfully conducted to relieving exam anxiety.

[Download the entire PDF here]

Colleen Pyke, host of Global Vision, interviews Marsha Lucas, PhD, about her discoveries in working with the human brain in re-wiring the subconscious. Through her work, and mindfulness meditation, Dr. Lucas has written a very user friendly brain book for all of us. She teaches us how to rewire the neural pathways that make us “make our decisions” about life – whether fight or flight, or other unconscious choices. Through working with mindfulness meditation, the early childhood or other traumas can be healed and reworked so we no longer “react” in a split second, but have more than a second to make a more healthy, conscious choice on how we want to “do life.”.

Enjoy!

Dr. Marsha Lucas on Global Vision with Colleen Pyke.

Circles of Change host Dr. Zara Larsen talks with Dr. Marsha Lucas, author of the book called “Rewire Your Brain for Love: Creating Vibrant Relationships Using the Science of Mindfulness.

Enjoy!

Dr. Marsha Lucas on 104.1 The Truth – “Cirlces of Change” with Dr. Zara Larsen

Here is a guest post brought to you by Ed Halliwell, a friend of mine who recently co-authored the book The Mindful Manifesto. Enjoy!

Not a typical manifesto, but a manifesto all the same

When people hear that I’ve co-written a book called The Mindful Manifesto, they sometimes approach me with questions about the title, such as: “Manifesto? Do you mean that meditation is a party political act?,” or “Isn’t a manifesto all about action and meditation all about sitting still?”

These are good questions, and there is an interesting relationship between the practice of mindfulness, which involves making space to observe the patterns of experience without getting caught up in them, and living life in an engaged and compassionate way.

In the book, Jonty Heaversedge and I argue that practicing meditation is a skillful way to cultivate well-being—both personal and social. If we can learn to watch the flow of our own thoughts, feelings, habits and biases, seeing them with ever-greater clarity, then we are in a good position to bring that understanding to act more wisely in our lives. By taking time out to do less, our actions are more likely to be skillful. It’s a bit like the instructions to put your own oxygen mask on first in an airplane emergency—that apparently selfish action allows us to help others more effectively.

The word “manifesto” derives from the Latin verb manifestare, which means “to show plainly.” In English, to manifest means “to become apparent.” Our suggestion is that by learning how to be, we might start to release a wisdom that can show us plainly how things are, and that this might form the ground for knowing what to do.

By using the word manifesto in this way, we are hoping to reclaim its true meaning—not so much a plan of action, but a call to being. So it isn’t the usual kind of manifesto—there’s no great scheme to solve all our problems instantly. Instead, it’s an invitation to let go of doing, at least for a time, and learn how to be. This, we suggest, could make a real difference to our well-being, not just as individuals, but as couples, families, communities, nations—and as a planet. Whether it’s relationship issues, an unhealthy addiction, or the threat of war, we can create space for choices to emerge.

By working with meditation, we deliberately and gently bring more awareness to our experience. Gradually, as we pay attention, we begin to notice how we get caught up on automatic pilot, unconsciously playing out patterns that create stress and suffering. We learn to tolerate our impulse to follow patterns that don’t serve us. We cultivate a gap between thought and action, and gradually, as we become more skilled in our practice, the ability to dwell in this gap grows, and we are impelled less and less into knee-jerk reactions.

Mindfulness is simple to learn, and a growing body of scientific research shows it can help with many different issues. From working with stress, anxiety and depression and helping us look after our physical health, to letting go of unskillful behavior patterns and nurturing our relationships with others, as well as fostering greater health and happiness in our schools, workplaces and other community settings, there doesn’t seem to be any situation in which more mindfulness wouldn’t be useful.

It can be practiced on the bus, in the supermarket, at your desk, or in bed. You don’t need special equipment—just your mind and body. And while proficiency takes work, you don’t have to spend years meditating in an ashram or monastery to make a difference—according to one study, less than a week’s practice of 20 minutes a day can be enough to start producing measurable shifts. This then, is what we mean by a mindful manifesto—not a pre-defined program of action, but an opportunity for wisdom to manifest in each moment.

In the next few blogs, I’ll be sharing a few extracts from the book, exploring the science, art and practice of mindfulness, and suggesting how it can help in a range of life situations.

 

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The Mindful Manifesto, by Dr Jonty Heaversedge and Ed Halliwell, is published by Hay House this month, and available from Amazon.com.

It’s incredibly important to be mindful of time, how you use it and how you might even abuse it. Take a moment and read this article on ways to slow down and avoid rushing. You’ll be better for it.

Article courtesy of Rick Hanson PhD, at Wildmind:

Five ways to slow down and stop rushing

As I was meditating this morning, our cat hopped up in my lap. It felt sweet to sit there with him. And yet – even though I was feeling fine and had plenty of time, there was this internal pressure to start zipping along with emails and calls and all the other clamoring minutiae of the day.

You see the irony. We rush about as a means to an end: as a method for getting results in the form of good experiences, such as relaxation and happiness. Hanging out with our cat, I was afloat in good experiences. But the autopilot inside the coconut still kept trying to suck me back into methods for getting relaxation and happiness – as if I weren’t already feeling that way! And of course, by jumping up and diving into doingness, I’d break the mood and lose the relaxation and happiness . . . that is the point of doingness.

Click here to read more

Co-hosts Lynn Ware Peek and Missy Hilton talk with Dr. Marsha Lucas, author of the book called “Rewire Your Brain for Love: Creating Vibrant Relationships Using the Science of Mindfulness.

Enjoy!

Dr. Marsha Lucas on KPCW – The Mountain Life – 04/17/2012

Writer Diane Ackerman waxes poetic and scientific on love and rewiring the brain in this article.

Here is an excerpt.

Enjoy!

(from NYTimes blogs)

The Brain on Love

A RELATIVELY new field, called interpersonal neurobiology, draws its vigor from one of the great discoveries of our era: that the brain is constantly rewiring itself based on daily life. In the end, what we pay the most attention to defines us. How you choose to spend the irreplaceable hours of your life literally transforms you.

All relationships change the brain — but most important are the intimate bonds that foster or fail us, altering the delicate circuits that shape memories, emotions and that ultimate souvenir, the self.

[Read more here]

Here is a very interesting piece on musical improvisation. Researchers Mónica López-González and Charles J. Limb are using brain imaging to study the creative processes that musicians go through while improvising. A special thanks to @MINDGAINS for bringing this article to my attention. Here’s an excerpt below.  Click the link at the bottom to continue reading the article at its source, Dana.org.

Musical Creativity and the Brain

While working with young jazz soloists, Miles Davis once said, “Play what you hear, not what you know.”1 Practice, experience, and sheer talent taught Davis that a personally and socially satisfying gig occurs when the ideas entering the musician’s imagination are developed through solo improvisations instead of ignored in favor of practiced patterns.1 Simply put, no one wants to pay for and hear a contrived performance. Both the fascination we have with the art of in-the-moment creation and the value we place on it continue to flourish. Contemporary artists as varied as pianist Keith Jarrett, vocalist Bobby McFerrin, and rapper Eminem make their living off of improvising and regularly pack concert venues.

Which brings us to the main questions underlying both theoretical and empirical work on creativity: What is it, and how do we accomplish it? The literature on creativity and its related topics—intuition, expert knowledge, problem-solving, achievement, and case studies of exceptional accomplishments—is vast, with perspectives coming from fields as diverse as philosophy, psychology, cognitive science, musicology, and art history.2-15 But research on creativity, particularly from the psychological perspective, can be considered a young science, having progressed only after prominent American psychologist J.P. Guilford made a plea for its empirical study during his 1950 presidential address to the American Psychological Association.3 Despite the later advent of brain-imaging techniques in the 1990s, the neuroscience of creativity began to harbor interest and to pick up pace only very recently.

For the entire article click here

From my friend and fellow psychologist/mindfulness advocate Elisha Goldstein, PhD: “Neuroplasticity isn’t necessarily an ally, but understanding it is”:

There’s been a lot of talk about the new findings of neuroplasticity and the ray of hope it has brought many with the understanding that we can use our mental processes to change our brains throughout the lifespan. If you’ve been reading The Now Effect you know that I open up the Know Your Mind, Change Your Brain section with the story of the young violinists who showed similar shifting in the motor cortex of the brain whether they were actually playing the violin or just imagining playing the violin. This conveys the power of our minds to shape our brains. But it’s not all roses.

[Read More Here]

It certainly is refreshing to see more mainstream coverage on meditation.  Below is an excerpt from an ABC online article. Be sure to click through to their website where they have video coverage.

Brain Imaging Illuminates Neuro Basis of Meditation

Sharon Salzberg said her mind might be very different if it weren’t for meditation, and new neurologic research suggests that she might be right.

Troubled by a traumatic, stressful childhood, Salzberg traveled to India as a college student and discovered meditation. Not only did it help her deal with her painful past, Salzberg said, but the practice helped change the way her mind worked.

“I hadn’t really looked within,” said Salzberg, a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and author of seven books on meditation. “I felt much more presence, rather than being distracted. It felt like the whole world opened up for me.”

A new study from Yale University suggests that the brains of experienced meditators like Salzberg may actually work differently than brains of those who don’t meditate. The study gives scientists a window into the meditating mind, providing evidence that the practice appears to change the way the brain works and could give meditators a leg up when it comes to dealing with mental disorders.

[Watch the video and read more here]