April 2008: Wellbeing, Meditation and Mindfulness

Had you considered mindfulness and meditation to enhance your wellbeing?

At the 1st Australian Positive Psychology and Well-being conference, held in Sydney earlier this month, 5-6 April 2008, many of the keynote speakers noted the importance of mindfulness and meditation in the context of building wellbeing. Comments included:

- builds the immune system and psychological muscle

- improves contentment, happiness, attention and alertness

- reduces anxiety and stress; lessens negative rumination

- mindfulness is increasingly being introduced into school curricula around the world

Dr Craig Hassed, a highlight at the conference, is a General Practitioner and senior lecturer at the Monash University Department of General Practice. He discussed how ruminating about past or future events creates stressors in the body, and that many of these ruminations are unhelpful and therefore damaging our bodies. Mindfulness helps us to retrain the neural connections formed by unnecessary rumination. It regulates our attention, helps with our attitude and our reactions. People who practice mindfulness tend to be more emotionally intelligent, and vice versa. Mindfulness can help us to transcend thoughts and conditions, and helps to heighten our awareness. It leads to a ‘major reawakening’ which helps us push beyond our normal potential.

Mim Beim, is a wonderful naturopath (and friend) who practices in Sydney and Bowral. Mim spoke at a breakfast function and to corporate audiences in Canberra this month. Amongst her many words of wisdom and advice on how to manage stress and wellbeing, she explained that the physiological effects of meditative breathing include:

- increases blood flow to the brain

- improves immunity

- increases activity and size of the pre-frontal cortex

- decreases blood pressure

- decreases anxiety

- decreases cortisol levels

- decreases chronic pain

Mim’s website is: www.beamingwithhealth.com.au

Sue Hays, a Clinical Psychologist, runs mindfulness courses in Canberrra. Thanks to a friend who recommended her course, I recently attended Sue’s course. Sue was trained at the Center for Mindfulness in Massachusetts, where they teach the Jon Kabat-Zinn’s Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course. Sue provides this information about mindfulness:

“The MBSR course has been taught world wide and thoroughly researched for over 20 years. The demonstrated health benefits include reductions in symptoms for conditions as wide ranging as coronary heart disease, hypertension, cancer, chronic pain, psoriasis and multiple sclerosis and psychological conditions such as depression and anxiety. As well, reported benefits include improvements in concentration and attention, the ability to handle pressured work situations, improvements in relationships and the ability to deal with difficult people and generally enhanced work performance and resilience. Overall participants report that they feel calmer and more able to relax as well as increased energy, confidence and appreciation for themselves and their life. Participants have found that mindfulness helps them in many ways:

- “I can concentrate and focus at work better. I feel as though I am able to cope with the competing demands and strains of my job.”

- “I’m able to manage complex issues at work with more ease, comfort and less stress.”

- “The course has helped me think through what is really important. What has been missing, what I can throw away and what I can grow. My family think there is a different guy in the house!”

- “I’ve learned to make mindfulness part of my daily life. It’s helped me to slow down (and feel good about it)-also to be kinder and more compassionate towards myself.”

- “Things that would once have bothered me don’t seem to have such a hold on me. I am not as reactive as I used to be.”

- “I have achieved a peace and acceptance that I have been searching for, I now have an inner calmness which I treasure.”

- And finally, “I’ve learned that there is more to me than I thought and that I can make a difference to my well being.”

See: www.openground.com.au, for courses in Canberra and across Australia.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, devotes a chapter from her latest book (Note 2) to taking care of your body and soul. “An avalanche of studies, based on years of empirical work, has shown that meditation has multiple positive effects on a person’s happiness and positive emotions, on physiology, stress, cognitive abilities, and physical health, as well as on other harder-to-assess attributes like ‘self actualisation’ and moral maturity.”

Ruth Ostrow, health and wellbeing writer with The Australian newspaper, writes in her February 2008 “Business Life” article (Note 1) about how some of the most powerful leaders in Australia are learning meditation and mindfulness. For example, John Akehurst, formerly chief executive of Woodside and latest appointee to the Reserve Bank board, is quoted “I was an anxious over-achiever driven by anxiety, wanting targets to be met, and fear of failure. The change is that I have become mindful of the moment, I am only motivated by the positive, and have learned the value of authenticity and integrity. Authenticity is a beautiful, time-saving process.”

“If I don’t look after my body, where will I live?” (An insightful quote passed on by a client)

Note 1: “Thinking positive boosts bottom line” - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/storsy/0,25197,23293258-643,00.html

Note 2: “The How of Happiness” by Sonja Lyubomirsky (2008)

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This article…

…aims to provide you and your teams with information for your professional and personal development. Topics are based on areas of interest raised by clients and colleagues, with material drawn from journals, books, articles and shared experiences.

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