Life is challenging and being human is not easy. Living in Ireland at present can be really stressful. Despite more opportunities to work from home during the past five years (although this is becoming less common recently), we often have longer working hours, longer commute times, and more complexity and demands in balancing family life with work. In many ways there is no work week anymore and the boundaries between work and home have become blurred. Stress is an unavoidable fact of life and any circumstance that requires change is potentially anxiety-provoking. Taking an exam, meeting with an authority figure, loss in of a loved one, having a near accident, starting a new job, or traveling by airplane. These human experiences may all invoke stress and fear. Our minds can get caught up in serious bouts of confusion and suffering.
In our present culture, doing is valued before being and our bodies can end up paying the heavy price of constantly trying to achieve the next thing. Mindfulness has become the buzzword synonymous with finding inner peace and calm in our present era. John Kabat-Zinn is the founding director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Centre for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is the man responsible for bringing mindfulness into mainstream medicine. Kabat-Zinn simply defines mindfulness as “our willingness or ability to show up fully in our lives and live them as if they really mattered”.
Mindfulness and mindfulness techniques and practice is available for those who undertake counselling and psychotherapy at LifeChange in Dublin. Mindfulness practised alongside therapy can be profoundly nurturing and life-transforming. Counselling and psychotherapy can involve a lot of problem-solving and firefighting in one’s life and while this can be important and necessary from time to time, often clients begin to realise that they need deeper insights into their feelings and emotions in order to change how they perceive such problems. Mindfulness is not just a good idea to be more present and less judgmental to yourself. To be effective, mindfulness requires an embodied engagement over time – it’s a practice and a process, and requires ongoing encouragement and cultivation to help a person deepens their experience and self-connection gradually and organically. Ultimately it needs to become a way of being.
The Positive Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Body and Brain
Mindfulness practise has been shown to have significantly positive effects on mood enhancement & boosting your immune system. People who are very distressed have more activity in the right prefrontal cortex of the brain. Right-side activation is seen most in people who are more anxious, depressed, or hyper-vigilant. People who are more content have more activity in the left prefrontal cortex. Davidson and colleagues from the University of Wisconsin, gathered data that showed that dramatic left prefrontal cortex activation was demonstrated in Tibetan monks with many years of experience in mindfulness.
Davidson and Jon Kabat-Zinn recruited a group of stressed-out workers from the field of biotechnology and taught half of them mindfulness meditation for 3 hours per week over an 8-week period, then compared them to a cohort who were not taught meditation. After an 8-week course on meditation the meditating group now has more left-sided activation than the non-meditators.
This group reported more mood improvement and felt more engaged in life. The researchers also discovered something vital when they measured the subjects’ responses to flu vaccines. The mindfulness group had developed a stronger immune system as their bodies had created more antibodies, corresponding with the left prefrontal cortical activation. Not only did they feel better their immune systems were strengthened (Williams & Penman, 2011).
As we get older our cerebral cortex thins and our brains actually lose grey matter. Dr. Sara Lazar a biological researcher from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has been studying MRI’s of long-term Western meditators and non-meditators control subjects. One of her studies took scientific world by storm. Long-term meditators (9 years / 6 hours a week) had thicker cerebral cortexes in three areas: the anterior insula, sensory cortex, and prefrontal cortex. All areas pay attention to the breath and sensory stimuli. Prefrontal cortex is involved in working memory – holding thoughts in our head long enough to reflect on them, make decisions and problem-solving. The degree of thickening was proportional to the amount of time a person spent meditating.
Scientific research using brain imaging (fMRI) has shown that the insula becomes energised through meditation. This part of the brain connected with human connectedness as it helps to mediate empathy in a real and visceral way. Meditation not only helps to strengthen this area but also helps it to grow and expand.
Autonomic Nervous System: Fight, Flight and Freeze
Anxiety is related to our survival instinct, the “fight or flight” response is a series of biochemical changes that saves our lives in times of danger, whether we bump into a tiger or meet someone dangerous. However, living in such a frenetic world in present day Ireland, our stress response is alerted when we don’t need it. So when we don’t run or fight, we don’t burn off the effects of adrenaline in three minutes, which is what is needed.
Any problem real or imagined, can cause the cerebral cortex, (thinking part) to send an alarm to hypothalamus (the main switch for the stress response) located in the limbic system. The hypothalamus stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to make a series of changes in the body: Increased heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, metabolism and blood pressure increases. Our hands and feet become cold as blood is directed from the extremities and digestive system into the larger muscles that can help us to fight or run.
The limbic system of the brain responds to extreme stress/trauma/threat and release hormones that tell the body to prepare for defensive action. Hence, activating the sympathetic nervous system “fight or flight” response. Some people experience butterflies in our stomach, the diaphragm and the anus can lock. The pupils dilate to sharpen vision and our hearing becomes acute. This means we are hyperaroused.
Therefore, while the stress or “fight or flight” response is vital in true emergencies, it wears our body down. With the constant activation of the adrenal glands they begin to secrete cortisol into the system, this can seriously damage every healthy functioning system in our body. Chronic stress unchecked can also lead to lots of complications: cardiac problems, heart attacks, infertility, insomnia, high blood pressure, migraines, ulcers or irritable bowel syndrome. Usually there are lots of symptoms along the way. Sometimes with sudden cardiac death your first symptom could be your last.
The Relaxation Response
Herbert Benson, (2006) a pioneer in the field of mind and body medicine from the Harvard Medical School, believes that our bodies have the ability to “elicit the relaxation response” a state of deep rest that is the total opposite of the stress response. Benson and his team advocate that, “by adding stress management to your daily routine, you will see a noticeable improvement in your mood, ability to sleep, and general well-being” (2006). This is where Mindfulness comes in and the practice of meditation.
When we are relaxed our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) is activated which means slow respiration, deep breaths, a slower heart rate, contacted pupils, etc. The parasympathetic nervous system is responsible for “rest and digest” and “feed and breed”. These are activities that naturally occur when the body is in a state of relaxation – especially after eating, during sexual arousal, salivation, lacrimation (tears), urination, digestion and defecation. However through mindfulness techniques and gradual, consistent practice, a similar level of relaxation and calm in body and mind can be achieved. With the right professional care, accompaniment and support within the counselling and psychotherapy process, individuals can proactively achieve and maintain equilibrium and well-being in their lives.
Conclusion
The integration of mindfulness into counselling and psychotherapy practice offers a holistic approach to mental health care. Advances in science, particularly the neurobiology of the brain and body, and the function and influence of our autonomic nervous system, not only reinforce the centrality and power of the mind-body relationship, but how vital mindfulness and relaxation techniques and practice can be in balancing both aspects of ourselves.
By combining therapeutic techniques and experiential insight with the self-awareness and emotional regulation benefits of mindfulness, clients can achieve a more balanced and mindful state of being. This synergy not only enhances the effectiveness of counselling sessions but also empowers clients to manage their mental health more proactively. At LifeChange Psychotherapy & Counselling in Dublin, we encourage and pursue ongoing personal development and learning for all therapists, in order to continually ensure best practice and up-to-date skills and insight in psychotherapy, counselling and mindfulness techniques. This enhances and supports clients in their therapeutic journey, and provides tools and insights that will continue long after the therapy process has ended.
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