ADD/ADHD and Zen Meditation
ByThe full potential is still far off in the future, researchers caution us. But the idea is intriguing. The thought that Zen meditation – the ancient art of thinking of nothing – may help those individuals who suffer with ADD/ADHD.
A recent study (see the full discussion here and a great news article on it at U.S. News and World report online, which can be found here.
As you see when you read these items, the research shows that Zen meditation really changes the way the brain functions. The research, which used 12 Zen meditators with a minimum of three years experience and an equal number of control participants, use functional MRI imaging to track the workings of the brain.
This is especially true in an area of the organ called the “default network.†This area is associated with spontaneous and wandering thoughts. Those trained in Zen were able to return to meditation much more quickly than the uninitiated in this practice.
After performing this study, the researchers were able to confidently say that, “The results support the hypothesis that the regular practice of Zen meditation enhances the capacity for voluntary regulation of spontaneous mental activity.â€
If that is true, then somewhere in the future, a treatment or therapy can be developed using Zen meditation that could help those with ADD/ADHD focus better as well as control those stray thoughts when they arise and are unwanted.
These findings alone may at the very least provide a foundation for future research in this area.
While this research was done with very experienced Zen meditators, it may suggest that learning medication could help you.
Do you have any experience with ADD/ADHD and meditation? Please share your thoughts or comments below.
Best,
Dr. Kenny
Technorati Tags: Meditation, ADHD, Zen, Alternative Medicine
I have ADHD and have for a long time used meditation to aid in my focus and clarity of thought. This is a great post.
I also recomend reading the book, “Destructive Emotions” written by Daniel Goleman and the Dali Lama.
I also lead programs with students and adults (some with ADD + ADHD) although that is not the objective of the program.
Much time is spent with reflection and conmtemplative thought.
Dear Dr Handleman,
Just in case, I thought I would suggest looking at Jon Kabat Zin’s work with mindfulness meditation. He has been at the centre of much of the recent research. There are links to him from my site, as well as links to Benson’s earlier work.
best wishes,
Richard
http://www.lifechoicemeditation.com
Yes but you still have to get your butt off the couch and onto the cushion, and then pay attention!! Meditation for ADDers is not that easy. At least for this one. Making the habit, or as we meditators say, the practice, is very difficult.
Yoga is a way of life, a conscious act, not a set or series of learning principles. The dexterity, grace, and poise you cultivate, as a matter of course, is the natural outcome of regular practice. You require no major effort. In fact trying hard will turn your practices into a humdrum, painful, even injurious routine and will eventually slow down your progress. Subsequently, and interestingly, the therapeutic effect of Yoga is the direct result of involving the mind totally in inspiring (breathing) the body to awaken. Yoga is probably the only form of physical activity that massages each and every one of the body’s glands and organs. This includes the prostate, a gland that seldom, if ever, gets externally stimulated in one’s whole life.
I am a person with the cognitive attributes commonly called ADHD. I have also spent a good part of my life learning martial arts. I am working on my Ph D in psychology, have had my “ADHD” treated in several ways. One method of self adiptation has been through sensory awareness meditation. Learning to focus and control the mind to focus on a particular senspry experience and orientate the self-awareness to that one sense can be very helpful. as a child I tried to learn walking for several blocks with my eyes closed, using my kinethetci sense to guide myself like a blind person might. I learned to meditate in the backs of moving pick-up trucks (not a safe activity by todays standards) feeling the shifting movement and responding to it and chages in sound of wind. In class I evetually learned to forgo note writing as it was too disctracting and simply hyper-focussed and memorized the entire clasroom experience. this leaning to control how the mind recieves input is most helpful especially since peoepl with ADHD are often more aware of various aspects of their environments than others. It takes time to learn this skill like any other, but if given a chance I can also often recall what someone said if given the time to process my memories even if I was “somewhere else”.
Dr.Kenny!!! So glad that you shared the accurate up to the minute info regarding alternative treatment options for Adhd/Add…I feel it is imperative for the public to be informed on the multi midal approach to our disorder..Not all of us respond to the same treatment in the same way, especially since there is such a continuium of the degre to which Adhd is affecting your life.. I also take medication, in conjunction with therapy, however I feel I have reached a plateau… inwhich my medication just isn’t quite helping as much as it used to..So I am extremely interested in finding out what other alternatives are out there to add to my repotoire’ of approaches I am using to treat my Adhd symptoms…So thanks you for posting this video and look forward to future discoveries…
I think perhaps the keyword here is “practice.” Much like any other skill or ability you might have, paying attention can presumably improve with practice. Meditation can therefore perhaps be thought of as training.
My inclination is to think of it in sport analogies. Ski jumpers, for example, presumably don’t just climb up a hill and go for it, but spend some time learning and practicing the basic skills and fitness required, in a simplified situation, perhaps a trampoline. Music might be another, where it helps to practice on your own before joining the orchestra.
I’ve been starting to think of meditation as it relates to focus on real world tasks in these terms. Learning to bring my thoughts back to my breathing when I’m relaxed and away from external distractions, could presumably help me to bring my thoughts back to whatever task is at hand when something shiny goes past the corner of my eye.
Not that I’ve been able to test this theory out for myself… and I probably didn’t help myself by remembering my frustrations trying to practice music…
I know I’ll probably never be super focused, partly because I enjoy my wanderings, but then I’ll never be Yo-yo Ma, or for that matter a ski jumper either. probably.