12
&
August 2015 | Read this issue and more at www.healthandwellnessmagazine.net |
Like us
@healthykentucky
INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE
Teaching Mind Body Skills to Children
By John A.
Patterson MD,
MSPH, FAAFP,
Mind Body Studio
Although most
mind body research has concerned
adults, children can also benefit
from these approaches. Children
can be taught mind body skills
as part of an integrated medical/
mental health approach to physical
conditions and emotional distress.
Along with their classmates and
teachers, they can also be taught
mind body skills as part of an
emerging contemplative trend in
educational pedagogy that is helping children learn and helping
teachers teach.
The Washington, D.C.-based
Center for Mind-Body Medicine
(CMBM) uses a comprehensive,
non-drug model including several
behavioral, mind body skills for use
in clinical and educational settings.
CMBM was the first to scientifically study such an intervention to
treat the physical and emotional
symptoms of post-traumatic stress
disorder (PTSD) in traumatized
populations. Wars and natural disasters can cause children and adults
to experience anxiety, depression,
panic attacks, sleep disturbance,
nightmares, irritability, anger,
impaired concentration, hypervigilance, flashbacks, withdrawal,
numbing and symptoms of heightened physiological reactivity such
as increased heart rate, tremors and
sweating.
CMBM has trained over 3,000
medical, mental health and public health professionals, school
counselors and teachers to use
these mind body skills first on
themselves, then with their young
patients and students. CMBM
began its work with traumatized
children and adults in Kosovo
following the war that led to the
breakup of Yugoslavia in the late
1990s. Its work has since been part
of the healing of traumatized populations in Israel, Gaza, post-earthquake Haiti and post-Hurricane
Katrina New Orleans. CMBMtrained professionals in these communities continue to provide ongoing training to their professional
colleagues and the traumatized
populations they serve.
This groundbreaking model uses
a set of mind body skills to help
these highly traumatized populations of children and adults significantly reduce stress and PTSD
symptoms.
CMBM’s skill set includes
self-expression through words,
drawings and movement as well
as mind-body techniques such as
meditation, guided imagery, biofeedback and yoga. Though these
approaches can be used successfully
to help individual children with
physical and emotional conditions, its effectiveness derives in
part from its primary delivery in a
small-group setting. While these
groups can be highly therapeutic,
they are not offered as “therapy”
groups. The model is primarily
one of education and group social
support. In this context, the small
group itself becomes part of the
educational and therapeutic intervention. Group members learn
practical tools that often immediately reduce physical and emotional
symptoms. The “safe space” within
these groups creates an opportunity
for inner strengths and resources to
emerge and guide group members
toward healing their own unique
physical and emotional distress.
These groups often begin with “soft
belly” meditation, a foundational
practice that can be immediately
learned by children and adults. In
this practice, one closes the eyes,
allows the belly to be soft and simply feels the