Yoga and Meditation

Yoga

Yoga Virya
Movements
Breathing techniques
Incorporating yoga practice serves many needs and patient population
Videos

Meditation

Meditation: Clarifying Priorities
Everyone benefits
Many Meditation techniques

Yoga Virya: Energy for Positive Life

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Movements:

• Body movements that involves stretching all body areas from head to toes
• Balancing while stretching all areas
• Close-chain vs open chain stretches
• Challenging postures to help you improve
• Changing perspectives and out of the box thinking
• Get into positions that you wouldn't imagine you can do, yet see it happen with practice
• Flexibility/ Balance/ Strength building

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Breathing techniques:

Many breathing techniques help different aspects of body functions:

• Improve lung capacity/ oxygenation
• Pelvic floor strengthening
• Core control
• COPD- Breathing problems
• Helping digestion
• Voiding- Bowels and bladder voiding/ organ motility
• Rib cage mobility
• Spinal mobility
• Postural alignment

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Incorporating yoga practice serves many needs and patient population:

• Calming and focusing
• Cancer Survivors
• Chronic Pain
• COPD/ Breathing
• Feet Hands strength motor control
• Graceful Aging
• Kids/Teens
• Moms/ Pregnancy/Menstruation
• Pelvic Health/ Incontinence
• Special Needs Population
• Spinal Injuries/ Kyphoscoliosis/ Scoliosis
• Variations in body types and shapes
• Weight training

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Videos:

Special Needs

Yoga for Down's Syndrome

Yoga for Kids

Scientific research on benefits of yoga from the National Institute of Health

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Meditation: Clarifying Priorities

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Everyone benefits:

• Improve Personal confidence
• Learn "No regrets"
• Non-judgmental regarding yourself and others
• Calming/ Peaceful interactions
• Mindfulness- paying attention, improving memory
• Helping kids and adults focus, prioritize
• Interconnecting muscles, sensory, and movements, with mental focus

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Many Meditation techniques:

1. Forgiveness:
   
   • I ask for forgiveness from others
   • I forgive others
   • I forgive myself
2. Sending good will and peace:
   • To myself
   • To people in my household/ office/ this meeting
   • To those around us: restaurant staff, patrons
   • To neighbors
   • To teachers/ classmates/ friends
   • People in my community/ Every being in this city
   • My fellow country women and men
   • To others around the world
3. Imagery:
   • Imagine tranquil places, images
   • Imagine flower blooming, dot becoming larger
   • Colors getting softer or stronger/ Changing colors
4. Body sensations:
   • Locating each part of the body and how each area feels
   • Contract/ Relax each body area
   • Observing breath
5. Emotions and thoughts:
   • Observe breath
   • Acknowledge when thoughts are racing, come back to breath observation
   • Observing emotions, go back to breath
   • Observing pain/ itching/ feeling on skin
   • Slows down reaction to senses/anger- keep self in check
6. Moving Meditation:
   • While eating, walking, sitting, driving
   • Walking: observe steps, pressure each foot
   • Eating: How many chews, jaw moves R/L, tongue, swallowing
   • While working/ driving: Ergonomics, body alignments
   • Sports body movements

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References

National Institute of Health

• Barrett B, Hayney MS, Muller D, et al. Meditation or exercise for preventing acute respiratory infection: a randomized controlled trial. Annals of Family Medicine. 2012;10:337–346.
• Brewer JA, Mallik S, Babuscio TA, et al. Mindfulness training for smoking cessation: results from a randomized controlled trial. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2011;119(1–2):72–80.
• Brook RD, Appel RJ, Rubenfire M, et al. Beyond medications and diet: alternative approaches to lowering blood pressure: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Hypertension. 2013;61(6):1360–1383
• Carim-Todd L, Mitchell SH, Oken BS. Mind-body practices: an alternative, drug-free treatment for smoking cessation? A systematic review of the literature. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. 2013;132(3):399–410.
• Chen KW, Berger CC, Manheimer E, et al. Meditative therapies for reducing anxiety: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Depression and Anxiety. 2012;29(7):545–562.
• Cherkin DC, Sherman KJ, Balderson BH, et al. Effect of mindfulness-based stress reduction vs cognitive behavioral therapy or usual care on back pain and functional limitations in adults with chronic low back pain: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2016;315(12):1240–1249.
• Cramer H, Haller H, Lauche R, et al. Mindfulness-based stress reduction for low back pain. A systematic review. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2012;12(162):1–8.
• Dakwar E and Levin FR. The emerging role of meditation in addressing psychiatric illness, with a focus on substance use disorders. Harvard Review of Psychiatry. 2009;17(4):254–267.
• Desbordes G, Negi LT, Pace TW, et al. Effects of mindful-attention and compassion meditation training on amygdala response to emotional stimuli in an ordinary, non-meditative state. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2012;6:1–15
• Fang CY, Reibel DK, Longacre ML, et al. Enhanced psychosocial well-being following participation in a mindfulness-based stress reduction program is associated with increased natural killer cell activity. Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 2010;16(5):531–538.
• Gaylord SA, Palsson OS, Garland EL, et al. Mindfulness training reduces the severity of irritable bowel syndrome in women: results of a randomized controlled trial. American Journal of Gastroenterology. 2011;106(9):1678–1688.
• Goldstein CM, Josephson R, Xie S, et al. Current perspectives on the use of meditation to reduce blood pressure. International Journal of Hypertension. 2012;2012:578397.
• Goyal M, Singh S, Sibinga EM, et al. Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2014;174(3):357–368.
• Greeson JM, Webber DM, Smoski MJ, et al. Changes in spirituality partly explain health-related quality of life outcomes after Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2011;34(6):508–518.
• Jedel S, Hoffman A, Merriman P, et al. A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness-based stress reduction to prevent flare-up in patients with inactive ulcerative colitis. Digestion. 2014;89:142–155.
• Lakhan SE, Schofield KL. Mindfulness-based therapies in the treatment of somatization disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2013;26;8(8):e71834.
• Luders E. Exploring age-related brain degeneration in meditation practitioners. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. 2013;1307:82–88.
• Luders E, Kurth F, Mayer EA, et al. The unique brain anatomy of meditation practitioners: alterations in cortical gyrification. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2012;6:1–9.
• Nidich SI, Rainforth MV, Haaga DAF, et al. A randomized controlled trial on effects of the transcendental meditation program on blood pressure, psychological distress, and coping in young adults. American Journal of Hypertension. 2009;22(12):1326–1331.
• Morgan N, Irwin MR, Chung M, et al. The effects of mind-body therapies on the immune system: meta-analysis. PLOS One. 2014;9(7):1–14.
• Ong JC, Manber R, Segal Z, et al. A randomized controlled trial of mindfulness meditation for chronic insomnia. Sleep. 2014;37(9):1553–1563.
• Reiner K, Tibi L, Lipsitz JD. Do mindfulness-based interventions reduce pain intensity? A critical review of the literature. Pain Medicine. 2013;14:230–242.
• Rosenkranz M, Davidson RJ, MacCoon D, et al. A comparison of mindfulness-based stress reduction and an active control in modulation of neurogenic inflammation. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity. 2013;27(1):174–184.
• Rubia K. The neurobiology of meditation and its clinical effectiveness in psychiatric disorders. Biological Psychology. 2009;82(1):1–11.
• Tang Y-Y, Tang R, Posner MI. Brief meditation training induces smoking reduction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 2013;110(34):13971–13975.
• Westbrook C, Creswell JD, Tabibnia G, et al. Mindful attention reduces neural and self-reported cue-induced craving in smokers. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 2013;8(1):73–84.
• Zeidan F, Adler-Neal AL, Wells RE, et al. Mindfulness-meditation-based pain relief is not mediated by endogenous opioids. Journal of Neuroscience. 2016;36(11):3391–3397.