In this episode of Cloud9 Online’s MediMindful Moments Podcast, co-hosts Judith Dreyer, Jeff Nelder, and Henry Edinger interview Hector Torrens, the Chief Digital Officer at WellSpark Health. Hector shares how he was introduced to the power of mindfulness and how we can still maintain connection and community in the digital world.
Research Ties Mindfulness to Physical Health
The expanding body of research about the impact of mindfulness on physical health and well-being spans a range of topics as diverse as you might imagine. From oncology departments to sports teams, the benefits of learning how to hold potential stressors in gentle awareness are being applied, and studies are tying daily mindfulness and meditation to physical health.
Studies Show Mindful Eating Helps with Eating Issues
Mindfulness research and eating studies are relatively new, yet the conclusions are promising, especially for eating disorders such as, “binge eating, emotional eating, and eating in response to external cues… Mindfulness-based approaches may prevent weight gain.” They suggest that mindfulness practices appear to work by increased awareness of the internal cues, not the external ones for eating.
MediMindful Moment: Meet Dr. Reginald Eadie
In this episode of Cloud 9 Online’s MediMindful Moment Podcast, co-hosts Judith Dreyer, Jeff Nelder, and Henry Edinger interview Dr. Reginald Eadie, MD, MBA, President and CEO of Trinity Health of New England. Dr. Reginald talks about the 61 Day Challenge and how significant a community can be.
A Very Short History of Studying Mindfulness in Healthcare
In 1979, John Cabot-Zinn began a program called Mindfulness-Based Stress -Reduction (MBSR) that combined simple yoga postures with meditation. He sought to offer an alternative approach to pain relief. There were no studies back then. Today books upon books abound on the subject. In fact, in 2017, “in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, Australian researchers reviewed findings from 45 studies. They concluded that MBSR is associated with lower levels of stress-related hormone cortisol.” These conclusions play a huge role in opening doors to chronic diseases, fatigue, lower work performance, and more. Factor in today’s uncertainties, political, and social unrest, and here does that leave our emotional, physical, and mental wellbeing?
Patience: Slow and Steady
Being patient with oneself is often easier said than done. For example, the thoughts generated by our minds may seem to be repetitious and endless. We experience thoughts that cycle over the same thing again and again. It feels like we are facing off against a daunting opponent. However, if we recognize these thoughts through mindful awareness and assume a posture of presence in the moment, we can shift, decrease our attachment to those thoughts, as well as our endless the cycling and recycling of them. Through mindful awareness practices, our “noble” opponent becomes an opportunity.
What the World Needs Now
Change or Chance?
Complementary and Alternative Modalities (CAM) receive a lot of press these days. The COVID-19 pandemic forced us home and socially distanced us. What do we do when we don’t have to be in traffic, physically get to work? In other words, what happened to us when some of our daily business, school, and home activities stopped or redirected? What happened to you if you were a first responder or medical personnel on the front lines?
Brain and Mindfulness in the Time of Uncertainty
“To understand the immeasurable, the mind must be extraordinarily quiet, still.”– Jiddu Krishnamurti
Classics withstand the test of time. The works of Shakespeare, for example, reverberate today in theaters across the world, move us and have for a few centuries. So too with mindfulness practices. Sitting in stillness, observing breath, meditating whether conscious, guided imagery, or using sound are nothing new.
