Thursday, December 6, 2012

Meditation

Meditation Appears to Produce Enduring Changes in Emotional Processing in the Brain
ScienceDaily (Nov. 12, 2012) — A new study has found that participating in an 8-week meditation training program can have measurable effects on how the brain functions even when someone is not actively meditating. In their report in the November issue of Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston University (BU), and several other research centers also found differences in those effects based on the specific type of meditation practiced.
"The two different types of meditation training our study participants completed yielded some differences in the response of the amygdala -- a part of the brain known for decades to be important for emotion -- to images with emotional content," says Gaƫlle Desbordes, PhD, a research fellow at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at MGH and at the BU Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, corresponding author of the report. "This is the first time that meditation training has been shown to affect emotional processing in the brain outside of a meditative state."
Several previous studies have supported the hypothesis that meditation training improves practitioners' emotional regulation. While neuroimaging studies have found that meditation training appeared to decrease activation of the amygdala -- a structure at the base of the brain that is known to have a role in processing memory and emotion -- those changes were only observed while study participants were meditating. The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that meditation training could also produce a generalized reduction in amygdala response to emotional stimuli, measurable by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Participants had enrolled in a larger investigation into the effects of two forms of meditation, based at Emory University in Atlanta. Healthy adults with no experience meditating participated in 8-week courses in either mindful attention meditation -- the most commonly studied form that focuses on developing attention and awareness of breathing, thoughts and emotions -- and compassion meditation, a less-studied form that includes methods designed to develop loving kindness and compassion for oneself and for others. A control group participated in an 8-week health education course.
Within three weeks before beginning and three weeks after completing the training, 12 participants from each group traveled to Boston for fMRI brain imaging at the Martinos Center's state-of-the-art imaging facilities. Brain scans were performed as the volunteers viewed a series of 216 different images -- 108 per session -- of people in situations with either positive, negative or neutral emotional content. Meditation was not mentioned in pre-imaging instructions to participants, and investigators confirmed afterwards that the volunteers had not meditated while in the scanner. Participants also completed assessments of symptoms of depression and anxiety before and after the training programs.
In the mindful attention group, the after-training brain scans showed a decrease in activation in the right amygdala in response to all images, supporting the hypothesis that meditation can improve emotional stability and response to stress. In the compassion meditation group, right amygdala activity also decreased in response to positive or neutral images. But among those who reported practicing compassion meditation most frequently outside of the training sessions, right amygdala activity tended to increase in response to negative images -- all of which depicted some form of human suffering. No significant changes were seen in the control group or in the left amygdala of any study participants.
"We think these two forms of meditation cultivate different aspects of mind," Desbordes explains. "Since compassion meditation is designed to enhance compassionate feelings, it makes sense that it could increase amygdala response to seeing people suffer. Increased amygdala activation was also correlated with decreased depression scores in the compassion meditation group, which suggests that having more compassion towards others may also be beneficial for oneself. Overall, these results are consistent with the overarching hypothesis that meditation may result in enduring, beneficial changes in brain function, especially in the area of emotional processing."
Eric Schwartz, PhD, of the BU Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Center for Computational Neuroscience and Neural Technology, is senior author of the Frontiers in Human Neuroscience report. Additional co-authors are Lobsang T. Negi, PhD, and Thaddeus Pace, PhD, Emory University; Alan Wallace, PhD, Santa Barbara Institute for Consciousness Studies; and Charles Raison, MD, University of Arizona College of Medicine. The study was supported by grants from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, including an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act grant to Boston University.

Monday, November 5, 2012

Big news on falls (and why tai chi helps)

TORONTO - Falls among seniors are a major cause of disability and death, but knowing what led to a split-second fall can often be difficult to figure out after a person is found sprawled on the ground.
So researchers used strategically placed video cameras in long-term care facilities to capture spills among residents so they could analyze the mechanics of various falls, with the goal of improving prevention.
"We've known for a long time that falls are the number 1 cause of injury in older adults, including 90 per cent of hip fractures and 60 per cent of head injuries. They're also the number 1 cause of injury-related deaths," said Stephen Robinovitch, a researcher at Simon Fraser University who specializes in injury prevention and mobility biomechanics.
"So there's been a great deal of research focusing on the cause of falls, prevention of falls and fall-related injuries," Robinovitch, who led the study published in this week's issue of the Lancet, said from Burnaby, B.C. "But really up until now, we've had no objective evidence on how and why these events occur."
To get a better sense of what happens when someone takes a tumble, researchers set up video cameras in hallways, public dining halls and lounges in two B.C. long-term care residences. They analyzed recordings of 227 falls involving 130 individuals, separating the falls into three stages: initiation, descent and impact.
"So what we found was that about 20 per cent of falls were due to trips and 10 per cent were due to being bumped or nudged by someone else, or hit by a door closing," he said.
"But the remaining 70 per cent — and the reason why we think falls are so common in this population of frailer individuals in long-term care — they basically occurred during a failed attempt at performing daily activities like walking, sitting down and even just standing quietly.
"And they were most often due to what we call incorrect weight shifting," he said, explaining that the person leaned too far past their centre of gravity, losing their base of support between the feet and the ground.
"So this might occur when you're turning or reaching. It also occurred when people stood up from sitting, but failed to achieve a stable final position."
Although not discussed in the Lancet paper, Robinovitch said the research shows 37 per cent of falls involved hitting the head, even though three-quarters of these elderly residents who toppled over did get their arms out in an attempt to break their fall.
"But this didn't affect their risk for head impact," he said.
"In a sense it's not bad news. We see people getting their arms out to protect themselves. But perhaps it's the lack of strength that is making it ineffective. And strength is one thing that we actually can target successfully through exercise, through resistance training.
"So maybe that's a future avenue to explore."
Geoff Fernie, director of the Toronto Rehab Research Institute, said the B.C. study is important because it reinforces and expands on similar work done by his group published in the early 1990s.
That research found that tipping past the centre of balance due to incorrect weight shifting was the most common cause of falls among the elderly. However, the study analyzed only about 25 falls using less sophisticated videotaping equipment, he said.
The B.C. study also found that 25 per cent of trips occurred when a person's foot got caught on a table or chair leg, suggesting that furniture in long-term care facilities could be designed with a central base rather than legs to prevent tripping falls.
Fernie said walkers can also be a problem because when an individual begins leaning past their centre of gravity, they tend to step sideways to steady their base of support. But the legs of the walker are in the way, preventing a sidestep and leading to a fall tangled up in the supportive device, a spill that could conceivably cause even greater injury.
In a commentary accompanying the Lancet study, Dr. Clemens Becker of the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart, Germany, said many assumptions about falls and prevention strategies have been based on subjective information. "This absence of understanding is one of the reasons why efforts to prevent falls have had little success, although some progress has been achieved."
The Canadian study provides objective analyses of the mechanics of falling. However, Becker said one limitation is that researchers looked only at falls in public areas, which are thought to account for just half of all falls among long-term care residents.
"To study falls in the community, we will need a technological shift," he writes. "Evidence provided by Robinovitch and colleagues of the movement patterns that lead to falls is helpful in guiding the design of sensor-based fall monitoring systems.
"The next step will require co-ordinated action and possibly an open-access database that would allow real-world fall data, obtained through different sensors, to be shared."
Figuring out how to prevent falls among seniors is an important public health goal, said Robinovitch. Almost a third of older people who live independently and about half of those residing in long-term care facilities fall at least once each year.
"Falls are often the thing that breaks the camel's back," he said. "Someone who's at risk for falls could have multiple conditions. They could be taking medications, they could have diabetes or Parkinson's, or a history of stroke that put them at risk.
"But having said that, individuals will often be functioning perfectly well, living independently in the community or functioning well in residential care and it is the fall that causes a downward spiral," he said, adding that even fear of falling can lead to diminished health because people become less active and their muscles weaken.
"So it really is a serious problem. When you think about it, any fall from standing is a life-threatening event for anyone.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

What should I read?


 

This is the most frequently heard questions we get. Some of us need or want a book as a reference; others think they can get ahead by using a book. I ask which reason the student has because I believe using the book to get ahead is probably a bad idea.

When I say get ahead I mean to use the book instead of the teacher to learn the next lesson. Often the book is incomplete as most don’t show transition moves. And they are one-dimensional. The written does not lend itself to primary instruction of motion very well. Therefore I recommend that student get the appropriate book and use it the correct way. I think that way is as a reference or reminder. Trying to learn from a book often imprints incorrect movement. And we know that first impressions are the strongest, so learning it incorrectly makes the job harder because we have to undo those impressions.

If you select the print option versus video I like to have students buy a basic book, one with some background (origins, fundamental philosophy, etc) and enough description and pictures to get by. For our lineage I suggest T’ai Chi Ch’uan by Cheng Man-Ching as a good choice. The subtitle is, A Simplified Method of Calisthenics and Self Defense. It’s a paperback book of about 135 pages. There is a more in-depth version of it entitled T’ai Chi that is a hardcover and even has a fold-out section showing the form footwork. Robert Smith was his co-author. It has more meat to it. Cheng Man-Ching taught Robert Smith and my teacher, Tom Baeli. So you’ll find the books to be in line with what you’re learning. It’s a lot easier today to find books on tai chi and many beginners rush out and buy what they find at the booksellers only to find it doesn’t look like what they’re learning. Being that there are different systems and schools out there, that’s to be expected. So let your teacher recommend a book based on your style.

Another book for the hungry student is Robert Chuckrow’s The Tai Chi Book. This is a large soft cover book and I like it a lot for the repetition of the form from the other books but he adds more information and explanation that’s easy to grasp.

As you progress you’ll find some books on Cheng that get a bit more esoteric, such as Douglas Wile’s Cheng Man Ching’s Advanced T’ai Chi Form Instructions and Wolfe Lowenthal’s There Are No Secrets. If you’re interested in combative thought, pick up William Chen’s works. T.T. Liang’s Steal My Art is also worth looking at.

There is more out there that is worth getting but I think these are a good start for most students. I hope this helps.

Until next time,

Lee

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Classes in Round Rock

The Round Rock Karate Academy is host to my Wednesday morning class. They are on Old Settler's Bl in the Old Settler's Plaza.
I plan to offer other days and times if there is enough interest. If you want to participate please send me a message at lee@leewedlake.com. I have a tai chi and karate page on Facebook, too. You can follow us there.

More tai chi stuff

My student in SW Engalnd has a site you may be interested in. Every month my teacher, Tom Baeli, and I write an article Gary posts there.
www.garyellistaichi.co.uk/

The Three Frames


The Three Frames

There are three “frames” we should be aware of in the practice of our technique. We teach the medium frame proportioning of stance in the standard execution of the form. This is in line with the “middle-of-the-road” philosophy of our system. This does not preclude the extremes but acts as a reference point.

The medium frame uses the one foot width and three foot length depth to establish the base we create with our lower body. Bending your knees provides the right height.

The other two are the small and large frames. Small frame means you keep your feet closer than the medium frame. It’s a shorter stance. Small frame might be used if you are older or have a structural limitation, possibly due to injury or it’s just the way you’re built. Maybe even space limitation would dictate practice of the small frame. It can be used as a confidence builder if you’re wobbly and doing this for the first time to improve or rehabilitate yourself. You don’t go any faster in small frame, you just shorten the stances. This is a good drill for all students just to become familiar with how it feels.

Large frame, as you probably guessed, is the extended stance version. This one is good for challenging yourself since it requires more strength and flexibility. It’s harder to do the weight shifts and stepping in large frame. The big challenge is keeping the muscles soft, working to do the form without relying on muscular power for balance. This, as the small frame, is also a good thing for all of us to try so that we are at least familiar with it. I do not recommend this for new students and it should not be done without first being looked at by your teacher. This should prevent injury if you are trying a little too hard. That touches on the discipline aspect of our practice, something that should permeate our efforts.

If you work in the frames and see the philosophy behind these versions you’ll also figure out that you can speed it up. It’s said that tai chi is just slow-motion kung-fu. Not true, for several reasons, but you get the idea.

Until next time,

Lee

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Way overdue with updates

It's been months since I've been here to post and I apologize. Here's what's happening.

The tai chi classes in Round Rock have finally gotten underway. Weds mornings at 8:30 now. More info at www.rrkarate.com

Monthly article here http://www.garyellistaichi.co.uk/. My teacher, Tom Baeli, and I both write for Gary's site.

My websites have been combined into one at www.wedlakekenpotv.com I have opened a tai chi/chi kung video membership (cheap!)  there for those of you who want that little extra. You can try it for $1.

Doc Rowe is recovering from an injury but is still teaching in Ft Myers and will start a class on Sanibel.

That's it for now.

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Classes starting here in Texas

I will be starting classes here in Round Rock, TX in February. An intro session will be held at 10am on Weds, Feb 15 at Round Rock Karate Academy in the Old Settler's Plaza at Sunrise and Old Settler's Bl.
You can register by e-mail by sending me a note at lee@leewedlake.com.