Month: May 2015

Being happy can be cultivated!

drehorwitz Leave a comment

 

imageHappiness…

We all want to be happy.  We all seek experiences that give us happiness. On the flip side, we tend to avoid or want to get rid of pain and suffering. And yet our minds always occupy themselves with the negative a lot more than with the positive.  Scientist believe that this habit started back in the prehistoric times when we had to dwell on the bad in order to make sure we survived.  So if your brother was killed by a tiger, you dwelled on this so that you would avoid being killed by the tiger  next time.

Neuroscientists are also finding the happiness and positivity can be cultivated.  The parts of the brain that are involved in feelings of contentment and happiness can be strengthened.  So how might we do this?

Tip #3

Mindfulness practices help us learn to be awake and aware of our thoughts, impulses, and beliefs. The more you practice, the more you learn to catch your mind in its old habits.  At the time that you catch your mind engaged in negative or destructive thinking, you want to redirect your attention to the present moment (click on the word moment for additional tips on this).

At the same time, when we cultivate mindful awareness into the present moment, we begin to notice when we are having a good moment; this can be something small or something more significant, it doesn’t matter, just pay attention.  When you become aware that you are in a good moment, stop for at least 12 seconds.  Take it in, notice your body and the sensations of feeling good, happy, content or whatever the feelings are.  Be present for it.  This is a way that you will cultivate happiness and your brain will begin to change so that the areas of the brain involved in happiness will begin to get stronger and stronger.

Want to learn more about how to cultivate mindfulness? Join the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Class, click here more information.

The Brain and Mindfulness Meditation

drehorwitz Leave a comment

THE MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION PROGRAM STARTS MAY 19TH! Read to find out more about the amazing benefits! image

One student in my MBSR class recently told me that the MBSR class was truly life changing; another student who struggles with arthritis told me that thanks to mindfulness she is now able to dance, whereas a year ago she could hardly walk.  The brain is plastic and this may be partly why we find mindfulness so beneficial.  If you find yourself being a “worrier” or with a very busy mind that won’t stop,  I have good news for you! Your brain and thinking habits can change at the neurological level.  We now have evidence that the brain is plastic and that it changes in very positive ways with Mindfulness.

In a recent study, researchers looked at the brains of 16 people who signed up to do the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program by taking MRI scans (magnetic resonance images) of their brains before and after the 8 week program.  They also scanned the brains of a control group of people who did not participate in the program.

After finishing the program, all participants reported they had improved in measures of mindfulness, such as acting with awareness and in reduced judgement towards others and themselves.

What was more amazing was that the MRI scans showed that those who had taken the MBSR class had an increase in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus, the posterior cingulate cortex, the temper-parietal junction, and the cerebellum.  Brain regions involved in learning and memory, emotion regulation, sense of self, and perspective taking (Harvard neuroscientist group, Britta Hölzel, Sarah Lazar).

This study among many others suggests that our brains are plastic and that with discipline and practice we feel better not only  because we are spending time meditating, but because our brains are changing!

 

 

Finding peace in your life….

drehorwitz Leave a comment

We often imagine peace will come when things in our lives are calm and we have no problems.  If imagewe think that this is the only way we can achieve inner peace, it often feels unattainable because of the reality of our lives: work, relationships, children, financial concerns, illness, anxiety, worries, demands, obligations, and so on.  Is it possible to find inner peace even when life is full of turmoil? Can we learn to cultivate inner peace?

Yes, we can.  Mindfulness teachings do just that.  With practice, we begin to see life from a different perspective.  We begin to see that it is our interpretations of our experiences that lead us to loose our peace.  How we perceive what happens in our lives is what can make us feel lost.

We spend too much time fighting our reality, or in the past dwelling on things that we did or didn’t do, or in the future worrying about something that has not happened, imaging the worst.  If we are ill, we feel that our bodies have become our enemies.  So much of this is literally in our mind!

Mindfulness is a discipline that helps us gain mastery over our minds.  With mindfulness practice we learn how to become observers of the thoughts and stories that our minds generate.  In being able to observe our thoughts, we become able to discern which of our thoughts are useful and which are destructive and torturous.  Furthermore, we learn that thoughts are just thoughts; they do not have any power unless we give it to them.  So, we can begin to say “oh, that’s just a thought, I don’t have to believe it or get hooked by it.”

Tip: Every time you notice yourself stressed and anxious or upset, pay attention to your thoughts, observe them as if you were watching a movie.  Say, “oh there is that thought again…” or “oh, there is that awful thing I am telling myself.”  “I don’t have to identify with my thoughts.”  And then attend to what is in front of you, here in the present (for a mindfulness strategy that helps with this, click here.  Imagine being like a tree; just there, stable, grounded, accepting of what comes (weather, storms, heat, etc.), you grow leaves in the summer, lose them in the fall, welcome snow in the winter, and grow flowers in the spring.  We can cultivate our ability to be steady, grounded, and accepting of what comes with peace and acceptance.

To learn how to cultivate mindfulness and the well being that comes with it: Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program, for more information, click here  or to register click here registration