Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is Good for the Immune System

 

Meditation is Good for the Soul.  Good for the Body.

This week I met with the wonderul Carol Hendershot, owner of Expressions of Grace Yoga Studio in Grand Rapids, MI.  We had a lovely chat about food, stress, the environment, movies, and also the crazy benefits of meditation.  I started practicing meditation a couple of years ago.  I now do it nearly every day.  I confess that I'm still in the toddler stages of meditation, but even so, the benefits I've received have been life changing.  When I start my day wtih even 10 minutes of meditation, the day flows more effortlessly. My appetite improves. I make better decisions. I feel more connected to everything that I do.  When I end the day with meditation, my sleep is more effortless as well.  When you practice meditation, you learn to sort through internal and exteranl junk and move it "out there", so that this ever popular, yet unwanted friend called stress gets less of a foothold in your body and immune system.   The stress doesn't become you.  It's becomes something you can move through and leave behind.

Carol and ApCarol Hendershot, BS, E-RYT 500 Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Teacher and Facilitator.ril Hadley, MSW have started a new program called Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and are offering a wonderful workshop starting this month.  MBSR was founded by Dr. Kabat-Zinn, and studied by different well-respected medical research centers.  Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, for instance, have found that: 

"Mindfulness practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density."

In real people terms, the study found that mindfulness meditators can better regulate emotions, remember stuff, keep perspective, and learn.  (See study abstract).

What's even cooler is that the benefits of meditation for the immune system is becoming fact. 

 Resarchers Say . . .

April Hadley, MSW Masters of Social Work Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Instructor

"Emotional distress activates neuroendocrine stress response systems and increases stress hormone secretion. Stress hormones are well-known to alter immune function...

Integrative approaches to promote wellness and reduce the distress associated with cancer are increasingly considered as essential components of cancer care. Mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) is a program that shows promise as an approach to not only mange the emotional distress that accompanies disease, such as cancer, but to also produce biological benefits that may promote health and contribute to cancer control....

In predominately non-controlled studies of individuals with a variety of medical conditions, MBSR has been shown to assist individuals to more skillfully manage emotions and somatic reactivity to life stressors"

(Read the full article)

~National Institute of Health:  Effect of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction on Immune Function, Quality of Life and Coping In Women Newly Diagnosed with Early Stage Breast Cancer

Sign Up

Interested in checking it out?  Sign up for a free orientation on August 15, 2012 (9:30am).  This free session is required before the workshop.  So if you can't make it to this orientation but would still like to participate, give Carol a call.

Visit www.grandrapiscenterformindfulness.com or call 616-361-3660 for more information, the full class schedule or to register.

More Info on Upcoming Classes

8 Week - Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Program

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, or MBSR, is a unique program developed to help people better understand and work with all the stressors in their lives — medical, psychological and social. It is an education-based class in which you learn to bring the practice of mindfulness into your life, in both formal and informal ways.

The Benefits of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is a powerful practice that gives you the tools to build a foundation of clarity and calm in the midst of life’s rockiest times.  From this place of stability, you can engage the challenges and joys of your life with a renewed sense of energy and balance.  Mindfulness opens up a greater sense of choice, enabling you to meet each stressful situation more skillfully and with an increased sense of flexibility and creativity.   

Mindfulness is an effective compliment to the traditional treatment of many conditions including:

• Anxiety and depression    
• Insomnia
• Chronic Pain
• High blood pressure
• Cancer treatment and recovery
• Heart Disease
• Demanding work and life situations
• Immune Disorders

Schedule

Free Information Sessions:
Monday, August 13, 6:30 pm at Expressions of Grace Yoga, 5270 Northland Drive 
Wednesday, August 15, 9:30 am at Expressions of Grace Yoga, 5270 Northland Drive

8-Week MBSR Courses Beginning:
Monday, August 20, 6:30 pm • Carol
Tuesday, August 21, 6:30 pm • April
Wednesday, August 22, 9:30 am • Carol

www.grandrapiscenterformindfulness.com or call 616-361-3660 for more information or to register.