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Helpful Meditations for Family Caregivers

caregivers looking after a seniorYou’ve done the huge pile of laundry and ironing. You’ve made the bed and changed the linens for the second time today. You’ve done bath time, made dinner and run errands. It’s been a long day and you’re exhausted.

Although this may sound like a typical day in the life of a busy parent, it’s not. It’s a day that many grown children are experiencing right now as the primary in-home caregivers for their elderly parent(s).

As children, we are so used to our parents taking care of us that when it is time for the shoe to be on the other foot, so to speak, it can be completely overwhelming and stressful. To help you keep your head above water on the days when it’s all a bit much, unwind and regain your composure with meditation.

Meditation can:

  • Increase patience in stressful situations and because your parent will feed off of your “frazzled” energy, helps to keep him or her calm and peaceful as well, creating a mutually beneficial positive care giving environment (click here to read some of the benefits of meditation for the elderly). A few deeps breaths can go a long way in diffusing a tense situation with your parent (i.e. him or her not wanting to take their required medicine).
  • Help keep your entire body healthy by freeing the stresses that you hold onto both physically and mentally which, when not released, can cause you to become ill and fatigued.
  • Allow you to be wholly present in the moment. For example, if you are caring for someone suffering from Alzheimer’s and that person is having a lucid moment and really enjoying your visit, mindfulness meditation can help you to fully immerse yourself in that moment rather than focusing on what happens next or wishing there were more of those particular moments. This time spent enjoying time each other’s company reminds you of the value in what you are doing. It also gives you something positive you can store in your memory banks for later.
  • Provide (or renew) feelings of solace, faith, and security: Even when the parent you have known your whole life is changing right before your eyes in ways that can be hard to see, meditation can help to keep you grounded and give you strength to face those changes.

So on those busy days, how do you find time to incorporate meditation into your schedule as a caregiver?

Here are a few ways caregivers can add meditation to their day:

  • Meditate together with your parent using a guided meditation when you have a few quiet moments of relaxation.
  • Take advantage of any break you get (even if it’s while you wait for your parent at a doctor’s appointment) to practice mindfulness, perhaps doing some calming deep breathing.
  • Make it a part of your day by “adding” it to your caregiver schedule – i.e. meditate when your parent is napping or when someone comes to relieve you for a break. Make that your cue that it is time for a few minutes of meditation, start with something short and sweet say 3 or 4 minutes of mindfulness. Soon it will become an enjoyable habit you look forward to for the peace it brings to your day.

Let meditation be something you do to take care of yourself so that in turn you can be the best caregiver for your parent. Practicing meditation as a means of self-care will go a long way in helping you to relieve stress, fight feelings of negativity, discouragement, frustration, or even depression. Allow meditation to be the break you take  to feel better as you tackle your day.

To your inner strength – Anna

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Meditation and Aging

Senior Couple Meditating
Senior Couple Meditating

If you’re a baby boomer in Canada, you’re a guest at a party with approximately 8.2 million people, according to the 2011 Canadian Census. That’s 3 out of 10 Canadians or 23 % of the population. That is a party you might want to prepare for!

Being part of this unique party means sharing the tell-tale signs of aging with a huge crowd. Chances are you’re probably going to bed a little earlier these days, losing some hair, feeling stiff in the morning, becoming forgetful, and you may even be experiencing the always charming hair sprouting from your ears, among other signs of aging. For some approaching old age, these signs are easily accepted, for others they can cause frustration and stress.

Getting old isn’t easy and at Totally Meditation we often work with boomers looking for a way to help themselves transition into old age. Meditation can be a great tool to help you to cope with your changing health and physical abilities. It helps you conserve your energy for changing the things you CAN control (like where you go on your first retirement vacation), improves your frame of mind, and helps you accept what is happening to your mind and body as you age.

Benefits of meditation for an aging population

Delay the process of aging:

Meditation may not be a fountain of youth but studies have shown that by protecting telomeres (the caps on the ends of our chromosomes), it may help to delay the process of aging. These caps play a key role in the aging of cells. Every time a cell divides, its telomeres get shorter, unless an enzyme called telomerase builds them back up. When telomeres get too short, a cell can no longer replicate, and ultimately dies. This leads to a higher risk of –

  • heart disease
  • diabetes
  • obesity
  • depression
  • degenerative disease such as osteoarthritis and osteoporosis.

So in plain English that means meditation can help us alter the rate at which we age by “replenishing” our body’s stock of the enzyme telomerase – the body’s built in fountain of youth.

It also decreases the body’s production of the stress hormone cortisol, reducing the risk of tissue damage and high blood pressure.

Reverse the effects of aging on the brain:

As we age, the area of our brain attributed to attention span, planning, and memory – the prefrontal cortex – becomes thinner. A study conducted by Harvard’s psychiatry department in 2005 showed that people who meditated had thicker prefrontal cortexes and improved cerebral blood flow. This helps us retain memory and cognitive function longer, or in essence, build our brains. Yay for neuro plasticity!

Help you to sleep better:

Meditation boosts the production of melatonin, the body’s natural sleep hormone, resulting in a more restful night’s sleep. As you sleep, your body works to heal itself. In other words, improving your sleep improves your body’s capacity for self healing. Melatonin also helps to repair damaged cells that are a product of aging.

Reduce the anxiety that goes along with aging:

When we are feeling anxious, the neural pathways related to information processing tighten up, making it literally hard for us to think straight. Meditation allows a better connection with the reasoning center of our brain which allows for a more logical approach to emotional situations and in turn, the ability to react more calmly and efficiently.

If you’re a boomer looking to add meditation to your routine, we can help that so that you can be prepared to face the realities of aging head on and fear free.

To your inner youth – Anna

Resource – http://www.ls.ucdavis.edu/dss/news-and-research/shamatha-project-nov10.html

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Meditation and the Brain

image of brain representing meditation and the brainThe Washington Post recently ran an interesting article chronicling the study of one Sara Lazar, a neuroscientist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Her study looked at the effects of meditation on the brain.

In conversations with the Washington Post, Lazar revealed that she had first started to practice yoga to treat a running injury, after it was suggested to her by her physical therapist. After realizing firsthand the benefits of yoga, Lazar became interested in finding out why exactly yoga worked so well in treating her injury. After speaking with her yoga teacher and hearing about how yoga “increases your compassion and opens your heart”, Lazar began to notice that she had become calmer and better able to handle more difficult situations. She was also “more compassionate and openhearted, and able to see things from others’ points of view”.

A true scientist at heart, Sara’s first instinct was to believe that she was suffering from the placebo response (which occurs when a person who is ill perceives an improvement or actually experiences an improvement in symptoms or overall health from the psychological effect of receiving treatment rather than from the treatment itself). That was until she did a literature search of the science and saw evidence proving “that meditation had been associated with decreased stress, decreased depression, anxiety, pain and insomnia, an enhanced ability to pay attention, and an increased quality of life.” In other words, there was a direct correlation between meditation and the brain. These associations were enough to cause Lazar to switch her PhD studies from molecular biology to further studying the effects of meditation on the brain.

Lazar’s findings

Her studies showed “that long-term meditators” had “an increased amount of gray matter in the insula and sensory regions, the auditory and sensory cortex.” This makes sense, stated Lazar, given that “when you’re mindful, you’re paying attention to your breathing, to sounds, to the present moment experience, and shutting cognition down. It stands to reason your senses would be enhanced.”

Additional gray matter was also found in the frontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with working memory and executive decision-marking. This area normally shrinks as we get older, making it harder to figure things out and remember them. However, this area in a 50 year old who regularly meditated remarkably had the same amount of gray matter as that of a 25 year old.

To prove that the increase in gray matter was in fact directly related to meditation, Lazar and her team conducted a second study. In this follow-up study, people who had never meditated before were put through an 8 week program of mindfulness-based stress reduction. Every week the participants were given a recording and asked to practice 40 minutes a day at home. The results of the study showed an increase in gray matter in all of the participants, further confirming Lazar’s findings from her original study.

An interesting study for sure and further proof of the positive impact that meditating, in any shape or form, has on the body.

To your inner peace – Anna

References:

Schulte, B. (n.d.). Meditation’s effect on the brain shows up in scan. Retrieved June 16, 2015, from http://health.heraldtribune.com/2015/06/16/meditations-effect-on-the-brain-shows-up-in-scan/#

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Pain Management & Meditation: The Perfect Scientific Equation

image representing painWe’ve talked a lot about the relationship between meditation and pain and the valuable role that mindfulness plays in the equation.  However, we have yet to delve into the research behind the relationship between mediation and pain management.

We thought we would take some time to look at some of the science supporting this relationship by sharing some recent research studies that either directly or indirectly supports the role that mediation plays in addressing chronic pain.

Harvard University and MIT study of how meditation relieves pain

(Effects of mindfulness meditation training on anticipatory alpha modulation in primary somatosensory cortex)

A study carried out by Harvard University and MIT in the spring of 2011 focused on the neural mechanisms behind why meditation helps to relieve pain symptoms.

The study involved 12 participants who had not previously practiced meditation. Half of these participants were asked to carry out a guided audio meditation for 45 minutes per day, after receiving two and a half hours of initial training in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR). For the first two weeks of the study participants learned to pay close attention to body sensations overall and in certain parts of the body. They also practiced disengaging and shifting their focus to another area of the body.

The results of the study showed that people who were trained to meditate over an 8 week period were better able to control a specific type of brain wave called alpha rhythms. These waves flow through cells in the brain’s cortex, the home of sensory information, and help to suppress irrelevant or distracting sensory information, such as pain. Scans of the participants brains were conducted prior to the study, at the 3 week mark, and at the end of the study. Those participants who had meditated showed larger and more frequent changes in the size of their alpha waves when asked to focus on a certain body part. Although the participants did not suffer from chronic pain, the study shows that pain management through mediation is possible as it allows for a shift in focus away from a painful area in the body, not unlike turning down the volume of loud music. Lower stress levels were also reported by participants who noted that they were no longer as reactive to their situations.

University of Massachusetts Medical School study of using meditation to manage back pain

(Effectiveness of mindfulness meditation (Vipassana) in the management of chronic low back pain)

A study conducted by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2009, examined the effects of a 10 week MBSR program on 51 patients with chronic pain who were already undergoing various medical and physical therapies for their chronic pain. All subjects were interviewed before and after completion the program and were also asked to complete a follow up questionnaire at 2.5, 7 and 11 months post intervention. Each subject acted as his/her own control.

The results of the study, documented in the Indian Journal of Anaesthesia, showed that patients had made significant progress in the areas of improved energy, pain management, and coping skills. A follow up study by Kabat-Zinn also showed a reduction in present moment pain, negative body image, and of activity restricted by pain. Positive effects on mood disturbances and psychological symptoms including anxiety and depression were noted. Other findings of the secondary study included a decrease in pain medication use and an improvement in activity levels.

A four year post-study follow up of all 225 involved study participants showed a high level of compliance with continued meditation practices.

These studies show that there is a clear connection between a routine of mindfulness and the successful long-term management of chronic pain. Adding meditation to your daily routine when suffering from chronic pain can only be beneficial, even in small doses. We hope you’ll give it a try.

To your inner healing – Anna

 

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Meditation and Childhood ADD / ADHD

Little boy meditating

Raising a child can be difficult enough but raising a child with special needs can be especially difficult. A child with ADD or ADHD will often not be able to sit still, have a short attention span, and be very restless. The symptoms of the disorder often affect their learning and social and relationship skills. In other words, their whole world takes on a whole new level of complexity, above and beyond the normal trials and tribulations of childhood.

So what can be done as a parent to help alleviate some of your child’s symptoms? Teaching your child the basics of meditation is certainly a great place to start. Not only does meditation help a child to calm down, focus, and be still, it will also help them to learn how to take control of their emotions and behaviours. This is most commonly accomplished by slowing the breath, relaxing the muscles, and using visualization techniques.

So you’re probably wondering how you would do that exactly. Consider this your crash course in Meditation for Kids 101.

Breathing Meditation:

It’s no secret that in meditation breathing is often the starting and finishing point for all types of meditation, acting as an anchor to help keep us focused on the moment. To simplify this for kids, ask them just to notice what happens physically when they breathe in and out – for example, notice how their chest rises and falls. If your child is quite young, it may help to have them place their hands on their chest/tummy while breathing to physically feel what is happening when they inhale and exhale.

Breathing meditation for restless children

  • Keep in mind that a meditation for children (especially restless ones) should be kept short. Start with 1 minute and adjust up or down depending on how your child reacts to it.
  • Show your child how to do this meditation and do it along with him.
  • Have your child put his hands on his belly and notice how his hands rise and fall as he breathes. You can make this into a little bit of a game by getting him to show you just how big he can make his tummy and then as he breathes out how small he can make his tummy.

A variation on this for older children would be to ask them to breathe in happiness, or another feel good or calming emotion every time they breath in.

Muscle Relaxation:

As they become familiar with their breath, and focus on it, their body, and muscles, will naturally relax, releasing tension. You may need to help them become familiar with their muscles, so they can clench and then release each muscle, one at a time (for example, close the fingers in their hand tight and then release them).

Do this along with your child, showing him the way to Squeeze his

  • Hands really tight and let them relax
  • Arms in tightly to his body and then relax
  • Shoulders right up to their ears, then relax

If your child is still engaged with the activity by the time you get to this point you can add more body parts to make the meditation longer, for example you could have him squeeze his legs tight into his chest, then relax them out on the floor; squeeze his mouth shut tight, then let his mouth drop open. (warning this one might cause some giggling); squeeze his eyes shut tight then relaxed open.

Visualization:

Luckily imagination and childhood go hand in hand, so encouraging your little one to escape into their imagination should be fairly easy. Unlike adults, children don’t think rationally or analytically so imagination is an easy state to transition into. To encourage visualization, ask your child to go a place in their imagination where they feel safe and happy. It can either be a made up place (an elephant riding on the moon) or somewhere familiar to them (the park, grandma’s house). In adult meditation, this type of visualization is often used to help you prepare better for a goal (like visualizing a successful job interview), but in childhood it serves primarily for relaxation and calmness.

  • Have your child either sit quietly or lay down on the floor with his eyes closed.
  • Ask him to imagine a place that makes him feel safe and happy.
  • Guide him through the sensations that would be associated with being in that place, for example what does he hear, see, feel or even smell?

If you would like more ideas and information check out this book Focusing and Calming Games for Children: Mindfulness Strategies and Activities to Help Children to Relax, Concentrate and Take Control

Once you’ve taught your children these techniques, it is a good idea to find a way to add it to their daily routine, for example, before they go to sleep at night. That way these mini meditations will become a familiar habit they can return to them on their own when they need to concentrate, exercise impulse control and problem solving, or simply calm down from feeling anxious or angry. Having this control over their emotions will allow them to better communicate their feelings with you, their siblings, with friends, and at school.

To your inner peace – Anna

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Mindfulness Meditation in the Workplace

Mindfulness at Work

Woman meditating in her officeWe’ve all been there. Those days at work when nothing seems to go right and you’re stressed out, can’t concentrate, and have zero patience with your colleagues or superior.

For the days that aren’t so great, mindfulness meditation can help to reduce stress, boost concentration, and promote compassion and clarity, leading to a healthier, more productive, and a more empathetic work environment.

  • Reduce stress: High levels of stress flood your body with stress hormones, all day long, leading to exhaustion, premature aging, and increased frequency of illness and absenteeism. Even in high stress work environments – like the stock exchange – where stress is crucial to high achievement, meditation can be of great benefit in helping to manage stress in the particular moment.
  • Mental clarity: When you’re stressed you often don’t give a task 100% of your attention. Practicing mindfulness can make you more present when completing tasks by increasing focus, eliminating distractions, and improving concentration, and in turn improving your overall work performance. It will also help connect you better to the overall goals and visions of your workplace.
  • Compassion and empathy: Having a positive attitude towards others can go a long way in helping to diffuse or prevent any workplace conflicts that you may find yourself in or irritations that you may have with coworkers. Mindfulness meditation can help create an environment of tolerance and non-prejudice and improve teamwork efficiency. It can also help with self compassion and awareness, which goes hand in hand with confidence. Being confident means you will be better equipped when it comes to review time, asking for a raise, or if you are on the job hunt and going to interviews.

So the next time you’re at work and you start to feel like things are piling up, or you’ve done the same task three times, take a minute to practice the following mindfulness meditation, which can be done at your desk, in a meeting, or on your commute home.

1 minute breathing meditation:

  • Stop whatever you are working on for just a minute (or 2 or 3 if you can spare the time) to take a few nice long deep breaths.
  • With each breath you inhale think a phrase that is appropriate to how you are feeling right now, so for example if you are feeling anxious you could think something to the effect of “I am calm”, “Calm down” or even just the word “Calm”
  • Focus on your key phrase (like “I am calm”) and let it soak into you, allow yourself to really FEEL the statement.
  • Whatever phrase or word you select, make sure you choose positive wording. Rather than thinking “I am NOT anxious” think and FEEL the words “I am Calm” because the mind tends to ignore words like “Not” and hold onto what is left of the sentence!

In summary, practicing mindfulness at your workplace, wherever that may be, not only will help calm you, it will also help you be better at what you do and get along better with those you work with. It’s a win-win situation any way you look at it.

To your inner peace – Anna