Michelle DuVal

Michelle teaches mindfulness based stress reduction

In my cardiac rehab programs I usually start out asking the rhetorical question, “Is stress good for your heart?” Though many people suffer from serious cardiac issues, there’s always a heart-y chuckle. What they (and you) might not know is just how destructive consistent stress can be for that mighty organ. Clinical research shows that stress – even mild doses of it, such as frustration, irritation or even agitation over something as benign as getting rammed by a cart in the grocery store – can increase irregular heart rhythms, blood pressure and the release of adrenaline and cortisol.

Stress, like everything that happens in our conscious mind, has a corresponding response in our bodies. Clinical research shows that a thought cannot take place without a physiological response.

Different people experience stress in different ways. Simply put, conscious breathing, with practice, slows and relaxes the heart.

In meditation we practice uncoupling our experiences from our thoughts. When using the feeling of the beating heart as the object of our meditation, we feel the beats, the pulses, the charges of energy and the rhythmic movements in the chest. Through meditation we can practice becoming more aware of the healthy and unhealthy states of the body, then practice creating changes in our body with our minds. We practice these skills in the formal sittings of our meditation practice so that when our grocery carts get rammed at the store, we can effectively choose the more healthy environment for our hearts and bodies as we’re standing at the precipices of stress.

As I tell all my students: it isn’t enough to just read about these things. You have to practice them in order to experience the benefits. Instructors can open the door, but you have to walk through. And if you read this article and think, “Yeah, but I don’t have any heart issues,” my question to you is: are you sure? Maybe you don’t have the physical ailments, but can you honestly say that you, your life, your loved ones and your world couldn’t all benefit from a greater awareness of the workings of your own heart?

Couldn’t we all?

Visit Michelle’s website at duvalmeditation.com

February 2010/02-10