Presented by:

Dr. Tiffany Griffiths, Clinical Psychologist, PA Licensed (Mindfulness Practitioner)

Phil Sallavanti, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Teacher and Practitioner

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

What is Meditation?

Medicine and Meditation arise from the same Indo-European root:

Meaning: to measure

Suggesting an action to establish wholeness and health

MBSR has at its core the practice of mindfulness mediation and the intention to establish wholeness

Definition of Stress

Stress is the response to a perceived threat to our psychological or physical well being coupled with the believe that we don’t have the resources to cope

Body sensations

Thoughts

How we perceive something actually shapes our experience

Body can’t distinguish between a thought and an actual threat

Hard wired for stress response

What happens in a traffic jam?

• Offered at > 700 medical centers in U.S. and around the world

• Over 20,000 patients have participated in the UMass program

• 35 years of research on a wide range of chronic clinical ailments

• 700% increase in the amount of studies since 2003

• The National Institute on Health has conducted over 200 studies on mindfulness alone

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction

Stress reduction

Reduced rumination

Boosts to working memory

Increase in attention

Less emotional reactivity; emotional dysregulation

More cognitive flexibility

Relationship satisfaction

Numerous health benefits

Increases in academic success

Reduction in psychological symptoms

Empirically supported benefits of mindfulness

Depression

Anxiety

Trauma, including combat trauma

ADHD

Behavioral Disorders

Sleep Disorders

Eating Disorders

Benefits to Mental Health

Coronary Artery Disease Hypertension Cancer Chronic Pain Fibromyalgia Diabetes IBS Asthma/Respiratory Disorders Psoriasis Headache Multiple Sclerosis Quality of Life Rheumatoid Arthritis

Benefits to Physical Health

Brain Changes

Participation in an MBSR program results in increases in regional brain gray matter density regions associated with learning, memory, emotion regulation, and perspective taking.

Holzel, et.al. (2011) found that an 8-week MBSR program changed the structure of the brain in the areas of the amygdala, posterior cingular gyrus, and the left hippocampus. These brain regions are responsible for the fear response, attention , and emotional regulation.

Neuroplasticity: practicing something new; severing/pruning old connections and forming new, healthier connections

MBSR Research at Jefferson

Prison setting

Military

Corporations

Schools

Sports

Other Areas of Research

MBSR is an 8-week intensive training in mindfulness meditation, based on ancient healing practices, which meets on a weekly basis. Mindfulness practice is ideal for cultivating greater awareness of the unity of mind and body, as well as of the ways the unconscious thoughts, feelings, and behaviors can undermine emotional, physical, and spiritual health.

MBSR

8 week program

2 ½ hours a weekEducational, not a therapeutic orientation; classes provide a community of learning and practice for motivation, support, and belonging. Focus is on what‘s right with you not what‘s wrong with you.

The program

The “triangle” of awareness:• Body sensations

• Thoughts

• Emotions

But we don’t always bring attention to our awareness• Much of the day, we’re on autopilot

• Attending to the body/breath brings us into the present moment immediately

Awareness is Continuous

The Time is NOW