Rewiring the Brain with Mindfulness and Meditation

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Rewiring the Brain with Mindfulness and Meditation

• Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart
• www.mindroads.com

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Awakening
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What are Mindfulness and Meditation?
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Mindfulness and Meditation are Mental Trainings

• Reduce stress
• Free the mind of afflictive emotions
• Develop qualities of
• Steadfastness
• Clear seeing
• Experiencing emotional distress
• Attention to the present moment

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What Neuroscience Backs Up These Claims of
Benefit?

• Alvaro Pascual-Leone (Harvard University,
  mid-1990s)
• Modulation of Muscle Responses Evoked by
  Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation during the
  Acquisition of New Fine Motor Skills, Journal of
  Neurophysiology 74 (1995)
• Zindel Segal (Cognitive Behavior Therapy Clinic,
  Toronto, 1994)
• Cognitive Assessment of Unipolar Depression
  Measuring Products, Processes, and Structures,
  Behavior Research and Therapy 32 (January 1994)
  147-58
• Jeffrey Schwartz (University of California-LA,
  1996)
• The Mind and the Brain Neuroplasticity and the
  Power of Mental Force (NY Regan Books, 2002)
• Helen Mayberg, University of Toronto (2002)
• Modulation of Cortical-Limbic Pathways in Major
  Depression Treatment Specific Effects of
  Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Archives of General
  Psychiatry 61 (January 2004) 34-41
• Richard Davidson, University of Wisconsin (2004)
• Long-term Meditators Self-Induce High Amplitude
  Gamma Synchrony during Mental Practice,
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  101 (November 16, 2004)
• A Neural Correlate of Attentional Expertise in
  Long-time Buddhist Practitioners, slide
  presentation at the Society for Neuroscience, 2004

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Specific Brain States Correlate with Happiness
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Meditation Activates a Brain Network Linked to
Empathy
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Meditation Changes the Circuitry of the Brain
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Meditation can, change the brain and forever
alter our sense of well-being.
Richard Davidson, Laboratory for Neuroaffective
Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison
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Loving-Kindness Meditation
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How Do Meditation and Psychotherapy Compliment?

• Psychotherapy helps meditators, such as people
  who
• Adopt distance as a refuge
• Seek to spiritually bypass their psychological
  injuries
• An internalized nurturant parent helps
  spiritual development
• Opening up our emotional life helps create
  vibrant nonattachment

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Threefold Training
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Meditation Supports Psychotherapy

• Offers tools for self-soothing
• Helps develop focus
• Builds skills in sensing, reflecting and
  free-associating
• Creates awareness of physical and psychological
  matters
• Deepens compassion for self and others

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Meditation Helps the Therapist
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Meditation Helps the Psychotherapist

• Renews therapist, counteracts burn-out
• Develops listening and intuition
• Helps therapist embody warmth and caring that is
  not sticky
• Develops capacity for unconditional presence
• Client is exposed to genuine, heartfelt love,
  experiencing the touching quality of the
  therapists presence

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Awakening
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Reading

• Aronson, Harvey, Buddhist Practice on Western
  Ground (Boston Shambala, 2004)
• Begley, Sharon, Train Your Mind, Change Your
  Brain (NY Ballantine Books, 2007)
• Hahn, Thich Nhat, Calling Me By My True Names
  (Berkely, CA Parallex Press, 1973)
• Jacobs-Stewart, Thérèse, Paths Are Made By
  Walking Practical Steps to Attaining Serenity
  (NY Time-Warner Books, 2003)
• Welwood, John, Toward A Psychology of Awakening
  (Boston Shambala, 2002)

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Rewiring the Brain with Mindfulness and Meditation

• Thérèse Jacobs-Stewart
• www.mindroads.com
• 651-225-1443 X3