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Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gratitude. Show all posts
When it comes to staying healthy, both physically and mentally, studies consistently show that strong relationships are at least as important as avoidingsmoking and obesity. But how does social support translate into physical benefits such as lower blood pressure, healthier weights and other physiological measures of sound health? A new study published inPsychological Science suggests that the link may follow the twisting path of the vagus nerve, which connects social contact to the positive emotions that can flow from interactions.There’s a reason why being kind to others is good for you — and it can now be traced to a specific nerve.
The researchers, led by Barbara Fredrickson, professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, recruited 65 members of the university’s faculty and staff for a study on meditation and stress. Roughly half were randomly assigned to take an hour-long class each week for six weeks in “lovingkindness” meditation, which involves focusing on warm, compassionate thoughts about yourself and others.
In the class, the participants were instructed to sit and think compassionately about others by starting to contemplate their own worries and concerns and then moving out to include those of more of their social contacts. People were taught to silently repeat phrases like “May you feel safe, may you feel happy, may you feel healthy, may you live with ease,” and keep returning to these thoughts when their minds wandered. They were also advised to focus on these thoughts, and on other people, in stressful situations like when they were stuck in traffic. “It’s kind of softening your own heart to be more open to others,” says Fredrickson.
The group not assigned to the meditation class was placed on a waiting list for a future class. For 61 days, all the participants logged their daily amount of meditation and prayer (those in the class were encouraged to practice every day) as well as their most powerful experiences of positive and negative emotions. They were also tested before starting the six-week class and again after completing it on their heart-rate variability, which is a measure of how “toned,” or responsive, the vagus can be.
The vagus regulates how efficiently heart rate changes with breathing and, in general, the greater its tone, the higher the heart-rate variability and the lower the risk for cardiovascular disease and other major killers. It may also play a role in regulating glucose levels and immune responses.
In addition, and relevant to the study, the vagus is intimately tied to how we connect with one another — it links directly to nerves that tune our ears to human speech, coordinate eye contact and regulate emotional expressions. It influences the release of oxytocin, a hormone that is important in social bonding. Studies have found that higher vagal tone is associated with greater closeness to others and more altruistic behavior.
More of the meditators than those on the waiting list showed an overall increase in positive emotions, like joy, interest, amusement, serenity and hope after completing the class. And these emotional and psychological changes were correlated with a greater sense of connectedness to others — as well as to an improvement in vagal function as seen in heart-rate variability, particularly for those whose vagal tone was already high at the start of the study.
“The biggest news is that we’re able to change something physical about people’s health by increasing their daily diet of positive emotion, and that helps us get at a long-standing mystery of how our emotional and social experience affects our physical health,” says Fredrickson.
(MORE: Relax! It’s Good for Your Genes)
Simply meditating, however, didn’t always result in a more toned vagus nerve. The change only occurred in meditators who became happier and felt more socially connected; for those who meditated just as much but didn’t report feeling any closer to others, there was no change in the tone of the vagal nerve. “We find that the active ingredients are two psychological variables: positive emotion and the feeling of positive social connection,” she says. “If the practice of lovingkindness didn’t budge those, it didn’t change vagal tone.”
More research is needed to determine how large these changes can be and if they can be sustained, as well as how the feelings of social connectedness interact with compassionate meditation. But, Fredrickson says, “We’ve had a lot of indirect clues that relationships are healing. What’s exciting about this study is that it suggests that every [positive] interaction we have with people is a miniature health tune-up.” Being a good friend, and being compassionate toward others, may be one of the best ways to improve your own health.
Practices for Improving Emotional and Physical Well-Being
Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment—and accepting it without judgment. Mindfulness is now being examined scientifically and has been found to be a key element in happiness.
Ancient roots, modern applications
The cultivation of mindfulness has roots in Buddhism, but most religions include some type of prayer or meditation technique that helps shift your thoughts away from your usual preoccupations toward an appreciation of the moment and a larger perspective on life.Professor emeritus Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder and former director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, helped to bring the practice of mindfulness meditation into mainstream medicine and demonstrated that practicing mindfulness can bring improvements in both physical and psychological symptoms as well as positive changes in health attitudes and behaviors.
Mindfulness improves well being
- Increasing your capacity for mindfulness supports many attitudes that contribute to a satisfied life.
- Being mindful makes it easier to savor the pleasures in life as they occur, helps you become fully engaged in activities, and creates a greater capacity to deal with adverse events.
- By focusing on the here and now, many people who practice mindfulness find that they are less likely to get caught up in worries about the future or regrets over the past, are less preoccupied with concerns about success and self-esteem, and are better able to form deep connections with others.
Mindfulness improves physical health
If greater well-being isn’t enough of an incentive, scientists have discovered the benefits of mindfulness techniques help improve physical health in a number of ways. Mindfulness can:- help relieve stress
- treat heart disease
- lower blood pressure
- reduce chronic pain
- improve sleep
- alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties
Mindfulness improves mental health
In recent years, psychotherapists have turned to mindfulness meditation as an important element in the treatment of a number of problems, including:- depression
- substance abuse
- eating disorders
- couples’ conflicts
- anxiety disorders
- obsessive-compulsive disorder
It’s become increasingly common for mindfulness meditation to be combined with psychotherapy, especially cognitive behavioral therapy. This development makes good sense, since both meditation and cognitive behavioral therapy share the common goal of helping people gain perspective on irrational, maladaptive, and self-defeating thoughts.
| Mindfulness Techniques |
There is more than one way to practice mindfulness, but the goal of any mindfulness technique is to achieve a state of alert, focused relaxation by deliberately paying attention to thoughts and sensations without judgment. This allows the mind to refocus on the present moment. All mindfulness techniques are a form of meditation.
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Basic mindfulness meditation – Sit quietly and focus on your natural breathing or on a word or “mantra” that you repeat silently. Allow thoughts to come and go without judgment and return to your focus on breath or mantra.
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Body sensations – Notice subtle body sensations such as an itch or tingling without judgment and let them pass. Notice each part of your body in succession from head to toe.
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Sensory – Notice sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and touches. Name them “sight,” “sound,” “smell,” “taste,” or “touch” without judgment and let them go.
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Emotions – Allow emotions to be present without judgment. Practice a steady and relaxed naming of emotions: “joy,” “anger,” “frustration.”
Accept the presence of the emotions without judgment and let them go.
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Urge surfing – Cope with cravings (for addictive substances or behaviors) and allow them to pass. Notice how your body feels as the craving enters. Replace the wish for the craving to go away with the certain knowledge that it will subside.
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Meditation and other practices that foster mindfulness
Mindfulness can be cultivated through mindfulness meditation, a systematic method of focusing your attention.You can learn to meditate on your own, following instructions in books or on tape. However, you may benefit from the support of an instructor or group to answer questions and help you stay motivated. Look for someone using meditation in a way compatible with your beliefs and goals.
If you have a medical condition, you may prefer a medically oriented program that incorporates meditation. Ask your physician or hospital about local groups. Insurance companies increasingly cover the cost of meditation instruction.
Getting started on your own
Some types of meditation primarily involve concentration—repeating a phrase or focusing on the sensation of breathing, allowing the parade of thoughts that inevitably arise to come and go. Concentration meditation techniques, as well as other activities such as tai chi or yoga, can induce the well-known relaxation response, which is very valuable in reducing the body’s response to stress.Mindfulness meditation builds upon concentration practices. Here’s how it works:
- Go with the flow. In mindfulness meditation, once you establish concentration, you observe the flow of inner thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without judging them as good or bad.
- Pay attention. You also notice external sensations such as sounds, sights, and touch that make up your moment-to-moment experience. The challenge is not to latch onto a particular idea, emotion, or sensation, or to get caught in thinking about the past or the future. Instead you watch what comes and goes in your mind, and discover which mental habits produce a feeling of well-being or suffering.
- Stay with it. At times, this process may not seem relaxing at all, but over time it provides a key to greater happiness and self-awareness as you become comfortable with a wider and wider range of your experiences.
Practice acceptance
Above all, mindfulness practice involves accepting whatever arises in your awareness at each moment. It involves being kind and forgiving toward yourself.Some tips to keep in mind:
- Gently redirect. If your mind wanders into planning, daydream, or criticism, notice where it has gone and gently redirect it to sensations in the present.
- Try and try again. If you miss your intended meditation session, you simply start again.
Exercises to try on your own
If mindfulness meditation appeals to you, going to a class or listening to a meditation tape can be a good way to start. In the meantime, here are two mindfulness exercises you can try on your own.Practicing mindfulness meditation
This exercise teaches basic mindfulness meditation.- Sit on a straight-backed chair or cross-legged on the floor.
- Focus on an aspect of your breathing, such as the sensations of air flowing into your nostrils and out of your mouth, or your belly rising and falling as you inhale and exhale.
- Once you’ve narrowed your concentration in this way, begin to widen your focus. Become aware of sounds, sensations, and your ideas.
- Embrace and consider each thought or sensation without judging it good or bad. If your mind starts to race, return your focus to your breathing. Then expand your awareness again.
Learning to stay in the present
A less formal approach to mindfulness can also help you to stay in the present and fully participate in your life. You can choose any task or moment to practice informal mindfulness, whether you are eating, showering, walking, touching a partner, or playing with a child or grandchild. Attending to these points will help:- Start by bringing your attention to the sensations in your body
- Breathe in through your nose, allowing the air downward into your lower belly. Let your abdomen expand fully.
- Now breathe out through your mouth
- Notice the sensations of each inhalation and exhalation
- Proceed with the task at hand slowly and with full deliberation
- Engage your senses fully. Notice each sight, touch, and sound so that you savor every sensation.
source
Adapted with permission from Positive Psychology: Harnessing the Power of Happiness, Personal Strength, and Mindfulness, a special health report published by Harvard Health Publications.
Relaxation techniques: Learn how to relax and reduce stress
Summer used to signal a time for a well-deserved reprieve from life's rigors. Par for the season: lazy afternoons at the beach, abbreviated workdays, and long breaks away from the daily grind. This year, though, you might be working extra hours and staying closer to home to save some cash. But there are still plenty ways to relax and rejuvenate.
The key is to learn how to "disengage" from daily stress. "When you're taking fewer days off, it's especially important to find ways to unwind during the downtime you do have," says Katherine Muller, Psy. D., director of the cognitive behavior therapy program at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.
Going nonstop day in and day out takes a toll on the entire body, says Dov Eden, Ph. D., one of the world's leading vacation researchers and a professor at Tel Aviv University. But, Eden says, learning to apply a vacation mentality to your daily life can put you back on your game.
These tips will help you reach a state of blissful detachment, no matter where you are or how many days off you can swing.
Experts say we've become so obsessed with always being on that we've lost the ability to turn ourselves off. And that can pile on stress.
In the same way a pre-bedtime ritual puts you in the mood for sleep, a pre-downtime routine helps you get in the mood for relaxation.
Mother Nature may be the ultimate antidepressant. Exposure to natural light can increase levels of the mood-lifting chemical serotonin, says NYU psychologist Robert Reiner, Ph. D.
When the weekend finally arrives, sometimes you're so determined to have fun that you try to cram in 147 things before Monday.
If you can't afford a full week away from work, put in for a few Mondays or Fridays instead. Experts say that taking mini-vacations can sufficiently recharge your batteries. (And since you'll be missing only one day of work, you won't have overflowing voicemail or e-mail to contend with when you return.)
To sufficiently drag your brain out of the work gutter, you need to reset it. The best way to do that is through what psychologists call escapism. That means getting out of the house and experiencing something that transports the mind—think movies, concerts, art exhibitions, comedy shows, sporting events.
Keeping your hands busy settles your mind. Just ask any knitter. Summertime activities that require repetitive motion, such as barbecuing (place burger on grill, flip, serve, repeat) or gardening (dig, plant, water, repeat), can lower blood pressure and heart rate.
"Once stress escalates, it becomes tougher to let it go," says anxiety expert and clinical psychologist Tamar Chansky, Ph. D. "The secret is to counteract it as soon as it hits." Luckily, it doesn't take long to feel zen again. Next time you feel overwhelmed, try one of these 60-second tension busters:
Squashing stress isn't just good for your sanity—it's good for your physical health. Stress has been linked to every major illness in the U. S., including heart disease, cancer, and depression.
Squashing stress isn't just good for your sanity—it's good for your physical health. Stress has been linked to every major illness in the U. S., including heart disease, cancer, and depression.
Going nonstop day in and day out takes a toll on the entire body, says Dov Eden, Ph. D., one of the world's leading vacation researchers and a professor at Tel Aviv University. But, Eden says, learning to apply a vacation mentality to your daily life can put you back on your game.
These tips will help you reach a state of blissful detachment, no matter where you are or how many days off you can swing.
Unplug Yourself from the Office
More than a third of the participants in a recent study, published in the journal Heart, felt frazzled by a sense of obligation to respond immediately to their constant barrage of e-mails. Women also feel more pressure to hit REPLY. But "just because you own a PDA doesn't mean it has to be on all the time," Muller says. "Each night, block 30 minutes for e-mail. When the time's up, turn off the device and put it out of sight."
Just don't schedule your catch-up session right before bed. "Hitting the sack with work on your brain makes it tough to transition into sleep mode, so put the kibosh on all business-related correspondence at least an hour before turning in," she says.
Create a Chill-Out Routine
As soon as you arrive home, shed whatever reminds you of work: stash your bag out of sight and kick off your heels. "Changing your outfit can change your mindset instantly," Muller says.
Next, do something that offers a change of pace, recommends Susan J. Nathan, Ph. D., a health psychologist in Laguna Hills, California. "If you're a desk drone, head outside for a run or a swim; if you're on your feet all day, ease into a warm bath. Soon you'll feel yourself mentally drifting away from what stresses you out."
Take It Outside
Research also shows that spending time outdoors is hugely important in preventing depression. "The expansive space, colors, and fresh air can all help your brain disengage," Nathan says.
She recommends trading your gym routine for outdoor exercise or eating lunch al fresco: "Try to notice every detail using all your senses—the shapes in the clouds, the taste of your lemonade, the warm breeze on your back."
Find a Balance Between Rest and Activity
But a jam-packed weekend can actually leave you more exhausted and stressed. "Even enjoyable activities can wear you out if you shoehorn too many into one weekend," Muller says.
She recommends carving out a half-hour each day just to chill. Try using the time to read (a study from England's University of Sussex found that reading can slash stress by 68 percent), listen to music (61 percent), or sip a cup of tea (54 percent).
Don't flip on the tube unless there's a show you really want to see. "Even though watching TV seems like a great way to zone out, mindless surfing actually stimulates your nervous system and thwarts your ability to relax," Nathan says.
Plan Long Weekends
"When we examined how vacation length affects stress levels, we found that taking several short breaks may be more beneficial than taking one long one," Eden says.
To get the most out of an extended weekend, you still have to seek out a slight change of scenery. "Physical separation can lead to mental separation from stressors," Nathan says. Check into a nearby B&B for a night, go on an all-day hike, or even just visit a new restaurant across town.
Become an Escape Artist
"An activity like watching a movie is the metaphorical equivalent of going to Hawaii," says James Amirkhan, Ph. D., a psychology professor at California State University Long Beach. "It lets you mentally check out and remove yourself from the problems in your everyday life."
If thoughts of the office intrude while you're enjoying a baseball game or a summer blockbuster, just briefly acknowledge them and then refocus, Muller says. Redirect your attention toward the sound of the crowd, the taste of your hot dog, or the way Ryan Reynolds's eyes twinkle when he smiles.
Get a Hobby
"Repetitive motion works like a meditation mantra: It shuts down the body's fight-or-flight response," Reiner says.
You zero in on the task in front of you, taking your mind off looming deadlines and other upcoming events. For optimal chill-out effect, keep your sessions brief; Reiner advises 20-minute spurts. "The mind-soothing benefits of repetition dwindle the longer you participate in the activity," he says.
Stop Tension In Its Tracks
1. Go on a tear. Ripping paper to shreds offers serious relief. "Hearing a satisfying rip gives you something to focus on, and the physical act of shredding something without causing real harm releases tension," Chansky says.
2. Share a joke. Cracking up increases feel-good endorphins and decreases stress hormones such as cortisol and epinephrine, say researchers at the University of California, Irvine.
3. Just breathe. Achieve inner peace with this quick breathing exercise from Judith Orloff, M. D., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at UCLA. First, conjure up an image that makes you feel tranquil, then close your eyes and take eight deep breaths, paying attention to the air filling your chest. Exhale with a sigh, imagining all the tension in your body evaporating. "Slow breaths help reduce stress hormones in the body," Orloff says. And a calmer you is a happier you.
The meditation-and-the-brain research has been rolling in
steadily for a number of years now, with new studies coming out just about
every week to illustrate some new benefit of meditation. Or, rather, some
ancient benefit that is just now being confirmed with fMRI or EEG. The
practice appears to have an amazing variety of neurological benefits – from
changes in grey matter volume to reduced activity in the “me” centers of
the brain to enhanced connectivity between brain regions. Below are some of the
most exciting studies to come out in the last few years and show that
meditation really does produce measurable changes in our most important organ.
Skeptics, of course, may ask what good are a few brain changes if the
psychological effects aren’t simultaneously being illustrated? Luckily, there’s
good evidence for those as well, with studies reporting that meditation helps
relieve our subjective levels of anxiety and depression, and improve attention,
concentration, and overall psychological well-being.
Meditation Helps Preserve the Aging Brain
Last week, a study from
UCLA found that long-term meditators had better-preserved brains than
non-meditators as they aged. Participants who’d been meditating for an average
of 20 years had more grey matter volume throughout the brain — although
older meditators still had some volume loss compared to younger meditators, it
wasn’t as pronounced as the non-meditators. “We expected rather small and
distinct effects located in some of the regions that had previously been
associated with meditating,” said study author Florian Kurth. “Instead, what we
actually observed was a widespread effect of meditation that encompassed
regions throughout the entire brain.”
Meditation Reduces Activity in the Brain’s “Me Center”
Meditation Reduces Activity in the Brain’s “Me Center”
One of the most interesting studies in the
last few years, carried out at Yale University,
found that mindfulness meditation decreases activity in the default mode
network (DMN), the brain network responsible for mind-wandering and
self-referential thoughts – a.k.a., “monkey mind.” The DMN is “on” or active
when we’re not thinking about anything in particular, when our minds are just
wandering from thought to thought. Since mind-wandering is typically associated with
being less happy, ruminating, and worrying about the past and future, it’s the
goal for many people to dial it down. Several studies have shown that
meditation, though its quieting effect on the DMN, appears to do just this. And
even when the mind does start to wander, because of the new connections that
form, meditators are better at snapping back out of it.
Its Effects Rival Antidepressants for Depression, Anxiety
A review study last
year at Johns Hopkins looked at the relationship between mindfulness meditation
and its ability to reduce symptoms of depression, anxiety, and pain. Researcher
Madhav Goyal and his team found that the effect size of meditation was
moderate, at 0.3. If this sounds low, keep in mind that the effect size for
antidepressants is also 0.3, which makes the effect of meditation sound pretty
good. Meditation is, after all an active form of brain training. “A lot of
people have this idea that meditation means sitting down and doing nothing,”
says Goyal. “But that’s not true. Meditation is an active training of the mind
to increase awareness, and different meditation programs approach this in
different ways.” Meditation isn’t a magic bullet for depression, as no
treatment is, but it’s one of the tools that may help manage symptoms.
Meditation May Lead to Volume Changes in Key
Areas of the Brain
In 2011, Sara Lazar and her team at Harvard found that
mindfulness meditation can actually change the structure of the brain: Eight
weeks of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) was found to increase
cortical thickness in the hippocampus, which governs learning and memory, and
in certain areas of the brain that play roles in emotion regulation and
self-referential processing. There were also decreases in
brain cell volume in the amygdala, which is responsible for fear, anxiety, and
stress – and these changes matched the participants’ self-reports of their
stress levels, indicating that meditation not only changes the brain, but it
changes our subjective perception and feelings as well. In fact, a
follow-up study by
Lazar’s team found that after meditation training, changes in brain areas
linked to mood and arousal were also linked to improvements in how participants
said they felt — i.e., their psychological well-being. So for anyone who
says that activated blobs in the brain don’t necessarily mean anything, our
subjective experience – improved mood and well-being – does indeed seem to be
shifted through meditation as well.
Just a Few Days of Training Improves Concentration and
Attention
Having problems concentrating isn’t just a kid thing – it
affects millions of grown-ups as well, with an ADD diagnosis or not.
Interestingly but not surprisingly, one of the central benefits of meditation
is that it improves attention and concentration: One recent study found that just
a couple of weeks of meditation training helped people’s focus
and memory during the verbal reasoning section of the GRE. In fact, the
increase in score was equivalent to 16 percentile points, which is nothing to
sneeze at. Since the strong focus of attention (on an object, idea, or activity)
is one of the central aims of meditation, it’s not so surprising that
meditation should help people’s cognitive skills on the job, too – but it’s
nice to have science confirm it. And everyone can use a little extra assistance
on standardized tests.
Meditation Reduces Anxiety — and Social Anxiety
A lot of people start meditating for its benefits in stress
reduction, and there’s lots of good evidence to support this rationale. There’s
a whole newer sub-genre of meditation, mentioned earlier, called Mindfulness-Based
Stress Reduction (MBSR), developed by Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of
Massachusetts’ Center for Mindfulness (now available all over the country),
that aims to reduce a person’s stress level, physically and mentally. Studies
have shown its benefits in reducing anxiety, even
years after the initial 8-week course. Research has
also shown that mindfulness meditation, in contrast to attending to the breath
only, can reduce anxiety – and that these changes seem to be mediated through
the brain regions associated with those self-referential (“me-centered”)
thoughts. Mindfulness meditation has also been shown to
help people with social anxiety disorder: a Stanford University team found that
MBSR brought about changes in brain regions involved in attention, as well as
relief from symptoms of social anxiety.
Meditation Can Help with Addiction
A growing number of studies has shown
that, given its effects on the self-control regions of the brain, meditation can
be very effective in helping people recover from various types of
addiction. One study,
for example, pitted mindfulness training against the American Lung
Association’s freedom from smoking (FFS) program, and found that people
who learned mindfulness were many times more likely to have quit smoking by the
end of the training, and at 17 weeks follow-up, than those in the conventional
treatment. This may be because meditation helps people “decouple” the state of
craving from the act of smoking, so the one doesn’t always have to lead to the
other, but rather you fully experience and ride out the “wave” of craving,
until it passes. Other research has found that mindfulness training, mindfulness-based
cognitive therapy (MBCT), and mindfulness-based
relapse prevention (MBRP) can be helpful in treating other forms of
addiction.
Short Meditation Breaks Can Help Kids in School
For developing brains, meditation has as much as or perhaps
even more promise than it has for adults. There’s been increasing interest from
educators andresearchers in
bringing meditation and yoga to school kids, who are dealing with the usual
stressors inside school, and oftentimes additional stress and trauma outside
school. Some schools have
starting implementing meditation into their daily schedules, and with good
effect: One district in San Francisco started a twice daily meditation program
in some of its high-risk schools – and saw suspensions decrease, and GPAs and
attendance increase.Studies have
confirmed the cognitive and emotional benefits of meditation for
schoolchildren, but more work will probably need to be done before it gains
more widespread acceptance.
Worth a Try?
Meditation is not a panacea, but there’s certainly a lot of
evidence that it may do some good for those who practice it regularly. Everyone
from Anderson
Cooperand congressman Tim Ryan to companies like Google GOOGL -0.39% and Apple AAPL -0.62% and Target TGT -0.95% are
integrating meditation into their schedules. And its benefits seem to be
felt after a relatively short amount of practice. Someresearchers have
cautioned that meditation can lead to ill effects under certain circumstances
(known as the “dark night” phenomenon), but for most people – especially if you
have a good teacher – meditation is beneficial, rather than harmful. It’s
certainly worth a shot: If you have a few minutes in the morning or evening (or
both), rather than turning on your phone or going online, see what happens if
you try quieting down your mind, or at least paying attention to your thoughts
and letting them go without reacting to them. If the research is right,just
a few minutes of meditation may make a big difference.
For too long, we’ve taken gratitude for granted.
Yes, “thank you” is an essential, everyday part of family dinners, trips to the store, business deals, and political negotiations. That might be why so many people have dismissed gratitude as simple, obvious, and unworthy of serious attention.
But that’s starting to change. Recently scientists have begun to chart a course of research aimed at understanding gratitude and the circumstances in which it flourishes or diminishes. They’re finding that people who practice gratitude consistently report a host of benefits:
- Stronger immune systems and lower blood pressure;
- Higher levels of positive emotions;
- More joy, optimism, and happiness;
- Acting with more generosity and compassion;
- Feeling less lonely and isolated.
That’s why the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley—in collaboration with the University of California, Davis—launched a $5.6 million, three-year project, Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude. The project is supported with funding from the John Templeton Foundation. The general goals of this initiative are to:
- Expand the scientific database of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of human health, personal and relational well-being, and developmental science;
- Promote evidence-based practices of gratitude in medical, educational, and organizational settings and in schools, workplaces, homes and communities, and in so doing…
- Engage the public in a larger cultural conversation about the role of gratitude in civil society.
To achieve these goals, we have developed a range of research and education initiatives, from a research grant competition to a series of articles on gratitude to a large public event.
You can learn more about the fruits of the project to date in this short video; a more detailed description is below.
1. Research Grant Competition. At the end of 2011, we launched a $3 million research initiativeto expand the scientific understanding of gratitude, particularly in the key areas of health and well-being, developmental science, and social contexts. We received nearly 300 applications from institutions all over the United States, and we evaluated each one based on its scientific significance, approach and methods, creativity, potential influence, and capacity for success.
The 14 winning projects were announced in August of 2012; they cover topics ranging from theneuroscience of gratitude to the role of gratitude in romantic relationships to how gratitude mightreduce bullying. In the fall of 2013, grant award winners will participate in a research retreat, where they will present their work in a high-level, rigorous format, enabling them to discuss the next stages of building the field.
2. Dissertation Research Awards. In January 2013, we announced 15 grants in support of the most innovative dissertation research projects on gratitude, with emphasis on research than spans two or more disciplines. Awardees received $10,000 for one year to assist in the conduct of their research into topics that include workplace gratitude, the role of gratitude in couples coping with breast cancer, and the neuropharmacological basis of gratitude.
3. Youth Gratitude Research Project. Building on research into the development of gratitude in children and adolescents, researchers at the University of California and Hofstra University will run a multi-year study that addresses the following questions: What is the role of gratitude in positive youth development? What can the people with the greatest influence over children—parents, teachers, coaches, and others—do to foster gratitude in children? What is the developmental trajectory of gratitude in children? What school-based interventions can promote sustainable increases in grateful character traits? Is there a critical period when the capacity for gratitude is best transmitted from an older to a younger generation? To what degree is gratitude predictive of positive outcomes such as school success, overall well-being, community service, resiliency, health behaviors, and less risk taking? You can learn more about the Youth Gratitude Project here.
Public Education Initiatives
1. Expanding Coverage of the Science of Gratitude. New research on gratitude has the potential to improve the lives of millions, if not billions, of people worldwide. For almost a decade, the Greater Good Science Center has provided trailblazing coverage of the science of gratitude through its website, books, and other media. Now, as part of the project, we’re greatly expanding our coverage, helping the general public understand new findings from the science of gratitude and apply this research to their personal and professional lives; we’ll also report on the launch, progress, and results of the research funded through the Expanding Gratitude project.
You can view our latest stories on gratitude here, including articles, videos, and posts to Christine Carter’s “Raising Happiness” parenting blog. Also check out our gratitude definition page, succinctly outlining what gratitude is, why it’s worth practicing, and how to cultivate it. For more on gratitude, see our list of key gratitude books, studies, and organizations.
2. Digital Gratitude Journal. In the fall of 2012, we launched Thnx4.org, an online journal that allows users to record and share the things for which they’re grateful. This unprecedented, web-based effort to track and promote the practice of gratitude worldwide also serves as an invaluable source of scientific data on gratitude: Users of Thnx4 can see how practicing gratitude affects their health and happiness, and these results will also be made available to the research community, though individual users always have the option to keep their data private. In effect, Thnx4 gives the public and researchers the opportunity to study trends in the practice of gratitude, and it has the potential to provide a truly global snapshot of our planet’s current state of gratefulness.
Thnx4’s launch received considerable media coverage and engaged users from around the world; our analysis of its initial round of data showed that it gave a significant boost to users’ health and happiness. Thnx4 went offline in the summer of 2013 and relaunch in the summer of 2014.
3. Public Event. In 2014, we will hold a large public event to help bridge the research-practice gap. This event will be open to the public and will feature academic researchers as well as mental health professionals, spiritual leaders, and others who want to apply the science of gratitude to their work and everyday life.
Greater Good Science Center Resources
What to know more about the science and practice of gratitude? Please see these Greater Goodresources:
- Gratitude definition page: The What, Why, and How of gratitude
- “Pay It Forward,” by Robert A. Emmons
- “Why Gratitude is Good,” by Robert A. Emmons
- “Ten Ways to Become More Grateful,” by Robert A. Emmons
- Pieces on gratitude from Christine Carter’s parenting blog, Raising Happiness
- “Love, Honor, and Thank,” by Jess Alberts and Angela Trethewey
- “Stumbling Toward Gratitude,” by Catherine Price
- Key gratitude books, studies, and organizations.
- And take this gratitude quiz to learn how grateful you are!
Contact Information
sourceExpanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude
Greater Good Science Center
University of California, Berkeley, MC 6070
Berkeley, CA 94720-6070
510.642.2490
Gratitude@Berkeley.edu
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/expandinggratitude
Meditation can help students be less stressed and more compassionate. But how many districts are ready to sign on?
James Woodcock, Billings Gazette/AP Photo
Each year, meditation becomes
more of a trend. Celebrities like Jerry Seinfeldand Goldie
Hawn, businessmen like Bill
George of Goldman Sachs and Exxon Mobil, and News Corp chairman Rupert
Murdoch, have publicly discussed practicing it. Techies and others in the
corporate world have begun usingmindfulness,
a type of meditation, to combat the stress and overstimulation of their jobs.
Even the Marines have
used it to “improve mental performance under the stress and strain from war.”
At the same time, more and more studies are showing direct
links between meditation and health benefits. A study led
by researchers at John Hopkins found that just eight weeks of meditation
training was as effective as medication in treating depression, anxiety, and
pain. At Harvard, scientists using neuro-imaging technology showed how meditation positively affected the brain
activity of the chronically stressed, a condition that the Benson-Henry
Institute reports is
related to more than 60 percent of all doctor’s visits.
Schools have also begun experimenting with the practice and
discovering that its techniques can help its students. When a
school in New Haven, Connecticut, required yoga and meditation classes
three times a week for its incoming freshman, studies found that after each
class, students had significantly reduced levels of cortisol, a stress hormone,
in their bodies. In San
Francisco, schools that participated in Quiet Time, a Transcendental
Meditation program, had twice as many students score proficient in English on
the California Achievement Test than in similar schools where the program
didn’t exist. Visitacion Valley Middle School specifically reduced suspensions
by 45 percent during the program’s first year. Attendance rates climbed to 98
percent, grade point averages improved, and the school recorded the highest
happiness levels in San Francisco on the annual California Healthy Kids Survey. Other
studies have shown that mindfulness education programs improved
students’ self-control, attentiveness and respect for other classmates,
enhanced the school climate, and improved teachers’ moods.
These results did not surprise me. As a former teacher who
now practices meditation myself, I’ve often wondered how I could have used the
practice in my own classroom. The stress level of teaching seemed to bring out
my already-existing anxiety in the worst kind of ways. I slept poorly, unable
to stop rehearsing my lessons in my head. I got irritable with loved ones. I
felt obsessed with saving time when there was so much to do and so much to
teach to students who I feared were behind. My students noticed, too. On a
survey, one wrote, “It seems like you’re really tense”; another, “You can get
easily frustrated with yourself.”
Meanwhile, my students seemed just as anxious as I was. My
advisory group complained of the immense pressure of balancing school with
their lives at home. Students constantly booked appointments with the school
counselor to talk through their personal struggles with a professional. A
common response from students on their semester reflections was “I’m
overwhelmed.”
Months after leaving the profession (partially due to its
stress), I attended a ten-day beginner meditation retreat. It was the first
time I ever attempted to learn the practice. I began to understand how powerful
meditation could be in confronting the anxiety and insecurity my students felt
at school and I felt while teaching, and often throughout most of my
life. So when I discovered that some of my former students had
participated in a mindfulness education program called Headstandin middle school before they
became my high-school students, I was eager to find out its effects.
"As a 12-year-old kid, I didn’t always feel comfortable moving my body in such a way."
Headstand’s mission is to “empower at-risk students to
combat toxic stress through yoga, mindfulness, and character education.”
Harvard's Center for the Developing Child defines
toxic stress as “severe, uncontrollable, chronic adversity” and
explains that it can disrupt the architecture of the developing brain, often
impeding academic learning and creating long-term physical- and mental-health
problems.
With almost half of current public school students
considered low-income,
the issue of “toxic stress” affecting young students has become more relevant.
Katherine Priore Ghannam, Headstand’s founder, says, “This is a matter of
education reform and public health: Our students desperately need a way to cope
with the everyday adversity of living in the conditions that they do. If we
know this [stress] exists, I think we have the responsibility to provide such a
simple tool to kids who need it the most.”
Ghannam believes her mindfulness program can serve as “an
antidote to that stress” and so far, surveys results suggest the program works:
98 percent of students in the program reported feeling “less stressed” and more
“ready to learn” after taking Headstand classes.
Ghannam had no exposure to yoga or mindfulness growing up,
and at first was skeptical it could work. Yet when the stress level during her
first year teaching became overwhelming and made her begin to think her job was
unsustainable, a close friend finally convinced her to take a yoga class.
“I had an experience in that very first class,” Ghannam
said. “For one of the first times in my life, I understood what it meant to be
calm.”
Ghannam believes her yoga practice gave her the skills and
strength she needed to not quit teaching during that difficult first year.
After practicing yoga, she felt her new sense of calm transferred to the
classroom and made the environment more welcoming for her students. Years
later, she decided to merge the two areas by creating Headstand.
Ghannam wants to emphasize “smart practice.” When she
observed existing programs, she felt they lacked a crucial element: delivery.
She saw many yoga instructors, accustomed to teaching in studios with
middle-aged participants, not adapting their teaching strategies for children
in public schools.
“For teachers with that kind of experience, working with
young students is like speaking a foreign language,” Ghannam said, “I can’t
emphasize enough how important it is to translate this content to the
appropriate level for children. Otherwise, it won’t make sense.”
She wondered how much greater the impact of a yoga program
could be if she had academic teachers delivering the content, with a rigorous,
professionally designed curriculum that made the content consistent and
structured over time.
Headstand employs this philosophy by only hiring yoga
teachers who have three years of previous teaching experience. It also aligns
its curriculum’s teaching objectives with California state standards for
physical education and health. Its curriculum uses the lesson plan structure
taught in several teacher training programs. Lessons scaffold skills to
gradually build up to the day’s objective, starting with a “Do Now” that gets
students reflecting on the day’s topic and ending class with an “exit ticket”
that assesses what they learned.
Even though Headstand’s mission and planning impressed me, I
was still skeptical that young students could actually take yoga and
mindfulness seriously.
Adam Moskowitz, a Headstand teacher, agreed that the
practice can be difficult for some kids: “At their age—and in this age—the last
thing some of them want to do is sit, with nothing to look at or play,” he
says, “In some ways, despite its great challenge, mindfulness is a very simple,
repetitive practice. It’s not always easy convincing kids that they’re learning
something by doing the same, simple thing again and again.”
I emailed my former students who took Headstand’s classes in
middle school to ask them about their impressions of the program. Michael
Rivera, now a senior in high school, admitted that at first, he found yoga
class “dull.” His next response also seemed very telling: “It wasn’t as
active as sports. There wasn’t a lot of movement going on, so it reminded me of
a ‘time out,’ like a punishment. We were stuck inside, instead of being outside
and having an extra 45 minutes of P.E.”
His response exemplified two common attitudes: a refusal to
believe anything but fast-pasted exercise can qualify as “physical education”;
and a tendency to equate active movement with productivity, and stillness with
wasted time or even, as Michael noticed, “punishment.” To me, this was the most
revolutionary aspect of meditation programs: They teach the idea that slowing
down is necessary, and that sometimes “not doing” can be just as productive as
“doing.”
Headstand’s curriculum aims to promote this idea with its
students. In one lesson plan, students brainstorm what they generally associate
with the word “slow” and discuss why the word’s connotation is generally
negative. Then, they do a yoga sequence paced slowly and quickly at different
times, and discuss how moving at each pace affected the tone of the room, and
their own frame of mind. They brainstorm situations when acting slowly may be
better than acting too quickly, like during an argument or when overwhelmed on
a test. While teaching, I was always concerned with “doing,” making sure my
students and I constantly worked towards the goals we wanted to achieve. It
wasn’t until I practiced meditation that I realized what my schools and
professional environment had never taught me: that instead of moving for the
sake of moving, what both my students and I may have needed instead was a
moment of being still.
“Their minds are busy just like ours,” says Emily Tsay,
a Headstand teacher for first and second graders. “But you can see physically
how their mood changes when we practice.” She says she starts class by having
students rest their minds for just three breaths and then builds up from that.
On a chart posted on a wall of her class, she tracks how long they can sit with
their eyes closed focusing only on their breath.
Now looking back, Michael agrees that mindfulness practice
was useful and appreciates the quiet environment the class provided: “Just
having a good 45 minutes to not hear any noise and keep to yourself mentally
actually helped me prepare for the next class periods. After yoga class, I
would feel pretty rejuvenated.”
Beth A. Keiser/AP Photo
Headstand’s curriculum also tries to stay true to the
original purpose of yoga and meditation by framing each class around positive
character traits, like compassion and gratitude. Recently, some critics have
coined the term"McMindfulness" to
criticize the mindfulness movement’s tendency to only focus on reducing stress
while ignoring the practice’s other key goals of compassion and social awareness.
Critics want to ensure that programs emphasize being mindful not only for your
own benefit, but for the benefit of others. This makes the character education
aspect of Headstand’s curriculum significant. Each unit focuses on a certain
trait. A unit on “responsibility” is framed around questions like “What does it
mean to accept personal responsibility?”, “How does being irresponsible affect
the people around you?” and “How are responsibility and power related?” A unit
on gratitude discusses the idea of “taking something for granted.” A unit on
“curiosity” asks how curiosity can encourage social justice.
Kelly Knoche, a yoga teacher helping to develop
social-emotional curricula in Oakland, thinks this emphasis on character is
imperative to providing true education: “We think we’re teaching kids how to
thrive by focusing on academics. But we often miss teaching them the skills
they need for daily life: how to build relationships with compassion, how to
support each other, how to cope with trauma. Those are the kinds of skills that
will eventually keep them going.”
Headstand’s emphasis on character education follows a trend
that has gained momentum in urban education circles, particularly after the
popularity of journalist Paul Tough’s book How Children Succeed,
based on his popular New
York Times article. After dismal
graduation statistics showed only nine percent of low-income students
who enter a four-year college actually graduate, Tough’s book theorized that
the character traits of college students, even more than their academic skills,
could predict whether they succeeded or not. Headstand’s curriculum builds off
of the seven traits that Tough argues are crucial for future success: grit,
curiosity, self-control, social intelligence, zest, optimism, and gratitude.
Knoche thinks bringing a program like Headstand to her
school district would help accomplish this: “Headstand has a beautiful way of
redefining what we believe public education should be and blending yoga,
mindfulness and character education into those beliefs.”
But with issues like funding, class scheduling, graduation
requirements, and other logistics, I wondered whether programs like Headstand
and others could ever become a part of our public-education system.
“Headstand has taken a specific model and made it successful
within a charter network, which is relatively autonomous and flexible,” Knoche
says, “Now the question is, how do we get an entire district on board?”
Parents and administrators have not always embraced these
programs right away. Administrators at an Ohio elementary school discontinued the
school’s mindfulness program after parents felt uncomfortable with the
practice’s roots in Eastern religion and complained that the program did not
use class time valuably. Last year, prosecutors in a prominent court case sued California's
Encinitas Union school district, arguing that the district’s yoga program
indoctrinated students with Hindu beliefs.
“To me, yoga is secular. Everybody breathes, everybody gets
stressed, everybody can benefit from the skills we teach,” Tsay says, “But I
definitely think there is resistance with people not being aware of what yoga
is because they haven’t practiced it themselves.”
In July, the judge in the Encinitas case ruled on the side
of the school district, finding that the curriculum had no trace of religion, opening
up the possibility of spreading yoga to other public schools in California.
But even disregarding the religious undertones of the
practice, I also wondered how public school students, 48 percent of which are
considered low-income and
more than 40 percent of which are black and Latino, would receive a practice
that is often stereotypically associated with a white, upper-class demographic.
According to a 2008 study, 85
percent of yoga practitioners are white. More
than 30 percent of Yoga Journal magazine’s readership
have incomes over $100,000 a year.
"Through yoga, I reprogrammed my mind to accept my
disabilities and to not be crippled by them."
Growing up in a Latino middle-class family, I had never
known anyone who practiced yoga or meditation. My father adopted “Power Yoga”
in his early 60s to improve his flexibility, but he still skips the meditation
part at the end of the routine. Seeing how hesitant my family has been, I
doubted that students from similar backgrounds would instantly embrace
Headstand classes.
When I asked my former students how they perceived the
program, the two students who responded—both students of color from
lower-middle-class backgrounds—agreed that at first, the ideas of yoga and
mindfulness were unfamiliar.
“Before the class, I had never heard about yoga before and
did not know what to expect,” Tracy Lord, now a senior in high school, told me.
“So most students at first were hesitant to participate and try.”
Michael also felt that teenage insecurities often played a
role in students resisting the class: “As a 12-year-old kid, I didn’t always
feel comfortable moving my body in such a way.”
Tracy echoed these insecurities: “At first, I kind of
rejected the practice because it made me too vulnerable, with its awkward poses
and asking me to close my eyes. I didn’t want to look weird.”
Yet both Michael and Tracy eventually found Headstand’s
classes beneficial. Tracy thought her teacher helped students overcome their
timidity, and “won over” the majority of the class over time. Tracy ended up
loving the practice so much that she wrote her college application personal
statement on the effect yoga had on her life. In her statement, Tracy described
a doctor’s visit where she learned she had issues with her spine that caused
her immense back pain and physical disability. She wrote that yoga helped her
by not only easing the physical pain, but also teaching her that “My imperfections
were what made me unique. Through yoga, I reprogrammed my mind to accept my
disabilities and to not be crippled by them. I still have a twisted spine, but
I can persevere through it.”
Michael still thinks middle school was too early for him to
handle the “embarrassing poses” of yoga class, but also admits that he still
found the mindfulness practice useful: “Before taking the yoga class, I used to
believe that the only thing I had to work out and take care of was my body, but
that isn’t the case. You also have to take care of your mind.”
Now a senior experiencing the stress of the college
application process, Michael used the skills from the class again. He noticed
how his mood changed and self-confidence dipped when worrying about completing
his applications.
“But now I could stop and realize that this stress is all
right. I meditated for an hour when I got home and submitted my applications
soon after. That one hour period probably saved me another month of stress.”
Ghannam has seen this retrospective appreciation happen
before: “It is sometimes the students who hated it who are then the ones
writing me emails later telling me how much they have learned to appreciate
it,” she says. “Sometimes the kids who are the most resistant at first are the
ones who might need that practice the most.”
This school year, Headstand partnered with the University of
California San Francisco to provide more concrete data of the program’s
effectiveness. However, Ghannam also accepts that her classes, as in Michael’s
case, may not necessarily show immediate results. She is more concerned with
building consistency and normalizing the practice for students over time.
“It’s the same as a student who may not love math class and
may just be going through the motions at first. Over time, as long as they’re
practicing with a great teacher, something is going to click and hopefully more
meaning is taken on.”
Practicing mindfulness now at 26, I wish I had more exposure
to the practice as a student and as a teacher. I wonder whether my moment for
it to “click” would have happened earlier if I had persistent classes showing
me why it matters. And I wondered if practicing mindfulness as a teacher would
have made me more relaxed and happy, and thus more effective. Teachers at
Headstand schools seem to agree: When Tsay offered to teach an adapted version
of her Headstand class for the teachers at her charter school, 12 of the 13 staff
members signed up.
I also wonder what it would have done for my students who
also at times struggled with issues of anxiety and self-worth, and often
allowed those insecurities to affect how they dealt with the everyday setbacks
they encountered.
“The ability to help ease your mind in stressful situations
is critical for everybody, because everyone at some point in their life will go
through something that will truly knock them down,” Michael wrote. “That’s
where yoga/meditation comes in.”
As more research discovers the true effectiveness of these
kids of programs, I at least take comfort in the fact that my students had the
rare opportunity of learning the importance of mental health and
character-building at such a young age. All students could benefit from
learning these things early but with students whose backgrounds at times
already place them at a disadvantage, these kinds of programs become even more
justified. Every student should have access to skills necessary for confronting
the anxiety of everyday life. As Tracy wrote to me: "We all deserve peace,
and a calm mind."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AMANDA
MACHADO is a writer based in San Francisco.
