When a Professional Gets Burnt Out: Rediscovering What We Preach Part 2

Meditation and relaxation go hand in hand, however they are learned arts.  In our hectic world, many of us feel stressed out and over worked.  Meditation gives the mind a break and makes thoughts calmer and better focused.  Spending quiet time in meditation also teaches about overcoming stress and finding inner peace and balance.  Many individuals overcome negative thoughts through meditation and also, some individuals also utilize prayer during quiet time or meditation.

In a 2013 Huffington Post article, author Amanda Chan identified many benefits of meditation.  The benefits include:

Lowers stress.  A person not only feels less stressed but also decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol.

Lets us know our true selves by having the time to objectively analyze ourselves.

Promotes better focus ~ with working adults as well as students, cognitive function is improved.

Allows for better performance, better ability to handle and recover from stress.

Changes the brain in a protective way – for more positive thoughts.

Works as the brain’s volume knob, keeping negativity at a minimum.

Improves focus on music by improving focus.

Promotes sleep through relaxation. 

Lowers depression

Boosts health by reducing the expression of genes linked with inflammation.

Meditation needs only to last 10 – 15 minutes to be effective.  Sitting in a comfortable position to meditate is best, although there is no prescribed position.   While being quiet in meditation, don’t try to eliminate thoughts or resist them.  Let them come and go freely. You may experience a dream-like state during meditation and not be conscious of noises or sounds.  Some people fall asleep while meditating, while others experience strong emotions.  Should you experience any strong thoughts or emotions, try to come back to breathing and focus on that.

The Cleveland Clinic has a unique take on mindfulness and meditation.  Code Lavender is a holistic care response serving both patients and providers in need of emotional or spiritual support.  Through the program, a provider who summons emotional support is met by a team of holistic nurses within 30 minutes of a call. The team provides Reiki* and massage, health snacks and water, and lavender arm bands to remind the individual to relax for the rest of the day. The Holistic Services Team also offers a variety of other methods, including spiritual support, mindfulness training, counseling and yoga. According to the Huffington Post, the Cleveland Clinic is one of a growing number of hospitals and health systems that are integrating holistic therapies into their services. A 2011 American Hospital Association report found that 42% of hospitals surveyed offer one or more Complementary and Alternative Medicine therapies, including acupuncture, homeotherapy, and herbal medicine—up from 37% in 2007.

I have included a sample meditation from Meditation Oasis.  It is an eight minute Mandela Meditation, with beautiful music and mandalas.

*Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction, relaxation and promoting healing.  It is a method of “laying on of hands” and is based on the idea that an unseen life energy force flows through us and is what causes to be alive. If the life energy force is low, a person is more likely to feel ill, stressed or unhappy.

References:

Ainsworth, B. et al. (2013) The effect of focused attention and open monitiroing meditation on attention network function in healthy volunteers.  Psychiatry Research, 210(3):1226-31.

Foureur, M. et al. (2013)  Enhancing the resilience of nurses and midwives: pilot of a mindfulness-based program for increased health, sense of coherence and decreased depression, anxiety and stress.  Contemporary Nurse, 45(1):114-25.

Goyal, M. et al. (2014) Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: A systematic review and meta-analysis.  JAMA Internal Medicine, Jan 6.

Singh, Y. et al. (2012) Immediate and long-term effects of meditation on acute stress reactivity, cognitive funcitions and intelligence.  Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine. 18(6): 46-53.

Midwive's Diner!

If you have NOT seen this short video, you need to right now!  So cute and innovative!  Great analogy and wonderful introduction to midwifery care.  Kudos to the creators of Midwive's Diner!

Call The Midwife

If you have not yet seen this delightful and engaging series on PBS/BBC, please follow it on You Tube!

The Perfect Response by Barbara Harper

My long-time friend, Barbara Harper (founder of Waterbirth International), posted this on her Facebook page. I found her dialogue so phenomenal, I asked her permission to reprint.  So here it is..in Barbara’s words….

There was a commentator on the radio in Miami this morning (10/18/12) extolling the virtues of planned cesarean surgery and induction because you can guarantee that your doctor will be there as one reason to "control" the birth of your baby. This was my response:

To the uninformed person who commented on the convenience and safety of inductions and scheduled cesarean surgery instead of waiting for the perfectly timed dance of undisturbed childbirth: 

Barbara Harper

All human beings are programmed by brain wiring and influenced by the environmental signals to initiate the birth process through a complex set of chemical, hormonal and neurological transmitters. The new human needs that process to fully engage and activate parts of the brain that contribute to health, well-being, cardiovascular stability, respiratory function, neurological development and even feelings of love and attachment. 

When we arbitrarily assign a date to chemically initiate the process, the innate programming gets shut down, cannot function in the same way as the biological imperative would have, had things been left alone. The human being perceives this "jump start" as a threat and begins to prepare its body and brain to survive in an environment that is stress filled and possibly life threatening. All of the bodily functions that control the neurological, cardiovascular, respiratory, metabolic adaptive mechanisms are put on high alert and remain there. This over stimulation of the psychoneuroimmunological system creates and lays down the patterns for future problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and even some psychiatric disorders. 

This may be difficult for the uninformed consumer to begin to see the connections between the use of a simple drug to stimulate the uterine contractions or a surgical procedure to remove a human being from the habitat in which brain development is meant to take place, but the growing field of epigenetics and pre and perinatal psychology are rapidly filling in the gaps in our understanding that what we do in the birth process has life-long consequences on human health, the development of character, mental stability and perhaps even drug addiction. Tall order? Perhaps we are only beginning to realize the long term effects of this violation of an innate biological agenda - because that is what early chemical induction is!

As they say, "don't mess with Mother Nature!"

These scientific principals and the evidence to support this thesis are contained in my forth coming book, "Embracing The Miracle: How Pregnancy, Birth and the First Hour Influence Human Potential."  There are already many books and hundreds of research studies from which to broaden your understanding of allowing nature to fulfill its destiny in the creation of new human beings. Parenting For Peace by Marcy Axeness is a great book for any potential parent or grandparent along with my other book, Gentle Birth Choices .