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Meditation for Pain: How Meditating Can Reduce Pain More Than Drugs


Creative Commons License photo credit: Ingrid Sørensen

Have you ever had a chronic injury or illness that caused you a lot of pain no matter what you tried? It can be quite horrible. But did you know that science is now finding that meditation can help reduce pain just as much as pain killers? Fascinating isn’t it?

In this article we’ll take a look at some of the things science is discovering about meditation and pain and then look at some different resources you can tap in to if you want to give it a shot for yourself.

My background with pain and meditation

Although I have been lucky enough to meet quite a few meditation teachers, I have never really capitalized on my fortune. I am not someone who can speak about meditation from experience because I simply don’t do it enough.

But last year I got quite sick with a strange problem; a giant stone was stuck in my saliva gland and causing me more pain than I had ever experienced. And in my agony and despair I tried to do a bit of meditation and mind training in order to find some relief as well as to make the experience perhaps a little bit more meaningful.

And it worked. The most stress and pain free moments of that month were when I managed to calm down and focus on my breath for a little while. At that time I realized how much better off I might have been if I had trained in mediation prior to getting sick. It is no wonder Tibetan Buddhist Lamas are able to endure great hardships and illness without showing any pain at all. They have done years and years of isolated meditation.

Science and meditation for pain relief

So what exactly has science been finding out about meditation and pain relief? Actually, quite a lot. Since the early 1970’s American researchers and scientists have been working with Buddhist meditation experts because they discovered that meditation actually changes the way the brain works.

Realizing that they understood very little about all this, the scientists began taking MRIs and CAT scans whilst the yogis or lamas were meditating. The results were very interesting. Here is an excerpt from a recent article in the Sacremento Bee:

Researchers have found that people who meditate on a regular basis actually develop thicker brains – they increase the connections between their brain cells, and they also increase the network of blood vessels in the brain, especially in those areas that help us to focus and pay attention, as well as areas of the brain involved with self-awareness and empathy.

Meditation can also lead to a reduction in the area of the brain that is associated with pain and stress. In other words, we can literally change our brain by what we focus on. And you don’t have to be an expert at this in order to benefit.

This falls in to a new area of neuroscience called Neuro Plasticity. Basically, what this means is that the brain is constantly changing and can be changed by what we think and do. A decade ago scientists didn’t think this was possible but are now discovering that we can literally change the shape and function of our brain by our thoughts.

But it gets better. The study also showed:

[Read more…] about Meditation for Pain: How Meditating Can Reduce Pain More Than Drugs

Originally posted on April 18, 2011 @ 3:16 am

Health Secrets: What Secrets for a Healthy Body and Mind Do You Know?

Running in Alabama Hills
Creative Commons License photo credit: jfdervin

For over ten years now I have suffered from a painful chest injury. It happened during martial arts training; a stray elbow landed right on my sternum. I tried everything to diagnose and fix it – X-rays, scans, acupuncture, physiotherapy, Chinese herbs – and nothing worked. Until a friend told me to see a sports massage expert. After two sessions the damn thing was feeling good again!

It turns out my sternum was being stretched by a lopsided spine and collar bone which caused me to pinch some nerves. By working with the cause of the problem as opposed to the symptom I was able to get some pretty amazing relief.

And that really got me thinking about all the other health secrets we have discovered over the years. This post is all about them.

What health secrets am I talking about?

What I would really like to hear about is anything that you tried that finally gave you some relief from pain, new levels of energy, etc. The thing is, a lot of these methods are not accepted by Western Medicine due to the lack of intensive double-blind studies. But that is not the point. Some of them still work.

Meditation, for example, has been helping people achieve happiness, good health and peace of mind for thousands of years but it is only in the last decade or so that modern medicine has really accepted its benefits. Does that mean it didn’t work for people before that? Nope.

Your story
What I would really like to hear about is stories from people that have tried something new and got amazing results. Please share the details about what was going wrong and then about how you found out about the new treatment. It could be something to do with:

  • depression
  • anxiety
  • insomnia
  • a niggling sport injury
  • lack of energy
  • etc.

Obviously we do not need personal details or anything like that. This idea of this post is to learn about some new methods that people might be able to research as possibly alternatives or compliments to their current unsuccessful efforts.

Be the friend who suggests the treatment idea
I would never have seen that sports therapist unless a friend suggested it to me. Luckily for me I am mates with a lot of martial artists and as such they are in touch with the best people to treat their injuries. But not everyone has that friend around to make those types of suggestions. The idea behind this post is to share any health secrets that we have heard about or come across in the hope that we can be that friend that suggests the idea.

We are NOT giving anyone medical advice here; we are just suggesting some methods that worked for us that someone else might want to investigate further.

Not a replacement for a doctor’s advice

Members of the Joint Force Medical Group Treat an Exercise Casualty
Creative Commons License photo credit: Defence Images

Please be very clear on this. These health secrets that we occasionally encounter are not a replacement for a doctor’s advice. You should never try anything or change anything to do with your health unless you consult your GP first. It is far too dangerous.

Sure, if you are getting some physio for a bad back and want to try some acupuncture instead that is perfectly okay. But never ever change any medication or medical prescription because of something you found on the internet.

What is your health secret?

So have you tried anything that has really helped change your life? Something that you might not have tried unless a friend suggested it? Please leave a comment about it here. I am hoping that we might be able to use this post as the catalyst for some people to meet with a helpful new remedy and maybe finally be done with an old injury.

Originally posted on January 21, 2011 @ 3:29 am

Why Exercise is NOT the Key to Losing Weight


Creative Commons License photo credit: John Steven Fernandez

Six months ago I weighed 93 kilograms (204 pounds). Today I weigh 83 (182 pounds). In just six months I have dropped a solid 10 kilograms and feel healthier than I have since high school. So how much exercise did I do to achieve that goal? Almost none.

In this post I am going to share with you how I lost the weight and why I am convinced that weight loss has very little to do with the exercise that you do. If you have your own weight loss experiences I would love to hear about them in the comments.

Why my teeth helped me lose weight

So here is the confession. About six months ago I got a new form of orthodontics called Invisalign. Invisalign is basically a series of invisible plates that you wear all day that move your teeth one by one. Every two weeks you change to the next plate and at the end of the series your teeth have gone from crooked to perfectly straight. Which I badly needed.

Anyway, the real kicker is that you can’t eat with them in. You take them out to eat (and drink) and you can only have them out for around 20 minutes at a time. Say goodbye to snacking, sugary drinks in between meals and, of course, say goodbye to second helpings after dinner.

These changes that have been “forced” upon me are the reason I lost 10 kilos so quickly. The secret to lasting and healthy weight loss is not exercise, it is the amount of food you are taking in.

Why exercise is not the answer

Prior to getting these plates I spent a lot of time exercising trying to lose weight. I didn’t have much luck. I would lose one or two kilos but the weight would always come back on as soon as I stopped the intense work outs. Why? Because I was still taking in way too many calories.

Let me show you some maths that I have been thinking about:

One can of Coke has around 155 calories in it.

Running on a treadmill for 20 minutes burns around 150 calories.

That means that after 20 minutes of exercise you have burned off one sugar drink and hardly any fat stores.

As you can see by this simple bit of maths, exercise is not the best way to lose weight. Diet is. It is your diet that will make or break your progress. It is simply too hard to burn off all the calories you need by exercise alone.

Why portion sizes will help you lose weight forever

I am now a firm believer that your portion sizes are one of the most important things when it comes to losing weight. And to prove this we can use a simple example and a bit of maths again.

Let’s say you use an extra large bowl for your dinner every night and fill it up so that you get 100 more calories than if you used a smaller bowl. Now, over a year that is 36,500 extra calories that you wouldn’t have had if you used a smaller bowl. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat so in one year you have added around 10 pounds of fat. And that is just from dinner.

It is really important to control your portion sizes and think of it as extra calories that add up over a year or over ten years. By just making your dinner smaller you will essentially save 10 pounds of fat in a year. It is very powerful.

Why you have to keep exercising

After all this diet stuff is said and done it is still vital that you keep exercising on a regular basis. The exercise helps to increase your metabolism and thus will assist your weight loss progress. It isn’t the main thing, but it will make a massive difference to the way you look and feel. This is especially true if you want to add a bit of muscle or tone – diet can’t do that. Exercise also helps you to feel better about yourself due to the large amount of endorphins that are released. These feel good chemicals go a long way to keeping you healthy.

Does anyone have any weight loss stories to share? I would like to know what has/hasn’t worked for you.

Originally posted on November 3, 2010 @ 11:47 pm

3 Ways to Deal with Physical Pain and Painful Sickness

too much
Creative Commons License photo credit: lpk90901

“If the problem can be solved, why worry? If the problem cannot be solved, worrying will do you no good.” – Shantideva

For the last two weeks I’ve been in bed unable to move due to a big ole stone stuck in my saliva gland. Every time I ate (or even thought about eating for that matter) the gland would swell up to golf ball size and ache like nothing I’ve ever experienced. It was the worst pain I have ever been in.

During this time laying perfectly still I really started to think about all the people out there who have it so much worse than me and my stone. And now that the stone is gone (thank you surgeon!) I wanted to write down some things that I’ve heard about in the hope that it might help you if you ever go through some horrible physical pain or sickness. I hope it helps someone out there.

Getting on top of the worry

If you talk to my friends and family they will probably tell you that I am a big worrier. I seem to make things out to be worse than they are and I worry intensely about things that haven’t happened yet. This is a very bad thing as it makes many a mole hill into a mountain.

Worry seems to make any pain that is there seem a lot worse than it is and this leads to a lot more suffering for you and your family. I think that if you can tackle the worrying you are halfway there as most physical pain is somewhat manageable.

A best friend with cancer

Some of my long time readers might remember that my best mate had cancer a few years ago. It was a pretty tough time for everyone involved (mostly him) and we all spent a lot of effort looking into ways to deal with the physical and emotional pain that was going on. I remember one night sitting with him whilst he was in unbearable pain and wishing there was more I could do. I also had the thought that one day it might be myself in that bed and that I should prepare my mind now and not wait for it to happen.

So even if you are not in pain now I hope that you will take some time to research some techniques as it seems that those who have trained their mind and bodies are able to cope with the bad times much better than those who start training when the problems occur. Of course I don’t want you to worry about getting sick, that’s not the point. I just hope that you might do a little preparation in case it ever happens.

Dealing with physical pain and painful sickness

saliva gland stone removed
There it is – the stone once removed from the saliva duct. Painless operation but a very painful few weeks before hand. All that trouble over a tiny little calcification!

Like I said, most of these ideas are things that I used when I was in bed with the saliva gland stone and when my best friend was dealing with cancer. They worked for me but there is no guarantee that they will work for everyone. If you yourself have any advice for people going through something painful then please leave a comment as it might really help someone out there.

1. Compassion – think about others more than yourself
More than anything else I am thankful for compassion. My mother and all my loving Buddhist teachers have constantly tried to teach me to make other people more important than myself. And while I have absolutely no real understanding of this, it did become very important when I was in pain.

It actually sounds quite selfish now, thinking about compassion in order to make your pain better. But as I was laying there unable to move I naturally started to think about all the other living beings out there who are in much worse pain than I am. All those people who are suffering terminal illnesses or have just had their arm blown off in Iraq. My pain, by comparison, is fairly minute.

I realized after a few days of being sick that I had a choice. I could panic and worry about whether I would ever get better or start thinking about others. Shifting my mind away from myself seemed to give me some strength and a will to endure and be brave and get back on my feet because there are a lot of people out there who can’t.

2. Giving and taking meditation – take on the suffering
In Tibetan Buddhism there is a tradition of meditation called Tong Len or giving and taking. It is basically an aid that helps you develop compassion and weaken your self clinging by imagining that you are taking on all the sickness of other sentient beings by using the breath. I am obviously not qualified to teach this so head over to this website for a nice teaching by a western nun called Pema Chodron.

Basically what I would do while I was sick was imagine that I was taking on all sentient beings suffering when I breathed in, and when I breathed out I would give them all my happiness. I imaged that my pain was me taking on the illness of everyone else. Again, this practiced seemed to help me because it made the experience meaningful. It gave me a chance to practice. Other than that all I could do was lie still and worry about whether the surgeon would accidentally cut an artery in my neck and kill me!

3. Accept help – don’t be ashamed
When my best mate was in hospital one of the doctors mentioned how important it was to be honest and open about how you are feeling because if you’re not two things happen. Firstly, the doctors have trouble diagnosing you because they aren’t sure what your true symptoms are. Secondly, your pain doesn’t get managed properly because no body knows how much pain you really are in.

For the first month of my illness I didn’t really talk about how much it hurt. Because of this the doctors just sort of plodded along not really thinking it was a huge problem. Finally the pain got so bad that I rang my GP desperate and begging him for a referral for a specialist. Within an hour I was talking to a surgeon who said he could operate in two weeks. Had I not opened up about the pain I would probably still be laying in my bed in agony, unable to eat or drink.

During that time I also asked my teachers to do prayers for me and my friends and family to help me with things like DVDs or just someone to chat to when I needed a distraction. Unless you open up and accept the help it is really hard for anyone to know what to do for you. Without the kindness of my doctors, teachers, relatives and friends I don’t know what I would have done.

Conclusion

I would love to hear about what has helped you or a family member deal with some pain or illness that has happened. It can be a very lonely and frightening time and it would be nice to use this post as a tiny bit of support for anyone who might stumble upon it one day when they really need somewhere to turn. If it is you that is going through something painful I hope you get better really soon.

Originally posted on October 8, 2010 @ 1:45 am

Eating Animals: Is It Time We Evolved?

childlike curiosity
Creative Commons License photo credit: robert.molinarius

“We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err.”
– Henry Beston

Is it time to stop eating animals? Is meat really necessary in a world where so many other options exist? Is the practice of eating meat something that is outdated, old fashioned and perhaps a little bit primitive? In this post I want to share some thoughts I have been having lately about eating meat and whether or not it is time we evolved.

A new angle to look at

The quote at the start of this post is from a book called The Outermost House by Henry Beston. Henry was a nature writer who produced this masterpiece while living in solitude on Cape Cod. There on the windy beach he found a new appreciation for the natural world and, in my opinion, wrote one of the most inspiring and opinion-shifting passages about our relationship with animals. Here is the full quote:

We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature, and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate of having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein we err, and greatly err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours they move finished and complete, gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.

What I love about this quote is that it very subtly challenges our ideas about animals by arguing that they are not below us but are in fact other nationalities existing within our own. This concept is an interesting one because it brings up new ideas about eating meat. The documentary Earthlings explains this further by asking us why we consider racism and sexism to be negative traits but species-ism to be perfectly okay. On a logical front it doesn’t seem to make sense because discrimination against animals has the exact same patterns, motives and behaviors as the characteristics that we, as a society, most abhor.

Is it time we evolved?

cloe
Creative Commons License photo credit: Michael W. May

The world “evolve” keeps coming in to my mind when I think about eating meat because it seems as though the more reading I do about meat the less I feel drawn to it. As you probably know by now I am an aspiring vegetarian. I still eat meat once a week but for the most part I avoid it. Inwardly it feels as if I am evolving a little bit from who I used to be – an overweight meat lover who stayed comfortable in the thought that the killing was out of sight and out of mind. But in a world where we are now all so conscious about global warming, disease and ethics I feel as though meat eating just doesn’t fit anymore. Some questions I have been asking myself lately:

  • Is it healthy?
    After reading a few studies about the fact that vegetarians live longer and are less likely to develop cancer or heart disease I started to wonder whether meat was as healthy as we had always been told. Sure, meat has proteins and lots of vitamins but so do the variety of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and other foods that are available. And these don’t seem to come with the health consequences.
  • Is it ethical?
    Growing up I was always told that killing animals, hurting things, etc. were unacceptable but the idea of meat eating was never challenged. This is probably because my parents wanted me to have meat while I was growing and developing but now that I am on my own I wonder whether it is time to challenge the status quo. I would never kill an animal so why do I consider it okay to have someone else do it for me?
  • Is it logical to ignore an animal’s suffering?
    I have a cat and a dog and I love them like children. They have mood swings, get happy when I come home and cry out when they get hurt. I do not believe that their emotional responses are as developed as a human being’s is but I am 100% certain that they posses them. They are not like plants or rocks. They have a very active and emotional brain. And, from what I have been told, pigs are a lot smarter than dogs. They run away when they see the knife coming. So how can I justify eating pork and bacon when it comes from an animal that thinks and feels with greater capacity than my cat and dog?
  • Is it socially responsible?
    Scientists have stated that the meat industry does more damage to the environment than any other industry or problem. Cattle emit enormous amounts of methane gas, they have to be fed and fattened up and that food needs to be grown and manufactured. Then we slaughter the cow and refrigerate it, truck it around the country or fly it overseas. The sheer amount of energy and pollution that goes into making one steak is staggering. And in a world where hunger and food prices are becoming a serious problem (never mind the global warming) it seems as though meat has become socially irresponsible.

These are the thoughts I have been having lately about meat eating. I am going to try and reduce the amount of meat I eat because I feel like it is something that I need to be doing. I do like the taste of meat and I understand why we eat it. But, it feels like it is time to perhaps move on.

What do you think?

What are your thoughts on the idea of evolving away from eating meat? Do you think it is something that has potential or do you think that meat should always be a part of our society and culture? If you can’t stand the idea of giving up meat, even though you might concede there are downfalls, why do you think that is? I would be really interested to hear all of your ideas on this topic as it is something that I have been quite interested in for a while now.

Originally posted on August 13, 2010 @ 2:51 am

Why Your Stress Might be Killing You

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Creative Commons License photo credit: Christina Spicuzza

“Stress is nothing more than a socially acceptable form of mental illness” – Richard Carlson

A few years ago I went through a rough patch that left me feeling constantly stressed. During that time I started to also see some physical manifestations of that emotional turmoil. One day I went to my doctor and he told me that I needed to do something about it or I could wind up doing some serious damage. It hit me like a tonne of bricks – up until that point it had never occurred to me that stress might be damaging my health in the long term.

In this post I want to talk about why your stress levels might be killing you. The more I read about the matter the more I am coming to understand that there are a lot of people out there doing themselves some harm.

The scary links between stress and health problems

My younger brother is studying medicine and as such we often have talks about the link between body and mind. Long gone are the days when the medical world viewed them as two separate things; the current consensus is that what goes on the body is strongly related to the mind. You can look to your own life as an example. Try and remember the last headache you got; I am betting it had something to do with a work or family argument. What about the last time you couldn’t sleep? Was that stress related too? These are prime examples of the body following the mind’s lead.

Its called psychoneuroimmunology and it is the study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems of the human body. There have been countless studies showing that stress can:

  • lead to an increased chance of weight problems
  • cause poor sleep which can lead to other health issues
  • have an impact on your heart’s health
  • impact your immune response
  • etc

These (and the ones not mentioned) are pretty serious and, over time, can do serious damage to your body. It is extremely important for our health that we understand how stress affects us and learn a few things to get it under control.

The necessary trip

hiking. tutzing kathi 1
Creative Commons License photo credit: deep_schismic

If you think that you might be having problems with stress it is vitally important that you go and see your doctor. This is something that I put off for a long time for fear of coming across too sensitive and dramatic. The truth was, however, if I waited much longer I may have winded up doing some permanent damage.

The amazing thing was that I felt almost instantly better after seeing my doctor. It was a combination of knowing I was doing something to help myself get better and just talking to someone who knew how to help. Sometimes talking to friends and family is extremely helpful, but sometimes it is not. I’m sure we all have those mates who just tell us to “man up” or “keep busy until it goes away”. Sometimes these help, sometimes they harm.

Book a time to see your doctor, especially if you have been having bad sleep, noticed changes in your weight or have been having any other unusual symptoms that you think might be related to your stress.

How to deal with stress in the short term

There are a few little things that you can do in the short term in order to help combat the effects of stress. These things may or may not work for you, they are just some things that I find to be quite helpful on a stressful day at work or home. Remember, an underlying stress condition can seriously impact your long term health and as such it is very important to talk to a professional.

1. Run, run, run
Exercise is a tried and tested method for reducing stress and helping your body recovery from a bad day. Why? Because, as we all know, the body releases a chemical called endorphins which leaves you feeling. Although I can’t find any medical proof for it (any doctors out there?) I once read that the stress hormone is designed to prepare you for a primal “fight or flight” situation which is then perfectly burned off by running. It is almost as if the stress is preparing you for a good jog!

Running also has the dual effect of getting you outside into the open and getting some sunlight. Sunlight is necessary for the production of Vitamin D which is involved in keeping you happy as well as immune healthy. Some studies also suggest that it may help prevent cancer.

2. Eat less meat
There are numerous studies that point to the fact that eating a healthy vegetarian diet can lead to a longer life expectancy and better heart health. There is also some evidence to suggest that you are less likely to get cancer. Now I am not a total vegetarian, I eat meat about twice a week. But since cutting back from daily meat intake I have noticed better energy levels and a much happier feeling. It might not work for you but I would never go back to a meat based diet.

3. Read from the experts
There is so much knowledge to be found in books. All the problems that we are having now have been had and thought about by smart people for thousands of years. Aristotle, Buddha, Plato, Descartes, the Dalai Lama, etc. – all of these people’s thoughts and ideas are written down. And they help. They have practical meaning for our lives today. If you are having problems with stress you might just find a solution or two by reading a book and then applying the ideas to your situation. Family, work, disease… all of these problems have been tackled before.

Conclusion

The opening quote is something that I found to be quite striking. Everyone is stressed but hardly anyone thinks that it is a real problem. But as my doctor showed me and as the studies continue to show us, stress can have a serious impact on your health, well being and longevity. I hope that this short post might serve as a starting point for you to tackle your stress levels. At the very minimum I hope we all go for a jog tonight!

Originally posted on July 30, 2010 @ 5:44 am