The Soft Power of Mindfulness Meditation
Over the last half century, since the introduction of Mindfulness meditation to the Western World, there has been an explosion of scientific interest in its psychological and physical benefits.
Psychologically, it has been shown to improve focus and decrease rumination, improve emotional regulation, depression and anxiety, decrease anger, and improve positivity and optimism.
Physically, meditation enhances immune response, improves cardiopulmonary symptoms from a variety of disease, reduces pain and has profound effects on gastrointestinal disorders, such as irritable bowel syndrome.
There have also been a plethora of studies showing the effect of mindfulness meditation on cancer related pain, nausea, decreased appetite and cancer related stress.
As if all of that is not enough, I recently came across a client in one of Mindful self-compassion groups, who had been introduced to Mindfulness based Stress Reduction (MBSR) a couple of years ago. MBSR is now taught and practiced in literally hundreds (if not thousands) of hospitals, health centers, pharmacies, educational centers and management centers throughout the world and is probably the most common and well standardized method of teaching Mindfulness meditation in the world today.
Anyway, my patient (let’s call her Susan) was recently diagnosed a few years back with a very unusual form of cancer, called carcinoid. What happens with this cancer is that the tissues can randomly secrete massive amounts of hormones (mostly serotonin but up to 30 others), which can cause severe flushing, low blood pressure, explosive diarrhea, irregular heartbeats and breathing difficulties.
What she had found was that the smallest amount of stress, such as an unexpected knock at the door, a change in the tone of someone’s voice, or someone saying something unexpected would trigger a massive and sudden release of hormones causing these severe physical symptoms. It’s as if her body were on a tripwire, where a sudden scare, or a random disturbing thought would cause an explosive hormonal release that could last up to 30 minutes. Powerful medications helped but did not resolve her symptoms.
What Susan found was that the MBSR course was extremely effective in a way that the medications simply could not be.
In her own words:
During that time, my body and my mind just could not take any amount of stress - an unexpected knock at the door would send a hormonal hurl through my body. A word, phrase or tone of voice would also wildly release these hormones (they say it's mostly serotonin, however suspect I am). It was a cautious time for me and anyone close to me. But it was during this time that I had the most difficult time meditating, calming etc. and then I found the MBSR course. Guided meditation with a focus on mindfulness took the "stress" off of me. Guided meditation is allowing someone else to do part of it for you. Meditating on my own at that time, my mind would not settle.
Anyway, I believe the mindfulness practices have greatly helped to calm the tumors and extend my life. How much of the mind-body connection and mindfulness practices can help? We'll see. Life is stress, mindfulness is moment to moment and somewhere in there the magic does happen.
I personally find Susan’s experiences both exhilarating and stunning!
If mindfulness meditation can calm one’s mind to such a degree that it can prevent an explosive hormone release in a body that is so sensitively primed for physical chaos, imagine what it could do for panic attacks, depressed mood, or angry outbursts.
Subsequent posts will explore simple mindful meditations such as the body scan, breath focus, and lovingkindness meditation. What I would recommend though is registering for a formal well validated meditation program such as MBSR or MSC so that you can deeply explore the benefits for yourself. You won’t regret it!
