Mark L. Beischel – Calming the Brain through Mindfulness: Rewire Emotions with the Power of Neuroplasticity

Outline

THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF MINDFULNESS

• Our brains are social by nature
• The foundation is set during the first year of life
• “Relational trauma” according to Schore
• The limbic system
• Frontal lobe development
• The “Executive” control center
• Neurotransmitters
• DNA telomeres​

INVESTIGATING THE SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL BENEFITS OF MINDFULNESS

• Evolution of the cortex and survival
• Fear and anxiety resolved through relationships including spiritual
• Intimacy and the mirror neurons
• The development of attunement
• Intimacy skills:
  • Self-awareness
  • Empathy
  • Communication of emotions
  • Conflict resolution
  • Sustaining commitment
• The neurobiology of mindfulness meditation
• Emotional benefits of mindfulness

MINDFULNESS AND EMOTIONAL REGULATION

• The evolutionary function of fear and anxiety
• Fast and slow circuits
• Fears and anxieties
• Stress and hippocampal damage
• Regulating fear

ELICITING THE RELAXATION RESPONSE: RESEARCH OF HERBERT BENSON

• Eastern meditation and visualization
• Gains through Benson’s method
• Genes expressed differently
  • Anxiety and depression
  • Cancer
  • Heart disease
  • The relaxation response also elicited by:
    • Physical exercise
    • Music
    • Repetitive prayers
• Benson’s eight-step program for eliciting the relaxation response

MINDFULNESS IN MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT

• Mechanisms of action
  • Focusing on the present
  • Definition of Shapiro and Kubat-Zinn –self-regulation and self-management
  • Re-perceiving non-judgmentally
• Eight themes of Teasdale, Williams, and Segal
• Rogers’ mindfulness exercise
• Mindfulness, spirituality, and cultural competence
• The therapist’s mindfulness attitudes:
  • Self-compassion and attunement
  • Empathy and attunement with others
  • Emotional regulation

EASTERN AND WESTERN MEDITATION

• History of Eastern and Western meditation
• The “Desert Fathers”
• Evolution of meditation and contemplation
• Neuroscience of meditation and contemplation
• Maslow’s self-actualizing characteristics and meditation
• Attachment theory, meditation and self-actualization
• Newberg’s research on the “Centering Prayer” of Keating

MINDFULNESS TRAINING AND INTERVENTIONS FOR

• Children and adolescents
• Emotional regulation disorders
• Chronic depression
• Anxiety disorders
• Addiction treatment

CASE STUDY

• Mindfulness practices help penitentiary inmate form an intimate relationship and develop responsible parenting skills