{"id":233384,"date":"2018-04-17T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T19:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/?p=233384"},"modified":"2024-01-09T16:25:40","modified_gmt":"2024-01-09T21:25:40","slug":"less-stress-clearer-thoughts-with-mindfulness-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.harvard.edu\/gazette\/story\/2018\/04\/less-stress-clearer-thoughts-with-mindfulness-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"With mindfulness, life\u2019s in the moment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\n\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\tHealth\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\n\t\t

\n\t\tWith mindfulness, life\u2019s in the moment\t<\/h1>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\n
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Illustration by Kathleen M.G. Howlett<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tLiz Mineo\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\tHarvard Staff Writer\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/address>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t

\n\t\t\tThose who learn its techniques often say they feel less stress, think clearer\t\t<\/h2>\n\t\t\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n
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Second of two parts<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a cold winter evening, six women and two men sat in silence in an office near Harvard Square, practicing mindfulness meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting upright, eyes closed, palms resting on their laps, feet flat on the floor, they listened as course instructor Suzanne Westbrook guided them to focus on the present by paying attention to their bodily sensations, thoughts, emotions, and especially their breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Suzanne

Suzanne Westbrook, a retired internal-medicine doctor, taught an eight-week program that focused on reducing stress. <\/p>

Rose Lincoln\/Harvard Staff Photographer<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur mind wanders all the time, either reviewing the past or planning for the future,\u201d said Westbrook, who before retiring last June was an internal-medicine doctor caring for Harvard students. \u201cMindfulness teaches you the skill of paying attention to the present by noticing when your mind wanders off. Come back to your breath. It\u2019s a place where we can rest and settle our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The class she taught was part of an eight-week program aimed at reducing stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Studies say that eight in 10 Americans experience stress in their daily lives and have a hard time relaxing their bodies and calming their minds, which puts them at high risk of heart disease, stroke, and other illnesses. Of the myriad offerings aimed at fighting stress, from exercise to yoga to meditation, mindfulness meditation has become the hottest commodity in the wellness universe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modeled after the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program<\/a> created in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn<\/a> to help counter stress, chronic pain, and other ailments, mindfulness courses these days can be found in venues ranging from schools<\/a> to prisons<\/a> to sports<\/a> teams. Even the U.S. Army<\/a> recently adopted it to \u201cimprove military resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvard offers several mindfulness and meditation classes, including a spring break retreat<\/a> held in March for students through the Center for Wellness and Health Promotion<\/a>. The Office of Work\/Life<\/a> offers programs to managers and staff, as well as weekly drop-in meditation sessions on campus, online<\/a> guided meditation resources, and even a meditation phone line, 4-CALM (at 617.384.2256).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were tasked to find ways for the community to cope with stress. And at the same time, so much research was coming out on the benefits of mindfulness and meditation,\u201d said Jeanne Mahon, director of the wellness center. \u201cWe keep offering mindfulness and meditation because of the feedback. People appreciate to have the chance for self-reflection and learn about new ways to be in relationships with themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 750 students have participated in mindfulness and meditation programs since 2012, said Mahon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of mindfulness\u2019 appeal lies in the fact that it\u2019s secular. Buddhist monks have used mindfulness exercises as forms of meditation for more than 2,600 years, seeing them as one of the paths to enlightenment. But in the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program, mindfulness is stripped of religious undertones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Mark Dennis (from left), Kelly Romirowsky, and Ayesha Hood practice meditation. Metta McGarvey (not pictured) teaches the practice of mindfulness, a workshop for educators inside the Gutman Conference Center.\t\t\t<\/p>

Kris Snibbe\/Harvard Staff Photographer.<\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mindfulness\u2019 popularity has been bolstered by a growing body of research<\/a> showing that it reduces stress and anxiety, improves attention and memory, and promotes self-regulation and empathy. A few years ago, a study<\/a> by Sara Lazar<\/a>, a neuroscientist and assistant professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School<\/a> (HMS) and assistant researcher in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, was the first to document that mindfulness meditation can change the brain\u2019s gray matter and brain regions linked with memory, the sense of self, and regulation of emotions. New research by Benjamin Shapero and Ga\u00eblle Desbordes is exploring how mindfulness can help depression<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pioneer of scientific research on meditation, Herbert Benson<\/a>, extolled its benefits on the human body \u2014 reduced blood pressure, heart rate, and brain activity \u2014 as early as 1975. He helped demystify meditation by calling it the \u201crelaxation response.\u201d<\/a> Benson is director emeritus<\/em> of the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine<\/a> at Massachusetts General Hospital and Mind\/Body Medicine Distinguished Professor of Medicine at HMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1980s, mindfulness had yet to become a buzzword, recalls Paul Fulton, a clinical psychologist who has practiced Zen and insight meditation (vipassana) for more than 40 years. In the mid-1980s, when he was working on his doctoral dissertation on the nature of \u201cself\u201d among Buddhist monks, speaking of mindfulness in a medical context among scientists was \u201cdisreputable,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGradually because of the research, it became chic, no longer disreputable,\u201d said Fulton, a lecturer in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at HMS and co-founder of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy<\/a>. \u201cAnd now you can\u2019t step a foot out of the house without being barraged by mindfulness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanie Denham, head coach of Harvard women\u2019s rugby team, recently attended a mindfulness workshop, intrigued by the idea of incorporating the techniques into her players\u2019 training regimen to help them cope with the pressures of \u201cexpectation and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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