The patient meditates for at least 30 minutes daily using a practice called“centering prayer”, which he learned during his brief time as a postulate in a Franciscan monastery, 37 years ago. In this technique,he focuses his mind on a single religious word to reach a meditative state. He states that he feels less“PD-like”when he meditates so he began to reinvest energy in his meditation practice after his PD onset. There are numerous possibilities that may account for this symptom remission, such as a previously uncharacterized disease progression, an unusually positive response to Levodopa, or the therapeutic contributions of healthy lifestyle habits. One possibility that we would like to bring to the attention of the reader is that the increased intensity of the patient’s meditation practice may have contributed to his improvement in parkinsonian signs and symptoms in the absence of medication. One study found that, during Kundalini meditation, putamen activation significantly increase using fMRI [16]. This is a salient attestation of our suggestion as the Hindu yogic practice of Kundalini meditation is based on a similar principle to“centering prayer”, where practitioners maintain attention on a single word to reach a meditative state [16]. Furthermore, the Kundalini study participants had been regular meditators for only four years,where as this patient has practiced a similar technique for nearly 40 years [16]. This patient’s consistent,meditation-induced activation of the putamen for so many decades could have increased its dopaminergic tone, counteracting the DA loss of PD, and thus possibly contributing in part to the remission of his symptoms.
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Just a reminder that the Insight Timer app contains lots of meditation tracks to listen to. I only generally use it for sleep ( mostly Yoga Nidra). Still would always add a 10 mg of Melatonin, a spoonful of Mannitol and some B1 for a better chance of recovery. And exercise of course.
The recovery motto is "Let go of control" and "Surrender" (Newberg & Waldman. IJTS 2018;37:2):
"we performed over 300 brains scans of people engaged in a variety of religious and spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer, speaking in tongues, and trance states...
Brain scan studies have shown a very specific change occurring in the frontal lobes duringe experiences of profound surrender (Newberg et al., 2006; Newberg et al., 2015). This has been observed in a variety of practices, such as Islamic prayer, as well as speaking in tongues (Newberg & Waldman, 2016). In these states, the individual feels a sense of surrender to God, and allows the experience toh happen as opposed to purposely making it happen.
During these intense feelings of surrender, activityi inthe prefrontal cortex has been found to decrease(Newberg et al., 2006, 2015). This is in contrast tos someof the early phases of meditation in which purposeful concentration and willful focus on theo objectis associated with an increase of activity int theprefrontal cortex (Newberg et al., 2001, 2003). However, at some point, when the individuale experiencesa profound sense of surrender, activity in the frontal lobe decreases (Newberg et al., 2006, 2015)."
A PwP (Physicist with Parkinson) did and eventually came up with a great discovery: "Concentration practices stimulate the tremor whereas a practice of deep, silent, open awareness [i.e. spatial] calms it."
"I started my meditation practice in my usual way with the cultivation of humility, reverence, and calm. I slowly opened and closed my unsettled hand in synchrony with my shallow breathing. The tremor in my right hand gradually slowed as my meditation deepened and my awareness widened. The movements of my body associated with Parkinson's became smaller and ultimately stopped. The jitters that accompany me during the day had finally ceased, and I found a place of rest and ease. I welcomed the silent spacious calm. It seemed as if a whole day's agitation slid from my body.
Then, taking up a line of poetry as the focus for a concentration practice, I noted that my hand began to tremor once again. Returning to spacious awareness, the tremor disappeared. I have noted the difference consistently over recent weeks."
Can you forward your chi meditation. I have been trying meditation for over 50days.my tremors are always present when I start intermittently they stop .Sometimes they seem to intensify after I finish. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Not on any meds, have tremors some freezing and muscle weakness and rigidity. Having an MRI to see why I can't sit for more than 5 or 10 minutes without my quadriceps cramping and my foot cramping. Suspected lumbar rarticular syndrome.Is that common with Parkinson's?It is relieves by standing. Thanks
Your muscle cramps could be radiculopathy, possibly aggravated by Parkinson's dystonia. I did recently have some radiculopathy which has been remedied by adding some backward bending yoga poses to my daily routine, and sleeping on the opposite side.
Be that as it may, I strongly recommend some form of timed release levodopa. Levodopa is strictly for symptom relief, but symptom relief is very important as we work on disease modifying strategies, including substances such as high-dose thiamine or cinnamon, and mind-body techniques such as meditation. I use all of the foregoing and this combined approach is working for me. My meditation arises from my Qigong practice which I discuss here:
I am afraid there is no meditation that stops tremors. You are (to be-come) the meditation itself. It is no activity you may schedule before breakfast or after dinner. Ideally, you should be « Meditating all day long » (cited paper in previous comment).
You can do it while keeping conscious and fast walking (as John Pepper), working (as Chris Lacey who recovered this way), talking, eating, etc. It is sort of surrender to your powerlessness at the end of each breath-out.
It can also take the form of hypnosis/guided imagery so that you reconnect your Unconscious with your Conscious and project your desires on the scene you create during the trance : the New Reality in sum (recovered, tremor-free, etc.).
Another study reported « a high level of satisfaction with treatment » and suggests that « clinical hypnosis is potentially feasible and beneficial treatment for some Parkinson's symptoms. » :
The PwP (Psychiatrist with Parkinson’s) cited these last days, not only has not been on meds but also teaches that laughing or smiling are the best medicine. Please note, as an aside, that there is a Yoga form based on laughing.
He once launched a programme called « Intentional Placebo » that he publicly discontinued for some reason. It involved a 16-hypnosis session cycle. You may contact him if you would like him to be your coach.
***
Anyway, any « mind-body » activity should be done with fun and you can build up your own system, combining elements of Qi, Yoga, « classical » meditation and hypnosis :
It may take time to master such a simple thing as meditation based on something as obvious as breathing. In the remission case cited in the post, you can see, if I am not wrong, that the patient not only had been on medicines but also had been practicing meditation for decades.
This said :
The symptoms you describe were similar to mine (particularly tremor and tense quadriceps while sitting). Levodopa (which I inaugurated one year ago or so because I had been exposed to intense lasting trauma that I could not stand anymore) seems to be working positively on both aspects.
-For the Qi aspect of meditation, my favourite is: Shaolin Qi Gong Breathing
-For the original breathing rhythm of meditation, and by the same token restoring the O2/CO2 balance in the blood (and also contributing to the correction of the Thalamo-Cortical Dysrythmia caused by Ca spike burts due to dopamine depletion (Dr Jeanmonod), in other words, the tremor) ; my favourite is (based on the famous mantra chanted as if it were the Ebb and Flow at the seaside) :
Thanks so much .not sure how to save the websites.i have been doing a meditation for over 50 days. Sometimes I am able to relax and other times tremors are exacerbated. Any thoughts? I am anxious to try these.thanks again for your help. I'm very frustrated
Don'be frustrated, I beg of you. Keep solid and smiling as Dr Hageseth who is not on meds like you but who is much older than you. Here are some thoughts:
1-You did pinpoint a real paradox: meditation has been proved to help a lot with relieving from the symptoms of this nice disease. However, how can one begin to focus a bit on anything, the breath to start with, if they are shaking like a Quaker ? Like you, I was asking myself this question. Seems to be a privilege for those on meds only...
2-PwP live in their heads, full of 50,000 thoughts so any "mind-body" work (be it Qigong, Yoga...) remains a mere pretext. When you watch your body movements (Qigong) or postures (Yoga), you do experience them as a set of sensations shaping Consciousness. Paying natural attention to your breath is reconnecting with your body.
2-When, during meditation, you suddenly feel too jittery, do some PMR (Progressive Muscle Relaxation)(*) on your affected arm, slowly, the way the cited PwP (Physicist with Parkinson's) does with his hand during his blissful absorption in spatial consciousness.
3-Do not plan, let alone count the number of meditation sessions you sit for, please. This may cause a strange thing called in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) "Relaxation-Induced Anxiety".
As result of my Qigong practice I have been able to reduce Parkinson's medication by more than half. That was over four years ago and improvement has been sustained.
Checking this out. I was going to take a class at the YMCA but I am embarrassed about the tremors and muscle weakness and stiffness. Gotta learn to get passed that.
Qigong is about cultivating the Divine Energy, the Chi. The outward physical forms are merely a means to that end. In my experience the single most important factor is attitude – dedication to healing oneself and others. People who were bedridden have experienced beneficial results by merely visualizing the physical practices, because that was all they could do.
Personally, if the energy is flowing, often I simply sit in Chi meditation and direct the energy for healing purposes to myself and others.
So you may stand or lie down, either way is okay. I personally recommend starting with the LaChi practice, which Mingtong demonstrates in a video here:
youtube.com/watch?v=3nwwKbM... 30 years ago my wife got cancer. Her oncologist sent her to a meditation/stress reduction clinic. Featured Jon Cabat Zinn's work. I was forced to attend classes with her. Now and then I make half-assed attempts at meditation. Because of my dominant hand tremor I never feel like I'm making progress. Meditation is about focusing on one thing and not letting the mind meander into other thoughts. I felt that the tremor kept me from reaching that state. But a few days ago my hand was making that 'pill rolling' motion. While keeping my attention my my breath I had moments when I wasn't thinking about the tremor. Then I noticed moments of no tremor, including no pill rolling. But the realization popped me out of the meditative state and the tremor returned.
Over a year ago when I first found this website one of my first posts was asking questions about meditation and how PD might be affected by it. Maybe I need to put more efforts into meditation.
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