I want to make this short and to the point, so that you get my message which is in brief, "be careful of what you put into your body." MCA's (of The Beastie Boys) death has hit close to home, because I have been dealing with thyroid issues (monster in the neck) likely caused by fluoride and bromide toxicity. Who knows what these chemicals may have done in the long term, had I not found them. These nasty halides are occupying the receptor sites on my thyroid inhibiting it from making thryoid hormone.
What's this? Hypothryroidism totally sucks, it's like running on two cylindars of a six cylindar car and warrants your friends calling you "pumpkin". Imagine never having energy to do what you want to, brain fog, messed up cholesterol, fertility, yada yada. Luckily I have a background in health science, so this is providing a wonderful learning experience, but it's still no fun, and I would like you to avoid it if you can.
Fluoride is found in toothpaste, tap water, at the dentist and other random places you might not think. Flouride takes up receptor sites in your breasts, thyroid, and other tissues and is a likely cause of cancer. Fluoride toxicity also increases your likelyhood of accumulatig metals such as lead, copper, mercury, and cadmium. Bromide is in your couch, your mattress, bread, processed foods, inorganic produce, and a hefty dose is hiding in Mt. Dew soda. As embarrassing as it is to admit, my one 'un-healthy habit', drinking Fresca diet soda is likely where I picked up my toxic levels of bromide.
May you eat, drink, breathe, and dream clean!
Please feel free to contact me with any questions about thyroid problems and what to do about them.
For some excellent info on thyroid look here: http://chriskresser.com/thyroid
Friday, May 4, 2012
Monday, October 4, 2010
Dr. Dan Siegel:The Science of Meditation and Relationship
I am fascinated with the crossover between spirituality and science and in my opinion they are both seeking truth, yet from different perspectives. As Albert Einstein once said, “Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Having attending a talk with Dr. Dan Siegel on Sunday, I am WOWED by his ability to articulate his Harvard educated scientific genius with ancient theories of mindfulness and deliver them with seamless eloquence to the lay public. Ya gotta love a guy who hangs out with such a diverse crowd as Nobel Prize winning neuroscientists, the Dhalai Lhama and Jon Kabat-Zinn. Siegel has written several books including Mindsight: the New Science of Transformation (2010) which explains the biological basis for how and why practicing mindfulness meditation stands to nurture us, our relationships, culture and society.
Siegel’s lecture which I attended at Spirit Rock was titled the Neuroscience of Family Life and Parenting and he described the characteristics of mental health which are nurtured through both relationship to others and mindfulness practice. Siegel’s last 25 years of research were centered on attachment theory, which explains that children with healthy, close relationships to thier parents develop areas of the brain which are conducive to mental health. It turns out that these areas of the brain are also nurtured through mindfulness meditation. These aspects are things such as the ability to attune to others, develop morality, garner aspects of empathy and respond to situations with flexibility. He explained that if one does not have healthy relationships with their parents as a child that they can, through meditation, develop these capacities of the brain in a process he calls “earned security”.
Siegel (2010) explained that healthy minds come from a flow of integration between our introspective worlds, relational processes and our environments. Meditation eliminates what Siegel calls top-down thinking, or the projection of past experience on the present. For example, if I were raised as a child being screamed at when I made a mistake, I might react in the same way towards my child as a parent. Siegel explained that when one practices meditation, they are able to develop properties of introspection that allow one to see their mind’s immediate reaction in a situation and choose another way. In other words integration is nurtured through meditation, because when we tend to the flow of our minds with openness we develop the ability to attune to ourselves, which in turn makes us more empathetic to others.
Its difficult to fit the complex information Siegel (2010) shared in his talk into a succint blog, but to all you yogis and meditators, rest assured that your practice is scientifically supported to improve your health, your relationships with others and the world as a whole. As research unfolds the evidence sings in resounding agreement that contemplative practices are advantageous to wellbeing. Keep it hummin'.
Siegel (2010) has a lot of material available on his website including an audio meditation called “Wheel of Awareness” which is a great illustration of how to clean our brains and foster mindfulness.
I’m going to leave it there, but if you would like more information check out:
Siegels website at: http://drdansiegel.com/
This article, Complexity Choir by Dr. Dan Siegel is also great: http://www.psychotherapynetworker.org/recentissues/744-complexity-choir
Forgiveness
Mark Twain once said, “Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” Forgiveness is an essential to part of life, it maintains the integrity of relationships and allows us to move forward in life without trailing behind us a dark shadow of negative past experience. I think of Eryka Badhu in her song ‘Bag Lady’ where she cleverly rhymes, “you gone’ break your back, draggin’ all them bags like that.” Anyone who has been seriously offended in life, and that’s most of us, knows the burden of weight bereavement can yield. Memories tickle our dreams and cast a heavy weight in our heart. The question is who suffers? The answer: we do. Our relationship to past events has a direct impact on our psychological and spiritual wellness. Perhaps the offender is someone else, or maybe it’s ourselves. Either way, our capacity to hold on to negative memories impacts our wellbeing. So, what to do? There is powerful insight carried in the teachings of the Buddha and mindfulness meditation, which garners us the power to re-perceive our memories with attitudes of kindness and acceptance. While we may not be able to forget, we can drastically alter the way in which we remember, therefore rendering a gentler effect on our mind and body.
Forgiveness is an important component to our relationship with self and with others. Could you imagine what life would be like if you held on to every bit of angst you ever felt towards yourself or others? Meditation offers us the tools to discern our experiences in a new light and change the wiring of our nervous system which is linked to memory. Shapiro (2009) defines mindfulness as the awareness that arises out of intentionally attending in an open and discerning way to whatever is arising in the present moment. Meditation provides an avenue in which to change the way one perceives autobiographical memories and the emotions connected to those memories. As a clinical trial published in Journal of American College Health showed, meditation lowered stress and supported attitudes of forgiveness among college students who participated in several week long meditation practices (Oman, Shapiro, Thoresen, Plante, Flanders, 2008).
Mindfulness exercises are often guided meditations in which one attends to thoughts, memories and cognitions in open, kind and discerning regards (Shapiro, 2009). Often times subjects are able to come to greater understanding and realize different perspectives for causation of events. When working with forgiveness we can begin by sending kindness to ourselves and others, and setting an intention of loosening our grip on harmful memories. Mindfulness training has been proven to reduce over general memories and increase autobiographical memory specificity (Heeren, Van Broeck, Philippot, 2009). This helps to loosen the strings of emotional reactivity and cultivate a new relationship to experience. Mindfulness allows us to change the emotional charge associated with painful memories.
When one is able to make precise discernments about the facts of an event and become consciously aware of their reactivity, it provides the opportunity to change the emotional relationship to memories, or as Ms. Badhu might say, put down the “Bags lady…let it go, let it go, let it go..”. When we come from a place of truth and kindness for ourselves and others e are able to remember the life inside of ourselves and let go of our tight grip of the past. This promotes our wellness and allows for better relationships with others. What a gift!
References
Alexandre, H., Van Broeck, N., Philippot, P. (2009). The effects of mindfulness on executive processes and autobiographical memory specificity. Behavior Research and Therapy. 47(5). P.403-409. Doi: 101016
Luskin, F. (2009). The Stanford forgiveness project. [Podcast] Available at: http://www.fetzer.org/resources/resource-detail/?resource_id=1000114
LaVeist, T. (2005).Minority populations and health. (223-241). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Plante, T.Flinders, T., Oman, D.,Shapiro, S., Thoresen, C.(2008). Meditation lowers stress and supports forgiveness among college students: A randomized controlled trial.
Journal of American college health. 56(5)p. 569. Doi: 1464309731
Shapiro, S. (2009). The integration of mindfulness and psychology.
Siegel, D. (2010). Complexity Choir; The eight domains of self integration. Psychotherapy networker. 34(1). Doi: 1935243211
Journal of Clinical Psychology. 65(6) doi: 10100220602
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