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JAZZ UP YOUR BRAIN
JAZZ UP YOUR BRAIN by Sandra La Motee from CNN.COM
(edited version)
Neurobiology and the genesis of creativity occurs when the brain is freed from having to follow rules and can simply invent.
UCSF neuroscientist Charles Limb did MRI’s on jazz musiciansn as they created and the scans were fascinating. While the musicians improvised, the part of the brain that allows humans to express ourselves, the prefrontal cortex became more active. At the same time, the part of the brain responsible for self-inhibition and control, the dorosolateral prefrontal cortex, became dormant.
In other words, in order to improvise successfully, the musicians needed to turnoff the part of the brain responsible for self-monitoring. “If you’re too self-conscious it’s very hard to be free creatively.”
In the past decade, the field of improvisational neuroscience has expanded to peer inside the brains of rappers, classical musicians, stand up comics, artists, writers and so-called divergent thinkers.
These studies consistently show a difference between people’s brains when they are improving and when they are not.
Moreover, although it seems a little counterintuitive, improvisation itself is a skill that you can improve with practice. In a 2018 study at Columbia University, researchers showed that musicians who regularly practiced improvisation were better at it and more quickly able to change chords in a piece of music than musicians who were accustomed to just following what was written.
Science has also demonstrated that improvisational creativity is not restricted to the arts. Athletes “in the zone” turn off the self monitoring part of their brains and use their instincts about which shots to take.
Limb notes that: “the creative brain is a generally more activated brain than a non creative one”. And an activated brain is generally better able to ward off forgetfulness, absent mindedness, and even dementia.
SCIENTIFIC STUDIES PROVE REIKI WORKS
Reiki Really Works: A Groundbreaking Scientific Study
After decades of often disputed validity, the effectiveness of Reiki, a holistic energy treatment is gaining new respect within the medical community. Not only are highly reputable medical facilities throughout the U.S. offering patients alternative healing programs such as Reiki, those facilities are analyzing the benefits of their programs and are submitting them for review and compilation. The results of these Reiki research studies are nothing short of remarkable. A Brief Explanation of Reiki Reiki is an energy healing treatment that works holistically; on the whole body, mind and spirit. Not a system of religious beliefs, Reiki is simply a relaxing treatment whereas natural healing vibrations are transmitted through the hands of a Reiki practitioner (acting as a conduit) to the body of the recipient. The purpose of a Reiki treatment is to relieve stress and pain, induce relaxation, release emotional blockages, accelerate natural healing, balance subtle bodies energies and support other medical modalities including traditional therapies. The International Center for Reiki Training has estimated that there are 4,000,000 people throughout the word who have taken at least one level of Reiki training. There are three traditional levels of expertise. Today, Reiki education is offered free of charge in more than 800 American Hospitals as a means to accelerate the healing process and to alleviate pain. Those hospitals are listed on this PDF document which may be downloaded here. Reiki healing treatment - joaonelson.net
Why Reiki Has Been Discounted For years Reiki, along with other methods of holistic therapies were looked upon with disdain, even contempt from medical associations, practitioners, mainstream scientists and clerics. The idea that the human body was permeated or surrounded by an invisible, etheric body of “life force energy” was considered to be no less than nonsense.
These negative conclusions were formulated on the premise that “life energy” fields such as those accepted in China as Chi or qi, in Japan as ki and in India as prana , were “unseen” and “immeasurable” by traditional research or scientific instrumentation. But now all that is changing. William Lee Rand - Founder of the International Center for Reiki Training Reiki Clinical Studies, Improved Reporting There's never been a comprehensive list of controlled, evidence-based research that was accessible to the holistic, medical, and scientific communities. It wasn’t until 2005 when William Lee Rand, founder and president of the International Center for Reiki Training and a pioneer in worldwide Reiki awareness formed the Center For Reiki Research and developed what is now known as The Touchstone Process. What is The Touchstone Process? The Touchstone Process is actually a peer review method for analyzing the current state of scientific studies done on Reiki programs in hospitals, clinics and hospice facilities throughout the United States. The process of critique is rigorous, impartial, and consistent and incorporates the best practices for scientific review. William Lee Rand began formulating The Touchstone Process after developing the Reiki In Hospitals website, considered to be the most comprehensive compilation of hospitals offering Reiki treatments throughout the world. The Touchstone Process is unique. Never before have there been so many worthy studies of Reiki gathered, analyzed and evaluated within a single source. Reiki Case Studies The most recent data analyzed (during 2008-9) shows strong evidence that Reiki is indeed responsible for a positive biological response in both humans and animals. The strongest evidence (rated “excellent” in the Process) was reported in the most carefully controlled of all experiments; non other than laboratory rats. In both 2006 and 2008 stressed-out lab rats received Reiki treatments and they all showed significantly reduced stress, anxiety and depression responses. “Sham” or bogus Reiki treatments were given to the placebo group and they showed no reduction in stress, anxiety or depression. Testing in humans performed between 1993 and 2006 showed ratings from Satisfactory to Excellent, all suggesting that the benefit of Reiki treatments were positive in controlling pain levels in humans. There were some “confounding variables”, which is typical in hospital (as opposed to laboratory) studies; however, the placebo Reiki treatments in this experiment were by contrast ineffective in controlling pain. Other examples of Reiki studies performed in hospitals and universities may be found on this related site for Reiki research.
VITAL SIGNS ARTICLE
New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Campus conducted one of the first studies ever performed to determine the effectiveness of Reiki treatments on the autonomic nervous system. This “blind, random study” included a Reiki treatment group, a “sham” treatment group and a “control” group. The testing began with all participants at “baseline” autonomic nervous systems levels. The results within the Reiki treatment group showed a lowering of these levels including heart rate, respiration and blood pressure. These positive results led the team to recommend further, larger studies to look at the biological effects of Reiki treatment. It’s interesting to note that Columbia/Presbyterian was one of the first hospitals to offer Reiki as part of their Integrative Medicine Program (CIMP). The now famous cardiovascular surgeon, Dr. Mehmet Oz brought tremendous attention to Reiki when he invited Reiki practitioners to treat patients during open heart surgeries and heart transplant operations. Dr. Oz is often quoted as saying, "Reiki has become a sought-after healing art among patients and mainstream medical professionals." Words of wisdom from an internationally recognized Reiki Practioner and author who had been published in peer-reviewed medical journals Reiki Passes Tests with Flying Colors There have been many other controlled studies submitted to peer-journals and to The Touchstone Process for review. Ailments and disorders that tested favorably to Reiki treatment include:
1. Post operative pain after tooth extraction.
2. Cognition in elderly, related to dementia/Alzheimers
3. Pre-operative relaxation and post-op pain
4. Pain in chronically ill patients
5. Depression and stress
6. Well-being in Reiki practitioners
As of 2009, The Touchstone Process has evaluated 25 test studies that appeared in peer-review journals evaluating the merits of Reiki Treatments. Taking into consideration only the most rigorously controlled studies, the team reported that 83% showed moderate to strong evidence in support of Reiki as a viable, therapeutic healing modality. Only one study proved solidly negative and that was for the treatment of fibromyalgia-associated pain levels. As is the case with conventional drug treatments, not all therapies prove to be effective.
Thinking Positively Despite these findings and the impressive number of highly reputable hospitals offering Reiki Treatments to patients, there will be those who continue to deem Reiki and other forms of energy-medicine as being “nonsensical”. As recently as 2009, reviews of randomized studies”of Reiki research conducted by Edzard Ernst, M.D., Ph.D. and his colleagues at the University of Exeter, concluded that most were poorly designed and presented insufficient evidence to suggest that Reiki was an effective method for healing any condition. That same year, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops came out with a statement urging Catholic health-care facilities and clergy not to promote or support Reiki therapy. They issued a statement emphatically concluding that Reiki cannot be an effective method of healing “within the findings of natural science or in Christian belief".
One can only look to the future of science and the evolution of scientific testing, evaluation and responsible reporting which began with The Touchstone Process to alter these perceptions. imra.org The good news is that in a press release dated Sept. 15 th , 2008, The American Hospital Association President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock stated, “"Complementary and alternative medicine has shown great promise in supporting and stimulating healing. It's one of the many tools hospitals look to as they continue to create optimal healing environments for the patients they serve." According to a 2008 AHA the survey, 84 percent of hospitals indicated patient demand as the primary rationale in offering complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) services including Reiki and 67 percent of those surveyed stated “clinical effectiveness” as their top reason. 65 of those hospitals are listed on the Center for Reiki Research’s website includingDuke Integrative Medicine, Durham, North Carolina New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center Campus, New York, New York Yale–New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut Sharp Memorial Hospital Inpatient Cancer Support Services, San Diego, California Children’s Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts Citrus Valley Medical Center Cancer Resource Center, Covina, California In addition, the American Medical Association (AMA) has added Complimentary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) treatments to their directory of billable procedures.
Here are links to other medical journal articles on the positive effects of Reiki Herbert Irving Child and Adolescent Oncology Center - New York Presbyterian Hospital Herbert Irving Child and Adolescent Oncology Center Healing emotional pain and stress leads to healing physical pain and illness. Healers in the Operating Room - Article from healthpoints E-newsletter Breast program welcomes alternative practitioners before and during breast surgery. Physicians, surgeons, and nursing staff at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia understand that emotional wellbeing plays an important role in healing, and they do as much Reiki - Medical Research Medical research and other papers on the benefits of Reiki treatment Conclusion A spokesperson from Columbia Integrative Medicine Program at the New York Presbyterian Hospital (CIMP) perhaps expresses it best, saying, “I find the practice of Reiki very rewarding, as a practitioner. Patients have reported deep relaxation and a sense of profound healing, after one session. I feel that Reiki is a huge asset for any hospital setting, because patients sense that they are in a truly caring environment." As Reiki continues to become "a huge asset" for the hospital setting, analytical reporting such as The Touchstone Process continues to add to the much needed pool of evidence that Reiki is indeed a worthy, effective method for facilitating the healing process; one that can contribute to the betterment of patients everywhere and to the betterment of our health care systems. © Copyright Green Lotus, 2011. All rights reserved If you reprodu
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY
Alexis Conason Psy.D.
Eating Mindfully
The Evidence for Intuitive Eating
Is there an alternative to dieting that actually works?
Traditional weight loss dieting programs are typically ineffective in producing consistent long-term weight loss and maintenance. In addition to being ineffective, dieting often results in psychological distress and disordered eating behaviors. This dieting paradox has led to interest in non-dieting approaches to health and weight.
This past March, the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (2014) published “A Review of Interventions that Promote Eating by Internal Cues” by Schafer and Magnuson. The authors reviewed all the published studies that examined intuitive eating interventions. They included all randomized controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-experimental controlled trials, and prospective cohort studies of adults published before December 2012 that taught participants to recognize and follow internal cues of hunger, fullness, and satiety. The authors searched for relevant articles using the terms: intuitive eating, mindful eating, nondiet, non-diet, Health at Every Size weight intervention, and attuned eating. After searching the published literature and excluding non-relevant studies, the authors found 24 relevant articles about 20 different peer-reviewed interventions that they included in the review.
The authors concluded that, overall, overweight or obese participants who learned to eat intuitively achieved significant decreases in weight or maintained their weight. Only five studies assessed cardiovascular risk factors. Despite a lack of weight loss, one study found that participants significantly decreased total and LDL cholesterol, while the traditional diet group did not improve on either measure. The other studies did not observe long-term changes in cardiovascular risk factors for either intuitive eating or traditional diet programs. Most studies that assessed blood pressure reported improvement in the intuitive eating intervention groups and only one study did not observe a change. Intuitive eating interventions resulted in significant increases in physical activity. This is likely due to the emphasis on exercising for pleasure and energy, which may be a more effective motivator than weight loss. Only two studies did not report increases in physical activity.Intuitive eating was associated with positive effects on measures of eating behaviors and eating pathology. Participants in most studies experienced decreased dietary restraint and decreased restrictive dieting; several studies reported increased interoceptive awareness. Only one study reported increases in cognitive restraint and one study found no change. Many studies found that intuitive eating interventions were associated with decreased disordered eating behaviors including disinhibition, loss of control, binge eating, and symptoms of anorexia. Improvements were also found in psychological wellbeing; participants in programs that emphasized body acceptance reported improved self-acceptance, improved body satisfaction, decreased body image avoidance, decreased body preoccupation, decreased drive for thinness, and decreased negative self-talk. Several studies also observed improvements in depression, self-esteem, negative affect, quality of life, ineffectiveness, anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, and general wellbeing.
Intuitive eating programs have lower rates of attrition than control groups and participants evaluate intuitive eating programs more favorably than control groups. The authors posit that unrealistic weight loss goals are associated with higher attrition in weight loss programs.
Of the studies that included long-term follow-up, participants in intuitive eating programs experienced decreased cholesterol levels, decreased blood pressure, increased physical activity, improved eating behaviors, increased self-esteem, decreased body dissatisfaction, and increased weight loss at one year follow-up. Participants also reported maintaining a non-diet approach one year after the intervention. Few studies followed participants for longer than one year, but those that did reported similar sustained improvements.
Overall, the authors of this review article conclude that intuitive eating helps participants develop a healthier relationship with food resulting in improvements in blood pressure, lipids, and cardiorespiratory fitness — even in the absence of weight loss. In addition, intuitive eating has positive psychological benefits including decreased depression and anxiety, increased self-esteem, and improved body image.
of the intervention from other confounding variables. This review does suggest that there are many benefits of eating mindfully and intuitively. Mindful eating is a non-dieting approach to eating which includes being fully aware and present in your eating experiences. You actually get to taste and enjoy your food!
HOW TO MAKE YOUR BRAIN MORE CREATIVE
MIT SLOANE REVIEW
Can you make yourself more creative? According to Shelley Carson, author of the new book Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life, you can.
In a recent conversation with the Boston Globe, Carson, who has a PhD in psychology from Harvard University and teaches at Harvard Extension School, noted these three things: “In the business world, creativity is now the number-one quality that head hunters are looking for in top-level chief executives. Most of the elite business schools in the country now have courses on creativity, and many Fortune 500 companies have hired creativity consultants.”
It’s possible, she says, for creativity-challenged people to use “biofeedback programs and other types of cognitive behavioral research” to change brain activation patterns to “mimic the brain activation of highly creative people.”
“What we have found in recent years in the neuroscience of creativity is that highly creative people tend to activate certain neural patterns in their brain when they are solving a creative problem or doing creative work,” she told the Globe.
Creativity and control are closely linked, she says. “I subscribe to the cognitive disinhibition theory of creativity,” Carson said. “A lot of people are really afraid to turn down the volume on the executive function part of their brain. They want control over their cognitive awareness and their mental workspace. It’s very difficult for them to relinquish that control and say to the guys back there in research and development, throw at me what you’ve got.”
An interview with Carson posted at her website gives a little more detail about this idea that you can make your brain more open to new material:
What do you think are the greatest challenges for people who want to get more creative?
Everyone has a built-in censoring system in their brains that filters thoughts, images, and memories, and stimuli from the outside world before they reach conscious awareness. Our censoring system keeps us focused on our current goals and on information that prior learning has taught us is “appropriate.” Learning to loosen up this mental filtering system to allow more novel ideas and stimuli into conscious awareness is one of the biggest challenges for people who don’t think of themselves as creative. In Your Creative Brain, I provide a lot of information on how to loosen the censoring system so that ideas can flow more fluently.
Does every brain really have the potential to be creative?
Yes! While it’s true that some brains are naturally more inclined toward creative ideation than others, all brains have a marvelous ability to continually change and develop. Research has shown that people who are naturally highly creative can switch between various brain activation patterns more easily than those who are less naturally creative. However, this is a skill that can be practiced and learned. Although it may not make an Einstein out of everyone, practice and exercise can definitely make any brain more creative.
Carson’s Harvard Extension course “Creativity: Geniuses, Madmen, and Harvard Students” covers, in part, “the nature of the creative process, the creative personality, the role of family life and culture in creativity, the relationship of creativity to IQ, and the relationship of creativity to psychopathology.” Carson also contributes (albeit sporadically) to a blog at the Psychology Today website.
It’s worth considering: Does making yourself more open to creativity require, as Carson says, relinquishing control over your cognitive awareness and mental workspace? Is letting go always a first step?
HEART BRAIN COHERENCE
HeartMath Institute Science
Scientific Foundation of the HeartMath System
HeartMath learning programs and the emWave® and Inner Balance™ self-regulation technology are based on over 29 years of scientific research on the psychophysiology of stress, resilience, and the interactions between the heart and brain.
Two Way Communication
Most of us have been taught in school that the heart is constantly responding to "orders" sent by the brain in the form of neural signals. However, it is not as commonly known that the heart actually sends more signals to the brain than the brain sends to the heart! Moreover, these heart signals have a significant effect on brain function—influencing emotional processing as well as higher cognitive faculties such as attention, perception, memory, and problem-solving. In other words, not only does the heart respond to the brain, but the brain continuously responds to the heart.
HeartMath Institute Research Director discusses why heart coherence isessential in stress management and sustainable behavior change.
The effect of heart activity on brain function has been researched extensively over about the past 40 years. Earlier research mainly examined the effects of heart activity occurring on a very short time scale—over several consecutive heartbeats at maximum. Scientists at the HeartMath Institute have extended this body of scientific research by looking at how larger-scale patterns of heart activity affect the brain’s functioning.
HeartMath research has demonstrated that different patterns of heart activity (which accompany different emotional states) have distinct effects on cognitive and emotional function. During stress and negative emotions, when the heart rhythm pattern is erratic and disordered, the corresponding pattern of neural signals traveling from the heart to the brain inhibits higher cognitive functions. This limits our ability to think clearly, remember, learn, reason, and make effective decisions. (This helps explain why we may often act impulsively and unwisely when we’re under stress.) The heart’s input to the brain during stressful or negative emotions also has a profound effect on the brain’s emotional processes—actually serving to reinforce the emotional experience of stress.
In contrast, the more ordered and stable pattern of the heart’s input to the brain during positive emotional states has the opposite effect—it facilitates cognitive function and reinforces positive feelings and emotional stability. This means that learning to generate increased heart rhythm coherence, by sustaining positive emotions, not only benefits the entire body, but also profoundly affects how we perceive, think, feel, and perform.
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WHY SPIRITUAL PRACTICES ARE SO HEALING
Why Spiritual Practices Are So Healing: An MD Explains
Written byAnna Yusim, M.D.
November 27, 2017
The quest for fulfillment is as old as humankind. When a caterpillar undergoes its metamorphosis into a butterfly, it must release its limited earthbound form. Human transformation proceeds in similar fashion.
The catalyst for our own personal metamorphoses is often a "dark night of the soul." Whether it’s heartbreak, failure, a health crisis, loss, depression, obsessions, or anxiety, we unwittingly find ourselves in a state of great pain and suffering. At first, we may seek solace in familiar theories, people, and experiences. If these do not work, we eventually find our way inside ourselves. We reclaim our authenticity and reconnect with our own soul. After all, it is within the depths of our soul that our greatest wisdom lies.
They never taught me about souls in medical school.
I began learning about them only several years after I was already a psychiatrist. In much of medicine, there is an unfortunate split between science and the soul. Science is always searching for that which is objectively measurable, testable, and repeatable. In contrast, the soul is subjective, immaterial, transcendent, and therefore impossible to quantify.
While the mind gives us access to science, the soul gives us access to spirituality and faith. Or to put it another way, our soul awakens our sense of connection to something "more," to something beyond
oneself. To some, this is a Higher Power or the Universe. To others, it’s a more general sense of the sacred, or a collective consciousness, a shared global purpose, or the interconnectedness of all life. Whatever your "more" is, it is usually concerned with matters of truth, meaning, and purpose.
From a scientific perspective, one of the most important things about spirituality is that it heals. It has been shown, time and again, that spirituality improves physical health, mental health, and subjective well-being while reducing addictions, psychological distress (like anxiety and depression), and suicidal behaviors. More than 90 percent of Americans believe in God, and 70 percent of them identify religion or spirituality as one of the most important influences in their lives. It is therefore not surprising that many patients come to me wanting to incorporate spirituality into their healing work.
My own personal life and my work with more than 1,000 in New York City has taught me something very important about the healing process: True healing and lasting fulfillment require a spiritual transformation as well as a clinical outcome.
But what steps can one take to harness the power of spirituality in the service of healing, growth, and personal transformation?
With my patients, I begin this process by helping them shift three core beliefs that can be universally limiting:
1. Go from "I am unaware of my soul" to "I am deeply connected to my soul."
To some degree, many of us learn to wear a mask in early childhood in order to please others such as our parents, siblings, friends, and teachers. In doing so, we hide our precious, but vulnerable, true selves. Gradually, we find ways to use this false mask to ward off anxiety, to help the family deny its problems, or even to keep ourselves safe from harm. As time goes on, the mask brings us so much acceptance and sense of belonging that we lose track of who we once were. We’ve hidden our true self so well that even we can’t find it! In doing so, we alienate ourselves from our own souls.
By reconnecting with our soul and setting the true self free, we can leave emptiness behind and rediscover a wealth of vitality. The first step to reconnecting with your soul is beginning to connect to what you most deeply desire, which you can practice via meditation.
2. Go from "I deny my power" to "I take my power back and create the life I want to live."
Taking responsibility for one’s life is the key to authenticity. However, rather than acknowledge our role in creating our own lives, sometimes it seems easier to blame our problems on a difficult childhood, unfair circumstances, or an unjust world. When we do this, we deny our agency over our lives and unwittingly become "victims."
There are certainly situations in life where it’s common to feel victimized, such as the loss of a job or a natural disaster destroying one’s home. But being a victim of a calamity or even suffering a tremendous hardship are very different from adopting a victim mentality.
While we frequently cannot control the life challenges and
circumstances and becoming involved as an agent of change in our own lives as well as socially and globally can be incredibly empowering. An example of this is Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai. Even after being shot for going to school and then speaking out on behalf of girls’ education, she never once gave away her power. She rose above her pain and continued to advocate for girls’ education around the world.
3. Go from "I am disconnected and alone" to "I am interconnected with everybody and everything."
As delineated in the book Living in a Mindful Universe by neurosurgeon Eben Alexander, M.D., and Karen Newell, quantum physics has shown that we are all interconnected as matter and energy. Therefore, there is no arbitrary distinction from an energetic standpoint between you and me. There is only the delusion of separateness that Albert Einstein referred to as the "optical delusion of consciousness." This delusion alone is powerful enough to eradicate civilization as we know it because when we harm others, we do not realize that we are also harming ourselves.
The antidote to this is taking responsibility not just for ourselves and our own actions but for others and for the world. Spiritual teacher Jiddu Krishnamurti made this point when he said, "The heart of man is in his own keeping. To end violence, we must relentlessly keep freeing ourselves of the violence within. Inner strife projected externally becomes world chaos." To end the world’s darkness, we must consistently recognize and transform the darkness within. On a personal and global scale, fulfillment begins when we realize our collective unity.
Recognizing that the path to fulfillment is not outside of us, we must do the inner work of reconnecting to our soul, cultivating authenticity, relinquishing victim mentality, and taking responsibility for all aspects of our lives.
Anna Yusim, M.D., is an award-winning, internationally recognized psychiatrist, keynote speaker, and best-selling author of Fulfilled: How the Science of Spirituality Can Help You Live...
HERBS, CONCOCTIONS AND MIRACLE INGREDIENTS
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FIVE MIND-BODY CONNECTIONS YOU NEED TO STRENGTHEN
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