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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHGKrgMliDY4’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODlFhOKahmk  26’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLDhw9Wrl3k13’

https://www.garrisoninstitute.org/blog/the-wheel-of-awareness/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJp7SlE6R2s&index=24&list=PL48DCCF5EC17CE3D0    international festival

keith terry: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ysq0rh5ZaQ&t=23s  demo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKzko9z8jU8keith terry demo

keith terry: instruction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOaJTH1jOto&t=33s

Ocean Breathing

OCEAN BREATHING

This breathing exercise that has an immediate impact on the autonomic nervous system, resulting in quick relaxation. It is commonly referred to as “ocean breathing.”   

1.    Here are simple instructions

a.    Imagine you’re trying to fog your sunglasses to clean them. You’d naturally make a "haahhh" sound (make the sound as if you’re whispering it). Try that now. 

b.    Try to make this sound both when you inhale and exhale. 

c.    At first, keep doing this ocean breathing with your mouth open. 

d.    Then, make the same sound with your mouth closed.  Keep breathing in and out, with your mouth closed, making the “haaahh” sound. 

e.    Do this for about 5 to 10 cycles of breathing.  It will be more effective the slower you do it; ideally, you want to do about 5 cycles

f.     There are several things that can make this even more effective for relieving anxiety:

g.    There are several things that can make this even more effective for relieving anxiety:

                                               i.     Tense and release: on the inhale, gently tense the body; on the exhale, relax. 

                                             ii.     Add words: Inhaling, think the word “calm”; on the exhale, think the word “peace.” – or substitute words of your own preference.

                                            iii.     Lift the arms on the inhale, lower them on the exhale. Any number of physical movements will make this exercise even more effective. Generally the rule is “expanding” movements as you inhale and “contracting” movements as you exhale. If this is not clear, look up any beginner’s yoga video on  YouTube, or seek out a yoga teacher to explain this.

Doing these exercises for a minute or two at a time at various intervals throughout the day retrains the nervous system, getting it more accustomed to being in a relaxed mode.

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If you prefer to be guided through this, there is an audio on this page:

http://www.remember-to-breathe.org/Breathing-Videos.html

If you scroll down from the audio, you'll find a series of "Breathing Videos' to help guide you in slowing your breathing, with musical and visual accompaniment to make this much easier.

If you want to try moving while breathing rhythmically, you can try these videos:

https://beyondthematrixnow.wordpress.com/qigong-videos/

Have fun!

Your Amazing Brain, and the Wheel of Awareness

Effortless Mindfulness – going to the center of awareness

The “Circle of Awareness”

Circles have been used for thousands of years to symbolize the relationship between awareness and the objects of awareness. In India, mandalas and yantras of various kinds, often illustrated with luminously beautiful imagery, have been created as ways to understand the relationship of spacious awareness and the vast universe of which we are aware.  Contemporary Christian contemplative John Main uses the wheel as a metaphor, and speaks of the “still point” at the center or ‘hub’ of the wheel.

Dan Siegel – psychiatrist and founder of the field of Interpersonal Neurobiology – has offered a scientific version of this ancient symbol. He created the “Wheel of Awareness” exercise to help people move toward greater mental, emotional, and interpersonal balance, ease, and effectiveness by understanding the distinction between awareness and the objects of awareness

Dr. Siegel has taught the exercise to thousands of people around the world many of whom report experiencing a profound peace, joy and spaciousness as a result.  In fact, the “Wheel of Awareness” exercise has been used regularly and successfully by children as young as 5 to learn to shift their attention from negative impulses and emotions to positive feelings and constructive behavior. There is an extensive explanation of its underlying principles in Dr. Siegel’s new book, “Aware.” The book “Masters of Mindfulness: How to Be Your Own Superhero,” written by black and Hispanic 5^thgraders from Oakland, CA will likely be interesting to any child learning mindfulness. Yet another helpful book for learning some simple methods to help develop the brain is Dan Siegel’s book, “The Whole Brain Child.”   

Here is a guided exercise for the Wheel of Awareness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODlFhOKahmk

Here is a simple explanation of what the Wheel of Awareness is about:

Imagine, he says, that your awareness is like a wheel. In the center, the “hub” of the wheel, is the experience of simply being aware.  Around the “rim” of the wheel is arrayed everything you’re aware of – thoughts, memories, feelings, sensations, places, people – everything that is contained “within” the experience of awareness.   From the calm, peaceful hub, centered in the experience of simply being aware, it becomes possible to view whatever is dancing around out on the rim without judgment - simply being aware of it without letting it pull you this way or that.

 Ultimately, all mindfulness exercises, in one way or another, involve freeing your attention from the objects of awareness on the “rim” of the “wheel” where it tends to get absorbed, and shifting it back to awareness itself at the center of the wheel, the “hub.”     As you train yourself, through repeated practice, to anchor your attention at the hub of the wheel, what happens is that the calm awareness of the center gradually expands to encompass, and even embrace, everything out on  rim.  I refer to it as “effortless” because as you become more familiar with this awareness which is always present underlying all of our experience, you don’t have to “try” to get in touch with it. All that is required is a gentle shift of your attention, from the rim (from our customary experience of being absorbed in the objects of awareness) to the hub, the center of the circle, to the experience of simply being aware.

This all-embracing, all-encompassing, non-judgmental awareness is the ideal condition for exploring difficult thoughts, emotions and behaviors in way that makes them much easier to change.

Here are some simple written instructions for distinguishing the “Awareness” at the center of the wheel from the “Objects of Awareness’ around the rim of the wheel. 

DistinguishingAwareness from the Objects of Awareness

 Begin by noticing  two aspects of your experience:

1.     The objects and activities around you 

2.     The awareness, which notices them 

Now, in a moment, you’re going to close your eyes.  When you do, notice that although all objects have disappeared, your awareness is still present.  
After a few moments, you’ll open your eyes again…

Now with your eyes open, bring your attention to the sounds in your environment.  Again, focus your attention on the two aspects of your experience – 
the sounds, and the awareness by which you hear them. 

Notice . . . when a sound disappears, the awareness is still present.  Sounds come and go, but the awareness remains, unchanged.
 

Now shift your attention to the sensations in your body.  

Again, attend to the two aspects of your experience – the sensations themselves, and the awareness within which the sensations arise. 

         

Notice that the sensations may come and go, but the awareness remains, unchanged. 


Now bring your attention to the thoughts and images passing through your mind. Just watch as the thoughts and images arise and fade away without getting caught up in them.



Notice the two aspects of your experience - the thoughts and images, and the awareness within which they arise. 

         

Notice that while thoughts and images come and go, the awareness is unchanged.


Now shift your attention to your emotions.

Observe them compassionately, without judgment, and without making any effort to change them.  

        

Again, notice the 2 aspects of your experience – the emotions, and the awareness within which they arise.  

         

The emotions may change, they may even be intense, but the awareness itself remains calm and undisturbed. 

As you get up to go on to your next activity, see if you can stay mindful of the awareness within which all the sights, sounds, sensations, thoughts, images, and emotions that make up your experience arise and pass away. 

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Any time you want, in the midst of any activity, you can practicing noticing the distinction between awareness and the objects of awareness to get a deeper sense of the powerful potential that open, heartful awareness carries within it.