It doesn’t happen so often now but I have to say it makes me laugh when I hear people say things like “Oh I don’t believe in that sort of stuff,” when referring to mindfulness. It’s as though you’re pedalling some sort of weird and magical, new-age type of voodoo. It has to be said, it also makes me a little sad. Sad because they obviously don’t realise what a huge amount of research into mindfulness has been carried out for years, and it has been proved to be effective in many areas; and sad because they don’t know what they’re missing out on! You see, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) have a strong scientific evidence-base. And it makes you feel good! It also enables you to have skills to deal with all sorts of issues that might come up in your everyday life. Everyone’s life is full of ups and downs. Sometimes it’s great. And sometimes it’s not. Whenever mindfulness is practised it can help you to learn how to deal with the ups and downs together.

Jon Kabat-Zinn (founder of the Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction Clinic in America) famously says:

“You can’t stop the waves but you can learn how to surf.”

 
So to all the people who have ever said “Oh I don’t believe in that sort of stuff,” well actually, you don’t have to believe in it because it’s scientifically proven. It would be a bit like saying “Putting the fire on to keep warm? Oh I don’t believe in that sort of stuff.”

 
Mindfulness works because of something called NEUROPLASTICITY. The neuro represents neuron or the nerve cells that are present in our brain and nervous system. Plastic means that something can be changed or modified. Hence neuroplasticity – brains that can change.
 

MRI scans in empirical research studies have shown that the part of the brain responsible for ‘good’ feelings such as relaxation, self-esteem, creativity, empathy (the hippocampus) increases in size whilst the part responsible for all the ‘not so good’ stuff such as stress, anxiety and depression (the amygdala) – decreases in size in people who meditate regularly.
 

Mindfulness can work wonders (and all without the side effects that are possible when taking medication) and research is being carried out continually across the world, in all areas of health care from depression and mental health issues to oncology, immune response, and heart disease, to name but a few. 
 

But don’t just take my word for it. Here are some nuggets of wisdom from people and organisations who hold a bit more sway than me:

 

For over a decade, the UK’s National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has been recommending Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy as a treatment of choice for sufferers of depression relapse.

                                                                                       - National Institute of Health and Care Excellence

 

Mindfulness has been proved to be at least as good as medication for the treatment of clinical-level depression.

                                                                                                                    - Burch and Penman (2013)

 

When someone meditates regularly:

• Symptoms of anxiety and depression decrease
• Chronic stress symptoms, such as high blood pressure, decrease
• Chronic pain can be reduced
• Addictions can be alleviated

                                                                                                             -        Williams and Penman (2011)
 

Mindfulness has anti-depressant and anti-anxiety effects and can decrease general psychological distress. It is beneficial for those with mental health issues as well as healthy individuals. Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction has a role to play in pain management.

                                                                                                     - Journal of Psychiatric Practice (2012)
 

The evidence base on Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction shows significant positive effect sizes with participants with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, generalised anxiety disorder and panic, and psoriasis.

                                                                               -        The Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice,

                                                                                                                        Bangor University (2015)

 
Mindfulness can improve the control of blood sugar in type II diabetes

                                                                                                                 -        Burch and Penman (2013)
 

In head-to-head comparisons with antidepressants, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy provides effects comparable with staying on a maintenance dose of anti-depressants.

                                                                                               -        The British Journal of Psychiatry (2012)

A recent ICM (International Conference on Mindfulness) survey showed that almost three quarters of doctors now think that all patients would benefit from learning mindfulness meditation skills.

                                                                                                                                       - Ed Halliwell,

                                                                                                       The Mental Health Foundation (2009)

   

So by all means, carry on not believing in ‘that sort of stuff’. But if you do, you’ll be denying a technique that is clinically and empirically evidence-based and, therefore, one that continues to grow in scientific credence.

You’ll also be missing out on a technique that can make you feel really good!

I started reading a new book the other night, “Is Your Life Mapped Out?” by David Hamilton PhD (Hayhouse Publishing). You can check it out on Amazon here.
It delves into all sorts of fascinating things surrounding the ‘forces of destiny’ and the power of free will. The author, who I have been privileged enough to meet and chat with, originally worked in the pharmaceutical industry before embarking on writing books and giving talks around the world on his understanding of the links between quantum physics and the mind/body connection.  

In the chapter I was reading the other night, he was explaining his understanding of quantum entanglement and how this, he believes, can lead to the experience of coincidence. But by this time I was beginning to drop off to sleep so decided to switch off the light. A few minutes passed and my mind had started to buzz again so I switched on the radio. The programme being broadcast on Radio 4 was The Infinite Monkey Cage with Professor Brian Cox and Robin Ince and they were talking about… quantum entanglement. Now that was a coincidence!

The programme is billed as “award-winning science/comedy chat” according to its podcast page and episodes are available indefinitely here. Any of them are well worth a listen.  

The episode I was listening to was entitled “When Quantum Goes Woo,” and it raised some interesting and very funny points of view on the seemingly polar extremes of conventional science/medicine versus, in their words “quackery” meaning alternative ways of healing, the two they made reference to being crystal healing and homeopathy.  

The quote from the programme that really got me thinking was “quantum mechanics is a totally outrageous affront to common sense… which is why it attracts all this stuff,” meaning the aforementioned ‘quackery’.

Hang on a minute, so quantum mechanics is a totally outrageous affront to common sense but is ok, and yet the workings of homeopathy (also a totally outrageous affront to common sense) is not?  

Here’s the going-round-in-circles bit from my point of view:

I love science. I really do. I love the fact that Einstein could imagine himself sitting on a light beam and coming up with his theory of special relativity; the fact that machines have been developed that enable us to see which bits of our brain fires when we have particular thoughts; the fact that one element combines with another to make something completely different. But I also get a bit frustrated when scientists appear to scoff at stuff they don’t approve of, for whatever reason. But then again I understand why they do – a theory is put on the table and they set out to prove whether it’s right or wrong. And when they have proof, it’s the truth. And until they have proof, it’s not the truth - except in the case of ‘quackery’ which, because it is such an outrageous affront to common sense, is deemed ridiculous, even though that’s how they describe quantum mechanics.

I also love the fact that even though we know so much about science, we really know very little. We are limited to our own understanding at this very time in history even though that understanding is so huge. Flat World view progresses to Spherical World view - the seemingly impossible can be proved real… but only when you know how. And the more we know, the more we realise there is to know.  

Ben Goldacre, author of Bad Science and one of the contributors on this episode said of these ‘quacks’ that they “create a barrier to understanding - it’s to deliberately make themselves unintelligible and difficult to understand in order to make themselves seem better and more powerful than you.”

Which led nicely on to the next wily observation made by Brian Cox: “So I think it’s worth interrogating why we find these people so spectacularly irritating… they’re giving us an incredibly ugly reflection of ourselves which we are adamant that we are not.” A very poignant observation I reckon.  

The one person who seemed to consistently speak the most sense on this programme, in my opinion (and yes, I know it’s a science/comedy show and I’m not taking things too seriously) was comedian Sara Pascoe, making reference to the oft quoted research carried out on kittens: when a kitten is exposed only to horizontal bars for the first few months of its life, it loses the ability to see vertical bars and goes and bumps into any vertical bar put in its way. She, I think, was suggesting that the scientists can’t see the point of view of the ‘quacks’ and vice versa.  

She went on: “People choose what works for them and that doesn’t mean that you guys don’t set out all of the facts as clearly as you can because that gives people the option all the time, and that’s the fairest and best thing you can do. Do you need to argue with them? Do you guys need to go and stand outside with placards outside [sic] a homeopathic clinic? No!”  

There are a number of things that really intrigue me:

- As long as all the information is out there, why should people be ridiculed for choosing something that works for them and they obviously believe in? If they believe in something there is always a quantifiable chance of it being beneficial whether it’s indeed medication, homeopathy, crystals or whatever. And who knows what new techniques and methods may be developed in the future that show how these methods may indeed work. A few years ago, people would have scoffed at the idea that mind-calming techniques such as meditation had a real, quantifiable effect on the brain (that would’ve been seen as 70s hippy woo) and yet, with the development of EEGs, MRIs and other scanning techniques, this is now proven.

- The hold and influence of the pharmaceutical industry is never mentioned on programmes like this, and yet ‘the amount of money that people are willing to pay’ on stuff like alternative medicine always is. The UK pharmaceutical industry in 2013 was worth £2.8 billion (Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, 2015). Another way of looking at it is if it wasn’t for pharmaceuticals the country would have gone irredeemably bust a long, long time ago.

- When we look back on medicine and surgical practices in days gone by we often can’t quite believe how crazy and barbaric it actually was. It is, perhaps, a sobering thought that our descendants in 100 years time might just look back on us and wonder how we too could inflict such primitive methods on each other?  

- Healing, allopathic medication, the sciences, marketing, alternative medicine, collective views of society, psychology, advertising, mixed up with our own individual beliefs – all are so incredibly wound up in each other, dare I say entangled?! It’s a vast area of understanding – and yet we are continually pushed into a limited and naive argument of ‘scientists versus quacks.’ Right versus wrong. Logical versus illogical. Like everything else in the world, if people could work together and respect each other’s point of view more then perhaps progress would be even quicker instead of people putting barriers up against ‘the opposition’ all the time.  

Perhaps I’m too open-minded? Perhaps I’m being naïve? Maybe. But that’s just me. And I’m no expert anyway! I was just thinking out loud J  

Check out the programme and the book for yourself. Have an open mind and a sense of humour and the world is a fascinating place!

On the next programme I believe they’re talking about whether we really need plants or not J I'll look forward to that then. I'll      I

Giles Coren, contributor to various publications such as The Times, The Independent on Sunday, Tatler and GQ, has recently hit out at mindfulness, calling it “cynical twenty-first-century capitalist techno smegma” in an online London blog.

You can read his article here. It is quite funny.

http://now-here-this.timeout.com/2015/01/27/giles-coren-on-mindfulness-it-is-cynical-capitalist-techno-smegma/ 

His expertise enabling him to shed an educated light on the subject has apparently been gleaned from ‘reading the books’ and ‘downloading the apps.’ Well done Giles. A good few hours’ study there then.  

The book he refers to (‘Mindfulness – a practical guide to Finding Peace In A Frantic World’) is written by, as he implies by association, ‘lunatic whack-jobs’. I would prefer to use the authors’ proper titles of Professor Mark Williams and Dr. Danny Penman, both of the University of Oxford. They quote and reference many studies that have been made on the effectiveness of mindfulness meditation, mostly concerning the efficacy on sufferers of depression, stress and anxiety. I hazard a guess that NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence would not have been recommending mindfulness for sufferers of depression relapse for well over 10 years now if it was, as Mr. Coren describes it a “massive. Pile. Of. Bollocks.”  

When referring to mindfulness being used in the corporate world he says of bosses: “They want their drones pacified, and they’re using meditation because they are not allowed to use drugs.” I’d just like to clarify, mindfulness does not turn people into walking zombies. On the contrary, they may actually become more creative, think ‘outside of the box’, and be more confident in their own abilities. Not, you would think, qualities of ‘pacified drones’. 

“You wouldn’t start a course of chemotherapy if you didn’t have cancer, would you? It’s ridiculous” he continues. This is correct. But in making a comparison such as this, Mr. Coren really doesn’t have the first clue about how thought-processes and mindfulness work. From his comments, I would imagine that he perhaps needs to thank his lucky stars that he has never suffered with severe depression relapse. Perhaps instead he should be praising a method that can help such sufferers. And yes they, in particular, are often advised to begin to learn mindfulness techniques when they are not at the bottom of ‘the black hole of depression.’ You can’t, and shouldn’t, really compare two such vastly different treatments now should you… unless you’re lacking in a real, intelligent argument in the first place of course. 

So, Giles Coren gets a great bit of publicity whilst knocking mindfulness. Good for him. As I said, it was an entertaining article.

In response, I’d like to put a few more points across. So… 

Mindfulness is a great form of relaxation. If you attend a mindfulness group, the chances are that you’ll come away from it feeling a lot less stressed than when you went in.

However, if it’s really going to make a difference in your life, and the way you live your life, then mindfulness can be seen as so much more than just ‘relaxation’. Yes, it’s good to go and get your ‘fix’ of mindfulness on a regular basis, maybe once a week in a group - some mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) techniques may involve you being guided on a pleasant mental journey - and this is all well and good. But it’s the mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) techniques that, I feel, are even more important and lie at the centre of you being more at ease with things as they happen in your everyday life. 

We all are  liable to get so caught up in our own thoughts - judgements, insecurities, worries, plans, interpretations - that rarely do we have a full awareness of what is actually going on in the present moment. And yet that is the only point in time where we can really live our lives. The past has gone. Even the second it took you to read that sentence… and that one… gone. Left only in your memories and imagination. The future is yet to happen and cannot be lived in physically, and although you can imagine what it might be like you never really know for sure until it happens, by which time, all too soon, it’s in the past. Living can only take place right here, right now – and we often miss so much of it because we’re caught up in our thoughts and judgments. 

The more we can become aware of our thoughts and our thought processes, the more chance we have of being able to detach ourselves from those that are less than helpful. This is why mindfulness has a proven track record for helping people who suffer with depression relapse. These people are actually encouraged to learn mindfulness techniques when they’re feeling good about things, before they slip into that proverbial ‘black hole’. They are then more likely to recognise their thought processes unravelling in the direction of an episode of depression, and ultimately may have more control before slipping completely. NICE recommends mindfulness as a treatment for people who are prone to episodes of depression for this very reason. 

It was recently suggested to me that mindfulness is a technique that relaxes you and makes everything appear hunky-dory but it doesn’t really have anything to do with the real world and all the sadness, upset and pain that it is so often fraught with. How wrong this interpretation is. Mindfulness, at its best, should focus on every aspect of life, whether perceived as good or bad. Whatever we happen to be going through at any particular time, is life unfolding. And often it’s far from easy. Jon Kabat-Zinn, a recognised authority on mindfulness techniques in the western world, has a saying: “You can’t stop the waves… but you can learn how to surf.” Life is not straight-forward. Hurt happens. But recognising the fact that things can and do pass, may help just a little. Being mindful of the fact that the good times come to pass as well may also be helpful. We are then more able to ride the waves – the troughs as well as the crests.

Physical pain is another aspect of life in which mindfulness may be able to provide some relief. Instead of trying to block it out, in rather a contradictory fashion, bringing your awareness to your experience of the pain may actually help to transform it into something a little more manageable.  

So, yes, please do go along to a mindfulness session purely for a nice bit of relaxation once a week. But please recognise the fact that it can offer so much more than this if you’re willing to invest a little time and effort to take the cognitive techniques back into your everyday lives.

Oh and enjoy reading articles by Giles Coren. He’s entitled to his opinion and may articulate it as he sees fit. But remember, when he’s passing comment on mindfulness, that he’s first and foremost a restaurant critic and newspaper columnist, not a professor or doctor from the University of Oxford… or indeed, someone who, I would be surprised to find, has ever suffered from depression.