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Weight Loss And The Benefits Of MindfulnessThe path to weight loss nirvana is paved
with mindfulness. Mindfulness
is an essential skill that puts you on the path to permanent weight
loss
or “en-liten-ment”. Mindfulness
is the practice of paying attention in the moment. It is only by
centering your full attention in the moment that you can become aware
of the
content of your thoughts. Those of us who eat compulsively, do so out
of reactivity. Reactivity
is when
thoughts, emotions, and body sensations are channeled into behavior.
Compulsive
overeating and binge eating is a way to regulate emotions like boredom,
anger,
sadness etc. Mindfulness
gives you the awareness to make permanent changes in your eating
patterns. It
has been used successfully to stabilize eating behaviors in persons
with binge
eating disorder. Mindfulness allows you the spaciousness to become
aware of your
internal state.
It is this internal state that drives your emotional eating. With
mindfulness, you can tune
in to see if you are hungry for food, or if you're hungry for
emotional
nourishment. Research on eating regulation shows that people who eat compulsively are generally less aware of hunger and saitety cues, including feelings of fullness. My personal experience, and that of clients, is that we are simply lost in our thoughts and do not pay attention to our body sensations. Mindfulness gives us the ability to see how our thoughts, emotions, and bodily feelings are influencing our behaviors. Until we become aware of this, we're on autopilot, mindlessness cruising through life, victimized by our own thoughts. Mindfulness allows us to develop self-nurturing behaviors. This skill is crucial if we want to end compulsive eating and achieve permanent weight loss, or "enlitenment." Mindfulness
hands us the
keys to our inner world. This is where all thoughts, emotions, and
behaviors arise. People who use food to regulate mood and emotions
often have emotionally chaotic inner lives. With
mindfulness, you are given the awareness and opportunity to deconstruct
your
behavior and thinking, thus allowing you a choice as to how you want to
react. Once you have access and familiarity to your inner world, you
can begin to
create an
inner sanctuary - an internal state and place that is safe and
nourishing - a
place you will want to return again, and again. Once this nourishing
place is
established within you, food will begin to lose its stronghold in your
life. In a 1999 pilot study conducted by Jean
Kristeller, PHD, a psychology professor at Indiana State University,
and Brendan Hallett, a grad student, showed that mindfulness practice
increased feelings of self acceptance
and control around food, decreasing binges and reducing symptoms of
anxiety and depression in just 6 weeks. The meditation-based group intervention for
Binge Eating Disorder (BED) involved 18 obese women, with binges
decreasing in frequency, from 4.02 a week down to 1.57 a week. They
also lessened in severity. Those who were still bingeing reported
eating much less. Kristeller and Ruth Quillian-Wolever, PHD,
clinic director and clinical health psychologist of the Duke Center For
Integrative Medicine, are now completing a randomized clinical trial
based on the pilot study. This study includes 150 men and women
with binge-eating disorder who weigh on average 240 pounds. If
you want to end compulsive, emotional eating and make better choices
that lead to
permanent weight loss - try mindfulness practice. The path to weight
loss
nirvana is paved with mindfulness. With each mindful bite you get one
step closer to enlightenment. Note: As a person who has recovered from binge eating disorder, I can attest to the benefits of mindfulness. Mindfulness played a crucial role in my recovery; it has given my life the peace and richness that I enjoy today. Read my full story here!
The Marriage
Of Neuroscience and Meditation For years scientists
thought the brain was born with a fixed set of neurons that steadily
diminished with age. Discoveries in modern
neuroscience show us that the brain is highly moldable and has the remarkable
ability to grow neurons, new connections and pathways throughout the
life cycle.
Neuroscientists at several universities are currently conducting studies that merge neuroscience and the ancient Buddhist practice of mindfulness meditation. Numerous studies have shown that meditation has the ability to change the structure of the brain. Neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School have found that the brains of people who meditate on a regular basis are about 10-20 years younger than than the brains of people who don't. These people's brains were also larger than the nonmeditators. There is a large body of growing scientific
evidence that meditation is good for what ails us. Meditation has been
shown to boost the immune system, focus the mind, improve mood and
decrease negative thinking, increase creativity, reduce stress and
reactivity, improve sleep, control pain, and help control the
progression of heart disease. The ancient art of practicing stillness
is what balances
and nourishes the mind. There is wisdom in the stillness. Most people have the
impression that meditation is sitting still for hours in a lotus
positition chanting OM, and yes, that is one form of meditation, but meditation is really about getting still
and
focusing the mind. There are many ways to experience
meditation and stillness. The secret is to find the method that best
suits your personality and style. Moving types of meditation are excellent for
people who have particularly fast moving and or chaotic minds. My particular favorites are mindful walking and ecstatic dance. Yoga, swimming, running, cycling, and weight lifting
are other
active ways to
the still the mind and show the same
benefits of mindfulness training. Chanting, visualization, or focusing on the breath, chakras, bodily sensations
or a particular
object like a candle, are other ways to meditate. Creative
hobbies like gardening, cooking, arts and crafts like painting, knitting,
collage, crochet, or
beading are creative ways to meditate. To bead
means "to pray." The benefits of meditation and mindfulness
are experienced
quickly (in as little as 5 days), and improvements are being shown in
as little as 10 minutes a day. Twenty minutes daily seems to be
required to
make major changes to the brain. This is good news, as people have so
little time. When one enters a deep state of relaxation
and loses one's self in the meditative process, it is called "entering
the flow state." This state or zone is the healing state of awareness
that
connects us to the flow of life. Once
you are practiced at becoming still and centered, your whole life
becomes a meditation, with every experience an invitation to become
fully present. Life then takes on an incredible richness, as you live
your bliss and flow. Neuroscientists are simply confirming what we
zen masters have known all along. What we focus our attention on grows.
Now that we know this, it is never too late too late to grow and
develop a better brain.
The
Anatomy Of A Habit The
definition of the word “habit” is a pattern of behavior acquired
through
frequent repetition. Most of human behavior is habitual. It takes
little or no
awareness on your part. These habitual behaviors are a strongly
established neural pathways in your brain. They are like well-worn
grooves in a record. Until new, stronger neural pathways or
habits are established, your original habit will be your standard
default position or behavior. It is like a software program that is
stored in
your brain. This
is why emotional eating is a fallback
position in times of stress. The software program (habit) begins to
play automatically when the system (your brain) is stressed. This is
why clients report that they can be doing great with new eating
behaviors and then all of a sudden it's like a switch has been flipped
and they are off and running into a binge. It is also why addicts are
always at the highest risk for relapse in times of stress. In order to break this habit,
one must first become aware of
it, which requires mindful awareness. Mindfulness is the foundation for
permanent change. As you become more mindful, you are
then able to choose healthier behaviors. Then, as you practice new
behaviors through consistent repetition, you establish or lay down new
behavioral tracks and grow new neural pathways in the brain. By doing
this, you
are literally rewiring your brain. Over time, you will starve the
original neural pathways and the newer ones will become stronger.
Eventually, the new habits and behaviors will become as automatic as
the old ones currently are. They become your "new normal." Changing life long patterns around food and
weight will not happen overnight. The
longer emotional eating has had a hold in your life, the longer it will
take to replace that behavior. Healing
from emotional eating is a process and a journey. It is best to approach it with an attitude of
self-acceptance, curiosity, openness and non-judgement. These behaviors are not evidence of lack of
will power, defectiveness or weakness. They are simply long entrenched
habits that are no longer serving you well. Mindfulness brings a
peaceful awareness that each moment is another chance to get it
right. Yes, enlightenment happens one moment at a time. The time
for enlightenment is now.
Putting The
Problem In Focus In working with many clients over the years,
I have observed what I believe are many cases of undiagnosed
attention deficits and disorders. Now, I am not a doctor or even a
therapist, but based on these observations it is my personal opinion that undiagnosed ADD, anxiety disorders,
obessive compulsive disorder, and undiagnosed aspergers syndrome are
responsible for many cases of obesity and eating disorders. People with these disorders are interest
driven and can become
hyperfocused, fixated and obsessed with food, and or dieting and food
related
rituals. Food can become their special interest of choice, often
with an
entire lifestyle revolving around it. They might become gourmet
foodies, nutritionists, fad dieters, juicers, vegans, raw foodists,
chefs, and or vegetarians. In their more extreme form they can become
anorexic. Food becomes a coping tool for dealing with a
life that is overwhelming and overstimulating for them. It gives them a
sense of much needed control and comfort. These people
are often anxiety prone, hypersensitive and find change extremely
difficult.
They can be prone to rigidity, perfectionism, and a love of sameness
and
routine, and once bad habits are established, it is incredibly hard to
undo them. They often become negatively focused, with all their energy
focused
on the problem, not on the solution. These people often have minds that
are 10-20 steps ahead of them. They want to go from A to Z without
the steps in between. They have a hard time integrating what they know.
They are full of facts and book knowledge, but find it extremely
diffcult to get that knowledge out of their heads and translate that
knowledge into action. It
is because they suffer deficits in executive function which
is absolutely necessary for goal formation and the ability to carry
goals out. Change
can be extremely hard for people with these disorders. It brings up
much
fear, sabotage
and resistance. This leads to much frustration, lack of self trust and
despair.
Brain imaging scans show that for many people, change triggers fear in
the
amygdala, a
tiny spot in the most primitive (reptilian) part of the brain that is
responsible for fear. When you
are in a state of fear, it is almost impossible to
learn new behaviors. Fear prevents the brain from laying down new
tracks of
information. This is the biological basis and reason why slow change is
the best change. Many people with attentional deficits become
chronic contemplators and underachievers who suffer from depression,
apathy and inertia
because they have lost the belief that they are capable
of change. In my own life I have often suffered from
information
and sensory overload, and would become overwhelmed by change because I
couldn't see how to break down change into manageable steps. I wanted
to do
everything all at once! Mindfulness
helped me to focus, and then to integrate all my knowledge. I began to
be much more effective in the world, as I was able to see how to break
down complex tasks and then execute them. Before I became the mindful
person I am today, I sometimes felt like a hamster spinning on a wheel,
going nowhere fast! Studies conducted by neuroscientists show
that meditation and the art of focusing can bring stronger awareness
and executive function in just 8 weeks. Studies conducted by Lidia
Zylowska, UCLA Psychology Professor and neuroscientist who studies
mindfulness, showed that mindfulness improved mental focus and
executive function in 24 adults and 8 teens with ADD in 8 weeks.
Her work was published in The Journal Of Attention Disorders in May
2008. I hope to show with this research, and with
my own
life's experience and work, that what we focus our attention on
matters.
If you suffer from overeating, weight and food obsessions, there are
biological, genetic, environmental, as well as psychological reasons
for your
behavior. Your brain is far more powerful than you know. You haven't even begun to tap into it's awe inspiring power. Modern neuroscience is proving what the spiritual masters have known all along - meditation is the science and art of building your brain. My program, The Weight Loss
Master's Club is designed to shift your focus away from food and
weight, and into the joy of life. It's core component is mindfulness
based behavioral change. Mindful awareness is the key to a focused,
slimmer and balanced life. You now possess the key to your mind, body
and freedom. Are you ready to use it? Treat yourself to the gift of the present.
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