Dr. Ron Siegel: "The Science of Mindfulness" | Talks at Google

The Science of Mindfulness: Working with Anxiety, Depression, and Other Everyday Problems Mindfulness-based psychotherapy is the most popular new treatment approach in the last decade—and for good reason. Studies demonstrate that mindfulness practices can be effective tools to help resolve anxiety, depression, addictive habits, stress-related medical disorders, and even interpersonal conflict. Mindfulness is not, however, a one-size-fits-all remedy. We need to tailor practices to particular problems. This talk will outline how mindfulness practices work to alleviate psychological distress and how anyone can creatively adapt them to work with the difficulty of the moment. About Dr. Siegel Dr. Ronald D. Siegel is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, part time, at Harvard Medical School, where he has taught for over 30 years. He is a long time student of mindfulness meditation and serves on the Board of Directors and faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He teaches internationally about mindfulness and its application to psychotherapy and other fields, has worked for many years in community mental health with inner city children and families, and maintains a private clinical practice in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Dr. Siegel is author of a guide for clinicians and general audiences, The Mindfulness Solution: Everyday Practices for Everyday Problems; coauthor of the self-treatment guide Back Sense: A Revolutionary Approach to Halting the Cycle of Chronic Back Pain,; coauthor of a recent skills manual, Sitting Together: Essential Skills for Mindfulness-Based Psychotherapy; and coeditor of the critically acclaimed text, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, 2nd Edition as well as Wisdom and Compassion in Psychotherapy: Deepening Mindfulness in Clinical Practice with a foreword by His Holiness the Dali Lama. His most recent work is a 24-lecture series produced by The Great Courses titled The Science of Mindfulness: A Research-Based Path to Well-Being. He is also a regular contributor to other professional publications, and is co-director of the annual Harvard Medical School Conference on Meditation and Psychotherapy. More info at: http://www.mindfulness-solution.com/

Comments

1. Sounds very effective to bypass anxiety and overwhelming emotions, by shifting the focus from the idea causing these emotions, to your breathing or even to the bad feeling itself.
   Now of course the causes of these negative emotions are not addressed... isn't that a problem to release the stress when the source is still there ? I have experimented this when I was younger, I managed to release my stress before exams, then I didn't care anymore, and failed, same situation for jobs and career.
   When the time to pay your bills comes, the stress is back ! And your only answer is now mindfulness, erase anxiety and stress, and voila ! but the bills are still there.
2. Excellent speech! So well presented. Enjoyed it a lot. Thank you very much Dr. Ron Siegel!
3. What Mindfulness Research Neglects
   
   Mindfulness is defined as non-judgmental or choice-less awareness. Choices in turn may be non-perseverative (what to have for breakfast, what route to take to go home, or choices with no dilemmas) or perseverative (worries, distractions, and rumination, or mental dilemmas wherein every alternative is bad). All meditative procedures, including mindfulness, avoid both.
   The consistent avoidance of perseverative choice alone represents resting protocols, wherein the neuro-muscular activity is sharply reduced. In other words, when we want to be relaxed we isolate ourselves from distractive and worrisome events and thoughts. These states in turn correlate with increased levels of endogenous opioids or ‘endorphins in the brain. The benefits of this are manifest, as the sustained increase of endogenous opioids down regulates opioid receptors, and thus inhibits the salience or reward value of other substances (food, alcohol, drugs) that otherwise increase opioid levels, and therefore reduces cravings. Profound relaxation also mitigates our sensitivity to pain, and inhibits tension. In this way, relaxation causes pleasure, enhances self-control, counteracts and inhibits stress, reduces pain, and provides for a feeling of satisfaction and equanimity that is the hallmark of the so-called meditative state.
   
   It may be deduced therefore that meditative states are primarily resting states, and that meditative procedures over-prescribe the cognitive operations that may be altered to provide its salutary benefits (that is, you just need to avoid perseverative choices, not all choices), and that meditation as a concept must be altered or abandoned.
   
   Finally, the objective measurement of neuro-muscular activity and its neuro-chemical correlates is in general ignored by the academic literature on mindfulness, which is primarily based upon self-reports and neurological measures (fMRI) that cannot account for these facts. The problem with mindfulness research is therefore not theoretical, but empirical, and until it clearly accounts for all observables for brain and body, the concept will be fully explained.
   
   More of this argument, including references, below
   
   https://www.scribd.com/doc/284056765/The-Book-of-Rest-The-Odd-Psychology-of-Doing-Nothing
4. Great talk, lifted my spirits a little from my depression. Will try to constantly think about my thoughts in this way throughout the day. I also discovered that a way to mentally visualize the distancing of your thoughts vs. being in your flow of thoughts is comparing it to showing a picture roll in full screen vs. looking at the pictures in normal screen.
5. Samara Morgan is gonna come out that painting!!
6. Santa Rosa, Ca 6:15 pm 09/08/2016 Mary Magdelene.
7. Cancell on Monica & scandle, bad experiances dont stick, Love sticks, mindfulness sticks, kindness sticks, gifting sticks, loyality to American values which are the 27 constitutional Amendments which include constitutional privacy. Minus illegal wireless influence on the populations & individuals in USA & UN.
8. "Who's going to die" and 20% rose their hands? Those 20% are either really old or stupid
9. Thank you, Dr! Gonna invest more effort in mindfulness meditation
10. Thank you Dr. Siegel.
11. 58:00
12. the flat tire day was many individual negative things, not just a flat tire. whereas the getting rear ended day was a day lacking all but the one negative part, getting your car bumped. so I think the examples are bad and do not show how tolerance works. tolerance is the moods of both day's two people switched around.
13. Meditation PROPERLY taught is of immense benefit. Playing with it, which is what Dr Siegal is doing, may harm as many as it helps. I am more than a little suspicious of this whole 'mindfullness' movement, although I would love to be proved wrong.
14. Mindfulness practice has tremendous potential for increasing well-being, overcoming emotional suffering and improving communication. Mindfulness meditation, when applied to the mind, where we learn how to meditate on our anxiety, fear, depression or anger is one of the most exciting recent developments in psychotherapy.
15. Very interested in mindfulness and what it has to offer - especially this lecture, which was great. But sometimes I can't help think it sounds like a self-help tranquilizer for reality. If we are so laid back as to be completely horizontal, aren't we missing something in the human experience? Aren't there occasions where shit happens and it's actually not (or shouldn't be) OK to "be with it" or "ride it out"'? Granted we defer too much to our emotions (for very good evolutionary reasons), but doesn't it come close to a message of: ignorance is bliss? Open to all views...
16. Thanks very much Dr. Siegel. An excellent lecture.
17. I practice anapanasati 1hr every day no excuses and have done since 2014, I don't have moods, see everything as it is, zero stress, brilliant way to be actually living and enjoying the moment I am in instead of worrying about the future or things from the past. Brilliant!
18. Be like the sun for grace and mercy. Be like the night to cover others' faults. Be like running water for generosity. Be like death for rage and anger. Be like the Earth for modesty. Appear as you are. Be as you appear.
    ~ Rumi
19. “In your light I learn how to love. In your beauty, how to make poems. You dance inside my chest where no-one sees you, but sometimes I do, and that sight becomes this art.”
    ― Rumi
    Thank you so much Dr. Siegel It was great.
20. I am interested in mindfulness and this lecture gave me a lot of information why it is important.