62 Meditation and Cancer.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

62 Meditation and Cancer.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
Hi and welcome to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I am your host and guide, Dr. Jonathan Stegall. Cancer is like a thief who has come to steal, kill and destroy. I have personally seen it wreak havoc on patients, friends and even my own family. But I am on a mission to change the cancer paradigm. Who? The practice of integrative oncology cancer treatment that integrates the best of conventional medicine with the best of alternative therapies backed by science and personalized to each patient. You need a positive voice you can trust. This podcast will share valuable information to give you practical hope for a better outcome. So I invite you to join me on this journey as we seek to change the cancer paradigm together. Hello and welcome back to the Cancer Secrets podcast. I’m your host, Doctor Jonathan Seagal. This is season four and episode number 62. In today’s episode, we’ll be discussing meditation. Not only that, but we’re going to define what it is, demystify it, and also give you some examples of how you can incorporate it into your own life. As always, I encourage you to listen with a family member or friend. Today’s episode is going to be a great one. When you hear the word meditation, what do you think? You might imagine a Buddhist monk sitting in nature. Legs crossed, hands on knees. Or perhaps you imagine a company executive sitting in his office with his eyes closed, trying to find some peace in the midst of a stressful day.

Speaker1:
Or maybe you think about your own regular meditation practice if you have one. As you can see, meditation can mean different things to different people. It can also look differently depending on who’s doing it and what type of meditation they’re doing. But at its most basic level, meditation is simply focusing deeply and intently on something. And for our purposes, in today’s episode, we’re going to look at what meditation truly is, demystify it for you, and talk about some ways in which you can incorporate meditation into your own life. But before we jump in, I want to clarify that meditation can be whatever you want it to be. It can certainly have religious undertones if you’d like, but it certainly doesn’t have to. We know that meditation has been around for thousands of years with a goal of creating and fostering awareness. There are many different types of meditation, and we’re going to discuss the most popular ones in this episode. These also happen to be the easiest to learn. Let’s start by discussing mindfulness meditation. As with most forms of meditation, it should ideally be practiced in a quiet area with minimal distractions. You should be seated either in a comfortable chair or on the floor. Traditionally, the posture calls for sitting with cross legs with your right hand over your right knee and your left hand over your left knee with your eyes closed.

Speaker1:
Take a deep breath. Be aware of how your chest and stomach expand with each inhale and how they recoil with each exhale. You can breathe at a pace that is comfortable for you. Keep focusing on your breath as much as possible. When thoughts enter your mind, acknowledge them, but don’t judge them. They are neither good nor bad. They just are. The goal is to focus on the present moment and bringing attention back to your breath as quickly as possible. For some people, recognising any sensations that they feel in their body as they breathe helps them to do that. For example, if you take a deep breath in and you feel a cool sensation, come over. You acknowledge that, or you may actually feel slightly lightheaded. And if you do, you can acknowledge that as well. These are just some examples of things you can look for a good goal. For those starting out with mindfulness, meditation is about 10 minutes per session and you can certainly increase this to 20 or even 30 minutes if you like. But all it takes is a few minutes to get started. Interestingly, mindfulness meditation has been shown on EEG readings, which track brain activity to activate what are known as theta brain waves. And we know that theta brain waves help heighten awareness and processing of thoughts and feelings because mindfulness meditation is all about being aware of the present moment.

Speaker1:
It can technically be performed any time in anywhere. Some people choose otherwise mundane tasks, such as eating or walking their dog as mindfulness meditation sessions. If you’re just starting out, I recommend sticking with a traditional setup where you’re alone in a quiet room. Another popular form of meditation is transcendental meditation. You’ll sometimes see this abbreviated TM. Transcendental meditation is designed to quiet the mind and increase feelings of calmness and tranquility. Transcendental meditation is traditionally taught by a teacher who assigns each student with a mantra. A mantra is typically a meaningless one syllable word that assists the mind in calming down. With transcendental meditation, a deep breath is taken in and then exhaled after the exhale and before the next inhale occurs, the mantra is spoken silently. The setting for transcendental meditation should be very similar to what we see in mindfulness meditation. Find a quiet spot with no distractions. Sit comfortably with eyes closed. However, as opposed to a mindfulness meditation where the goal is to shift from thoughts back to the breathing. Transcendental meditation teaching states that thoughts are allowed to go wherever they want to. The mind is allowed to wander, but still maintaining the breathing pattern with inhale, exhale, mantra. And this pattern is repeated for at least 10 minutes, but no more than 20 minutes.

Speaker1:
It’s important not to set a timer with an alarm when you do this because you don’t want to be jolted back into a state of heightened awareness at the end of your meditation. I recommend having a timer nearby that you can glance at when you think your allotted time might be up. And if it hasn’t been your full time yet, simply close your eyes and continue meditating. If your time is up, you can keep your eyes open, but continue taking some nice, deep breaths for a few minutes while you remain seated. This allows you to return to your normal state of awareness. You’ll find that meditation definitely takes you into a deeper state of relaxation. So this buffer period is important. One note about the mantra Even though the tradition is to have a transcendental meditation practitioner assign you a mantra. You can absolutely choose your own. I like the idea of this because it allows you to repeatedly speak a positive affirmation over yourself. I do transcendental meditation and I chose the word peace, but you can certainly choose whatever you like. The traditional mantra is Om. In contrast to mindfulness meditation, transcendental meditation has been shown on EEG tracings to activate alpha waves. We know that alpha waves promote relaxation. Another type of meditation I want to discuss is the body scan method.

Speaker1:
In body scan meditation, your consciously being aware of different parts of your body with the goal of relaxing them. Many people start a body scan, meditation in the feet and progressively move up toward the head. You can do this the opposite way if you wish. You can start in the head and move down to the feet. And you can do body scan meditation, either seated or lying down. If you decide to start in the feed in work up, you’d start by thinking about your feet and how they feel. Are they flat on the floor? Ah. Just the heels or toes touching the floor. Are your feet cold? Do your feet tingle. Does any part of your feet hurt? Take in all of these sensory cues. Take a few deep breaths and just focus on your feet. Try to relax your feet as much as possible. After you’ve done that, you move up to your legs. You do the same thing. And you continue until you’ve scanned your entire body. Some people find that body scan meditation is a little bit easier than mindfulness meditation, especially if continually focusing on the breath proves too difficult. Regardless of which method of meditation you choose, be assured that meditation in general has been shown to have many positive benefits when it comes to cancer. Research has shown that patients who participate in a meditation practice regularly have improved quality of life, and this was statistically significant across multiple studies.

Speaker1:
In other words, people who practiced meditation consistently had a dramatically increased sense of improved quality of life compared to the control group who did not. So people in the control group were not meditating. They were doing their otherwise normal activities, including cancer treatment. But those patients in the study group who were doing the meditation, they were still receiving their regular treatments as well. In terms of specific health benefits, meditation has been shown to lower blood pressure, improve sleep quality, enhance mood and reduce stress. I would encourage you to explore each of these types of meditation in more detail to see what you like. And there are certainly other forms and types of meditation as well. But these three that we’ve discussed here are the most common and I believe they’re the easiest to learn more about and to get started with. With any type of meditation, there are certainly in-person classes you can attend if you want. A live workshop where someone experienced in that type of meditation is instructing you and taking you through the routine. But if you’re just investigating it, I recommend simply going on YouTube to see some examples. There are many free videos on YouTube where instructors will take you through the basics of various types of meditation. This is a great way to test the waters and find one that you like best.

Speaker1:
There are also some really good meditation apps as well, including Headspace, Insight Timer, Calm and simple habit. These are all free apps that have some free content and they also tend to have paid options as well. If you want more extensive content, the goal with any of these meditation strategies is to incorporate a mindfulness based stress reduction practice into your daily routine. It only takes a few minutes and can make a significant difference in how you feel as well as how you view things. Even if you don’t notice an effect right away, that’s okay. It’s also normal to feel like you aren’t doing it right at first, but stick with it. I know you’ll see benefits soon. If you’re enjoying these podcasts, please take a minute and provide a review on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. As a reminder, please subscribe to the Cancer Secrets podcast to be notified when new episodes are released. We have some great shows planned and I can’t wait to share them with you. As always, please share this podcast with your family and friends. All previous episodes are available for free on our website at Cancer Secrets dot com or wherever you listen to podcasts. I look forward to many great episodes coming your way soon. Until next time. Bye bye.

Speaker2:
Oh. Oh, oh.

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