TEDxBoulder - Shannon Paige - Mindfulness and Healing

Shannon Paige is a writer, sacred activist, dedicated Yoga teacher. She is also the founder of Om Time Yoga Center and the styles of Bhava Vinyasa for Depression and Anxiety and Anjali Restorative Yoga.

Shannon battled with cervical cancer ferociously....and won. Although she had survived, the battle with depression, especially the pressure and anxiety of how she should feel "lucky" for having survived, nearly crippled her. She narrates how many people, after surviving life threatening circumstances, are also robbed of the ability to smile for real, the ability to connect, and the ability to hope. "Depression is hard. Depression is gross. And Depression is Mean." A doctor stepped in and told her to get back into her body, volunteer, and do yoga. For Shannon, the battle with depression was actually as hard as battling cancer. Through this, Shannon discovers that while, yoga can't heal depression, getting into your body can change the mind and create a state of empowerment, stability, and release.

[scentsoftravelmeditation]

Mindfulness is one of the greatest gifts you can give to someone! This women is a living proof of that!

[carlenetaylorLMHC]

1991, Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma and my story of healing, given a sentence of a 40% chance of living 10 years, is remarkably similar.  Horses, working with children, being the change I want to see in the world, and yoga.... 26 years later, 16 years past my highest expiration date and healthier than ever.  There is something to this and it needs to be shared.

[watchingtheireyes]

This is wonderful, she's a fantastic speaker. Really special that she's willing to be so vulnerable in order to help others.

[deborahbowman]

Powerful and gentle reminder to be fully alive.

[MsTazzara]

I love what yoga practice has done for my anger and aggression. It calmed me to be in touch with my body and brings out the compassion.

[ForViewingOnly]

Very inspiring, thank you Shannon. I think I have also come to the conclusion that a person can't use their brain to cure depression when it is the brain that is the problem in the first place. In other words, you can't use a faulty brain to  'think' your way out of depression! It makes total sense to me that the body must be used to heal the mind.

[sassyrojo]

As this was one of only two talks I got to see live that night, I'm thanking you for changing the way I breathe :)

[moniquevamado]

This is excellent! She's an amazing speaker. So much truth in this and so inspiring. Will be sharing.

[qwacs]

You have the voice of reason.

Thank you!

[janetwills]

Shannon Paige is Terrific . Look at all she has gone through and come out even stronger

[brighteyed]

What she said about yoga is absolutely true. Love and respect this woman. Breathe...

[ekennahutchinson]

Thank you for your time and consideration and sharing ❤️🙏

[marymyers]

As a holistic therapist I have seen how mindfulness can transform a persons life.

[markbonn]

WOW a FAB clip :-)
Thanks you for posting / hosting :-)

[BestBodyworkandyoga]

This is the first time I've known someone who named this...this experience that feels like my hidden reality...

[jennmann]

My God, you are able to articulate everything I believe.  Thank you so

[feelingoffbalance]

There are numerous studies linking stress with cancer and numerous studies saying yoga helps with stress/anxiety.
Breathing any deeper that you are already breathing doesn't give you any more oxygen; everyone's blood is already maximally saturated with O2, even if you breathe shallowly.
Yoga and mindfulness do help you manage stress though and that makes you less likely to get sick, as stress hormones suppress your immune system (and that's important for cancer too).

[HenryStradford]

TEDxBoulder - Shannon Paige - Mindfulness and Healing #tedtalks  

[ajmarr]

What Mindfulness Research Neglects

Mindfulness is defined as non-judgmental or choice-less awareness. Choices in turn may be divided into non-perseverative choices (what to have for breakfast, what route to take to go home, or choices with no dilemmas) and perseverative choices (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, as well as mitigating our sensitivity to pain. Profound relaxation also inhibits muscular tension and its concomitant discomfort. 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 redefined.

Finally, the objective measurement of neuro-muscular activity and its neuro-chemical correlates (long established in the academic literature on resting states) 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 relevant observables for brain and body, the concept will never be fully explained.

More of this argument, including references, below including a link to the first study (published last year) that has discovered the presence of opioid activity due to mindfulness practice, as well as the 1988 Holmes paper which provided the most extensive argument to date that meditation was rest.

[bootsclues]

thank you very helpful indeed such a brave smart woman.