Dr Ian Ellis-Jones ... Living Mindfully Now

NOTE. This blog is in recess. Nevertheless, you will find here over 500 of my posts exploring many aspects of spirituality, mindfulness, psychology, philosophy, literature and the performing arts. A member of the Australian and New Zealand Mental Health Association, I lectured at the NSW Institute of Psychiatry (now the mental health portfolio of HETI) for 14 years and at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) for 16 years. Mindfully yours, Ian Ellis-Jones PhD. 26 July 2021.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

MINDFULNESS IMPROVES CANCER-RELATED COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

A new study from the Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University School of Medicine shows that participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program yields robust and sustained improvement in cancer-related cognitive impairment.

Cancer-related cognitive impairment -- also known as chemo brain and post-cancer cognitive fuzziness -- is a common and often debilitating condition that affects attention, memory and executive function in survivors, thus disrupting social relationships, work ability, self-confidence, and quality of life.

The Regenstrief-IU study is the first randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on fatigued breast and colorectal cancer survivors, the majority of whom had been treated with chemotherapy. In the study, MBSR participants reported significantly greater improvement in the ability to pay attention, and also made fewer mistakes on difficult cognitive tasks than those in the control group, which received patient education materials and supportive counseling. Both groups attended eight weeks of two-hour classes led by skilled facilitators.

Retention rates in the trial exceeded 95 per cent, strongly suggesting that participants found the program to be worthwhile. Previous studies by the Regenstrief-IU research group have found MBSR to have a positive impact on post-cancer fatigue, depression and sleep disturbance.

Those who participated in the MBSR arm of the Regenstrief-IU study reported significant engagement with high rates of self-reported home practice of mindfulness techniques during the study. The majority continued to practise mindfulness throughout the six-month period following conclusion of the program.

‘More people than ever are surviving cancer due to the development of targeted and effective treatments,’ said Dr Shelley A Johns [pictured left], the clinical health psychologist and health services researcher who led the study. ‘Yet many cancer survivors are living with difficult and persistent side effects of these treatments, which can be incapacitating.’

‘Mindfulness meditation practices enable cancer survivors to better manage cancer-related cognitive impairment, reported by approximately 35 per cent of cancer survivors who have completed treatment,’ said Dr Johns, who is Assistant Professor of Medicine in IU School of Medicine's Division of General Internal Medicine and Geriatrics and a board-certified clinical health psychologist.

Journal reference. Johns S A, Von Ah D, Brown L F, Beck-Coon K, Talib T L, Alyea J M, Monahan P O, Tong Y, Wilhelm L, and Giesler R B. ‘Randomized controlled pilot trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction for breast and colorectal cancer survivors: effects on cancer-related cognitive impairment.’ Journal of Cancer Survivorship, 2015; DOI: 10.1007/s11764-015-0494-3

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Thursday, December 3, 2015

MINDFULNESS MEDITATION MAY IMPROVE TEEN MEMORY

This much is true and well-documented. Changes in the mind associated with the regular practice of mindfulness meditation include but are not limited to increased cortical thickness in the grey matter of the brain, delayed ageing of the brain, enhanced cognitive functioning and performance, improved concentration and attention to detail, faster sensory processing, increased learning and consciousness, increased verbal creativity, and increased capacity for focus and memory.

Now, new research suggests that adolescents assigned to a mindfulness meditation program experience improvements in their working memory. The latter is involved in many aspects of learning, like reasoning ability, mathematical problem solving and reading comprehension.

‘These results are consistent with a growing body of research in adults that has found mindfulness meditation to be a helpful tool for enhancing working memory capacity,’ said Assistant Professor Kristen E Jastrowski Mano [pictured] of the Psychology Department at the University of Cincinnati, who co-authored the new study.

The researchers randomly divided 198 public middle school students into three groups: mindfulness meditation, hatha yoga or a waitlist. Most students were female, ages 12 to 15, and from low-income households that qualified for reduced-cost lunch. Before the study began and after it ended, the students completed computer-based memory assessments and reported their stress and anxiety levels via questionnaires. The meditation and yoga groups met for 45 minutes twice a week, for four weeks. In addition, students logged their home practice in journals that were collected each week.

Two trained mindfulness instructors led the meditation group in breathing techniques, formal meditation and discussion using written scripts with instructions on sitting posture, breathing and wandering thoughts.

Students were encouraged to take CDs with meditation audio recordings and use them for 15 to 30 minutes daily at home. The yoga sessions were structured similarly, with trained instructors focusing on breathing, yoga poses and discussion. The kids in this group were also encouraged to practice at home daily using a DVD with yoga lessons.

Memory scores increased in the mindfulness meditation group by the end of the study, while they did not change in the yoga or waitlist groups, the authors reported in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Perceived stress and anxiety decreased in all three groups over time.

‘Theoretical and experimental research suggests that mindfulness meditation is associated with changes in neural pathways and may be particularly effective in promoting executive functioning,’ Dr Jastrowski Mano said. ‘The practice of meditation---which requires sustained attention while simultaneously redirecting attention back to the current experience---is closely related to the function of working memory.’

Source: Quach D, Jastrowski Mano K E, and Alexander K. ‘A Randomized Controlled Trial Examining the Effect of Mindfulness Meditation on Working Memory Capacity in Adolescents.’ The Journal of Adolescent Health, online November 11, 2015. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.09.024

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Friday, November 27, 2015

WHAT IS THE SOUND OF ONE HAND CLAPPING -- MINDFULLY?

Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden, Shinjuku and Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan.

Photo taken by the author.

As a lawyer I was trained to think logically and rationally. Part of ‘thinking like a lawyer’ is being able to draw appropriate conclusions and inferences from objective facts. Later, when I taught law for many years--I still do—I tried to instil in my students the importance of fact-finding, logic and reason.

Yet, after many setbacks and failures in my life, I am compelled to say this --- real, lasting happiness and peace of mind require the exercise of an altogether different type of mindset. Indeed, the logical and rational mind, and education itself, can be a real stumbling block on the path to satori (‘waking up’, ‘awakening’). The real problems in my life have never been solved by the application of logic and reason alone, and in some instances I am convinced that the problems were made worse by their application.

One real problem with applying logic and reason alone is that one is still working on the same level of the problem itself. As Albert Einstein pointed out, ‘No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.’ What is needed, at least at times, is something supra-rational-- not irrational, but supra-rational. The ‘key’ to solving many problems in our lives transcends ordinary reason and logic. Many advocate the use of intuition, but uninformed intuition can be a real stumbling block as well. What are the characteristics of the supra-rational mind? Please read on.

Now, most of you would have heard of the Zen kōan, ‘What is the sound of one hand clapping?’ The full version of the kōan goes something like this. The much-respected master of the major Kyoto temple of Kennin-ji was Mokurai (1854-1930) [pictured left]. He had a young protégé named Toyo who was only 12 years old. Toyo saw the older disciples visit Mokurai’s room each morning and evening to receive instruction in sanzen (personal guidance with a Zen master) in which they were given kōans to stop mind-wandering. Toyo wished to do sanzen also.

‘Wait a while,’ said Mokurai. ‘You are too young.’ However, Toyo insisted, so the teacher finally consented. So, in the evening little Toyo went at the proper time to the threshold of Mokurai's sanzen room. He struck the gong to announce his presence, bowed respectfully three times outside the door, and went to sit before the master in respectful silence.

‘You can hear the sound of two hands when they clap together,’ said Mokurai. ‘Now show me the sound of one hand.’ Toyo bowed and went to his room to consider this problem. From his window he could hear the music of the geishas. ‘Ah, I have it!’ he proclaimed. The next evening, when his teacher asked him to illustrate the sound of one hand, Toyo began to play the music of the geishas. ‘No, no,’ said Mokurai. ‘That will never do. That is not the sound of one hand. You've not got it at all.’

Thinking that such music might interrupt, Toyo moved his abode to a quiet place. He meditated again. ‘What can the sound of one hand be?’ He happened to hear some water dripping. ‘I have it,’ imagined Toyo. So, when he next appeared before his teacher, Toyo imitated dripping water. ‘What is that?’ asked Mokurai. ‘That is the sound of dripping water, but not the sound of one hand. Try again.’ In vain Toyo meditated to hear the sound of one hand. He heard the sighing of the wind, but the sound was rejected. He heard the cry of an owl. That also was refused. The sound of one hand was not the locusts. And so it went on.

For more than ten times Toyo visited Mokurai with different sounds. All were wrong. For almost a year Toyo pondered what the sound of one hand might be. At last Toyo entered true meditation and transcended all sounds. ‘I could collect no more,’ he explained later, ‘so I reached the soundless sound.’ Finally, Toyo had realized the sound of one hand clapping.

So, what is the sound of one hand clapping? If you say, ‘There can be no clapping with only one hand. It takes two hands to clap. Thus, there is no sound of one hand clapping,’ you are using your rational and logical mind. Yes, you are right in a sense, but you are ‘dead’ right as well … with the emphasis on that word ‘dead’. The purpose of kōans---if 'purpose' be the right word, which it probably isn’t---is to still the active, rational, intellectual, analytical mind. The mind then finds itself (note those words, ‘finds itself,’ for that is the way it happens) in an existential cul-de-sac of sorts where there is no way out but enlightenment. That is the only way we will ever be able to experience a direct, immediate and unmediated apprehension or realization of truth.

As I’ve said before on this blog, a kōan is not a method or technique. It is the complete absence of any method or technique. It is the absence of any meaning or purpose as those terms are ordinarily understood. It is seeing and experiencing things-as-they-really-are---without any filters, beliefs or conditioned thinking of any kind. It is waking up to what really is, and that can be an earth-shattering experience.

There is a ‘sound’ that is not even a ‘no-sound’. It is not merely the absence of sound, it is the active presence of stillness, quietness and tranquillity. You can ‘hear’ this ‘no-sound’ when the active, rational and logical mind is stilled. In such a state of heightened awareness there is no analysis, comparison, judgment or interpretation. The kōan has done its work. Remember, there is never a logical, rational answer to any kōan. However, a kōan can be solved, but never from the same level of consciousness that created the kōan in the first place.

When you know and ‘hear’ the sound of one hand clapping---mindfully---you have come to experience a veritable awakening. There is a peace that passes understanding, and a power that makes all things new. It lives and moves in the one who ‘hears’ not just with their ears but with their whole be-ing-ness … and also their whole no-thing-ness, that is, pure, unadulterated, unconditioned consciousness.

Yes, when we come to know the no-thing-ness underlying and interpenetrating all reality, we can truly say that we have experienced an awakening, for the latter is not a ‘thing-in-itself’. Indeed, it is a ‘no-thing’, that is, the complete absence of thought, conditioning, materialism and all other limitations of time and space. It is living with choiceless, unadorned awareness.

I am reminded of what Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, and founder of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, had to say about mindfulness. He said, ‘Mindfulness is about falling awake rather than asleep.’ Falling awake. Yes, and also staying awake. That is mindfulness. And that is enlightenment. It is also the ‘sound of one hand clapping’ ... mindfully.

Calligraphy: Ensō by Mokurai. The ensō or Zen circle symbolises absolute enlightenment, strength, elegance, the universe and mu (the void, no-thing-ness).

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Friday, November 20, 2015

NEW STUDY FINDS MINDFULNESS EASES EMOTIONAL PAIN BY 44 PER CENT

New research has shown that mindfulness meditation significantly reduces emotional pain.

A research team from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center discovered that subjects who practised mindfulness meditation had a 44 per cent greater pain relief than placebo. Brain scans revealed that this form of meditation substantially created various patterns of activity than those from placebo for pain management.

Neurobiology and anatomy assistant professor Dr Fadel Zeidan [pictured], lead investigator of the study, said they were completely surprised by the results, as they assumed some overlap in brain regions between meditation and placebo. ‘[The] findings from this study provide novel and objective evidence that mindfulness meditation reduces pain in a unique fashion,’ Zeidan said.

The team analysed 75 healthy, pain-free individuals randomly assigned to mindfulness meditation, placebo meditation, placebo analgesic cream, or control. They used pain ratings and brain imaging to determine meditation effects.

After the introduction of pain on skin and brain scanning, the mindfulness meditation group reported that emotional pain was reduced by 44 per cent and pain intensity by 27 per cent. The morphine or placebo cream, on the other hand, slashed emotional pain by 13 per cent and pain sensation by 11 per cent.

Past research indicated that the opioid morphine decreased physical pain by 22 per cent, which mindfulness outperformed in this new study published in the November 18, 2015 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience.

Mindfulness meditation reduced pain through the activation of the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortex, two brain regions linked to self-regulation of pain. Placebo cream, on the other hand, reduced pain via reducing brain activity in areas that process pain, particularly the secondary somatosensory cortex.

Meditation also deactivated the thalamus, which served as a pathway determining if sensory details are allowed to reach higher brain centers. Zeidan explained that shutting down this area caused pain signals to simply go away.

The lead researcher said this is the first time mindfulness meditation emerged as ‘mechanistically distinct and produces pain relief above and beyond the analgesic effects’ associated with placebo cream or pretend meditation.

Based on the findings, as little as four 20-minute sessions of mindfulness meditation every day could enhance treatment of pain. However, as the research focused on healthy and pain-free participants, further studies need to be done to see impacts on patients of chronic pain.

Journal article:

Zeidan F, Emerson NM, Farris SR, Ray JN, Jung Y, McHaffie JG and Coghill RC. ‘Mindfulness Meditation-Based Pain Relief Employs Different Neural Mechanisms Than Placebo and Sham Mindfulness Meditation-Induced Analgesia.’ The Journal of Neuroscience, 18 November 2015, 35(46): 15307-15325; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2542-15.2015

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Friday, November 13, 2015

MINDFULNESS AND INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE

A recent study published in the journal Inflammatory Bowel Diseases suggests that training in meditation and other mindfulness-based techniques can bring lasting improvements in mental health and quality of life for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). IBD, of which Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are the principal types, is a complex disease involving chronic inflammation of some or all of the digestive tract.

‘Our study provides support for the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of a tailored mindfulness-based group intervention for patients with IBD,’ concludes the research report by Clinical Professor Dr David Castle [pictured left], Chair of Psychiatry at St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues. However, more research is needed to demonstrate the clinical benefits of mindfulness techniques, including whether they can help to reduce IBD symptoms and relapses.

The researchers evaluated a mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program tailored for patients with IBD. The study included 60 adults with IBD: Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. The patients' average age was 36 years, and average duration of IBD 11 years. Twenty-four patients had active disease at the time of the study.

The MBSR intervention consisted of the usual 8 weekly group sessions plus a daylong intensive session, led by an experienced instructor. The program included guided meditations, exercises designed to enhance mindfulness in daily life, and group discussions of challenges and experiences. Participants were also encouraged to perform daily ‘mindfulness meditation’ at home.

Thirty-three patients agreed to participate in the MBSR intervention, 27 of whom completed the program. Ratings of mental health, quality of life, and mindfulness were compared to those of the 27 patients who chose not to participate (mainly because of travel time).

Source: Medicine.Net.com

Anxiety, depression, and decreased quality of life are common in patients with IBD. Psychological distress may lead to increased IBD symptoms and play a role in triggering disease flare-ups. The study revealed that the MBSR participants had greater reductions in anxiety and depression scores, as well as improvement in physical and psychological quality of life. They also had higher scores on a questionnaire measuring various aspects of mindfulness--for example, awareness of inner and outer experiences. Six months later, MBSR participants still had significant reduction in depression and improvement in quality of life, with a trend toward reduced anxiety. The patients were highly satisfied with the mindfulness intervention.

Dr Castle and colleagues conclude, ‘A larger adequately powered, randomised study with an active control arm is warranted to evaluate the effectiveness of a mindfulness group program for patients with IBD in a definitive manner.’

Study: Neilson K, Ftanou M, Monshat K, Salzberg M, Bell S, Kamm MA, Connell W, Knowles SR, Sevar K, Mancuso SG, and Castle D. ‘A Controlled Study of a Group Mindfulness Intervention for Individuals Living With Inflammatory Bowel Disease’ (doi: 10.1097/MIB.0000000000000629).

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Saturday, November 7, 2015

HOW TO DEVELOP AN UNTROUBLED MIND

The great American preacher and author Dr Norman Vincent Peale [pictured right] used to say, ‘Problems are a sign of life. The only people who don’t have them are the ones in the cemetery.’

Yes, problems and trouble are the price we pay for living. Peale used to say that the more problems we have, the more alive we are. ‘If you don’t have any problems you’re on the way out, and you don’t know it,’ he would exclaim.

It’s impossible to eliminate from our lives all problems and troubles, but the fact remains that so many of them are of our own making. All too often we think negatively and react badly to external events. We obsess over our own thoughts. We obsess about the past. We worry about the future. We don’t relate to other people as well as we could. The result? A troubled mind. The good news is that problems and trouble need not trouble you. In other words, you can have an untroubled mind despite the occurrence of problems and troubles in your life. That may sound Pollyannaish but it’s true.

Now, there are many ways to develop an untroubled mind. An obvious way is to simply refuse---yes, refuse---to worry about both the past and the future. What has happened in the past can’t be changed. Let the past stay in the past. As respects the future, what you are worried about may never happen. Worrying will not prevent something happening if it's inevitable that it's going to happen. Actually, apart from death and taxes, there is really nothing else that is bound to happen, and if what you’re worrying about doesn’t happen, then there was no point in worrying about the dame thing in the first place. Of course, all of this is easier said than done.

The Bhagavad-Gita has much to say about the importance of developing a ‘stable [or steady] mind’, that is, a mind that is imperturbable. An imperturbable mind is one that remains unmoved and undisturbed by not just external circumstances but also the vagaries and agitations of the contents of the mind itself, especially our thoughts, feelings and emotions. A person with a stable and steadfast mind takes things as they come, irrespective of their likes and dislikes (the ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts’), is not swayed by either their senses or their thoughts and feelings, and has an attitude of non-resistance and acceptance toward change. There's a metaphysical law known as the law of non-resistance. One formulation of that law is, 'What we resist, persists.' That's so damn true. Here's some very good advice from the Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic Rumi:

‘Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?’

Meditation is a most useful way of developing a stable and untroubled mind. Millions have found that to be true all over the globe. I have found that the regular practice of mindfulness is the best way to fortify the mind against worry, fear and anxiety. Listen to these wonderful words of the Buddha as recorded in section 3 (‘Mind’) of the Dhammapada (translated by Thomas Byrom):

'An untroubled mind,

No longer seeking to consider

What is right and what is wrong,

A mind beyond judgements,

Watches and understands.'

There you have it. An untroubled mind is a non-judgmental mind, a mind that is choicelessly aware of the action of the present moment, be that action internal or external. An untroubled mind is a mind that ‘watches’ and ‘understands’. It is an alert mind which is open and receptive to whatever is happening. Actually, what the Buddha has so brilliantly described is mindfulness, and the characteristics of a mindset that is mindful as opposed to mindless. On the same point, the world-renowned authority on Zen, Alan Watts [pictured right], also got to the heart of the matter when he wrote, ‘Zen is not concerned with discovering what is good or bad or advantageous, but what is.’ Got that? What is.

Now, we must be careful here. Neither the Buddha nor Watts is saying that we should no longer concern ourselves with what is right and what is wrong. Buddhism, in particular, has much to say about those two things as do all other religions and codes of ethical living. The point is this. All too often, when an event occurs, we immediately proceed to interpret, analyse, compare, contrast, judge and evaluate that event rather than experience the reality of the present moment. We either fight against that reality or cling to it. The plain and simple fact of the matter is this --- unless we learn to let go of the present moment we will never experience and enjoy the reality of the next moment and the one after that and the one after that. The present moment is ever renewing itself as another present moment, then another, and then another. To live mindfully is to let go, but before we can let go we must---‘let be.’ If we interpret, analyse, compare, contrast, judge and evaluate the present moment we are not letting be. By identifying with the present moment we end up getting stuck in the past.

Pull yourself up every time that you find yourself interpreting, analysing, comparing, contrasting, judging or evaluating an everyday happening or event and immediately return to watching and observing the reality of the present moment as one moment unfolds after another. That is the only way you will understand. Pay attention. Watch and understand. Non-judgmentally. Choicelessly.

I quoted Dr Norman Vincent Peale at the start of this post. Here's some great advice from him on the subject of developing an untroubled mind: ‘Sit still, be silent, let composure creep over you.' That's all you have to do. Get the body still first, then the mind will follow. Do that many times a day if necessary. Sit still. Be silent. And let---please note that word 'let'---composure creep over you. The Theravāda Buddhist leader and teacher of the Buddhadhamma Ajahn Chah said more-or-less the same thing:

'Do not try to become anything. Do not make yourself into anything. Do not be a meditator. Do not become enlightened. When you sit, let it be. When you walk, let it be. Grasp at nothing. Resist nothing.'

‘Let not your heart be troubled’ (Jn 14:1a). Trouble need not trouble you. You have a choice. So, let the past stay in the past. Make amends for wrongs committed and then move on. Prepare wisely for the future but don’t live in it or worry about it in advance of it unfolding. The future will unfold as it will. Live mindfully.

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