Dr. Keith Berkowitz wonders if a recent article about vaccine injury in Science Magazine is a watershed moment.
Dr. Keith Berkowitz
Jul 10, 2023

Read here: https://open.substack.com/pub/flccc/p/are-we-ready-to-talk-about-it?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

An old adage from the theatre is, “in life, one of the few things you can control is your breath.” Well, enjoying breath is something we do not take for granted given the many pleas for breath from covid-19, and the many other events where breath has been stolen from people this past year. There are many ways to appreciate our breath and enhance its healing and life-giving properties. 

Breathing is essential to life, and understanding the role it plays in not only our physical health but our mental health as well is important. Breathing comes effortlessly to most of us, but there are powerful benefits to incorporating breathing into a mindfulness-based approach to mental health, brain health, and wellbeing in general. When was the last time you stopped what you were doing, and focused upon your full breath? Doing just that more often has significant benefits beyond the obvious one, which is to keep us alive….
 
Among other benefits, deep breathing exercises have been demonstrated to:

• Reduce anxiety
• Improve cardiac health
• Fight cognitive decline

Treating breathing as an ingredient for better mental and physical health is just the beginning of new trends in psychological therapeutics that combine Western and Eastern strategies. These schools of thought, when blended, can promote powerful improvements in patient outcomes. They can be used by parents with their children, teachers with their students and for you to use on your own.

Conscious breathing reduces anxiety among healthy individuals.
Coordinated breathing exercises are known to improve feelings of well-being, but the exact mechanisms underlying this phenomenon were -- until recently -- based on anecdotal evidence. A recent study found that pranayamic breathing exercises reduced subjective feelings of anxiety improved heart rate variability and cognition among medical students compared to yoga postures alone.
 
In practice, breath control as a treatment has been recommended for at-risk groups such as patients diagnosed with post-traumatic stress. Mind-body practices that include deep breathing are associated with better outcomes in these individuals.This discovery is promising as it confirms the crucial role for mindfulness and deep breathing in individualized treatment plans. 
 
The exact circuits upon which this technique operates are thought to be related to the parasympathetic nervous system activating in response to coordinated (voluntary) focus on internal bodily states. There are also theories related to olfactory bulb stimulation tuning the rest of the cortical mantle, engaged through this deep breathing. 
 
More recently, reviews of research that focus on bridging the gap between breathing and reduced levels of anxiety point to the growing understanding of the vagus nerve. The vagus nerve acts a mediator of the parasympathetic nervous system and possible axis for signal exchange between the brain and gut. Vagal nerve stimulation by way ofdeep breathing has been shown as a proposed mechanismthat explains how the CNS and PNS induce relaxation and improved mood. The vagus nerve interfaces with a multitude of viscera across the body and brain, and its ability to settle sympathetic arousal should be looked at more closely. 

Breathing techniques improve heart health.
​Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States,and it is implicated in numerous disorders of the brain such as Alzheimer’s disease. Keeping your heart healthy is a balancing act between eating healthfully, exercising regularly, socializing regularly, avoiding smoking, and even deep breathing.
 
Let’s take a step back for a minute; deep breathing itself is alleged to be a secondary preventative measure that leads to better mental health.By improving mental health, we reduce blood pressure and incidence of depression and anxiety, all of which are established risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, as deep breathing and meditative techniques reduce these risk factors, overall health improves across both the mental and physical spectrums. 
 
In combination with pranayamic yoga-- which introduces an exercise component -- breath work has been shown to immediately reduce resting blood pressure and promote feelings of relaxation. With the added benefits of better mental health, this accessible form of deep breathing exercise may become a valuable prescription from providers for patients working to heal their cardiovascular disease.

Breathing exercises improve cognition and is great to do with kids.
​Learning new skills and keeping the mind active are known preventative measures to fight cognitive decline; sensory stimulation, as well as social stimulation, are key components of aging well cognitively. Thus, any measure that promotes better learning and memory encoding is one the field needs to consider. 
 
By now, you likely know that I’m going to talk about the power of deep breathing on doing exactly this. Deep breathing has been shown to enhance the acquisition of motor skills, creating an interesting mediating effect that marries cognitive function to memory consolidation. 
 
Long term, the use of coordinated deep breathing techniques are known to improve the quality of one’s sleep. Sleep is a key part of cognitive development and maintenance throughout life, as numerous investigations have shown clear links between dementia risk and poor quality sleep. One of the most effective pranayamic breathing exercises popularized by clinicians includes the 4-5-8 breathing technique developed by Dr. Andrew Weil. 
 
This technique is accessible, and that’s part of its power. Find a comfortable position for your body. Relax your shoulders, and let your feet rest comfortably. Allow the air to effortlessly be released from your lungs. Then…

• Inhale deeply for 4 seconds
• Hold for 5 seconds
• Exhale out of the mouth in a steady breath for 8 seconds

It is based on the idea of maximizing the oxygen in our systems and exerting a top-down executive control over our physical state. Try this practice with your child or student, or simplify it as a Dr Rusk “4-6 breath”, with an inhale to a comfortable count of four and an exhale to a count of six, allowing the exhale to be slightly longer than the inhale thus allowing the parasympathetic (rest and digest) nervous system to be engaged. 
 
These few techniques only scratch the surface of the power of deep, aware breathing to change our moment to moment experience. As a preventative measure, breathwork has the potential to be a flexible, easy, and effective way to reduce risk across life for numerous physical and psychological issues, and it’s a natural tool you have access to every moment of every day. Enjoy trying these practices. 

The current pandemic has caused unprecedented changes in nearly every area of our lives. Ever since January, 2020, when the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States was reported to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, we have felt the drastic impact ripple throughout every home, community, and country.

With what we know about far-reaching social tragedies and neuroscience, it makes sense that this event not only affects the physical, tangible ways in which we live but also the health of our mind and soul.

Humans generally have resistance to drastic, unwanted change, such that fear of the unknown brought about by change is being examined as a distinct fear in and of itself.  Changes over which we feel little control can cause great anxiety - and during a period of our history such as this, the effects of this uncertainty on our mental states is a very big concern.

Our brains deal with uncertainty in very systematic ways; for example, statistical learning refers to the cognitive processes underlying our ability to extract patterns out of visual and linguistic information.  In order to make sense of the world, the brain looks for patterns and rules that allow for quicker sensory and perceptual processing.

However, uncertainty in many domains at once can produce a stress response. Researchers have demonstrated that uncertain conditions produce statistically significant physiological stress responses during a computerized task.

This type of acute stress brought on by uncertain conditions is thought to result in the reinforcement of a negativity response bias, a phenomenon where negative experiences attract more frequent negative and detrimental responses. Basically our brain is a magnet for negativity.  A lot of this has to do with the variable reinforcement schedule inherent in uncertain conditions: if negative events occur only sometimes, yet other times they do not, we vacillate quickly between “safe” and “not safe” perceptions of our environment, causing stress.

Much of this processing of aversion and uncertainty has to do with the network comprising the lateral prefrontal cortex (lPFC) and the amygdala risk vs. reward and our direct aversion to ambiguity. Disliking uncertainty is tied to the same system responsible for executive functioning. Likely, this system exerts a global regulatory response that assesses risk and induces caution.

These outcomes are even more dire if you have experience with adverse events; there is overwhelming evidence supporting how early life adverse experiences determine adult adjustment strategies   experiences necessitating more caution and fear due to uncertain, stressful situations. As adults, this vigilance is preserved and maintained and often becomes an unconscious habit. The current pandemic is affecting us psychologically and biologically even if we don’t get sick with the virus itself.

Isolation is detrimental to our psychological states

Isolation is an unnatural state for our minds & brains; we are wired for social engagement, and social isolation is an underlying cause of psychological and physical illness. There is emerging evidence that continued, prolonged periods of social isolation directly affects mortality.

Within an evolutionary framework, feelings of isolation are theorized to have been a response to motivate early humans to seek social connectedness in a manner that would improve fitness.  With more individuals in a social network, you improved your chances of attaining more resources, and improving your chances of survival. There is emerging evidence that our default learning system is ingrained within our fear response; systems that allow for rapid learning from novel, negative experiences are underwritten by a variety of interconnected activity spanning hippocampal, limbic and frontal areas of the brain.

In our current unsettled climate, we’re faced with a new circumstance where isolation is paired with a variable model of reinforcement. Many states have strict stay-at-home orders, followed by relaxation, and then rollbacks to more lockdowns. For many already suffering from feelings of loneliness, depression, fear & anxiety, this schedule of reinforcement increases feelings of uncertainty.

The social contagion persists during lockdown

Perhaps paradoxically, social isolation and confinement to one’s home have had an unprecedented effect on the dissemination of information, such that individuals are sharing opinions, thoughts, and views between each other faster than ever before. This is primarily a natural result of a more connected world by way of the Internet but amplified by increased web usage among people staying home. While social networking is typically thought of as a generally positive thing, there is a tendency for misinformation to spread rapidly. 

This phenomenon is best explained by social contagion theory, the idea that like diseases, ideas can spread among the population in a similar fashion.

The fact that this contagion of information is spreading so rapidly can have a lot to do with how we seek to reduce feelings of uncertainty. As we struggle with an uncertain environment, our need to seek information grows; however, this type of information seeking may in fact augment these feelings of stress associated with uncertainty.

There are, luckily, many strategies available to individuals struggling with this challenge posed during the pandemic and at other times as well, including

• Taking advantage of telehealth visits for mental health, which are demonstrably effective when in-person is not an option.
• Prioritizing and developing mindful habits that benefit you during this high-stress period, such as practicing mindfulness. 
• Enforcing stricter social media breaks, shown to benefit the mental health of people who choose to take a vacation from social media channels.

We are all in this together; the pandemic has highlighted the urgent need for widespread self-care and stress management education. Developing habits that strengthen us in the face of uncertainty will allow us all to live with more confidence, and feeling empowered.

Creating predictability one deep breath at a time is sometimes the best way to start.

A deeper investigation into the origins and psychological benefits of these two contemplative practices presents a more complex picture.

Understanding Prayer and Meditation

Prayer is often a personal communication with a higher power, which may contain a plea, yearning, or request. Prayer may also contain thanks and praise for God or another divine power outside of ourselves. Prayer can be done alone or as a community. Neuroscientists find that our brains display similar patterns of blood flow when we are in prayer as when we are in conversation with another person.1 In other words, prayer is about connecting and communicating with a force or divine power outside of ourselves.

Meditation lacks the relational quality of prayer. Instead, meditation aimed at expanding and enriching our sense of the ever-changing present moment. Meditation is not about speaking to God, but being quiet enough to allow yourself to hear silence and space. In my personal meditation practice, I experience this as the collective space shared by all of humanity. It’s a mental technique to go to the source of your thoughts. Meditation is about becoming familiar with the thousands of thoughts passing through our minds on a daily basis. Practitioners aim to slow down rapid thoughts and create a small gap of calmness. To me, meditation is an opportunity to grow our mindful awareness of the present moment. It allows us to expand upon the moment and be fully present with it.

Meditators often use the breath as an always-present anchor to bring your thoughts back ‘home’. Quiet meditation produces none of the temporal lobe or language area activation seen in prayer. As meditators focus on the breath or another object of contemplation, they display an increase in frontal lobe activity (signaling attention) and a decrease in parietal lobe activity.1 As our parietal lobe is responsible for sensing our position in relation to our environment, brain scan data seems to support meditators’ reported experiences of expansion and being at one with the universe.

Fascinatingly, practices of prayer and meditation are not divided along religious or secular lines. Historically, practitioners of the theistic religions - whose followers profess belief in God - including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, engaged in both prayer and meditative practices. These traditions continue today among those in monastic life as well as laypeople of faith. While nontheists such as a Buddhists do not have a creator god, these religious traditions practice forms of meditation that blur the lines between secular meditation and communicative prayer.

The Benefits of Contemplation

Both prayer and meditation practices have scientifically-proven psychological and physical benefits. The two contemplative practices involve mindful silence and solitude. These practices -meditation can help you escape the grip of overpowering negative emotions.

Prayer is rooted in the belief in an external higher power. As such, scientific studies on prayer find that atheists fail to realize the same benefits from prayer as believers. While the scientific literature on prayer is less abundant than studies on meditation, prayer’s proven benefits include an increased sense of social connection. More social connection comes with a host of benefits including a stronger immune system. Psychologists have also demonstrated that prayer increases self-control in a laboratory setting.2 Study participants who were emotionally-depleted by a challenging emotional suppression task showed better performance on a psychological test requiring sustained attention and self-control if they prayed briefly. Unsurprisingly, only believers reaped these benefits from prayer.

Like prayer, meditation is proven to enhance immune system performance and focus. The research literature on meditation practices points to many other benefits, including improved mood, enhanced cognitive skills, better decision making, and lowered stress.

Should I pray or meditate?

Both prayer and meditation have benefits. However, early evidence suggests that faith may be a necessary precondition for reaping the benefits of prayer. An atheist praying is unlikely to experience a sense of communion with God or cultivate a greater sense of self-control.

Although meditation is a part of every spiritual tradition, from Christianity to Buddhism, meditation is not necessarily a religious practice. Unlike prayer, meditators need not have faith in a higher power to reap brain and body-boosting benefits from practice. Religious and non-religious people alike can both benefit from meditation. Different religious traditions blend prayer and meditation (such as the centering prayer used by Benedictine monks), and religious lay people may enjoy these sort of practices as well.

Neuroscientists have found that both prayer and meditation create lasting changes in our brains. But are these changes is this achievable outside of monastic life? What is the ‘therapeutic dose’ to see the benefits of prayer and meditation? New studies suggest that just 30 minutes of daily practice leads to noticeable changes in brain function after 2 weeks.3 Other employer-based studies have shown promising results in cognitive performance following just a few minutes of daily meditation.3 It seems that almost everyone can improve their overall wellbeing and improve their brain function through regular meditation or prayer.

As we know, habits can be very difficult and slow to change. We must train ourselves deliberately and create new cues and rewards to help us succeed in changing a habit. Having clear goals helps the process. One of the primary factors to reaping the benefits of prayer or meditation in consistency. Start small, practice, repeat. Experienced practitioners recommend beginning with as little as 2 minutes of prayer or meditation at a set time each day. Such small bursts of concentration allow you to channel your enthusiasm into keeping consistency rather than sustaining a lengthy practice, setting you up for longer-term success.

To reap the benefits of practicing, don’t expect a particular outcome from either prayer or meditation. Stay open and focus on the act of prayer or act of meditation rather than the result. Any activity, whether prayer and meditation or learning sports-related skill, paves new connections in the brain. But these types of brain changes don’t happen overnight, so don’t expect to see improvements in thinking or mood immediately. Gradual improvements in mood, thinking, or focus can be difficult to notice. In fact, many meditators report only noticing the profound differences meditation practice has on their lives after they miss a few meditation sessions.

Neuroscientists often use Donald Hebb’s maxim ‘neurons that fire together, wire together’ to describe this long-term brain change. Repeated practice creates repeated patterns of neural activity, which strengthen those neural pathways. Regular practice of prayer and meditation paves these new paths in the brain. Remember that both meditation and prayer are forms of general conditioning, creating a stronger brain and body for other daily activities such as emotional control and concentration. Consistent practice puts you in a mind state of connection & peacefulness which we can all use a bit more of these days!

Dr. Ilene Naomi Rusk is co-director of the Healthy Brain Program in Boulder, Colorado and is coordinator of the rehabilitation and trauma treatment programs. She has a Ph.D. from the University of Birmingham in England (Psychology, Neuropsychopharmacology) and has authored numerous papers in psychology, neuropharmacology and neuroscience as well as other related topics. Dr Rusk is known for her integrative approach to mental health and her dedication to looking for root causes of cognitive decline.

References:

1.    Bradley-Hagerty, B. (2009). Prayer May Reshape Your Brain … And Your Reality. NPR.
2.    Valdesolo, Piercarlo. (2013). Scientists Find One Source of Prayer’s Power. Scientific American.
3.    Reynolds, G. (2016). How Meditation Changes the Brain and Body. New York Times.

That memory is emblazoned in my mind and on my heart; I can remember the smell of the grass, the sensation of the warmth on my back from the earth, and the gentleness of the breeze as it moved over my face. Being a young child, I could not fully understand what I had experienced that day. But I now realize that I had connected with the Divine Presence and been allowed my first, tiny glimpse of expanded awareness.

As I grew, my life’s journey guided me further into music, both as a teacher and a singer. I was given piano lessons and voice lessons as a teenager and went on to college to earn both a Master’s degree in Music and Vocal Performance and a Master’s degree in Guidance and Counseling. Along with the comprehensive knowledge of music theory, history, vocal literature, piano performance, composition and vocal technique, I was acutely aware of a deeper primal knowledge…the magic and mystery of music and sound. That knowledge was never “learned”…it was a profound awareness that was as natural to me as breathing. I knew that music can evolve the soul as I consistently felt its presence and its effects. Music was the sacred land, the temple of peace, the healing stone and I would go there daily.  I found that when I would perform and sing, I did so from an expanded level of awareness. Time would often stand still as I became unaware of myself, but deeply connected to my audience in a profound experience of unity. My personal awareness was expanded to a universal unity. Could this awareness formed by music be the place of wholeness, healing and profound peace?

This magical bridge became a permanent fixture in my life after a second “enlightenment” experience, which happened to take place on the Connecticut Turnpike. I was returning from my uncle’s funeral in Philadelphia and listening to Pachelbel’s “Canon,” truly one of the most beautiful and moving orchestral pieces I know. Alone in my car, with tears streaming down my face, my heart was opened as I mourned my uncle’s passing. Then, without warning, I was suddenly enveloped in a tube of brilliant white light. Nearly blinded by my tears, I pulled my car off the turnpike, and the love that I felt flooding into my heart was beyond any love I had ever experienced. If I could, I would have stayed there, suspended in that state for eternity; I would gladly have left behind my life as I knew it.

The love was deep, without end and beyond words to describe. It was a peace beyond human understanding. I suppose I stayed enveloped in this light for a couple of minutes, though I don’t really know as time was both an eternity and a split second. As I slowly returned to my earthly awareness, I realized that I was forever changed. I knew that I was part of that light, just as I knew as a little girl that I was connected to those clouds. I had found this light with an open heart and on the wings of music. This love had always been there, waiting for me to accept it. Music became a portal for me to divine peace.

Music as the Healer

From that moment on, music became my passion, my beloved, my world. I began to compose, and the music I was creating would take me “across the bridge,” letting the sounds and harmonies flow through me as I wrote them down. My purpose became clearer; I was becoming a “way show-er” or guide for my students, clients and a servant to my art. Before long, my teaching, performing and composing opened me up to another path - the study of music as a healing modality in the physical, emotional and spiritual realms.

I knew that music had the power to remind me and return me to the knowledge of who I truly am. I knew that music had the power to move me past the limitations of my beliefs, conditioning, ego, and judgment. The question then became, “Could it be this way for others as well?” Feeling as though I was now on a quest, I began to wonder if there were universal elements that could be found in sacred and spiritual meditative music all over the world. Could the qualities in healing music from all cultures be the same? Music carries frequencies and vibrations, it is the key to the universe. Perhaps this was a key that has always been available to one who is searching, but is so close to us that often we do not see it.

On the Journey of Discovery

What I discovered on my journey to explore this key was that there are indeed some consistent elements in the musical expressions of all spiritual tradition. I researched and sang Gregorian Chant, experienced American Indian drumming, listened to and sang the mantras from the Hindu and Sufi traditions, studied the throat singing from Tibet, and sang the Icaros songs from the Shipibo Indians in Peru. To further explore the mystical Icaros, I went to Peru and took part in their sacred plant medicine ceremonies, which use these songs as a way to call forth the Divine Healing Spirit. I realized that all of these sacred music expressions lead the listener past the ego with imprints of disease and trauma into a state of wholeness and expanded pure awareness. It was also clear that infused in all of this healing music was a sense of “deep memory,” an atavistic recollection of mystical ritual and ceremony, a calling to the pilgrim from our ancient ancestors and spiritual masters.

I am reminded of my childhood and the comfort that group singing brought me. Knowing that ours is a tribal species (we need each other to feel safe) this group singing made perfect sense. When people sing together, they breathe together and if the music is uplifting, they begin to entrain together in peace and joy.

It all makes sense when I think back to the days where I would sit around a campfire at Girl Scout Camp, all of us singing songs we knew. That experience was simple and yet brought profound joy. When I taught elementary school in Pittsburgh and Boston, the same phenomenon was created through group singing and my “challenge children” became wholeheartedly involved in the group effort. Peace ruled the classroom!!

Singing is also a way of balancing and expressing energy. Disordered energy can be dispelled by the release of vocal sound. Why do we cry when sad, scream when afraid, moan when traumatized and laugh when overcome with happiness? We use sound to express and more importantly to balance us. Singing is a key in the healing part of this journey toward balance and wholeness. Children LOVE to sing and do so with great gusto. Adults sometimes are dampened from this healing medicine because of self-judgement and shame. I have discovered a way around that for the “bathroom singer” and that is toning, which is a means of vocalization that utilizes the natural voice to express sounds and humming on the full exhalation of the breath, often on one pitch. I have taught this technique to many and it has proved to be a quite effective therapy.

Lastly, in my quest to understanding musically created, heightened states of awareness, I also was drawn to crystal singing bowls as musical instruments. Their sound is rich in overtones and happen to mimic the human voice, which from the beginning of time has been used by mothers to soothe their children. Research by the late Dr. David Simon, former medical director of neurological services at Sharp Cabrillo Hospital in San Diego and co-founder of The Chopra Center for Wellbeing, found that chants and the sounds of the singing bowls can create internal opiates that act on the body as painkillers and healing agents.1 In other words, through intentional music and singing, we can become our own pharmacy and heal ourselves. Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, who until his passing in 2015 served as director of Medical Oncology and Integrative Medicine at the Cornell Cancer Prevention Center in NY stated, “One reason sound heals on a physical level is because it so deeply touches and transforms us. It does this on the emotional and spiritual planes. Sound can redress imbalances on every level of physiologic functioning. Therefore, it plays a positive role in the treatment of virtually any medical disorder.” His research shows that the sound vibration of the bowls affects the dysrhythmic motion found in cancer cells, causing a harmonious transformation.2

My experience with using crystal singing bowls has been nothing less than miraculous. The sound is ethereal and yet very grounding to the listener. I have been giving “sound baths” with my crystal singing bowls for the last seven years to groups of people who report feelings of deep peace, serenity and sometimes, remarkable trance-like states. At the very least, a participant in a sound bath will feel calm and peaceful.

For thousands of years, our healers and mystics have used music to enliven us in countless ways – to enhance our spirituality, unite us, heal our spirit, help us rejoice with others, mourn, resolve our sadness, and to connect with the Divine. Music elicits that deep and profound echo from within our hearts that calls us home. Music is our bridge to the Divine and to our expanded, limitless selves. As a healing force, it can provide respite and peace and in times of joy, it is a true celebrant of life to be appreciated each day. What an amazing range of attributes and how lucky we are to have music to carry with us on every journey.

Flicka Rahn is an internationally known opera singer, educator, sound therapist, composer, and distinguished academician, who was a tenured Professor of Voice at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, where she taught for 22 years. Ms. Rahn has sung major operatic roles throughout the United States. In 2017, Rahn released her first CD recording, Chakra Soundscapes with accompanist Daniel Wyman. Chakra Soundscapes fulfills Rahn’s unique life mission to provide healing energy through the universal language of music. The second CD soon followed, “Hymns to Gaia”. Both of these CD’s contain the elements of healing music. For a deeper dive, her book, “The Transformational Power of Sound and Music” is available on Amazon.
www.flickarahn.com
www.theicaros.com

References:

1 https://www.shaesterrett.com/sound-healing

2 https://ichakras.com/singing-bowls/