}Objectives
Demonstrate and discuss the importance of mental fitness and its implications on physical wellness
}Review supporting evidence that mental fitness is key to overall wellness
}Explore some exercises that can help in practicing mental fitness
Mental Fitness: Live Long, Live Strong, Live Well
Ancient practitioners in Ayurvedic and Chinese cultures recognized the connection of the human mind and body within itself and its connection to the cycles and rhythms of nature. Their practices sought to bring harmony, peace, stillness, balance, and wholeness of the mind and body through conscious breathing, meditation, healing touch, and gentle movement exercises. Somewhere in the evolution of medicine the mind-body connection was replaced with the practice of treating the mind separately from the body. Now, after years of research and experimentation the Western world of medicine is beginning to embrace the concept of the mind-body connection and in doing so creates a paradigm shift in the promotion of wellness.
Importance of Mental Fitness:
Physical and Biological Benefits
◦Positive thinking leads to positive actions
◦Increased motivation and energy to stay physically active which leads to multiple health benefits
–Decrease obesity
–Decrease chance of heart disease and diabetes
–Decrease and reduce severity of depression
–Increase power of immune system
–Decrease chronic pain
–Decrease in probability of disease
–Increases overall brain function
}Psychological Benefits
◦Reduces mental stress
◦Builds confidence
◦Builds self-assurance
◦Replaces negative emotions like anger, hate, rage, fear, despair, helplessness, anxiety, and depression
◦Helps create positive self-image
}Spiritual Benefits
◦Development of positive emotions like happiness, calmness, peace, love, forgiveness
◦Acknowledgment of purpose and place in the world
◦Ultimately, the development of a higher consciousness
Validating the Importance of Mental Fitness
Dr. Candace Pert and the Discovery of the Neuropeptide
“The mind is the body, the body is the mind” (Dacher,2006)
•In 1970 Dr. Pert discovered that the body produces special messenger proteins called neuropeptides. Her research further concluded that these messengers communicated messages from the brain to the various systems of the body and that we could in fact control these messages by the way we think.
•This work was groundbreaking in showing that there is a direct link between our mental and physical levels.
Dr. Robert Ader and Classical Conditioning of the Immune Response
}In 1974 Dr. Ader conducted an experiment to prove his belief “that there is a link between what we think (our state of mind) and our health and our ability to heal ourselves.
}In this study he fed mice Saccharin laced water and injected them with the drug Cytoxan which induces an upset stomach and weakens the immune system.
}After conditioning them, the mice were fed the Saccharin laced water without the Cytoxan and still became ill
}One of the first experiments to illustrated an interdependence of the nervous system and the immune system
Dr. Randolph Byrd and Intercessory Prayer
}Between August 1982 and May 1983, 393 patients at San Francisco’s General Hospital Coronary Care Unit participated in a study to research the benefits of intercessory prayer.
}The patients were randomly placed in two groups: a control group that did not receive prayer and the Intercessory Prayer group. The patients, staff, doctors, nor Dr. Byrd had knowledge of which patients were assigned to which group.
}The results
◦Patients that received prayer spent less time in the ICU, required less pain medication, and had overall less complications than their counterparts that received no known prayer
TIME TO WORK IT OUT
We have now reviewed some of the research that supports cultivating a strong level of mental fitness.
Let us gear up and put it into practice!
MENTAL WORKOUT: THE SUBTLE MIND
“Peaceful breathing pattern leads to a peaceful mind”(Dacher, 2006)
}Begin by focusing on your breath
}Let your breathing become easy and rhythmic focusing on either the inhalation or the exhalation; let this me your focal point
}As you still the breath you still the mind
}As your mind wanders, do not give attention to the distraction, but instead bring your attention back to your breathing
}As you do this you are begin to witness your thoughts and emotions rather than acting on them
}Repeat this several times finding the quiet and stillness of your mind
}As you are able to maintain this stillness as you witness instead of acting you develop into a state of calm-abiding
}Now that you are able to be unaffected by your thoughts and emotions you will find yourself gradually transitioning from a state of calmness and mental stillness to a consciousness of unity
}You are able to visualize and feel the interconnectedness of your mind, body, and soul with the world around you
MENTAL WORKOUT: LOVING KINDNESS
}In a restful, comfortable state bring to mind someone that you love; allow the feeling of love to expand within your heart
}Reflect and allow yourself to fully experience this feeling; become comfortable with the feeling
}Now turn these feelings on yourself; embrace each feeling and emotion, do not judge; just let them be; allow yourself to let love fill those negative emotions
}As you let go of the negative, take the feeling of love and allow yourself to go deeper into the psyche; take love and kindness into the stillness, peace, and gentleness
}Allow this love you are showing yourself to spill over; embrace it from the inside to the outside, allow all of your loving kindness to be a witness of peace, harmony, and balance
As we gain mental fitness all other aspects of our lives fall into place, overlap each other and create a place of perpetual health and wellness across the life span
References
Dacher, E.S. (2006). Integral health: the path to human flourishing.[eGoogleReader]. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=gn3iNymUVKwC&printsec=frontcover&output=reader
Posner, G.P. (1990). God in the CCU?. Retrieved from http://www.gposner.com/Byrd_study.html
Quinlan, J. (n.d). Psychoneuroimmunology. Retrieved from http://www.nfnlp.com/psychoneuroimmunology_quinlan.htm#history
Robert Ader. (n.d). In Psychology Wiki. Retrieved February 5, 2011 from http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Robert_Ader
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