Meditation: Retraining the Brain

I just got back from the Dr., my 5th visit this year I believe. Everything we talked about, my seemingly never-ending list of symptoms & problems, it all seemed to point back to the big "S" = STRESS. Bah. She talked about the depletion of the adrenal glands when we live lives high in stress, that years of demanding them to function at high levels leads to adrenal fatigue, & an onslaught of other problems.

She did a fascinating test where she looked turned off most of the lights in the room & shined a bright light in my eyes, much like at the eye Dr. After looking in both eyes at different times she nodded & said it was just as she suspected. She explained that normally the pupil should shrink with the bright light, but people who experience adrenal fatigue have pupils that get small then dilate, then get small again - like a spasm of the muscle.

So the top of my to list? DE-STRESS. One of the best ways to do this? Meditation. So many people have a false idea of what it really is & the implications of it seem too bizarre for most conservative American minds. I want to compel you to strip away any ideas of religion when you consider it. I'm not talking about becoming Buddhist - I'm talking about retraining your brain cells to communicate properly.

When we live stressed lives, our brain cells will react to certain things in such a way that sets off an entire series of neurological firings that ultimately lead to disease over time. Heart attacks, hormonal imbalances, the list goes on. But when we sit in meditation/silence/stillness, we are teaching our brains what it is like to simply be present moment to moment in what I like to call a "noise free space." free from the white noise we live in 24/7, whether it's dreams, people, conversations, sensory experiences, movement, computers, ads, etc etc. Getting rid of that stuff for a designated time, ALL of it, will literally retrain your brain to not fire off under stress, under the pressure of the noise.

I recently went to a meditation & movement workshop, an integration of yoga & seated meditation with visualizations (I like to visualize the beauty of solid & rooted trees, something that doesn't MOVE - b/c I tend to do a lot of moving, especially my restless mind when I am sleeping). I swear that the rest of my day I felt a lightness, less reactive to normal things that would stress the hell out of me - driving on the highway, crowds of people, too many noises all at once. I was able to be focused on what my friends were saying when we were talking, because I wasn't hearing things racing through my head about what I had to do that day & what time the meter on my car was going to run out & how my skin might be looking today or what I was going to eat for dinner. My mind was at rest & I was PRESENT with our engagement.

I've read that monks who meditate for years have been recorded as not flinching when gun fire was shot. There are endless studies done on how stress & stress related diseases are reduced when patients meditate. Stress is a CHEMICAL & not natural to a state of internal balance. Meditation acts as a reversal of this process, with such results as reducing the plaque build up in the coronary arteries & increasing the number of immune cells that fight breast cancer.

How to meditate:
-I recommend looking for groups to meditate with when possible - Zen centers, or yoga centers often have free & open invitation sittings. There's a discipline involved when you have schedule time & drive somewhere :) I find this to be the most productive way.

-At home, you can find a stress free spot, a room or space you find peaceful. Sit on a blanket or a pillow to open your hips so your back does not fatigue. Avoid distracting noises/ bright lights, & sit. Focus on deep breaths in & out, & use images that work for you that ground you & create a sense of stability. Artists - you should use this to your advantage!! Trees, mountains, oceans - they all have something to teach us! Stillness, vastness, strength - what would it be like to think on them in this way, as teachers to US?

Meditation is not like sleeping in that the act of stillness while remaining conscious is a completely different physiological & spiritual experience than conking out in bed. It's present, real, & focused in the most ambitious of ways. Apart from the TREMENDOUS spiritual benefit (which I will blog about later) I highly highly recommend it purely for the physiological nurturing it provides those overworked, Americanized brain cells!

Herbs, Hormones & Stress

A dear friend of mine has been studying herbs for the last several months and on my long journey into alternative medicines, I've finally started taking some myself. I attended a seminar where a local ND specializing in medicinal herbs spoke about Maca - an adaptogen that is used to treat hormonal imbalances in men and women by modulating stress hormones. What really blew my mind was the concept that a plant that can withstand the extreme stresses of existence (whether it's wind, water, heat or cold) will have these survival properties in it's organic makeup, inabling us humans to receive this imprint of information and disease fighting agents in our bodies when we consume them. In a nutshell - they know how to deal with stress, so they can tell our bodies to.

What has been very interesting (and suprisingly obvious) is all the information I've been gathering on the endocrine system - your hormonal system. I'm beginning to realize the core of many women's problems with estrogen, progesterone and testosterone imbalances is an imbalance of the adrenals - cortisol and adrenaline. My ND explained to me that when you are stressed, your body will be forced to produced high amounts of cortisol so that you can adapt to the demands you are asking of your body. Over time you deplete your resources essentially and one of the best ways to treat this in a healthy, natural way is to supplement with vitamins (I take a B5B6) and also take herbs. There is a direct coorelation to adrenal imbalances and reproductive hormone imbalances.

And even better advice - calm down and make space in life. As my acupuncturist says, "Make room for your life, fall awake."

Shampoo & Hormones?

There's a really good chance that most of the personal care products you use are disrupting your hormones, intoxicating the ecosystem, and heightening your chances of developing cancerous cells. The good news? All you have to do is read the labels on the back of your shampoo, conditioner, lotion, shaving cream, makeup and other products - and then throw them out!

PARABENS are synthetic preservatives used to prevent bacterial growth in products so that the time it takes to get from the manufacturer to the retailer to your bathroom can be as long as 1-2 years. The problem?

"These chemicals mimic, block or disrupt the actions of human (and animal) hormones...When you rub body care products on your body or hair dye on your scalp you can absorb or inhale synthetic chemicals that contain endocrine disruptors which may send false signals to your body's endocrine glands. When your glands are confused they cannot function normally and serious health problems result. In addition, when you bathe, whatever chemicals aren't absorbed by your body are washed down the drain into the drinking water supply, where they can cause a cascade of negative environmental problems. These endocrine disruptors are affecting algae and other microscopic life, fish, whales and birds." -terressentials.com

Need more proof? "The government has found sunscreen chemicals in fish and human breast milk." -terressentials.com

What you can do:

Skim the ingredients of your personal care products for parabens, usually beginning with methyl, propyl, or butyl. If you find some, stop using that product - you'll lose the $4 you paid for it, but does that compare to the peace of mind you'll have knowing you just reduced your chance of disease? "When your bottle of body lotion is empty, where did all of the product go? The lotion that was absorbed quickly, was absorbed into your body!" -terressentials.com

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