Recommendations: More resources

For Autism Information in the Asheville Area

FAMILY SUPPORT NETWORK

The Family Support Network at Mission Children's Hospital offers an extensive lending library of resources related to raising a child with a wide variety of behavioral, developmental, physical and medical needs. Our team provides Parent to Parent Matching as well as monthly Family Support Group Nights, educational workshops and individual support in navigating community resources/services.

The Family Support Network is located within MCH's Reuter Outpatient Center @ 11 Vanderbilt Park Drive. We accept referrals from all agencies, physicians and directly from families and community partners. Fax referrals to (828) 213-0040. To learn more about their services, please call (828) 213-0033. Kerrie Eaton is a particularly good contact person there.

About Mindfulness

THE POWER OF PRACTICING MINDFULNESS

Scientific research over the past 20 to 30 years has accumulated a large body of evidence showing a stunning array of conditions for which mindfulness provides relief of symptoms (and in some cases, cure). These include:

a. Psychological issues, such as:

i. Depression

ii. Anxiety (including posttraumatic stress disorder)

iii. ADHD

iv. OCD

v. Autism

vi. eating disorders

vii. substance abuse

viii. personality disorders (including borderline personality disorder)

b. and physical conditions, including:

i. tension headaches and migraines

ii. back pain

iii. irritable bowel syndrome

iv. epileptic seizures

v. asthma

vi. symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Effortless Mindfulness and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Here are some suggestions as to how to incorporate effortless mindfulness with cognitive behavioral therapy:

1. Take a mental “snapshot” of the precise moment when something happened or someone said something that triggered your reaction, and “freeze” that moment in your imagination.

2. Recognize that, if in that moment, you been centered in the pure awareness at the “hub” of the “Wheel of Awareness, “no matter how challenging the experience was and no matter how painful your emotional reaction, you’d have had the capacity to be present with it in a calm, open, undisturbed state of awareness.

3. Bring to mind your negative emotional reaction to the snapshot moment of the event, and attend to the reaction mindfully, compassionately, without judging it or trying to change it in any way.

4. Bring to mind the negative reactive thoughts that arose which helped to shape your emotional reaction, and attend to those thoughts mindfully, without judging them or trying to change them in any way.

5. Just sitting quietly, without making any effort, staying centered in the experience of simple, calm, open awareness, as you find yourself more and more able to calmly and compassionately attend to the event and the thoughts and emotions associated with it, see if you can catch a glimpse of a more constructive, more positive attitude toward what happened. Here are a few possible ways that might happen:

§ Your heart may open to the possibility that there are positive things about the person or event that your negative reaction prevented you from seeing.

§ You may sense apossibility that the event couldgive rise to something positive down the line.

§ A sense of appreciation may arise for the opportunity the situation has given you to weaken the negative neural pathways blockthe deeply fulfilling, joyful experience of open heartful awareness.

* * * * *

Using Mindfulness to Improve Memory

Another value of mindfulness is in regard to memory, which could help with schoolwork. Regular mindfulness practice has been shown in a number of research studies to improve working memory. There are also basic mnemonics that improve working memory as well.. The principle is that memory works by making connections. Neural pathways are laid down every time we gain a new piece of information. The strength of the neural pathway depends on (a) the amount of attention we give to that information; (b) the amount of emotion we feel when taking in the information; and (c) the number of connections we make between that new information and other pieces of knowledge.

For example, if I see a new car, focus intently on the details of the car, am very excited to see it, and spend a little bit of time thinking about how it resembles and how it differs from other cars I’ve seen, I’m much more likely to remember it than if I just give it passing attention. This works to improve memory for virtually any aspect of life, from remembering a shopping list to learning a new language. Many websites teach methods of creating an imaginative, colorful story to weave together isolated facts. Most don’t mention the need to think through the new information, to connect it to prior knowledge and thus actively embed it in one’s memory. Taken together, these methods (thinking about how new information relates to old information, paying attention, investing it with emotional significance, and creating a story about various facts) are powerful ways of improving memory and generally improving academic and work performance. If you practice mindfulness regularly at all – particularly the effortless mindfulness below – you’ll find it much easier to develop your memory.

Mindfulness websites

1. http://www.pocketmindfulness.com/6-mindfulness-exercises-you-can-try-today/

a. Some simple mindfulness exercises

2. https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/effects-mindfulness-meditation

a. The effects of mindfulness on visual spatial processing, working memory,

3. http://www.apa.org/monitor/2012/07-08/ce-corner.aspx

a. Research on how mindfulness improves processing speed

4. http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/the_neuroscience_of_happiness

a. Neuropsychologist Rick Hansen discussing effects of mindfulness on the brain

For Fun (and exercise - and a good challenge for attention!)

body music

Body music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfoClfRXL7g