Monthly Archives: June 2016
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We’ve got an epidemic of prescription drug use among our military – a mess we helped to create through overprescribing downrange – and now we need to find ways to reduce drug dependency and find healthy, non-narcotic alternatives. That’s why this TM study is so important.
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We got this question about a son with Asperger’s who gets very agitated from unexpected events or any changes in his routine. Sometimes he becomes so distressed that he hides. This mom wonders if guided imagery can help….
Question
I have a son with Asperger's Syndrome. He gets very agitated with changes in his routine and unknown events. Sometimes his anxiety gets so extreme that he hides. I have been reading about the vagus nerve and how deep breathing can help. Do you have a suggestion for a guided meditation for extreme anxiety?
Pamela
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Posted: June 27, 2016Categories: Update from Health Journeys
Well, folks,
They’re here at last – Julie Lusk’s much anticipated and long-awaited new audio programs! Her Yoga Nidra: Guided Meditations for Relaxation and Renewal, explains Yoga Nidra is a form of deep, restorative relaxation that opens mind, body and spirit to powerful healing and intuitive mind-states.
Julie provides clear step-by-step guidance, using body positioning, breathing techniques, intention setting, guided imagery, mindful awareness and insight meditation, taking her listeners deeper and deeper into a state of profound relaxation that renews and restores all the weary places. I swear, even while I was working on edits, it sneaked up on me and did its magic!
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We got this gracious note a couple years ago when we were searching for “People We’ve Helped” stories for our web page. I think you'll enjoy reading it!
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As you know, we have in production a wonderful, new Yoga Nidra meditation by Julie Lusk. And June is PTSD Awareness Month. And June 21st is International Yoga Day. So, hey, for all these reasons, don’t you think the study below is relevant and timely? Check this out!
A small pilot study out of the Tacoma V.A. examines iRest, also called Yoga Nidra, a form of guided mindfulness meditation, and its ability to reduce the symptoms of sexual trauma, including military sexual trauma (MST), in a sample of women seeking psychotherapy services at the VA.
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We are often asked this question that Delia asks. Someone in adulthood either starts remembering some long-buried childhood abuse; or has always been aware of it, but for various reasons, only now feels ready to deal with it proactively. Sadly, childhood abuse is far more common than most people would think as any mental health will tell you.
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The other night, I was seated at a supper party with a woman who was very quiet, still grieving the loss of her mother, who had died only a few months earlier.
With some effort, she explained that this was why she didn’t feel like talking, and certainly not the small talk at the table.
I told her about a woman from my D.C. practice, decades ago, who taught me a lot about grief. She was a cranky, sarcastic curmudgeon of a senior citizen, who used to complain about her exasperating idiot of a husband. Then he died suddenly of a stroke.
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Posted: June 17, 2016Categories: Inspiring Stories
We wanted to share a #MyHealthJourney with you about a director of a university wellness center who instituted a successful drop-in meditation program with the goal of introducing mind-body coping techniques to students to increase their resiliency and help them manage stress.
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Here’s another study that shows how our military and veterans programs are increasingly reaching out to test mind-body tools, establish efficacy and offer real help – user-friendly, self-administered, empowering and inexpensive interventions for our service personnel.
Researchers from Georgia Regents University and the TBI Clinic at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, GA investigated whether the regular practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM) increased well-being and decreased the need for psychotropic drugs needed for managing anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
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We get this question so often that it doesn’t hurt to answer it again. Rodrigo asks if he has to be awake and listening consciously for his guided imagery to have an impact.
I reply in some detail, but if you’re in a hurry, the short answer is NO. Check it out the longer version!