Inner Circle Women

Archive for the ‘Meditation’ Category

Dealing with the end of life and the decisions that accompany it bring critical challenges for everyone involved-patients, families, friends and physicians. In fact, “managing” the progression toward death, particularly when a dire diagnosis has been made, can be a highly complex process. Each person involved is often challenged in a different way.

Communication is the first objective, and it should start with the physicians. In their role, physicians are often tasked to bridge the chasm between lifesaving and life-enhancing care; thus, they often struggle to balance hopefulness with truthfulness. Determining “how much information,” “within what space of time” and “with what degree of directness for this particular patient” requires a skillful commitment that matures with age and experience.

A physician’s guidance must be highly personalized and must consider prognosis, the risks and benefits of various interventions, the patient’s symptom burden, the timeline ahead, the age and stage of life of the patient, and the quality of the patient’s support system.

At the same time, it’s common for the patient and his or her loved ones to narrowly focus on life preservation, especially when a diagnosis is first made. They must also deal with shock, which can give way to a complex analysis that often intersects with guilt, regret and anger. Fear must be managed and channeled. This stage of confusion can last some time, but a sharp decline, results of diagnostic studies, or an internal awareness usually signals a transition and leads patients and loved ones to finally recognize and understand that death is approaching.

Once acceptance arrives, end-of-life decision-making naturally follows. Ongoing denial that death is approaching only compresses the timeline for these decisions, adds anxiety, and undermines the sense of control over one’s own destiny.

With acceptance, the ultimate objectives become quality of life and comfort for the remainder of days, weeks or months. Physicians, hospice, family and other caregivers can focus on assessing the patient’s physical symptoms, psychological and spiritual needs, and defining end-of-life goals. How important might it be for a patient to attend a granddaughter’s wedding or see one last Christmas, and are these realistic goals to pursue?

In order to plan a death with dignity, we need to acknowledge death as a part of life-an experience to be embraced rather than ignored when the time comes. Will you be ready?

A few good relaxation techniques can save your life, because stress is more than just unpleasant. It’s also dangerous to your health. Disciplined practices such as meditation can help relieve that stress, but what if you don’t have the time or motivation? Maybe you need to try a few of these simple ways to relax.

1. Hug someone. Giving a hug means getting one. As long as it’s from somebody you don’t mind hugging you, this really can be relaxing.
2. Interrupt routines. Go talk to that guy sleeping on the bench, or eat lunch on the roof. Just doing anything that breaks you out of your habitual patterns can relieve stress.
3. Have a hot shower. It relaxes yor muscles, and any break from more stressful activities can help too. Some find that an alternating hot and cold shower is even more relaxing.
4. Try watching your mind. Spot the stressors lurking just below the surface (hunger, worry, a phone call you need to make), and you can resolve them and feel more relaxed. If you practice this mindfulness exercise, it may become one of your favorite relaxation techniques.
5. Try laughing. Your own experience shows that this helps you relax, right? Go find a guy that knows all the best jokes, or find something funny in front of you.
6. Use relaxing music. Keep your favorite relaxation CD at the office, in the car, or wherever you’ll need it most.
7. Leave the room for a while. This can really help if the things in the room or related to it are triggering your stressful thoughts. Why not get out for a little while?
8. Breath deeply. Try five deep breaths through your nose. Close your eyes and pay attention only to your breathing while doing this. It’s like a mini-meditation, and perhaps the most effective of the quick relaxation techniques.
9. Drink some chamomile tea. Chamomile tea seems to have a calming effect on the nerves. Any hot tea without caffeine may be relaxing.
10. Walk a while. If you have at least ten minutes to spare, walking is one of the best relaxation techniques. While you’re at it, find a pretty place to walk.

Naturally, it is ideal if you can change yourself, so you’re naturally more relaxed all of the time. Perhaps the thought of the work involved in this just stresses you more. In that case you might have to take it slow, so why not start with one or two of the simple relaxation techniques above?

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When you are unhappy what do you do? Do you go out for a meal? Go to the cinema? The theatre, perhaps? Do you go shopping? Perhaps you like a drink to overcome your unhappiness. Or do you get a buzz from jogging or going to the gym?

Whatever it is scientist are in the process of proving that internal change is the only thing that can give you health and happiness. Everything else is an illusion.

What does this mean?

Your brain is the only thing that can keep you healthy and happy.

Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin and Jon Kabat-Zinn from the University of Massachusetts Medical Centre have just completed some interesting research that can actually be of benefit to you and me and the way we run our lives.

They took a group of 41 stressed, but otherwise healthy, individuals working in a biotechnology firm in Wisconsin. 25 were taught meditation. In this case: mindfulness meditation. The group met for a 2.5 to 3 hour meditation class each week. After six weeks they all attended a seven hour meditation retreat. In addition each member was asked to meditate, at home, for one hour a day using a guided meditation tape.

The other 16 were held as a control group and did not receive meditation training until the study was completed.

At the end of the eight week programme, in November, they also gave all the participants a flu jab. And guess what. “The members of the meditation group had a significant increase in antibody titers” in other words they have less chance of catching flu.

The bottom line appears to be. If you want to have good health and overcome the day by day blues and maintain happiness learn to meditate. When you meditate you change the way your brain operates.

In addition, they found, the more you practice meditation the better your daily performance.

”What we found is that the long time practitioners showed brain activation
on a scale we have never seen before. ‘Their mental practice is having
an effect on the brain in the same way golf or tennis practice will enhance performance.” It demonstrates, that the brain is capable of being
trained and physically modified in ways few people can imagine.
(Richard Davidson)

So give yourself the space each day to train your brain.  It works.