By Alexander Japit

At first glance, it’s very easy to write off mindfulness practices; such as meditation, of having real tangible value.

After all, the only thing that it really involves when you look at it from the outside is sitting. In the modern world, where everyone is so busy and involved in several different activities and has a to-do list that just never seems to shrink, it’s really easy to just write off the practice of sitting there for some amount of time to do NOTHING. When you’re busy, it’s easy to resist the thought that settling down and not working towards your ambitions will lead to LESS stress.

The truth, however, is more complicated than that, and meditation has an impossibly long list of potential benefits including, but not limited to better stress reduction, sleep, focus, and awareness, among many other things.

While these benefits are wonderful, where meditation practice really shines, in my opinion, is the development of the ability to affect and change the brain’s default behavior.

As previously mentioned, we all lead very busy lives in today’s world, and as part of these busy lives, we are subject to a lot of stimulants such as social media, the news, and our general activities that we have to constantly juggle. We live in a world where we are always connected, and that is exactly why we must unplug from time to time.

Physiologically, there exists a neurotransmitter that affects our brain called dopamine. Dopamine can be considered the “pleasure” or “happiness” hormone, and it’s noted that abnormally high or low levels of dopamine are the cause of many behavioral disorders.

I think it’s easy to understand why LOW levels of the “happiness” hormone can lead to behavioral change, but how can HIGH levels have the same effect? This is because the body eventually becomes desensitized to abnormally high levels of a hormone, which means that the same dose of that hormone will not induce the same effect. Therefore, the body will continue to require more and more of the “happiness” hormone to produce the same level of happiness for your mind. This is very dangerous, as it makes other activities that are less interesting or produce less of a dopamine response no longer attractive to perform.

Take for example, wanting to exercise. Exercising is a very healthy behavior that is undeniably good for us, but it’s an extremely difficult habit for many people to begin. One potential explanation for this is that the dopamine response from an exercise session simply cannot match the dopamine response from doing anything else that is immediately mentally stimulating such as social media and browsing the internet, thus, the mind physiologically does not want to exercise or partake in activities that are less rewarding.

Meditation is one of many ways to combat this. In a world that always requires our attention and has an unlimited number of ways to get it, meditation helps our minds detach and make sense of what’s important and not important. Meditation and mindfulness practices then, are ways to help us manage what is perhaps the most important resource in the developed world: Our attention.

“Caregiving is done with a lot of love and affection, but there’s a lot of loss involved,” said Carey Wexler Sherman, a gerontologist at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research interviewed for the article https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/04/health/caregiving-alzheimers-isolation.html.

This statement is true if you care for someone who is aging, care for someone in active or recovering addiction, care for a child or family member with any struggle from learning disabilities to physical illness.  Love knows no bounds but can still be crippling when our love exceeds the capacity to pursue our own self-care. 

How does a consistent and regular yoga practice help Caregivers?  The mat becomes a magic carpet that can transport the busyness and stress of a mind dealing with strict, rigid, or emergency schedules into a haven of presence.  The reality of NOW allows Caregivers to minimize the worry and guilt that often rise up with thoughts that question: how to best help and how to best cope.  The inside effort of a yoga practice can help one change those anxieties into acceptance knowing that what we do in any given moment is always our best.  The inside practice of yoga helps regain what is lost of the self in the self-less act of caring; a centeredness and balance of life.  As Caregivers are better able to make space for themselves the circle of love can widen – including once again a community (maybe of other yoga practitioners) because rather than be stuck on the internal track of struggle the Caregiver is secure enough to reach out for small kindnesses and assistance. 

This article talks about the shame of taking a deteriorated mind out in public – the shame experienced by penetrating stares or inappropriate requests of others.  A Caregiver practicing self-care yoga might be able to navigate these bumps by understanding that there is no shame in the love they display for themselves and the ones they care for – leaving the feelings of others with the others and not taking those on as their own.

Yoga for Recovery Foundation, Inc has a team of caring instructors that know and have experienced these same Caregiver traumas.  Our own pursuits of yoga became a game-changer and we are now bringing this experience to the community we most want to serve – YOU and your LOVED ones.   Donations help us expand our offerings with more instructors, workshops, scholarships, and programs. 

Consider donating through one of our many fundraisers by following the links – https://yfrfoundation.org/donate-volunteer/ or https://www.customink.com/fundraising/yoga-for-recovery-foundation-fundraiser?share=2051579400046754&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=mobile-campaign-page-share&utm_medium=social&ref=facebook_social_mobile-campaign-page-share&utm_content=yoga-for-recovery-foundation-fundraiser&side=front&type=2&zoom=false&fbclid=IwAR1uqxyB1lCuTgo1vV93I1r2q7hy_pVQ0fv2Y0YxFTL3_Ky7EgSBgiRRkcM

The Harvard Business Review published an article: Proof That Postive Work Cultures are More Productive? by Emma Seppälä and Kim Cameron in 2015 stating that ‘The American Psychological Association estimates that more than $500 billion is siphoned off from the U.S. economy because of workplace stress, and 550 million workdays are lost each year due to stress on the job.’ A widening array of research is showing that people are literally getting physically sick by being employees.

What was most interesting is that the evidence points less to material gains as an indicator to work satisfaction but rather gains in individual emotional growth such as respect, inspiration, and interpersonal connection. These internal engagements and psychological benefits cost nothing and yet the level of workplace stress in the U.S. continues to climb – maybe even to the point of tipping as our internal struggles as a culture impact future generations who will enter the workforce one day soon (1 in 5 US adolescents is prediabetic).

For most people their work is what they base much of their lives around spending at least time in the 8 to 5 at the office or in some other form of employment – commuting to those jobs and setting up their mornings and evenings to support a full day’s work. If we are spending so much attention to the standard work week – what can employers do to help?

It could start with wellness and mindfulness programs that are heavily influenced around mind-body benefits such as yoga, tai chi, or qi gong. Again, a mounting stack of research is showing that a proactive wellness initiative in the workplace is highly cost effective at reducing medical expenditures. In widening and widening circles we may see that the micro influence of individual companies will start to impact our larger economy and even the future of our world and nation. It may be time for employees to influence what they seek in their employers: asking for corporate cultural balance, emphasis on health, and emotional stability to be on the punch list along with the salary, 401k, and monetary criteria.