Ancient scientists discovered meditation, modern scientists are finding it too
Calming the mind through meditation & the breath
Meditation is a fantastic relaxation technique. But it takes much practice to get to the point of sitting still without a million emotions & thoughts passing through the mind. Breathing techniques can be very powerful in calming the mind, preparing it for deep meditation. This is because there is a direct link between the breath and emotion. Researchers in Belgium had a brilliant test of this (Phillippot, Chappele, Blairy, 2002). They had people come experience different emotions in the lab, which you can reliably do by showing film clips that arouse anger, sadness, happiness. They noticed that, lo and behold, each emotion was associated with a different breathing pattern and depth. But these researchers didn’t stop there. They went further to show that having people breath in these patterns without showing the film clips induced the same emotions they experienced while watching the films – striking evidence showing that we can influence our emotions via our breath.
Health benefits of controlled breathing
Controlled breathing techniques are often used to achieve deep relaxation and calm. Research shows that they are also beneficial for lowering blood pressure (Grossman et al., 2001; Sakakibara et al., 1996; Telles et al., 1992), increasing well-being (Kjellgren et al., 2007), mental focus (Bhatia et al., 2003; Jella et al., 1993, Naveen et al., 1997), and boosting immune function (Sharma et al., 2003).
Health Benefits of Meditation
Research on meditation is flourishing. It has been shown to increase well-being, decrease stress and boost immune function (Davidson et al., 2003), increase focus and attention (Jha et al., 2007),increase feelings of connectedness to others (Hutcherson, et al. 2008), and to increase compassion. Groundbreaking research with both novice and long-term meditators has shown that a part of the brain associated with awareness of self and others, the insula cortex, gets bigger with through the practice of meditation (Lazar et al., 2005). For more information on research, see work by Dr. Richard Davidson.
Ok, so breathing and meditation makes me feel good, but are positive emotions good for me?
Heck yeah! Positive emotions not only feel great, they help broaden your intellectual, social, physical and psychological resources helping you think creatively and flexibly, connect with other people easily, feel resilient and optimistic, and gain coordination and physical health. For more info on this great research, read about the work of Dr. Barbara Fredrickson.
Calming the mind through meditation & the breath
Meditation is a fantastic relaxation technique. But it takes much practice to get to the point of sitting still without a million emotions & thoughts passing through the mind. Breathing techniques can be very powerful in calming the mind, preparing it for deep meditation. This is because there is a direct link between the breath and emotion. Researchers in Belgium had a brilliant test of this (Phillippot, Chappele, Blairy, 2002). They had people come experience different emotions in the lab, which you can reliably do by showing film clips that arouse anger, sadness, happiness. They noticed that, lo and behold, each emotion was associated with a different breathing pattern and depth. But these researchers didn’t stop there. They went further to show that having people breath in these patterns without showing the film clips induced the same emotions they experienced while watching the films – striking evidence showing that we can influence our emotions via our breath.
Health benefits of controlled breathing
Controlled breathing techniques are often used to achieve deep relaxation and calm. Research shows that they are also beneficial for lowering blood pressure (Grossman et al., 2001; Sakakibara et al., 1996; Telles et al., 1992), increasing well-being (Kjellgren et al., 2007), mental focus (Bhatia et al., 2003; Jella et al., 1993, Naveen et al., 1997), and boosting immune function (Sharma et al., 2003).
Health Benefits of Meditation
Research on meditation is flourishing. It has been shown to increase well-being, decrease stress and boost immune function (Davidson et al., 2003), increase focus and attention (Jha et al., 2007),increase feelings of connectedness to others (Hutcherson, et al. 2008), and to increase compassion. Groundbreaking research with both novice and long-term meditators has shown that a part of the brain associated with awareness of self and others, the insula cortex, gets bigger with through the practice of meditation (Lazar et al., 2005). For more information on research, see work by Dr. Richard Davidson.
Ok, so breathing and meditation makes me feel good, but are positive emotions good for me?
Heck yeah! Positive emotions not only feel great, they help broaden your intellectual, social, physical and psychological resources helping you think creatively and flexibly, connect with other people easily, feel resilient and optimistic, and gain coordination and physical health. For more info on this great research, read about the work of Dr. Barbara Fredrickson.
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Unless a lion is chasing you, stress isn’t so good
One of the greatest inhibitors to academic and social learning & development is stress. Unmanaged emotional reactions to stress not only lead to behavior problems in young people, but also create physiological conditions that inhibit learning and potentially increase the risk of disease later in life (McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, Goelitz, Mayrovitz 1999). For college students and young professionals, stress comes in many forms, such as academic pressure, anxiety in making career choices, peer pressure, depression, violence, drugs, financial strain, and relationship issues. For learning and development, it is first necessary to lower the stress level within individuals. The yesplus workshop focuses on the individual’s perception and reaction to their environment, their coping skills, which determine the impact of external stress factors. yesplus provides techniques to improve these coping skills through stress management, human values, and service.
Does stress help or hurt my studies?
One of the greatest inhibitors to academic and social learning & development is stress. Unmanaged emotional reactions to stress not only lead to behavior problems in young people, but also create physiological conditions that inhibit learning and potentially increase the risk of disease later in life(McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, Goelitz, Mayrovitz 1999). For college students and young professionals, stress comes in many forms, such as academic pressure, anxiety in making career choices, peer pressure, depression, violence, drugs, financial strain, and relationship issues. For learning and development, it is first necessary to lower the stress level within individuals. The yesplus workshop focuses on the individual’s perception and reaction to their environment, their coping skills, which determine the impact of external stress factors. yesplus provides techniques to improve these coping skills through stress management, human values, and service.
Do Stress & Emotions Impact Happiness & Health?
YES! Our physical health and the quality of our lives are profoundly impacted by the state of our mind and emotions. Our thoughts and emotions can impact brain, endocrine, and immune system function. Whereas negative emotions, such as anger and stress, have been linked to physical problems such as cardiovascular disease (Suarez, 2004), positive emotions such as feeling happy and connected to others, are linked to many health benefits including better immune function and a longer life span (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Cacioppo, Hawkley, Crawford, et al. 2002; Pressman, Cohen, Miller, al.2005).
Got stress?
Awesome! Thats probably the reason you are alive today! Were equipped with a stress response to get our body pumped to run out of the way of a speeding car or to avoid becoming lunch for a hungry lion. Acute stress mobilizes energy and sharpens our attention to act immediately in the face of danger.
So then isn’t being stressed all the time normal and good?
Uh, no! This is a time and age when being stressed may appear normal but chronic stress is harmful. When its chronic stress actually weakens our ability to focus, concentrate, and remember things; it impacts our immune system and makes us more vulnerable to getting sick, as shown by the work of Dr. Sheldon Cohen. It compromises our ability to regulate our emotions (just think how easy it is to fly off the handle or burst into tears when we’re stressed); it makes us self-centered (Eysenck, 1997) and less capable of connecting with others which is something we fundamentally need (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Chronic stress can result in lowered resistance to disease, exhaustion, depression, cardiovascular disease, and harmful coping behaviors, such as excessive consumption of food, drugs, and alcohol.
Heck, stress even impacts how we look. It speeds the aging process (check out the 2009 Nobel Prize Winner in Biology Elizabeth Blackburns work on how stress impacts telomere length, biomarkers of cellular aging). Frankly, stress gets in the way of being happy, healthy, and maybe even pretty!
So in sum, NO, stress shouldn’t be normal. It can, and should be the occasional experience to just highlight how good it feels not to be stressed!
How does the brain manage stress?
Human brains are unique in that we have much larger frontal lobes than other species. The frontal lobes are the part of the brain behind your forehead that guide your attention and keep your behavior and emotions in check. It turns out that under non-stress conditions, the frontal lobes regulate other parts of the brain that arouse the stress response. During stress, other brain structures that have a longer evolutionary history (e.g., amygdala), induce what we know as a stress response. Several studies show that during stressful situations, such as watching upsetting movies or trying to perform a demanding task while being distracted, the prefrontal cortex (part of the frontal lobe) shows a suppressed response, leading to the perception of less self-control (Arnsten et al., 2009).
What is the source of chronic stress?
Our experience of chronic stress is mostly driven by our perception of stress. The mind may wander into either to the future, building potentially fearful scenarios (e.g., im going to fail this exam) or into the past, dredging up emotional events and often reliving them. A study at Stanford University showed that the mind tends to cling to the negative; a group of young adults showed a strong bias towards remembering negative versus positive past events (Kennedy, Mathur & Carstensen, 2004)
One of the greatest inhibitors to academic and social learning & development is stress. Unmanaged emotional reactions to stress not only lead to behavior problems in young people, but also create physiological conditions that inhibit learning and potentially increase the risk of disease later in life (McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, Goelitz, Mayrovitz 1999). For college students and young professionals, stress comes in many forms, such as academic pressure, anxiety in making career choices, peer pressure, depression, violence, drugs, financial strain, and relationship issues. For learning and development, it is first necessary to lower the stress level within individuals. The yesplus workshop focuses on the individual’s perception and reaction to their environment, their coping skills, which determine the impact of external stress factors. yesplus provides techniques to improve these coping skills through stress management, human values, and service.
Does stress help or hurt my studies?
One of the greatest inhibitors to academic and social learning & development is stress. Unmanaged emotional reactions to stress not only lead to behavior problems in young people, but also create physiological conditions that inhibit learning and potentially increase the risk of disease later in life(McCraty, Atkinson, Tomasino, Goelitz, Mayrovitz 1999). For college students and young professionals, stress comes in many forms, such as academic pressure, anxiety in making career choices, peer pressure, depression, violence, drugs, financial strain, and relationship issues. For learning and development, it is first necessary to lower the stress level within individuals. The yesplus workshop focuses on the individual’s perception and reaction to their environment, their coping skills, which determine the impact of external stress factors. yesplus provides techniques to improve these coping skills through stress management, human values, and service.
Do Stress & Emotions Impact Happiness & Health?
YES! Our physical health and the quality of our lives are profoundly impacted by the state of our mind and emotions. Our thoughts and emotions can impact brain, endocrine, and immune system function. Whereas negative emotions, such as anger and stress, have been linked to physical problems such as cardiovascular disease (Suarez, 2004), positive emotions such as feeling happy and connected to others, are linked to many health benefits including better immune function and a longer life span (Berkman & Syme, 1979; Cacioppo, Hawkley, Crawford, et al. 2002; Pressman, Cohen, Miller, al.2005).
Got stress?
Awesome! Thats probably the reason you are alive today! Were equipped with a stress response to get our body pumped to run out of the way of a speeding car or to avoid becoming lunch for a hungry lion. Acute stress mobilizes energy and sharpens our attention to act immediately in the face of danger.
So then isn’t being stressed all the time normal and good?
Uh, no! This is a time and age when being stressed may appear normal but chronic stress is harmful. When its chronic stress actually weakens our ability to focus, concentrate, and remember things; it impacts our immune system and makes us more vulnerable to getting sick, as shown by the work of Dr. Sheldon Cohen. It compromises our ability to regulate our emotions (just think how easy it is to fly off the handle or burst into tears when we’re stressed); it makes us self-centered (Eysenck, 1997) and less capable of connecting with others which is something we fundamentally need (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Chronic stress can result in lowered resistance to disease, exhaustion, depression, cardiovascular disease, and harmful coping behaviors, such as excessive consumption of food, drugs, and alcohol.
Heck, stress even impacts how we look. It speeds the aging process (check out the 2009 Nobel Prize Winner in Biology Elizabeth Blackburns work on how stress impacts telomere length, biomarkers of cellular aging). Frankly, stress gets in the way of being happy, healthy, and maybe even pretty!
So in sum, NO, stress shouldn’t be normal. It can, and should be the occasional experience to just highlight how good it feels not to be stressed!
How does the brain manage stress?
Human brains are unique in that we have much larger frontal lobes than other species. The frontal lobes are the part of the brain behind your forehead that guide your attention and keep your behavior and emotions in check. It turns out that under non-stress conditions, the frontal lobes regulate other parts of the brain that arouse the stress response. During stress, other brain structures that have a longer evolutionary history (e.g., amygdala), induce what we know as a stress response. Several studies show that during stressful situations, such as watching upsetting movies or trying to perform a demanding task while being distracted, the prefrontal cortex (part of the frontal lobe) shows a suppressed response, leading to the perception of less self-control (Arnsten et al., 2009).
What is the source of chronic stress?
Our experience of chronic stress is mostly driven by our perception of stress. The mind may wander into either to the future, building potentially fearful scenarios (e.g., im going to fail this exam) or into the past, dredging up emotional events and often reliving them. A study at Stanford University showed that the mind tends to cling to the negative; a group of young adults showed a strong bias towards remembering negative versus positive past events (Kennedy, Mathur & Carstensen, 2004)
