Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Discover Meditation for Flexing Your Brain Muscle
Meditation is a tool to access your inner self – to explore and develop your inner thoughts but is also a methodology for exercising the brain.
Positive physiological changes in the brain and the immune system result from meditation techniques. The brain can learn, adapt and molecularly resculpture itself on the basis of experience and training according to new research.
The Health Emotions Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin studies how positive emotions can influence health. A project underway looks at the biological consequences of meditation. www.healthemotions.org
A recent conference of scientists and practitioners of meditation resulted in an arrticle in the New York Times that explores this:
Is Buddhism Good for Your Health?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/magazine/14BUDDHISM.html
by Stephen S. Hall who is the author, most recently, of ''Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension.''
He writes:
Since founding the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, Kabat-Zinn and colleagues have treated 16,000 patients and taught more than 2,000 health professionals the techniques of ''mindfulness meditation,'' which instructs a Buddhist-inspired ''nonjudgmental,'' total awareness of the present moment as a way of reducing stress. Along the way, [Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School] has published small but intriguing studies showing that people undergoing treatment for psoriasis heal four times as fast if they meditate; that cancer patients practicing meditation had significantly better emotional outlooks than a control group; and not only that meditation relieved symptoms in patients with anxiety and chronic pain but also that the benefits persisted up to four years after training. …
... the Wisconsin study took five years to publish in part because several higher-profile journals to which it was submitted refused even to send it out for peer review…. yet, by the time the study was over, the subjective experience of participants complemented the objective data: meditation ultimately left people feeling healthier, more positive and less stressed. ''I really am an empiricist in every aspect of my life,'' said Michael Slater, a molecular biologist at Promega. ''I doubt dogma, and I test it. I do it at the laboratory bench, but also in my personal life. So this appealed to me, because I could feel the reduction in stress. I could tell I was less irritable. I had more capacity to take on more stressors. My wife felt I was easier to be around. So there were tangible impacts. For an empiricist, that was enough.''
Consider meditation as a beneficial health practice. Take a class or read a book on meditation technique. It is currently believed that relaxing using meditation can have the following effects:
· slows breathing
· reduces blood pressure
· helps muscles relax
· gives the body time to eliminate lactic acid
and other waste products
· reduces anxiety
· eliminates stressful thoughts
· helps with clear thinking
· helps with focus and concentration
· reduces irritability
· reduces stress headaches
Meditation is a tool to access your inner self – to explore and develop your inner thoughts but is also a methodology for exercising the brain.
Positive physiological changes in the brain and the immune system result from meditation techniques. The brain can learn, adapt and molecularly resculpture itself on the basis of experience and training according to new research.
The Health Emotions Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin studies how positive emotions can influence health. A project underway looks at the biological consequences of meditation. www.healthemotions.org
A recent conference of scientists and practitioners of meditation resulted in an arrticle in the New York Times that explores this:
Is Buddhism Good for Your Health?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/14/magazine/14BUDDHISM.html
by Stephen S. Hall who is the author, most recently, of ''Merchants of Immortality: Chasing the Dream of Human Life Extension.''
He writes:
Since founding the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 1979, Kabat-Zinn and colleagues have treated 16,000 patients and taught more than 2,000 health professionals the techniques of ''mindfulness meditation,'' which instructs a Buddhist-inspired ''nonjudgmental,'' total awareness of the present moment as a way of reducing stress. Along the way, [Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, an emeritus professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School] has published small but intriguing studies showing that people undergoing treatment for psoriasis heal four times as fast if they meditate; that cancer patients practicing meditation had significantly better emotional outlooks than a control group; and not only that meditation relieved symptoms in patients with anxiety and chronic pain but also that the benefits persisted up to four years after training. …
... the Wisconsin study took five years to publish in part because several higher-profile journals to which it was submitted refused even to send it out for peer review…. yet, by the time the study was over, the subjective experience of participants complemented the objective data: meditation ultimately left people feeling healthier, more positive and less stressed. ''I really am an empiricist in every aspect of my life,'' said Michael Slater, a molecular biologist at Promega. ''I doubt dogma, and I test it. I do it at the laboratory bench, but also in my personal life. So this appealed to me, because I could feel the reduction in stress. I could tell I was less irritable. I had more capacity to take on more stressors. My wife felt I was easier to be around. So there were tangible impacts. For an empiricist, that was enough.''
Consider meditation as a beneficial health practice. Take a class or read a book on meditation technique. It is currently believed that relaxing using meditation can have the following effects:
· slows breathing
· reduces blood pressure
· helps muscles relax
· gives the body time to eliminate lactic acid
and other waste products
· reduces anxiety
· eliminates stressful thoughts
· helps with clear thinking
· helps with focus and concentration
· reduces irritability
· reduces stress headaches
The Globe and Mail: "Prescription for stress:
By GABOR MATÉ
A Statistics Canada study on job stress, reported last week in the journal Canadian Social Trends, ought to rivet the attention of Canadian economic and political leaders.Work-related stress takes a high toll on the emotional well-being of millions of employees, undermines the health of many and incurs a forbidding financial penalty. Stress-induced absences have been calculated to cost employers about $3.5-billion annually, and that figure that does not include the medical expenses of treating stress-induced illness. Much job strain could be prevented if those who have the power to make decisions understood some basic principles"...
By GABOR MATÉ
A Statistics Canada study on job stress, reported last week in the journal Canadian Social Trends, ought to rivet the attention of Canadian economic and political leaders.Work-related stress takes a high toll on the emotional well-being of millions of employees, undermines the health of many and incurs a forbidding financial penalty. Stress-induced absences have been calculated to cost employers about $3.5-billion annually, and that figure that does not include the medical expenses of treating stress-induced illness. Much job strain could be prevented if those who have the power to make decisions understood some basic principles"...
Monday, September 15, 2003
Law.com is featuring articles on finding flexibility and control in solo and small firms...
American Lawyer Media's Law.com features: "
Search for Flexibility Leads Some Women to Start Own Firms
The Ultimate Challenge: From School to Startup
14 Lawyers Who Like to Scrap
Too Much Big-Firm Pressure to Bill High Rates? Go Boutique
Pros and Cons of Going Solo"
American Lawyer Media's Law.com features: "
Search for Flexibility Leads Some Women to Start Own Firms
The Ultimate Challenge: From School to Startup
14 Lawyers Who Like to Scrap
Too Much Big-Firm Pressure to Bill High Rates? Go Boutique
Pros and Cons of Going Solo"
