idealawg

Med students doing yoga: Some law students (and lawyers) do yoga, too

Nice article in Common Health about yoga in the medical profession. (For law schools providing opportunities for students to practice yoga, click here.) From "Downward-Facing Docs: Med Students Study Yoga To Help Patients, Selves":

As everyone knows, medical students are a singularly stressed-out lot. “More than 20 percent end up with depression, more than half suffer from burnout, and in any given year, as many as 11 percent contemplate suicide,” Dr. Pauline Chen writes in a New York Times report on the “toxic” nature of the medical education process.

So it makes sense to offer these overwhelmed kids de-stressors like yoga and meditation. But here, at the BU medical school’s first-ever yoga elective the aim is even broader: The faculty and instructors who launched the class hope these future doctors will be able to exploit their knowledge of yoga and its research-based benefits to someday help patients and to feel as comfortable prescribing yoga as they do Prozac.

...

The focus is mainly neuroscience, but there’s also psychology, mind-body medicine, anatomy, and

What's the middle-aged brain good at? And how to keep it healthy: Nothing new but a good reminder

Did you know the brain is best at financial planning when its owner is 53? That vocabulary is best in the 60s or 70s?  That's what we're told in this short clip from ABC News. Click to watch "Baby Boomer Brain Power" which includes some simple tips on keeping your brain functioning well. Those tips are, of course, related to diet, exercise, and stress prevention.

Program description from UCLA:

Keeping the Brain Sharp With Age
Dr. Gary Small, UCLA's Parlow–Solomon Professor on Aging and a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, was interviewed Monday on ABC’s “World News Tonight” about brain function during middle age and how to keep our cognitive skills sharp as we get older.

Swing dancing in Denver: Enjoy all the physical and mental benefits—and have fun

Did you know Denver has a swing dancing scene? If you are an accomplished swinger, a middling dancer of the jitterbug, or someone wanting to learn a new, pleasurable way to get in your aerobic exercise for the week, come to the Mercury Cafe. Colorado Jazz Workshop big bands will be swinging there on the following dates:

• Feb 5-Monday Big Band
• April 8-Saturday Big Band
• May 20-Wednesday Big Band

Swing lessons will be available on each date; cost is $9; time is 8 to 11 PM.

And just in time for the gigs, a terrific article by Brad Weissman about the history of swing, and about swing dancing in Denver. From "Swing it!" (EnCompass):

Denver is an ironic place in which a new swing boom might take place, as it almost killed “King of Swing” Benny Goodman’s career right before his big national breakthrough at Los Angeles’ Palomar Ballroom on August 21, 1935. Former Elitch Gardens proprietor Jack Gurtler told Denver historian Corrine Hunt, “Benny Goodman bombed in Denver!”

In the early 1930s, there were two basic kinds of jazz, broken down along racial lines. For black audiences, there were the adventurous, virtuoso sounds of artists typified by the brilliant inventions

Do burglars have healthy brains? Picking locks is a good brain-building technique

Picking locks is good for your brain. Although burglars rarely resort to lock picking because other methods such as slipping the latch are quicker, those concerned about their neuro-health may want to slow down and pick a lock or two now and then.

From "Forgetting names?" (Calgary Herald):

...I can suggest some ... exercises that will stretch your brain in a neurobic way:

- Learn how to pick locks. Seriously. At the recent Defcon 19 hacking conference in Las Vegas, there was a whole "lockpicking village" where guys (mostly) practised on various kinds of locks. It mobilizes a lot of the skills of neurobics and also builds patience. Lots of patience.

Click for other brain-boosting suggestions.

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for the Legal Profession

If you are in Georgia, you may be interested in this offering. (If you are in Colorado and wish to be notified of a similar program, e-mail me.)

From the e-mail announcing the Georgia program:

Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for the Legal Profession
Thursday, October 13, 2011 from 8:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
CLEs (applied for) : 1 Hour Professionalism; Plus 3 General Hours

Explore and understand how stress affects the body and mind. Learn mindfulness practices that can reduce your stress and enhance professional effectiveness – practical tools that will enrich your practice of law.
 
Ancient wisdom and modern medicine are blended in this workshop, creating one of the most effective programs available today for enhancing competence in the practice of law and enabling healthy living. Learn how mindfulness can:

Want to heal yourself? NEW SCIENTIST suggests several ways

New Scientist just published "Heal Thyself: The power of mind over matter." Some suggestions from the writer:

• Think positive
• Trust people
• Meditate
• Self-hypnosis
• Know your purpose

Online meditation practice offered daily at no charge by eMindful.com

From the Web page:

Live (real-time) Mindfulness Meditation Practice

There is no cost to attend this live online Mindfulness Meditation practice which starts daily at 8 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time and ends at 8:45 a.m.  You may join anytime, even in the middle of the session, for your entrance will not be disruptive.   Our Mindfulness Meditation guides are Matthew Daniell, Suzanne Matthiessen, Maria Lynn Fanelli, Carol Tyler, Julie Kosey, Linda Wallace, and Doug Worthen.   Please go to our About Us page to read more about our online teachers!

Easy instructions are below.  If you need any assistance, please contact [email protected] or call us during regular business hours at 772-569-4540.  We are looking forward to having you join us!

Click to read all the details.

MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) classes in Denver

Kaiser Permanente offers classes for all people in the Denver area, not just Kaiser members. The fee for the 6-week program is very reasonable: $150 [added February, 2014: now $200]. The class meets weekly, and includes a day-long retreat. From the Web site:

Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is an eight-week [it is now 6 weeks] group intervention combining meditation techniques with psychoeducation in order to improve your capacity to cope with stress, reduce physical and psychological symptoms, and maximize your ability to thrive through all of life's circumstances. Intensive training in mindfulness practices enables participants to look deeply into their own hearts and minds, where they find both the causes of their suffering and the possibility to choose greater happiness whether or not their actual physical circumstances change.

The practice of insight meditation is at the heart of the MBSR course and facilitates the cultivation of

Want to sharpen your memory? Research has shown this simple technique will help

When people have practiced Kirtan Kriya for just 12 minutes per day for 8 weeks, their memories have improved. The technique is very easy to learn, and instructions are found in several books (e.g., The Better Memory Kit) and at many places on the Internet (e.g., here or here).

An excellent description of Kirtan Kriya is found at the Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation Web site. Excerpt:

This non-religious practice can be adapted to several lengths, but practicing it for just 12 minutes a day has been shown to reduce stress levels and increase activity in areas of the brain that are central to memory.

What do the words Kirtan Kriya mean?

In Sanskrit, a kirtan is a song, and kriya refers to a specific set of movements. In the Eastern tradition, kriyas are used to help bring the body, mind and emotions into balance to enable healing.

...

Is it essential to use these sounds during the meditation or can other sounds be used as a substitute?

From an Eastern perspective, it is believed that the placement of the tongue on the roof of the mouth while making these sounds stimulates 84 acupuncture points on the upper palate. This causes a beneficial bio-chemical transformation in the brain. ...
...

The Alzheimer's Research and Prevention Foundation believes that the various parts of Kirtan Kriya are each vital to the whole, and recommends practicing it in the traditional way to fully reap the benefits of the exercise. ...

How do you practice Kirtan Kriya?

Click to read the rest.

One of the research studies of Kirtan Kriya was described at the Alzheimer's Research & Prevention Foundation Web site. Excerpt:

New book: "Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain: Stretch it, Shape It"

If you have attended one of my seminars on neuroscience (e.g., Brains on Purpose, Neuroscience of Conflict Resolution), you may recall that I often, when describing self-directed neuroplasticity, talk about each of us molding our brains and that we are all brain sculptors. An acronym I sometimes use is CARVE, in part because carving is an action of the sculptor.

Therefore, I was very happy when I learned at SharpBrains about a new book for kids in which these words are found:

How does the brain stretch and grow?

Neuro—means that the word it is part of has something to do with the brain.

A sculptor molds, shapes, or carves things out of clay, or wood, or stone.

So, you shape your brain when you make it bigger by adding new things you know and can do.

You are a Neurosculptor!

The book is called Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain: Stretch It, Shape It. Buy it here. Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain is published by Little Pickle Press (located in Marin County, one of my old haunts) which was founded by Rana DiOrio. (She practiced law prior to becoming a publisher; maybe we should do a Life-after-Law post on her in the near future?) Note (added January 25, 2011): Click for an interview of DiOrio (The Reading Tub).

Read more about the book at Science-Based Parenting, and pick up a discount code to get 25% off when purchasing Your Fantastic, Elastic Brain.

If you read the book, please let me know what you think.