#mbx-12

Resilience 4 Factors: Part 2

Summaries of the presentations and my personal reflections on how to successfully bounce back from setbacks.

Notes by Sang H. Kim, Ph.D.

I blog about them as a series. Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.

Above I summarized the four factors of resilience from the previous blog. Here I would like to elaborate them from different angles because having this knowledge is valuable for creating a big…

Resilience Building for Performance

THE SCIENCE OF RESILIENCE

Resilience is the ability to roll with the setbacks and bounce back with renewed vigor. The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “The process of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats or even significant sources of threat.”

Resilience is a skill that we can learn and master. It’s a mindset that can be developed to transform…

Effects of Mindful Movement on Neuroendocrine Regulation

Effects of Mindful Movement on Neuroendocrine Regulation: Part 7

Presented for Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine, Harvard Extension School: PSYC E-1037.

Notes by Sang H. Kim, Ph.D.

These notes are intended as additional resources for my brief presentation on October 21, 2014, for Introduction to Lifestyle Medicine, which is a Psychology Extension course at Harvard University. This is based on my…

100 Day Living Meditation: Part 2 My Experience of Harmony

Part 2: Harmony

This is the 2nd part of three part series of my experience of living meditation for 100 days. Part 1 is here.

Harmony is a means to reach the third stage, passing through. Harmony is what makes all thoughts free of conflict. Every thought has its unique value and place and fair share of treatment. No one thought is greater than the other, nobody steps on each other’s feet, no…

Evidence for Therapeutic Effects of Mind-body Practice

Mind-body practices are so deeply embedded in our lives, like taking a deep breath under stress, feeling relieved after a big yawn and stretch or taking a walk when feeling gloomy, that we often don’t perceive their intrinsic therapeutic value. 

Recently there has been an emergence of new evidence associated with the therapeutic effects of mind-body practice on trauma-induced symptoms. This is…

Below is the slides of the Mindful Movement for Invigorating Break session at the annual conference of the Institute of Lifestyle Medicine, held on June 20-21, 2014, at the Richard B. Simches Research Center of the Massachusetts General Hospital. This presentation was focused on hands-on practice of MBX-12 (Mindfulness-based Stretching and Deep Breathing Exercises) on both days. After the slides are the summary of the randomized controlled trials in which the MBX-12 was used as the primary exercise protocol.

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Research Summary:

Context: Persons with chronic stress symptoms such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have abnormal cortisol levels (generally at lower levels than normal ranges). We hypothesized that endogenous normalization of cortisol concentration through exercise may reduce PTSD symptoms.

Objective: We aimed to determine whether mindfulness-based stretching and deep breathing exercise (MBX) normalizes cortisol levels and reduces PTSD symptom severity among persons with subclinical features of PTSD.

Design and Setting: We conducted a randomized controlled trial at the University of New Mexico Hospital.

Participants: Twenty-nine nurses aged 45–66 years participated in the study.

Intervention: We provided 60-minute MBX sessions semiweekly for 8 weeks.

Main Outcome Measures: We measured serum cortisol and other hormones and the PTSD Checklist–Civilian version (PCL-C) at baseline and weeks 4, 8, and 16.

Results: Twenty-nine participants completed the study procedures, 22 (79%) with PTSD symptoms (MBX, n 11; control, n 11), and 7 (21%) without PTSD (BASE group). Eight-week outcomes for the MBX group were superior to those for the control group (mean difference for PCL-C scores, 13.6; 95% confidence interval [CI], 25.6, 1.6; P .01; mean difference for serum cortisol, 5.8; 95% CI, 0.83, 10.8; P.01). No significant differences were identified between groups in any other items. The changes in theMBXgroup were maintained at the 16-week follow-up (P.85 for PCL-C; P.21 for cortisol). Our data show that improved PTSD scores were associated with normalization of cortisol levels (P .05).

Conclusions: The results suggest that participation in MBX practice is associated with reduction of the prevalence of PTSD-like symptoms in persons exhibiting subclinical features of PTSD.

What is Chanting?

Chanting is a continuous repetitive rhythmical recitation of mantras. Chanting has been used in sacred rituals for thousands years throughout human society. The purpose of chanting is to connect the casual mind with the inner divine…