Yoga and Psychology Lecture 4

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Yoga and Psychology Lecture 4
Dr. Mark Williams Ph.D. Professor of Education
(Positive Psychology) Shenzhen University
    email markw.szu_at_gmail.comwebwww.aappi.net

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What we will do

• Opening yoga awareness exercises
• Short lecture time - students take notes
• Questions and answers
• Yoga exercises
• Mindfulness and meditation exercises

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Abdominal Breathing Exercise

• Sit straight at front of chair with straight
  back, chin parallel to ground, feet flat,
  parallel and slightly apart
• Put left hand on knee, right hand on lower
  abdomen and breath gently down into lower abdomen
  before gently allowing breath into lower and then
  upper chest
• Count in 1, out 2, in 3, out 4, in 5, etc up to
  10
• Then begin counting again going back to 1 if you
  forget where you are

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Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
1 strongly disagree. 2 moderately disagree. 3
slightly disagree. 4 slightly agree.5
moderately. agree 6 strongly agree.

1. "I feel fully mentally alert.
2. "I dont feel particularly pleased with the way I
   am. "
3. "I do not have particularly happy memories of the
   past. "
4. "I feel that life is very rewarding.
5. "I am well satisfied about everything in my life.
   
6. "I don't think that I look attractive. "
7. "I find beauty in some things.
8. "I can fit in everything I want to.

• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 1 2 3 4 5 6

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Ed Dieners Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)
7 Strongly agree???? 6 Agree?? 5 Slightly
agree??? 4 Neither agree nor
disagree???????? 3 Slightly disagree????? 2
Disagree??? 1 Strongly disagree?????

1. In most ways my life is close to ideal. _____
2. The conditions of my life are excellent. _____
3. I am satisfied with my life. _____
4. So far I have gotten the important things I want
   in my life. _____
5. If I could have my life over again, I would
   change almost nothing. _____

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Mindfulness and Mind Body Medicine Reducing
the Harmful Effects of too much Stress

• Jose Calderon-Abbo, M.D.
• Director Mindful Living Program LSUHSC
• Associate Clinical Director NOAH
• Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry LSUHSC

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Stress is Toxic to Your Body
Limits thinking Narrows problem
solving Interferes with memory
Increases heart rate Increases blood pressure
Increases aging
Decreases absorption of nutrients
Increases obesity
Increases blood sugar and cholesterol
Associated with depression
Increases sticky platelets
High muscle tension and decreased bone density
Decreases Immune function
Infertility
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Center for Mind Body MedicineJames Gordon, M.D.
Washington DC
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What is Mind-Body Medicine?

• Branch of mainstream medicine
• Focuses on the interactions among the brain,
  mind, body, and behavior.
• Emotional, mental, social, spiritual, and
  behavioral factors directly affect health.
• Uses techniques that enhance ones capacity for
  self-knowledge and self-care.
• Examples Meditation, self-awareness, relaxation,
  imagery, exercise, yoga, journaling, biofeedback,
  prayer, nutrition, sleep and exercise

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Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Jon
Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D. U Mass at Worcester
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What is Mindfulness?

• Moment-to-moment
• (i.e. watching each moment pass)
• non-judgmental
• (i.e. dont think good or bad, allow any pain
  or regret to drift away by itself)
• Awareness (dont fall asleep)
• 
  Jon Kabat-Zinn

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Influence of a mindfulness meditation-based
stress reduction intervention on rates of skin
clearing in patients with moderate to severe
psoriasis undergoing phototherapy (UVB) and
photochemotherapy (PUVA) Kabat-Zinn J, Wheeler E,
Light T, Skillings A, Scharf MJ, Cropley
TG,Hosmer D, Bernhard JD.
OBJECTIVE This study tests the hypothesis that
stress reduction methods based on mindfulness
meditation can positively influence the rate at
which psoriasis clears in patients undergoing
phototherapy or photochemotherapy treatment.
METHODS Thirty-seven patients with psoriasis
about to undergo ultraviolet phototherapy (UVB)
or photochemotherapy (PUVA) were randomly
assigned to one of two conditions a mindfulness
meditation-based stress reduction intervention
guided by audiotaped instructions during light
treatments, or a control condition consisting of
the light treatments alone with no taped
instructions. Psoriasis status was assessed in
three ways direct inspection by unblinded clinic
nurses direct inspection by physicians blinded
to the patient's study condition (tape or
no-tape) and blinded physician evaluation of
photographs of psoriasis lesions. Four sequential
indicators of skin status were monitored during
the study a First Response Point, a Turning
Point, a Halfway Point, and a Clearing Point.
RESULTS Cox-proportional hazards regression
analysis showed that subjects in the tape groups
reached the Halfway Point (p .013) and the
Clearing Point (p .033) significantly more
rapidly than those in the no-tape condition, for
both UVB and PUVA treatments. CONCLUSIONS A
brief mindfulness meditation-based stress
reduction intervention delivered by audiotape
during ultraviolet light therapy can increase the
rate of resolution of psoriatic lesions in
patients with psoriasis.
Psychosom Med. 1998 Sep-Oct60(5)625-32.
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Kabat Zinn J Behav Med. 1985 8(2)163-90.
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(No Transcript)
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Why Now? 1. Consumer Driven Shifts in the
Medical Model
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Relaxation Response (Benson 1974)
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Measuring Brain and Body Activity During
Mindfulness Mediation
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Meditation and Cortical Activation

• TM brain's response to somatosensory stimulation
  (0100 msec) are more widely distributed across
  the cortex.
• Increased perception of information and
  functional relationship between the two
  hemispheres.

Nicolaevich 1992,1998
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Fig. 3. Absolute gamma power and long-distance
synchrony during mental training. (a) Scalp
distribution of gamma activity during meditation.
The color scale indicates the percentage of
subjects in each group that had an increase of
gamma activity during the mental training. (Left)
Controls. (Right) Practitioners. An increase was
defined as a change in average gamma activity of
gt1 SD during the meditative state compared with
the neutral state. Black circles indicate the
electrodes of interest for the group analysis.
(b) Adjusted gamma variation between neutral and
meditative states over electrodes F3-8, Fc3-6,
T7-8, Tp7-10, and P7-10 for controls and
long-time practitioners F(1, 16) 4.6, P lt
0.05 ANOVA. (c) Interaction between the group
and state variables for the number of electrode
pairs between ROIs that exhibited synchrony
higher than noise surrogates F(1, 16) 6.5, P lt
0.05 ANOVA. The blue line represents the
controls the red line represents the
practitioners. (d) Correlation between the length
of the long-term practitioners' meditation
training and the ratio of relative gamma activity
averaged across electrodes in the initial
baseline (P lt 0.02). Dotted lines represent 95
confidence intervals.
Davidson JR 2004
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Reduce Stress with 10 Minutes of Chair Yoga

• Louise Mahoney, MS

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The Vagus Nerve

• The 10th cranial nerve derived from the word
  vagabond to wander extends from the
  medulla through the diaphragm to the abdomen.
• Main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system
  and responsible for
• slowing respiration
• reducing heart rate
• lowering blood pressure
• stimulating digestive activity

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Chair Yoga

• Begin by sitting on the edge of a chair with your
  feet placed squarely on the floor about hip
  distance apart, toes facing straight forward.
• Place your palms flat on your thighs, and feel
  length in your spinehead balanced over heart,
  heart balanced over hips.
• Inhale and exhale evenly for five counts each.
• Repeat inhale/exhale 2 times.

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Seated Mountain Pose

• Place both arms down by your side and as you
  inhale slowly for 5 counts reach arms out and up
  with palms facing up while lifting arms overhead
• Exhale as you move arms down with palms facing
  towards the floor as you exhale for 5 counts.
• Repeat 5 times

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Seated Side Stretch

• Inhale and lift your arms overhead, taking hold
  of your left wrist with your right hand.
• As you exhale, bend to the right. Stay there for
  two breaths.
• As you inhale, come back up to vertical and
  change wrists.
• Exhale, and bend to the left. Stay there for two
  breaths.
• Inhale back up to a tall spine.
• Exhale, release your arms down to your side

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Shoulder Rolls and Stretch

• Circle your shoulders by slowly rolling them up,
  back and down
• On the fourth roll, interlace your fingers behind
  your back with your arms as straight as you are
  able to make them
• If you dont have room behind you, reach back and
  hold onto the outside edges of the back of your
  chair and stretch your shoulders and chest

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Seated Cat/Cow

• Place hands on your knees. As you inhale, lift
  your chest, and arch the back
• As you exhale, tuck your pelvis and pull your
  navel in toward the spine, round your spine back
  toward the back of the chair keep your head in
  line with your spine dont drop the head.
• As you move, inhale and exhale deeply and feel
  the broadness of the back of the body
• Repeat 3 more times

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Seated Forward Bend

• Feet parallel, slightly wider than hip width
• Engage your abdominal muscles as you begin to
  fold your upper body over your legs, letting your
  upper body fall through your thighs. Are you able
  to reach the floor with your palms flat?
• Otherwise, try to hold onto your ankles or shins
  - the goal is to let your head drop lower than
  your hips and relax the head and neck
• You may grab onto your elbows or let your arms
  drop to the floor
• Engage your abdominal muscles and slowly roll up
  and find length in your spine.

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Seated Spinal Twist

• Inhale into your abdomen. As you exhale, twist
  your upper body to the right, starting from the
  base of the spine. You can place your left hand
  on the outside of your right thigh and your right
  hand on the back of your chair.
• As you look over your right shoulder, move your
  eyes to the upper right corner of your eyes and
  then the lower right corner. Repeat 2 times.
• Close your eyes as you untwist back to center.
• Repeat to the other side.

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Seated Triangle Pose

• Sit on the edge of your chair, keep the left leg
  bent and extend your right leg straight to the
  side, keeping both feet on the floor. Extend
  arms out to the side
• Inhale deeply, lift your torso tall and as you
  exhale reach your torso up and out to the right
  side. When you cannot go any farther, allow the
  arms and body to windmill towards the floor
  keep the arms outstretched
• Take 2 deep breaths. On your next inhalation,
  reach your torso and arms out and up and come
  back to seated
• Repeat to the left side

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Namaste!

• Bring your knees back to center, hip distance,
  sit up tall
• Take 2 deep cleansing breaths as you raise your
  arms up overhead and back down
• On the third breath, bring the palms of your
  hands together, with the thumbs touching your
  chest
• Close your eyes and breath normally for a few
  seconds and you have completed your chair yoga
  break!

31
Oxford Happiness Questionnaire
1 strongly disagree. 2 moderately disagree. 3
slightly disagree. 4 slightly agree.5
moderately. agree 6 strongly agree.

1. "I feel fully mentally alert.
2. "I dont feel particularly pleased with the way I
   am. "
3. "I do not have particularly happy memories of the
   past. "
4. "I feel that life is very rewarding.
5. "I am well satisfied about everything in my life.
   
6. "I don't think that I look attractive. "
7. "I find beauty in some things.
8. "I can fit in everything I want to.

• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 2 3 4 5 6
• 1 2 3 4 5 6

32
Ed Dieners Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS)
7 Strongly agree???? 6 Agree?? 5 Slightly
agree??? 4 Neither agree nor
disagree???????? 3 Slightly disagree????? 2
Disagree??? 1 Strongly disagree?????

1. In most ways my life is close to ideal. _____
2. The conditions of my life are excellent. _____
3. I am satisfied with my life. _____
4. So far I have gotten the important things I want
   in my life. _____
5. If I could have my life over again, I would
   change almost nothing. _____