Dr. Jay Kumar
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Tip # 1 - “Gratitude is a Healthy Attitude”
Expressing gratitude for what you have, no matter how small it is, can also contribute to your greater health and happiness. In the past few years, scientists now recognize that gratitude is one of the most powerful and healthiest of human emotions. Studies at University of Miami, UC Davis, and Stanford University successfully demonstrate that remembering to be grateful for what you have in life can greatly outweigh any sadness, stress, or challenges you might currently experience. Further discoveries in neuroscience suggest that when you experience gratitude, the left pre-frontal cortex of the brain, an area that correlates to emotions of love and compassion, begins to activate. As I like to say, “Gratitude turns WHAT YOU HAVE into enough, creates contentment for WHAT IS, and manifests greater joy for WHO YOU ARE!” If you can’t express gratitude for what you already have, how can you expect to be grateful for all the prosperity and abundance that awaits you in the New Year! Read more in “How Gratitude Heals Your Brain, Body, & Being.”
Tip # 2 - “Don’t Buy More, Just Be More!”
As much as our culture wants you to believe, material success does not equate to happiness. As I discussed in “Tips for Staying HAPPY during the Holidays,”authentic happiness cannot be measured by a price tag. Ed Diener of the University of Illinois and Martin Seligman from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010 published findings in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest that while U.S. wealth has tripled over the past 50 years, our national wellbeing and happiness have been flat. It’s just as the famous line from The Beatles goes, “Money can’t buy me love.” While having material and financial stability are vital for your way of life, the point is that the real indicators for happiness are not found in your bank account, stock portfolio, or the size of your car or house. Rather, focus on what truly is of value in your life—family, friends, loved ones, and enjoying life! Studies conducted by Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky at UC Riverside show that people who are happiest also have strong social connections and deep personal relationships with friends and family. We humans are social animals, after all. We need to feel a sense of belonging and connection to the greater whole. So the next time you get stressed, feel anxious about finances, or worry that you can’t afford that luxury car or home, remember that the real treasures in life, the love of our family and friends, are free! Read article Consumerism, Happiness and Health
Tip # 3 - “Practice Compassion and Kindness”
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama often says, “If you want to be happy, make others happy!” In my piece “The Neuroscience of Health and Happiness" research into the human brain has discovered that we possess a peculiar thing known as a mirror neuron. Scientists know believe that these mirror neurons are the reason why humans, along with certain primates, elephants, dogs, and dolphins, are biologically wired to experience the emotions of others. Mirror neurons suggest that the human brain has evolved to experience both the pain and euphoria of others. It is this biological conditioning that may account for human empathy and compassion. Brain scans reveal that expressing more compassion and kindness helps you develop these mirror neurons, and it is this notion of compassion and empathy toward others that ultimately allows you to experience greater happiness and wellbeing on a daily basis. So the more kindness you practice toward people, the happier they become and the happier you become! Enjoy this True & Personal Holiday “Tail” about the power of human compassion and empathy we humans share with our pets.
Tip # 4 - “Keep Thinking Good Thoughts”
Did you know that it takes at least FIVE good thoughts to outweigh a negative one! Neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson states, “The mind is like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” I’m sure many of you can relate to this idea, but why is that our minds tend to remember the painful, negative experiences but not so much the joyous, happy moments? There’s actually a neurobiological answer that has to do with something called a “negativity bias.” At the University of Washington a study revealed how a negative experience remains wired into your brain more strongly than a positive one. In fact, it takes up to five positive experiences to outweigh a negative thought! Neurobiologists believe that this “negative bias” of the human brain was an evolutionary trait that helped early humans survive by allowing the brain to react to, remember, and recall life-threatening experiences. Imagine you were an early human chased by a lion; your brain would store that information into a neural net, recalling that memory as a survival mechanism. The lesson is that in order to experience authentic happiness, you actively have to focus on the positive to overcome the negative experiences in your life that your brain has imprinted into your consciousness. Learn more about how your psychology influences your biology in “The Healing Power of Thought.”
Tip # 5 - “Just Breathe!”
One of the simplest and most effective tools you have to alleviate stress and create more happiness in your life is to find some personal time in your day to focus on your breath. In “Breathe Your Way to Health & Happiness” one of the easiest ways to experience greater wellbeing is to engage in conscious breathing for as little as five minutes a day. Dr. James S. Gordon, a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University Medical School, states, “Slow, deep breathing is probably the single best anti-stress medicine we have.” You may be surprised to learn that doing mindful, calm breathing exercises for just five minutes a day can begin to shift your emotional and mental health. In the growing field of “brain-body-being” research, studies show that focusing on your breath, specifically on the quality and state of your breath, might be the key to unlock your potential for health and happiness. Let’s face it, most of us do shallow breathing, i.e. not connecting our breath deep into the belly. Deep-belly breathing has now been shown in numerous studies to have a significant benefit on your neurophysiology, calming and soothing both your mind and body. When you connect and focus on your breath by taking deep and slow inhalations and exhalations, your nervous system and brain waves begin to come into balance and coherence. When your brain and body are in alignment you tend to cultivate the “four C’s” of calmness, contentment, caring and creativity. Watch my Self-Guided Breathing Video to learn how to alleviate stress and to experience greater happiness in your daily life and throughout the New Year.
Dr. Jay Kumar
www.drjaykumar.com
Facebook – Dr. Jay Kumar
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Dr. Jay Kumar
www.drjaykumar.com
Facebook – Dr. Jay Kumar
Twitter – docjaykumar
Brain Waves and the Power of Attention
Neuropsychology now believes that the human brain allows us to process two distinct types of attention. The first is a “voluntary or direct” attention that enables us to focus our thoughts and neural energy to tasks that require our direct concentration, e.g. writing this article, watching a movie, or reading a book. The other type is an “involuntary or indirect” attention that our brain does with little or no effort, e.g. watching a sunset, meditating, having a casual conversation, or dancing.
Additionally, there are corresponding brain waves associated with these two types of attention. When our brains are engaged in voluntary, direct attention requiring focused concentration, beta waves tend to be predominant. On the contrary, our brains produce alpha waves when we experience involuntary, indirect attention requiring no fixed awareness. The two other brain waves, theta and delta, are predominant during sleep with theta waves occurring in deep-sleep and delta waves during REM dream-sleep.
While having our brain in beta-wave state is important, as it helps us to focus on daily tasks, unfortunately, many of us live a typical life with our brains disproportionately in the stressful beta-wave state and barely enough time in the healing and regenerative alpha-wave state. Unlike theta and delta waves that occur predominantly in sleep, the healing and regenerative properties of alpha waves are produced only when we are conscious and awake.
In our current technologically driven world, we are on average bombarded with 4,000 bits of information/second and about 700 ads a day. The brain is overwhelmed with all this sensory data, as it requires our attention to be in “voluntary or direct” mode and our brains to reside in the constantly stressful beta-waves for the majority of our day while awake. Rarely, do we take the time in our waking state for the brain to go into the calming, soothing alpha-waves and into “involuntary and indirect” attention.
Mind-Body Connection
In the growing medical field of psycho-neuro-immunology (PNI), there appears to be a correlation between the various brain waves with our health and wellbeing. When our brains are highly amped up in focused direct attention for long hours at a time, we live our day predominantly in a beta-wave state accompanied with the release of cortisol, the stress-hormone that eventually may lead to chronic anxiety, illness and disease. The good news is that involuntary, indirect attention produces the alpha-waves that produce beta-endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, neurotransmitters that enable us to become relaxed, calm, and centered when we’re in stress throughout our day. This evolutionary mechanism wired into our neurology is known as the relaxation response. This built-in relaxation response suggests that our brains and nervous systems enable us to experience a state of calm and relaxation in moments of stress and anxiety.
Natrue as Healer
So can you guess what’s one of the easiest ways for us to enhance the alpha-waves of calm and centeredness and to stimulate our natural relaxation response? The answer, of course, is NATURE! Another emerging field of study, known as ecopsychology, advocates that even though the human brain is currently shaped for our modern and technologically-driven environment, its original function was to interact with and respond to the natural world in which it evolved over the millennia. In essence, the human brain is literally “hard-wired” to BE IN NATURE, as being in nature is natural for the brain.
According to this field of study, human beings have an instinctual biological need to connect with nature, something known as the biophilic instinct, a concept advanced by the Harvard biologist Edward Wilson. The idea is that humans and the human brain evolved over millennia as beings deeply enmeshed with and inexorably linked to the intricacies of nature. Wilson describes biophilia as the "innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes." Even though our human brain has recently adapted to an environment of technology and sensory stimulation, we each still have this affinity for nature ingrained in our genotype and in our neurobiology. This evolutionary connection to nature activates in the part of the brain known as the insula, the area that governs our internal feelings and sensations. So when we dance, do yoga meditate, focus on our breath, swim, run, or are in nature we begin to connect to the internal terrain of our body. The insula gauges how we’re feeling and what we’re experiencing within our body and mind in the present moment.
Relaxation Response
This ability to tap into the relaxation response through nature appears also to have a tremendous impact on our health and wellbeing. Scientific studies have already begun and continue to demonstrate the powerful healing aspects of nature. Dr. Ulrich published one of the earliest studies in 1984 Science, in which he noticed that patients who were recovering from surgery healed more quickly and required less pain medication when placed in hospital rooms that had views of nature, versus patients placed in rooms facing brick walls. Ulrich conjectured that this acceleration in healing was perhaps a result of the brain connecting to nature. It appears that when we are immersed in nature, our brains go automatically into the involuntary, indirect attention-mode that is connected with the healing alpha-wave brain state. Research suggests that even a short walk in the park during your lunch break, touching a tree on your walk to the office, or literally “stopping to smell the roses” once in a while is beneficial, as it is an evolutionary trait that our brains evolved to do. Furthermore, even passive contact with nature such as viewing an open pasture in your car or hearing the sound of birds chirping from your window can have the same powerful benefits as an actual immersion in nature.
When the brain’s alpha and beta waves are equally in balance throughout our waking day, we experience psycho-physiological coherence, a deep and profound state of integration of the body, mind, and brain. The longer we can produce coherence, the stronger our immune system, our health, and wellbeing. Being in nature, again, is one of the easiest and most effective ways to cultivate this balance of the brain waves and to switch into our involuntary, calm mode of attention. So it appears that science is beginning to validate that nature truly has a profound calming and soothing effect on the mind and our neurobiology. So what better time than spring to get out in nature and experience its healing power! As the poet Thoreau beautifully states, “I believe that there is a subtle magnetism in Nature, which, if we unconsciously yield to it, will direct us aright.”
Have a joyous and beautiful spring as you continue Living Your Light®
Dr. Jay Kumar
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So you probably already are aware of the "mind-body" connection, but did you know that scientific and medical research is beginning to advance the existence of a "mind-heart" link? Latest discoveries from both science and integrative medicine are indicating that the human heart is more than just an organ that pumps blood into your body. The big surprise to traditional medicine is that the human heart actually emits an electro-magnetic (EM) field of energy around your body. According to studies from the Institute of Heart Math, this cardiac field of energy is stronger than the one produced by your brain. Imagine that...your heart IS actually more powerful than your brain! This medical breakthrough now makes it possible to understand how different emotions we feel actually produce different frequencies within the body. The most amazing news is that our body’s different emotional frequencies might possibly affect your physical health. Preliminary findings now indicate that emotions of love, joy, and compassion produce stronger and more coherent fields around the human body than do the emotional frequencies of sadness, fear, and anger. Pretty amazing stuff! I guess the old adage “Love is the Cure” is right, after all.
You can learn more about these incredible findings in the two links below by ABC News and the Institute of Heart Math. Each delves into the pioneering science behind the powerful healing potential you manifest with your heart and by the power of love! Feel free also to check out more articles by Dr. Jay Kumar on the science and spirituality of love in the special Valentine's Day "Love" newsletter.
Even though Valentine’s Day occurs once a year, why just let this day be the one when you celebrate love. LET EVERY DAY, EVERY HOUR, EVERY MOMENT of your life become an ecstatic and conscious celebration of LOVE, not only to others but also to yourself. As you honor the sacred and beautiful being that you are, may your love and light shine forth fully and brightly, and always remember that the world would be a much dimmer place without you here!
The Science behind the Healing Power of Love (ABC News)
Science of the Heart (Heart Math)
Lastly, here's an inspiring and moving video that shows the Power of Love in action. Enjoy!
Dr. Jay Kumar
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“The ultimate healing capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite." Dr. Jay Kumar
Check out the latest podcast from AWAKE with Dr. Jay Kumar on the Doug Stephan Good Day Show. In this episode we discuss how neuroscience now validates the power of our thoughts and intentions in our healing process. A really great episode!
AWAKE & ENJOY!
Dr. Jay Kumarwww.drjaykumar.com
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I’ll give an example of just how powerful our thoughts can be on our brain and body. Scientists at Columbia University conducted an experiment where volunteers were connected to a PET (positron emission tomography) as part of a study to see how neurochemicals in the brain react to pain in the body. The people in the experiment received a pain-producing stimulus of minor heat on their arm. As predicted, the brain registered the pain and released opioids, a neurochemical that relieves pain. The same people were then told to apply a lotion on their arm that they believed was a new experimental painkiller, when in actuality it was just simple body lotion. When the volunteers received the same stimulus, the scientists discovered that higher levels of opioids were produced and secreted from the brain in response to the pain on the area of the arm where the placebo cream was placed. (Full article here)
To quote Dr. Tor Wager, the leading researcher of the experiment, “These results extend our knowledge of how beliefs and expectations affect the brain's neurochemistry and show that one's mental response to a challenge can affect the brain and body in ways that are relevant to health….Understanding these interactions can pave the way for new treatments that are informed by knowledge of mind-body interactions.” In essence this amazing research now validates the adage that our psychology does indeed influence our biology!
The point here is that science is only now beginning to understand the power of human thought, an idea that has existed for millennia in indigenous medical system and in spiritual traditions throughout human history. I’ve always believed that the next major scientific breakthrough will occur when we truly understand the vast capacity of human consciousness and how we ALL ARE HEALERS! As Dr. W. Ross Adey of the Brain Research Institute at UCLA rightfully declares, “The ultimate creative capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite.” I would like to amend his statement by saying, “The ultimate healing capacity of your brain may be, for all practical purposes, infinite.”
Always remember just how amazing, and incredible you are. The key to your health and happiness is to cultivate more empowering thoughts, intentions, words and emotions as part of your daily life. I will discuss more ways in which we can do this in the next blog. Until then, keep on Living Your Light® as you keep on Believing In Your Light!
Dr. Jay Kumar
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