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The Neurobiology of Mindfulness: Clinical Applications
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| Ronald Siegel, PsyD | Ruth Buczynski, PhD |
National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine
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The Neurobiology of Mindfulness: Clinical Applications
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| Ronald Siegel, PsyD | Ruth Buczynski, PhD |
This Teleseminar encouraged me to begin practicing Mindfulness Meditation. I have done this in the past, but have not truly understood all of these incredible facts supporting it’s use. I am interested and want more information, and look forward to next week’s teleseminar. I have been working with a severely “anxious clinet” and I have new insights after this lecture so this has been extrememly beneficial.
I am so delighted to have been able to access the seminar tonight and am very interested in the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy training course. Not too sure, Ruth, if the intention was to email people with details of how to sign up to it. It is great to feel connected to such a broadly based community of people interested in Mindfulness practice and its implications in so many areas of healthcare. Thank you for this opportunity.
Mindfulness and Meditation is a very valuable tool. I had the opportunity to see for myself it’s value, in a ambulance ride to the hospital the night of my final class night of MINDFULLNESS MEDITATION taught by a doctor. The practice of focus and relaxation prevented my going into shock after a car accident. I was able to report to the instructor of the class I had indeed applied what I had just been studing.
Really enjoyed the talk. Particularly interested in the brief discussion about the current research on the comparative effects of mantra-based and mindfulness meditation. I have been running a weekly group using mantra based meditation (not TM) and also taking this outwards with mindful walking and the practices of Insight Dialogue (Interpersonal Mindfulness). It is area I was interested in researching myself as it seems to be really effective. Have been practicing breath meditation for over 35 years and also a member of a Buddhist sangha, so familiar with both camps, so to speak, and would be very very interested in keeping abreast of the research in this area. Warm regards, Louis
Wed. Mar. 3
Oh well….I guess it was my turn not to be able to get either the 5:00 or 6:15 teleconference. I waited excitedly all day and was quite frustrated…but then I remembered that we really are in the infancy of computers and their reliability at this stage. I hope I can come across this information somewhere else. If it was meant to be, I guess it would have happened….
Sitting in Brazil, and being with you Ron and experencing the expansion of the word resent and presence to an “omni” state Great information, would have liked some more data on BDNF and meditation. I report that there is a positive correlation. Next seminar I will be in a different continent and will try to reconnect Thanks C W
I was not able to hear the seminar at all!! Although I kept on trying for most of an hour. I was able to hear the previous seminar very well. Why??? I don’t understand.
Wonderful. the seminar came through perfectly. So much great information. I could have listened all day. Ron,I work as a hypnotherapist and teach all my clients self hypnosis (about 20mins session) with instructions for practice at least twice a day. In my experience the clients who do the ‘homework’ achieve much better results than do those who do not practice. Do you know of any research regarding the practice of self hypnosis and brain patterns? I do not believe that hypnosis and meditation are the same hence the question. Susy
Please help me determine what needs to be different. Since I have a slow dial up connection I shut down my browser just before 5PM and opened it again just before 6:15. The display at 6:15 said the program was playing, and I saw the ISP status display show the correct amount of data flow into my computer during the next hour. I heard nothing! Just after 7:10 I opened another browser window and connected to a radio station that broadcasts in what seems to be the same flash mode as you use. I heard the radio broadcast properly, which suggests that my setup is OK. Would I have heard the broadcast if I had shut down my computer at 5:00 and started fresh at 6:15?
I use a light-sound machine daily to meditate. The light and sound entrain the brain and takes me from Alpha, to Beta to Theta brain waves. I wonder if this also increases the Cortical thickness of the brain?
Dr. Siegel, What are your thoughts on using more directed EEG Neurofeedback to achieve brainwave patterns of meditators?
The teleseminar came through clearly for me and with no problem even though I signed on a couple of minutes after the hour. I can see so much applicability with couples, who tend to take things quite personally, so your section on the narcissistic neurobiology was really helpful. I can see this being applicable for exercises I would prescribe during individual as well as couples sessions! Thanks so much! This is worth its weight in gold!
I don’t know what happened today, but I could not access the seminar. Everything worked fine last week, but this week I could not gain access. I followed the link as last time. Are there others who had this problem? I was so disappointed to not be able to listen.
I was wondering if Moving Meditations such as Tai Chi increase cortical thickness. Is there any research in this area?
I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation today. Thank you so much for offering this outstanding program.
Technical Problems Also: Started off hearing the seminar okay and then a second seminar started on top of it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the program and found many applications to my practice. However, the first was to tell my husband about the data on mindfulness after which he begged off from dinner preparations to go meditate!
I am self-taught on the topics of PTSD, stress, trauma and neurophysiology. Would love to know if anyone is studying the autonomic nervous system (ANS) when evaluating mindfulness therapies.
Seems as though we pay lots of attention to the brain in these studies and ignore the rest of the nervous system. But before “monkey”, “squirrel” and “lizard” brain there was “worm brain”–the nervous system controlling the autonomic functions.
I believe the ANS and sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems are well understood, but are mindfulness studies actually measuring their activity?
Thanks to your seminar this morning it was refreshing to hear that, if the therapist is particularly mindful of their own emotional state, the client can benefit from this and achieve a greater rapport and trust. I find that my background in other areas of work has helped me immeasurably in my understanding of where the client is emotionally and how to mindfully move them to a better place in their head. The research is also helping to verify mindfulness as an excellent tool for wellbeing. This gives me even more enthusiasm to continue with the therapies I use, the way I use them and successful outcomes.
After about 5 minutes, the seminar started over on top of the one I was listening to. I x’ed out and restarted. Had to listen to the first again, but no problems after that. I would have liked more clinical applications/therapy stories. Oh- Ross, thanks for the “worm brain” for the ANS! I encourage my clients to meditate, but need to find better ways to motivate. I began Soto Zen meditation as taught by Suzuki Roshi in the 70′s, where you count your breaths, 1-10 and back again. Simple. I use Mindfulness/body awareness techniques but I am not sure what Mindfulness meditation actully is.I feel inspired to use my meditation timer in the office and just meditate with clients for 5 minutes.
As with last week’s call, (‘cept happily this week I got on with no problem)! I see many possibilities here that extend to enhancement for classroom capacities(resilience, kindness, and self-mastery work I do both with school communities and System of Care advocacy).
Teachers and students often ironically share being at odds because of the pressures of mutual outcome demands for learning/teaching. These performance expectations don’t necessarily fit easily with challenges from life that chatter regularly from various layers of everyone’s different ‘brains’. For teachers to find ways to teach and reach student prefrontal cortex(s) and narratives, while thinking, speaking and narrating from their own can add to the existing stress.
Tonite’s call adds for me ways to potentially increase contextualized choices for various mindfulness activities supported by sharing intriguing research aspects and reminding also of shifts when the brain/being is in compassion mode. These are good invitations to open learning pathways that guide more experiential vs narrative in classroom relationships, student teacher performance demand relationships, and thus greater ease and safety in negotiating to get the expected outcomes all the way around. Thanks for a very interesting call.
So disappointed! I was also not able to get the seminar. I co facilitate a Dialectical Behavioral Therapy group, in a community mental health setting, which teaches individuals with major mental illness diagnoses many coping skills, but uses mindfulness as its core skill. We are starting a new module tomorrow and I was looking forward to bringing back some of the information from this seminar to the group. Please repeat the seminar for those of us who were not able to get it tonight.
Fantastic call. I have worked a great deal with indigenous populations who live mindfulness. I am wondering if anyone has done any studies on the brains of indigenous folk. I actually began to learn mindfulness by working with them. It seems to be a way of life and something the brain craves once it becomes your own. The busy high powered 21st century keeps pulling the brain into overloading the sympathetic nervous system, and stress takes over. About two years ago my body told me that I overloaded my systems. I found “the Presence Process”, a book by Michael Brown. This book helped me to made mindfulness my own. It was always there, but centuries of technology made it seem foreign to me. So in my work as an exectuive coach, the teleclass has helped me to make a clear connection between the gifts and teachings that I have been so blessed to have through working with indigenous folks and my work with executive coaches. Wow, now sure how to do that but I am confident that it will come.
This week – no problems getting the audio stream and it was wonderful. I had just got back from running Week 5 of our MBSR course so it felt like a continuation and of being plugged into such a large family of Mindfulness beings. The Lazar and Davidson studies are familiar to me but it was helpful to be reminded of the research and to know that this is such important work, and it gives my intention to practice so much more meaning and benefit (not in a craving way!!). With Metta May all beings be free from suffering
I was with a patient at the time of the webinar and was not able to hear the original broadcast — that was the reason I took the gold plan — and now I am excited about listening and reading at my leisure as I always get something valuable when Ron Siegel shares his expertise and insights with us. I have taken his NICABM online courses and they have changed my life and the way I work with patients. Once again, thank you Ron and Ruth.
I have been practicing meditation and mindfulness exercises for many years. Studied Yoga and self hypnosis, but never realized the important connection to improving the brain. I have used these techniques in my work, and now will apply them with more confidence. Thanks for this opportunity. I am enjoying the conferences.
I appreciate the opportunity to be on the call which was crystal clear for me—good timing when there were no major power outages here in Brasil where I am studying and participating in the effects of what I consider to be ‘energy medicine.’ I am steeping myself in the process of mindfulness meditations and living a life consistent with that intent. I will use all of the information Ron Siegel presented—I was especially thrilled to have the missing ‘link’ in my understanding of the right hemisphere’s job of taking in the negative and making it the big picture. I’ve known this for a long time but my teaching will now change to reflect that this was our ancestors’ way of assessing and acting on threats to survival. Makes perfect sense to me. I specialize in post traumatic shock and the effects neurologically. This is a powerful explanation about why every little negative thought affects the whole body so dramatically. Thank you so much.
Very excited to hear more good news about mindfulness practices. I look forward to sharing this informaiton with colleagues and co-workers. I am presently teaching an MBSR program as part of a research project and the participants are manifesting positive changes every week. Good to know the brain science that supports them and increases hope for sustaining the changes.
I was able to log in and listen to the broadcast later in the week and also download the hard copy. It was helpful to be able to review the notes. I find the research on the connections between mindfulness practice and age-related corticl thinning particularly fascinating. I do a lot of seminars and workshops with one of the topics being the Welllness Asepcts of Retirement Planning. I am always looking for information to present on ways to prepare for our emotional and physical well-being during this transition. This type of research is of interest to a lot of the baby-boomers I am seeing in these gropus. Thanks for sharing this great information. I’m also very pleased to have signed up for the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy.
It was wonderful to have audio available at the second time slot. Obviously my connection (though called ‘broadband’) is too slow to manage the higher rate. I will connect at the 6.15 time (7.15am my time) again tomorrow!
Although a little late I do want to comment on Dr. Siegal’s lecture. First of all I enjoyed listening to him again as I already took the Mindfulness and Psychotherapy course, which by the way I hardly recommend. I benefited a great deal from it. The information about the benefits of mindfulness and the correlation it has with the brain is very helpful as it gives me lots of information to share with my clients, besides it reinforces my belief in this practice.
Oh brother, maybe the third time will do it! HA! As Diane wrote, many indigenous peoples LIVE mindfulness. Native Americans generally don’t separate spirit/mind/body nor do they view humans separate from animals etc. No wonder natives and Europeans couldn’t understand each other 600 yrs ago, they are only now beginning to understand. Westerners have depended upon “studies” , while indigenous peoples just trust…and practice. They have faith. Developing faith becomes unavoidable through mindfulness practices, so be ready. The stronger your faith, the more empowered you are to truly and deeply help people. I love the science, it helps me to evolve as a human, but the foundation of healing comes from faith, all is encircled in faith.
I was not on the call, but have downloaded the transcript. I think this was really helpful and I will be applying it to my practice with people with mental health problems. I have done some mindfullness training, but I think this is very exciting as it indicates that mindfullness can actually change our brains. I feel really motivated to put more of this into my private practice and to take it on board personally. Thank you.