The Many Uses of Mindfulness: Pain and Suffering

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yoda

Mindfulness’ ability to reduce pain levels has been documented through published research for over thirty years. I’ve lost track of how many actual studies there are because research is coming out fast and furious. As of February 2014 there are over 40 mindfulness studies being published each week. Although pain is not the only application observed, it is interesting to note the abundance of attention being given to mindfulness.

Pain comes in various forms. Physical pain receives the most attention but not far behind is emotional, mental and spiritual pain. The reality is that physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pain are interconnected and if you address one, you are addressing all four. In the “old days” we were taught to block out the pain by somehow disconnecting to what was being experienced in the moment. We were given drugs and various strategies to accomplish this erroneous approach. It wasn’t until mindfulness started teaching the opposite that we began to notice a shift in the paradigm of how we address pain. The epiphany that the willingness and ability to be present with pain could reduce pain levels was revolutionary. Imagine….an approach that was the exact opposite to what we had been taught for years!

We all know that stress plays a role in creating and sustaining pain. The physical contraction of the body for long periods of time creates and wreaks havoc on pain issues. The corresponding contraction of emotional, mental and spiritual experience through stress and fear mirrors what is happening on the physical level. Suffering increases and sustains the pain levels. What I mean by suffering is the mental/emotional catastrophizing of the pain situation. The compulsive looking back and forward as to the worst possible scenario and outcome of the situation.

The willingness and ability to fully experience pain on every level is part of the practice of mindfulness. It releases the contraction caused by stress and fear and allows the system to return to normal. The nervous system is able to come out of fight or flight and then the inner healing faculties that we all have are able to assert themselves in a positive way thus laying the foundation for reduced pain levels. I’m not suggesting that every pain situation can be fully experienced easily. It takes practice and everyone needs to find their own way in, but the journey of many miles begins with the first step and that first step is transformational.

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Learn How To Meditate Mindfully While Running

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man and woman running

Mindfulness meditation or present moment attention to experience lends itself nicely to running. Sports has become a popular metaphor for life and running is the common denominator that links most sports together. Peak performance, the flow, the zone and other descriptions of the present moment have been the subject of study and research for a long time but the last fifteen years has seen an abundance of very positive outcomes based on these studies. Athletes are benefiting by breaking through barriers that were previously thought to be impossible. By using the methods developed by these studies we are re defining human potential and creating new road maps on how to experience these new possibilities. At the center of all of this research is mindfulness meditation. It has pioneered the expression of “mindfulness in movement” and brings new insight into how mindfulness meditation can be extended into sports and for that matter all activity. Athletes have known about this experience for thousands of years but usually just stumbled upon it through repetition and excellence. It has been only recently that thanks to the research and new training methods athletes can consciously create the flow experience at will. Let’s take a look at how the sports common denominator of running can be enhanced by an extended mindfulness meditation practice.

  1. One of the most important traits of a good runner is the ability to tune into the body. Mindfulness meditation teaches us how to fully experience our physical sensations, breath, thoughts and emotions. By monitoring these important signals from the body we can determine how effective out training methods are. We can determine the correct technique by paying close attention to how the body is responding. This is the first step to building an effective training regimen.
  2. As you become more in tune with your body through mindfulness you can more accurately sense when you are running with ease. Many runners run too hard and end up stressing their bodies more than they should. The sweet spot for running is the feeling of running with ease. As your conditioning improves so will your definition of ease of effort. Thanks to mindfulness you will know when to accelerate and when to slow down. Staying in that sweet spot of pace is the hallmark of an accomplished runner.
  3. Non striving and non judging are qualities of the mindfulness practice and allow you to “compete” with yourself rather than others. Comparing your times to other runners will only result in more stress and the interruption of the smooth workings of the body. Turning your attention inward so that you are comparing performance only with yourself will lead to much better performance. Monitoring improvement by acceptance of the present moment is actually the best way to improve your times.
  4. Some running regimens are way too structured and result in too many miles, laps, intervals and so forth which end up being too mechanical and not in sync with the best way to improve times and conditioning. Step outside the structure and discover how to improvise using the connection to your mind/body. Your mind/body will tell you how much needs to be done in order to get the most out of your run. “No pain no gain” is a thing of the past. Using your mindfulness skills will allow you to maximize your body without breaking it down.
  5. Keeping your attention in the present moment will allow you to fully experience the runners “high” through the release of endorphins. If your attention is elsewhere you might miss this. Enjoyment of running will help you stay motivated and bring you deeper into the experience.
  6. Fully experiencing your body will allow you to monitor your form. You will be able to influence your core to be engaged, your back to be straight and the rest of the body moving in a fluid way. Remember that the body knows what it needs in order to run effortlessly and to find the flow. Mindfulness will help you to monitor your breath, body, emotions and thought and to notice when they are in sync. This in turn will help you to fine tune your training methods.
  7. Check out the book: Running Mindfully http://bit.ly/2fhNcnv

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Mindfulness Practice: Movement Versus Stillness

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balancing

When beginning to practice mindfulness there is an issue that comes up repeatedly. When I teach the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction program I immediately introduce the formal practice(meditation) and the informal practice(mindfulness in everyday life). The formal/meditation practice involves periods of silence and stillness that are used as the backdrop for developing present moment attention. The informal practice of mindfulness in everyday activity involves by definition…movement and usually a good deal of sound although not necessarily sound. There are four categories of response to these two approaches. Firstly there are those who can’t tolerate stillness and silence, secondly there are those that prefer stillness and silence, thirdly there are those who can tolerate both and lastly there are those who can’t tolerate either. Obviously when looking down the road it is considered preferable to be comfortable with both. However, it is my observation that although I teach both, if someone is having great difficulty with one, I will emphasize focusing on the other until gradually both can be embraced. To insist on one over the other is rigid and self defeating in a situation that calls for flexibility and compassion. Mindfulness can be difficult enough for a beginner and it seems to me that taking the course of least resistance at first is the better part of valor. It is very important to feel as though progress is being made in order to sustain the level of commitment and enthusiasm necessary to continue.

The greatest resistance is usually found with the stillness and silence. A hint as to why can be found with the Wikipedia definition of restless leg syndrome:

“Restless legs syndrome (RLS) also known as Willis-Ekbom disease (WED)[1] or Wittmaack-Ekbom syndrome, is a neurological disorder characterized by an irresistible urge to move one’s body to stop uncomfortable or odd sensations.[2] It most commonly affects the legs, but can affect the arms, torso, head, and even phantom limbs.[3] Moving the affected body part modulates the sensations, providing temporary relief.

RLS sensations range from pain or an aching in the muscles, to “an itch you can’t scratch”, an unpleasant “tickle that won’t stop”, or even a “crawling” feeling. The sensations typically begin or intensify during quiet wakefulness, such as when relaxing, reading, studying, or trying to sleep.[4] Additionally, most individuals with RLS suffer from periodic limb movement disorder (limbs jerking during sleep), which is an objective physiologic marker of the disorder and is associated with sleep disruption.[5] It can be caused by low iron levels.[6]”

The giveaway is “The sensations typically begin or intensify during quiet wakefulness, such as when relaxing, reading, studying, or trying to sleep.[4]” This is essentially describing a condition similar to the stillness and quiet of meditation. Although there can be a neurological disorder I think it is much more common that in stillness and silence we confront our adrenaline addiction. For anyone who has been stuck in stress for a period of time you are very familiar with how it feels to be addicted/sensitive to your own adrenaline. When embarking on reversing that situation it becomes even more obvious when being still and silent. In time, as the nervous system normalizes and the adrenaline factor goes away it is much easier to tolerate the still, quiet times. That’s why movement and activity is the better emphasis in the beginning for those who are most sensitive to the adrenaline factor. So it is important to be flexible and compassionate with yourself as you are discovering the best doorway to learning mindfulness, all the while keeping in mind that eventually we want to be present in all situations.

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Mindfulness Helping With Addiction

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addictions

On the front page of a recent New York Times Sunday Review there is an article entitled: For the Love of Money. It talks about a Wall Street broker who through a series of epiphanies came to the conclusion that he was addicted to money. It got me thinking about whether there is a common denominator for all addictions.

Over my life I have felt the pull of various things that could fall into the category of addictions if left to their devices and in the many classes I have taught in mindfulness I have had plenty of people who have talked of their various addictions and the benefits that mindfulness practice has had in relation to their addictions. It seems to me that if you have an addictive personality then that addictive personality will choose from the many opportunities to express itself. Probably the most common addictions that we hear of through the media are the many kinds of drugs whether they be stimulative or depressive. Many times the two go hand in hand as a way of balancing the extremes. Drugs come in many forms and don’t have to be limited to prescribed and non prescribed substances. We all know of food addictions, behavioral addictions such as sex, extreme sports/risk taking etc. The list goes on and on.

Where does the addiction begin? It has become common knowledge that there is an epidemic of people getting stuck in fight or flight for extended periods of time if not years. The autonomic nervous system gets stuck in the sympathetic mode or high gear. One of the many ramifications of this phenomena is a steady flow of adrenaline and the other stress hormones. Another common acknowledgment is that people begin to crave the adrenaline high after awhile. I think we need to look seriously at this being a root cause of addictions. From here the domino effect kicks in and that adrenaline craving begins to express itself in many ways. I recently read that this can be passed on genetically. The well known disconnection that takes place as a result of chronic fight or flight perpetuates this condition. The well known effect of mindfulness practice being able to reverse this disconnect is also acknowledged. Perhaps we have found an important key for reversing addictions. There is much to discuss here and many dots to connect.

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Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction As Evidence Based Practice

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balancing rocks

The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program (MBSR Training) began in 1979 at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. Its initial mission was to treat people for various stress related illnesses that hadn’t responded to traditional approaches. It became apparent after a short period of time that not only were people greatly benefiting from the mindfulness based stress reduction therapy using this alternate approach, but that the results we often better than the traditional approaches.

The realization of the potential broad based benefits of this practice gave rise to initial studies in the area of pain management. Outcomes were excellent and along the way it was noticed that people were benefiting in many other ways. Since 1980 there have been over 3000 studies from all over the world attesting to the effectiveness of mindfulness in many different areas of illness also in areas of human performance. It is being taught in health care settings, school systems, athletics, corporations and every area of our society.

The studies touch upon physical, mental and emotional conditions of every imaginable kind. Everything from heart disease, immune disorders, digestive problems, pain, fear, depression, anxiety, anger, inability to focus and many others have been studied and published over the past 35 years. MBSR training at the Scottsdale Institute for Health and Medicine Center for Mindfulness serves the entire Phoenix area and teaches the same program pioneered at the Center for Mindfulness by Jon Kabat Zinn, PhD.

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Mindfulness, Stress Reduction, Healthcare System, Spirituality

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stress wheel

Mindfulness, Stress Reduction, Spirituality, Healthcare System:

The current popularity of mindfulness is largely attributed to Jon Kabat-Zinn’s work at the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. I suspect a combination of timing, insight and serendipity were responsible for this event. When I came across this program many years ago I had already been teaching meditation and related approaches for many years but had always seen these things as a niche approach for a limited number of people. Mindfulness had historically been a central part of a spiritual tradition and to re package it as a stress reduction approach in a major health care system was a novel and effective idea. Not only did it immediately have a positive impact on stress related issues but it opened up mindfulness to a much wider population by making it a secular approach to overall health. It became a non threatening spiritual discipline without the usual polarizing concepts that people argue about when discussing spirituality. The reason I say this is because reducing stress opens up people to a much bigger experience of themselves and their relationship to the world around them. Once the fear from stress is reduced we are able to revisit our sense of interconnectedness which is a central aspect of the spiritual experience. I rarely bring up spirituality in my classes yet it inevitably is brought up by the participants as they discover the connection between stress reduction and spirituality.

The healthcare system has provided an unexpected opportunity for many people to explore things that they normally would not be open to. In so doing, the healthcare system is beginning to realize it’s positive effect in the lives of so many people. It is beginning to see the potential for true healing rather than just treating disease. Both of these issues need to be addressed in a truly effective system. The outcomes of this simple mindfulness program have been so profound that many other “delivery systems” have embraced mindfulness. We now see it in the schools, business, sports, the arts and practically every aspect of life. I still think the healthcare system is the hub of the delivery wheel, and like so many strong hubs, it gives support and strength to all the spokes.

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Racing Thoughts Helped By Mindfulness

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racing mind

Racing thoughts are described by Wikipedia as: “Generally, racing thoughts are described by an individual who has had an episode as an event where the mind uncontrollably brings up random thoughts and memories and switches between them very quickly. Sometimes they are related, as one thought leads to another; other times they are completely random. A person suffering from an episode of racing thoughts has no control over his or her train of thought and it stops them from focusing on one topic or prevents sleeping.

Racing thoughts, also referred to as “racing mind”, may prevent a person from falling asleep. Chronic sleep apnea and prolonged disturbed sleep patterns may also induce racing thoughts. Treatment for Sleep Apnea and Obstructive Airway Disorder can improve airflow and improve sleep resulting in improved brain and REM function and reduced racing thought patterns.”

Over the many years of teaching mindfulness, racing thoughts could be the largest concern voiced to me by people who have come to address the multiple expressions of stress. It causes great concern and anxiety and usually they have tried many different approaches to getting the thoughts to slow down or stop and finding ways to block them out. Sadly this approach of trying to out muscle thoughts only leads to making matters worse, yet it seems to be the most common approach.

Mindfulness uses a completely different approach that is actually just the opposite of what is normally presented as the solution. With mindfulness we treat thoughts as an opportunity to fully experience another part of ourselves in the present moment. We put out the welcome mat in the same way that we would our breath, emotions and body. One approach is to imagine a movie screen with the thoughts being seen on screen coming and going. Watch them appear and then disappear making room for the next one. When I first started practicing I would notice a space every once and awhile between thoughts. After more practice the thoughts would slow down and I would experience more spaces. Now, years later the spaces have overtaken the thoughts and the experience has spilled over into my everyday experience, not just during meditation. It has become very peaceful when the thoughts slow down and then stop for extended periods of time. There is much to explore in that silence and stillness.

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How Is Mindfulness Meditation Related To The Big Bang Theory?

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big bang

During a mindfulness meditation recently I had the insight that the meditation experience is in many ways parallel to the scientific theory of the Big Bang. The scientific theory of the Big Bang also parallels a number of ancient meditative and contemplative traditions as to how the universe was formed. Before I describe what I noticed in my meditation here is a definition of the scientific Big Bang theory as it presently stands.

“The Big Bang is a scientific theory about how the universe started, and then made the stars and galaxies we see today. The Big Bang is the name that scientists use for the most common theory of the universe from the very early stages to the present day.

The universe began as a very hot, small, and dense superforce (the mix of the four fundamental forces), with no stars, atoms, form, or structure (called a “singularity”). Then about 13.8 billion years ago space expanded very quickly (thus the name “Big Bang”). This started the formation of atoms, which eventually led to the formation of stars and galaxies. It was Georges LeMaitre who first noted (in 1927) that an expanding universe could be traced back in time to an originating single point. The universe is still expanding today, and getting colder as well.”

During my meditation I had the feeling that all of my energy was being gathered and concentrated into my body and that it was in a state of potential action. During meditation I also got the feeling of stillness and silence. Combined with this energy it felt like the next step was to do something with it. When I finished the meditation that focused, silent and still energy stayed with me and I realized that it was up to me to take that energy and create things with it. It was at that moment that I saw the parallel between the original point of energy in the Big Bang exploding out to create universes and the focused energy created during meditation being the driving force that helps us create things in our lives. I concluded that this is the main purpose of mindfulness meditation practice.

I now have a useful paradigm for how mindfulness meditation works as the primary driver for getting things done.

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Is The Formal Practice Of Mindful Meditation Enough?

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wooden steps leading down

Practicing mindful meditation on a regular basis is a necessary part of transforming your life through mindfulness. It provides the necessary training to remain present during times of stillness and silence. Stillness and silence are the two great teachers and connecting with them in the present moment will yield lifelong benefits that will energize and inform the rest of your life. People have discovered this over thousands of years of experience and now science is providing us with the answers as to why.

I’ve noticed over many years that there can be a tendency to overdo meditation. It’s an interesting phenomenon because the first impulse is to think that this is something that can’t be overdone, the more the better. I’ve discovered that this is not true and this remains as one of the major misconceptions about meditation. It’s true that after some practice we feel really good during meditation but I’ve noticed that this good feeling can actually become addictive at which time meditation, even mindfulness meditation, becomes an escape, a way to disconnect from what might be an unhappy life. So how do we avoid this situation?

The key to avoiding over meditating is to balance it with bringing the mindfulness practice into all activity. It is very important to build a bridge between the formal mindfulness meditation practice and everyday activity. I like to end each meditation with two or three minutes of meditating with my eyes open so as to give me a feeling for bringing this level of attention into the rest of my day. I find that it allows for a seamless transition. Next, I like to bring that present moment attention into all my activities especially, eating, walking communicating, exercising all five senses and exercising the body. Everything is fair game including the “small” stuff like brushing the teeth. This approach will guard against over emphasis on meditating and bring balance into your practice.

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