If you are the kind of person who likes to know the why of things, here is a very brief summary of why meditating will be beneficial for you, too:
The evidence
As a naturopathic doctor I am well-versed in the evidence and clinical applications for meditation. It is amazing how effective various kinds of meditation can be. An unsophisticated PubMed search on the term “meditation” yields 2, 215 studies. Depression? Meditation may be as effective as medication. Cancer? Meditation improves mood, sleep, immune system, quality of life. Stress? Meditate to lower blood pressure. Heart disease? Yup. Meditation helps. Indeed, mindfulness-based stress reduction for heart disease, chronic pain and many other conditions is taught at hospitals and in private practices across North America based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD.
Even more compellingly, my clients are a fantastic and inspiring bunch. They tell me that meditation practice helps them manage anxiety, gives them energy when their work involves long hours and traveling, keeps them happier, helps them connect more with their friends and family. So not only do I know about the benefits from reading the studies, I know about it from clinical practice.
The bullet points:
It feels good.
It is free.
It can help restore emotional clarity and balance, making you feel better if you are stressed or sad.
It can energize you when you feel tired (though it’s not a substitute for quality sleep, you type A’s out there!).
It can help you tap your inner wisdom when you feel uncertain about a decision.
It can reclaim stillness from the frenzied pace of modern day life, readjusting the skewed balance between being and doing.
It can reconnect you with your intuition and creativity.
It will give you unexpected gifts (for me this has included concrete reassurance when things felt dire, and recently, the name of a remedy I hadn’t consciously heard of that was the perfect fit for someone in my care with a complex clinical case).
It doesn’t have to be hard.
Want some tips to help you find a way to integrate meditation into your full life? Get started here. And please share what works and doesn’t for you!
I am delighted to tell you that I proved myself wrong this year.
In the past 12 months I have gone from a firm, “meditation is for other people” identity, to being a person who strategizes to find that time in my day.
Huge shift!
Yup, despite ‘knowing better’ via the clinical evidence I saw regularly and the clear benefits in the research, I was sure it was something I couldn’t do. I truly believed that meditation was great for other people – but not for me. I couldn’t sit still, couldn’t quiet my mind, didn’t feel “good” at it. And you know, overachievers like me, we like to be good at things rightaway.
In effect, I was seeking less challenge, more comfort zone.
Sound familiar?
But, why leave the comfort zone? Well, you can’t grow in the comfort zone. And I got to the point where the benefits of growth outweighed my need for the ‘safety’ of the familiar. I felt like there was more within me but I couldn’t access it. I was frustrated. And stressed out. The tools I had weren’t enough to get me where I wanted to go. And then one more person told me meditation would allow me to get there, right after I finally found the type of meditation that resonates with me (see lesson #1 below). And I tried it. And I liked it. So I did it again. And again. Interestingly, leaving the comfort zone has felt great. So much for holding ourselves back to avoid hard, painful things. In retrospect, resisting meditation was a lot more painful.
I share this in case you – unlike myself – are gifted with the ability to learn from other people’s mistakes rather than needing to make them all yourself.
I hope you find the lessons I’ve learned and the tips I’ve gathered helpful on your own journeys. Why? Because meditation ISgood for you (details and evidence via this link).
My two important lessons:
1) There is no ‘one-size fits all’ with meditation, just like there is no one magic nutritional supplement that is right for everyone. Once I realized this, I stopped trying to fit myself into someone else’s favorite kind of meditation. I found one that was right for me.As someone with a short attention span and a tendency to be “doing” all the time, Shamanic journeying fits, as it gives me a focused something to do while I am breathing and observing. I found I really liked how I felt afterwards. And I liked the gifts it brought me, each and every time. Even when I approached it metaphorically kicking and screaming. Simple – and eventually kind of addictive, in the good way.
2) Limiting my personal growth with pronouncements like, “meditation is for other people” is only as fun as laughing at myself is later on – when I prove myself completely wrong, again. I am now resolved to limit the limiting pronouncements.
Tips for incorporating regular meditation into your already full life:
1) Most importantly, be a seeker. Be open and find the sort of meditation practice that works for you. Is it Transcendental? Mindfulness-based stress reduction? Guided meditation? Visualization? Chanting? Shamanic journeying? One of the many specific yogic meditation practices, from Kundalini chanting and breathwork to Sahaja yoga’s mental silence? One of many Buddhist meditation practices? Walking? Sitting in nature? Prayer?
Once you’ve found something that works for you,
2) Schedule it into your planner. Block off the time or it will get swallowed by the many important tasks and even greater number of unimportant distractions that gobble up our days. Very first thing in the morning is the most popular time to set aside time for stillness. Interesting, isn’t it? Here is the tone for the day: Calm, still, centred, grounded. When you put it like that, why don’t we all do it?
3) If possible, create a corner in your home that is set up for meditation. Having the space ready, welcoming and comfortable removes some practical and psychological obstacles. It doesn’t have to be a separate room, though it is helpful to have a door that closes if you share your house with others.
4) Do it together. Meditating weekly with a group can help to deepen and reinforce your home practice. Or meditate with others in your household!
5) Modern times, modern technology. Use YouTube and other electronic resources. Seriously. Whether you are looking for guided visualization or shamanic drumming, you can find it online, for free. Use those 10 minute clips as your company or motivation if this is helpful.
6) Be flexible about the details. At the cottage for the weekend? Meditate on the dock. Meeting cancelled? Close your office door, close your eyes and breathe into your heart centre for 10 minutes.
Ready to take stress management to the next level? Want to use meditation as a tool for getting clear as you “feel your way forward” to total health? Join us for this Toronto workshop, Wednesday November 30th, 2011.
What works for you? What doesn’t? Share your meditation experiences on my facebook wall or via twitter. Change is possible, folks, and it feels good!
“The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.” – Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson is one of my heroes, and May 27th was her birthday. There are many reasons to honor her memory and her work by sharing a small piece of her story. Author of the seminal book on the impact of pesticides on environmental health, Silent Spring (1962)(View book), she died of breast cancer in 1964, at age 56. A biologist and writer with a deep passion for the natural world, Carson was attacked by the chemical industry and by so-called “men of science” for her research. Not only did many people try to deny the truth of what she was saying, but they dismissed her for the simple fact of her biology; that she was a woman, working as a scientist and a writer at a time when this in itself was a challenge. According to biographer Linda Lear, Carson “courageously spoke out to remind us that we are a vulnerable part of the natural world subject to the same damage as the rest of the ecosystem. Testifying before Congress in 1963, Carson called for new policies to protect human health and the environment”(from www.rachelcarson.org).
Why beat this “pesticides are bad” thing over the head? Don’t we already know that pesticides cause serious, irreparable damage to human health? DDT was in fact eventually banned in North America after Carson sounded the alarm about the carcinogenic and hormone-disrupting insecticide. A leftover from WWII, DDT went from killing malaria-carrying mosquitoes in combat zones to killing the pesky mosquitoes that are abundant in North American summer. Although it was never tested, and it was known to kill a wide variety of insects on contact, it was advertised as safe & healthy for kids. It was even sprayed over them at swimming pools.
Thank you, Miss Rachel Carson, for this victory for us, the creatures of the earth.
But now, this year? There remain in use hundreds, if not thousands, of chemicals whose safety has never been proven, and this is the toxic soup in which we swim.
Let us not forget, we all live downstream. There is no safe place to spray Atrazine, a popular water-soluble pesticide that turns male frogs into females when it contaminates their habitat. There is no safe place to emit heavy-metal-contaminated smoke, known to affect sex development and asthma rates in children. We all live downstream.
Let us Remember Rachel Carson, and continue on in her effort. Let us wonder at the beauty and the mysteries of the earth, and speak out against environmental destruction.
Breast Thermography, otherwise known as Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) is a diagnostic procedure that creates images based on a careful detection and analysis of skin and tissue temperatures. These images allow practitioners to see where there is abnormal chemical and blood vessel activity in breast and body tissue. The ability of DITI to detect thermal signs that may suggest a pre-cancerous state of the breast at an extremely early stage, is a useful tool in early detection.
please call us to book your 30 minute appointment: 647 428 7200 Continue reading →
Concerned about the implications of our contaminated world on human health? Today one in three people will get cancer. One in four will die from it. In the 1950’s, women in industrialized countries were at a one in twenty risk of developing breast cancer over their lifetime. Today that risk has skyrocketed to one in eight. Cancer can have many causes. Seventy to eighty percent of women with breast cancer have none of the “official” risk factors: family history (5-10%), hormonal and reproductive factors and a high fat diet. However, breast cancer rates are increasing all over the world and may be but the tip of the iceberg of other environmentally-linked diseases. Come to a screening and discussion of Exposure: Environmental Links To Breast Cancer and learn what you can do to decrease your risk and that of your community.
To register, please call Gilda’s Club at 416-214-9898.
Join Drs Mahalia Freed ND and Angela Warburton TCM for a two part series examining the foundations of a whole person model of cancer care. Learn how to enhance and complement western medical treatments based on the most recent research findings. Use natural medicines to boost effectiveness of chemotherapy & radiation, address side effects, speed recovery from surgery, enhance the immune system and improve energy. Incorporate dietary, supplement and lifestyle recommendations to prevent recurrence and optimize health.
In this talk we will start by examining the evolution of cancer care, and the role traditional Chinese medicine and naturopathic medicine in prevention, treatment & recovery. We will look in some detail at lifestyle factors including diet, stress, sleep, exercise, and laughter, exploring research findings and always bringing it back to what this means for people who are healing from cancer, or looking for active prevention strategies. We will also discuss environmental risk factors, and spend some time exploring supplements and herbs used in cancer prevention and treatment. Finally, we will end by highlighting the characteristics found in those who have “remarkable recoveries”. You will take home a handout with lifestyle and diet tips, resources for more information, and the list of remarkable recovery characteristics.
Please reserve your spot by registering with Gilda’s Club @ 416-214-9898.
Join Drs Mahalia Freed ND and Angela Warburton TCM for a two part series examining the foundations of a whole person model of cancer care. Learn how to enhance and complement western medical treatments based on the most recent research findings. Use natural medicines to boost effectiveness of chemotherapy & radiation, address side effects, speed recovery from surgery, enhance the immune system and improve energy. Incorporate dietary, supplement and lifestyle recommendations to prevent recurrence and optimize health.
In this talk we will start by examining the evolution of cancer care, and the role traditional Chinese medicine and naturopathic medicine in prevention, treatment & recovery. We will look in some detail at lifestyle factors including diet, stress, sleep, exercise, and laughter, exploring research findings and always bringing it back to what this means for people who are healing from cancer, or looking for active prevention strategies. We will also discuss environmental risk factors, and spend some time exploring supplements and herbs used in cancer prevention and treatment. Finally, we will end by highlighting the characteristics found in those who have “remarkable recoveries”. You will take home a handout with lifestyle and diet tips, resources for more information, and the list of remarkable recovery characteristics.
Part One Wed. April 27th, 2011. 6:00-9 pm
Part Two: Wed. May 11th, 2011. 6:00-9 pm
Please reserve your spot by registering with Gilda’s Club @ 416-214-9898.
Join Drs Mahalia Freed ND and Angela Warburton TCM to examine the foundations of a whole person model of cancer care. Learn how to enhance and complement western medical treatments based on the most recent research findings.
Use natural medicines to boost effectiveness of chemotherapy & radiation, address side effects, speed recovery from surgery, enhance the immune system and improve energy. Incorporate dietary, supplement and lifestyle recommendations to prevent recurrence and optimize health.
In this two part talk we will start by examining the evolution of cancer care, and the role traditional Chinese medicine and naturopathic medicine in prevention, treatment & recovery. We will look in some detail at lifestyle factors including diet, stress, sleep, exercise, and laughter, exploring research findings and always bringing it back to what this means for people who are healing from cancer, or looking for active prevention strategies. We will also discuss environmental risk factors, and spend some time exploring supplements and herbs used in cancer prevention and treatment. Finally, we will end by highlighting the characteristics found in those who have “remarkable recoveries”. You will take home a handout with lifestyle and diet tips, resources for more information, and the list of remarkable recovery characteristics.
Please register via The Institute of Traditional Medicine:
Join Drs Mahalia Freed ND and Angela Warburton TCM to examine the foundations of a whole person model of cancer care.
Learn how to enhance and complement western medical treatments based on the most recent research findings. Use natural medicines to boost effectiveness of chemotherapy & radiation, address side effects, speed recovery from surgery, enhance the immune system and improve energy. Incorporate dietary, supplement and lifestyle recommendations to prevent recurrence and optimize health.
In this two part talk we will start by examining the evolution of cancer care, and the role traditional Chinese medicine and naturopathic medicine in prevention, treatment & recovery. We will look in some detail at lifestyle factors including diet, stress, sleep, exercise, and laughter, exploring research findings and always bringing it back to what this means for people who are healing from cancer, or looking for active prevention strategies. We will also discuss environmental risk factors, and spend some time exploring supplements and herbs used in cancer prevention and treatment. Finally, we will end by highlighting the characteristics found in those who have “remarkable recoveries”. You will take home a handout with lifestyle and diet tips, resources for more information, and the list of remarkable recovery characteristics.
Please register via The Institute of Traditional Medicine:
Yes, there is a connection between hormonal balance and exposure to pesticides and certain plastics. That connection is xenoestrogens, an ever-expanding group of synthetic chemicals similar enough to our own estrogens that our bodies respond to them, but foreign enough that we cannot adequately get rid of them. They can build up in our bodies, stimulating estrogen-sensitive tissues and throwing off our delicate hormone balance. Xenoestrogens are linked to breast growth in prepubescent girls, gynecological concerns such as PMS, hot flashes, endometriosis and fibroids, and have clearly been shown to enhance the growth of breast cancer tumors. Studies also suggest that xenoestrogens decrease sperm counts in men, contribute to increased rates of testicular cancer and affect developing reproductive systems in utero. Thus, effective treatment & resolution of any of the above concerns must address this class of chemicals.
for meditation. It is amazing how effective various kinds of meditation can be. An unsophisticated PubMed search on the term “meditation” yields 2, 215 studies. Depression? Meditation may be as effective as medication. Cancer? Meditation improves mood, sleep, immune system, quality of life. Stress? Meditate to lower blood pressure. Heart disease? Yup. Meditation helps. Indeed, mindfulness-based stress reduction for heart disease, chronic pain and many other conditions is taught at hospitals and in private practices across North America based on the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD.
