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Coronary Artery Disease

 

The addition of meditation training to standard cardiac rehabilitation regimens has been shown to reduce mortality (41% decrease during the first two years following, and 46% reduction in recurrence rates) morbidity, psychological distress, and some biological risk factors (plasma lipids, weight, blood pressure, blood glucose) (Linden 1996, Zammara 1996). Meditation practice alone has been shown to reduce exercise-induced myocardial ischemia in patients with coronary artery disease (Zammara 1996, Ornish 1983)

Notes: Results obtained from a search of the term “mindfulness” in the abstract and keywords of the ISI Web of Knowledge database on Feb 5, 2011.The search was limited to publication with English language abstracts by David S. Black MPH, PhD Candidate/Mindfulness Research Guide.

Mindfulness Practice leads to increases in regional brain gray matter density.

 

Psychiatry Res. 2011Jan 30; 191(1):36-43. Epub 2010 Nov 10

 

 

 

 

 

Hölzel BK, Carmody J, Vangel M, Congleton C, Yerramsetti SM, Gard T, Lazar SW Source:Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

 

britta@nmr.mgh.harvard.edu

 

Abstract:Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular, but to date little is known about neural mechanisms associated with these interventions. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), one of the most widely used mindfulness training programs, has been reported to produce positive effects on psychological well-being and to ameliorate symptoms of a number of disorders. Here, we report a controlled longitudinal study to investigate pre-post changes in brain gray matter concentration attributable to participation in an MBSR program. Anatomical magnetic resonance (MR) images from 16 healthy, meditation-naïve participants were obtained before and after they underwent the 8-week program. Changes in gray matter concentration were investigated using voxel-based morphometry, and compared with a waiting list control group of 17 individuals. Analyses in a priori regions of interest confirmed increases in gray matter concentration within the left hippocampus. Whole brain analyses identified increases in the posterior cingulate cortex, the temporo-parietal junction, and the cerebellum in the MBSR group compared with the controls. The results suggest that participation in MBSR is associated with changes in gray matter concentration in brain regions involved in learning and memory processes, emotion regulation, self-referential processing, and perspective taking.

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Dear Physicians/Health Workers,

 

The East Texas Stress Clinic is bringing the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for the first time to East Texas. This program is based on the internationally acclaimed program founded in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, UMMS Professor Emeritus. The MBSR Program has been in continuous operation for 32 years at the Center for Mindfulness at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. More than 9000 participants have completed this 8 week training program and have been referred by more than 5,000 physicians and, as well, a wide range of other health care professionals. Your patients can participate in this program as a complement to whatever medical treatment they may be receiving, as well as for preventive and health enhancement. In the right column is a summary of a recent neuroscience study about the benefits of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction *MBSR). Study participants attended the Stress Reduction Program at UMass. Please download the entire study.

Physicians/Health Workers

MBSR Program Bulletin          Download Our Newsletter & Fact Sheet

 

Now receiving referrals for the Fall 2014 Session (Beginning Oct 28th, 2014)

Common Reasons for referral:

 

  • Asthma

  • Chronic Pain

  • GI Stress

  • High Blood Pressure

  • Headaches

  • Anxiety and panic episodes

  • Diabetes

  • Cancer

  • Sleep disturbances

  • Heart Disease

  • Psychological and emotional stress

  • HIV

  • Aids

  • Skin disorders

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Job or family stress

  • Pre-surgery prep and post surgery recovery

  • Feeling “out of control” or “just not right”

The UMass Stress Reduction Program and the Center for Mindfulness have published 31 peer-reviewed articles and nearly one hundred articles, books, book chapters, monographs and abstracts about mindfulness and MBSR.The East Texas Stress Clinic offers the Stress Reduction Training (SRT) Program based completely on the MBSR program, which is now offered in over 250 hospitals worldwide.

Research Growth

The growth of research in mindfulness and MBSR in the scientific literature is, without exaggeration, exponential.Reflective of this investigational trend, the NIH currently has invested in 83 open trials on mindfulness and 25 open trials of mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).Publications:

How to make a referral

Referrals are accepted on a continuous basis. Please send the person’s full name, mailing address and telephone number via mail to the E.T.S.R.C. / MBSR Program, P.O. Box 130281 Tyler, Texas 75701 (or) FAX: (903) 363-9744. For more information and/or program brochures, please call Scott Martin at 903-258-3166 (or) email: info@texasmindful.com (or) visit us online at www.texasmindful.com

About the East Texas Stress Reduction Clinic

 

Modeling after the Center for Mindfulness, the East Texas Stress Reduction Clinic hopes to grow and provide mindfulness based training as a complimentary service to the existing medical community and their patients. Inspiring generations of scientists, clinicians, and educators, for thirty-two years the Center has taken a leadership role in pioneering the integration of mindfulness meditation and other mindfulness based practices into mainstream medicine through clinical care, rigorous research, academic medical and professional education, and into the larger society through leading edge “crossover” initiatives and outreach to schools and corporations, public institutions and governmental agencies. The work of the Center has been featured in the PBS Bill Moyer’s documentary, Healing and the Mind (viewed by 40 million people_, on NBC Dateline, ABC’s Evening News, the Oprah Winfrey Show, in numerous magazine, newspaper, online articles, and in Widening the Circle: Mindfulness in the World, a film produced by the Center in celebration of its first 30 years. Each year the Center hosts an international scientific conference on mindfulness, Investigation and Integrating Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and the Larger Society. This year’s 11th annual meeting included 500 clinicians and researchers from 21 countries and 6 continents engaged in understanding the science of mindfulness and its translation into treatments aimed at enhancing health across the life span.

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