MINDFUL MEDITATION Pain and stress targeted in class

The technique is meant to be used alongside traditional medicine, an instructor says.
By TRACEY D'ASTOLFO
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Chronic pain can be a miserable curse. Sufferers find themselves participating in physical therapy, visiting chiropractors and taking pain medication to get relief. Now, there's another option.
Dr. Alma Garcia-Smith will offer a stress- and pain-reduction course based on mindfulness meditation beginning Sept. 21 at Forum Health Northside Hospital.
"I would recommend this for anyone who's taking their medications and doing everything their doctor tells them to but would like to try something additional for themselves. This program is for anybody who wishes to participate actively toward optimizing their well-being -- people with headaches, intestinal problems, diabetes, cancer or stress can benefit from this," Dr. Garcia-Smith said.
The practice of stress and pain reduction through mindfulness meditation was introduced in this country in 1979 by Jon Kabat-Zinn, director of the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center.
Approach to distractions
Mindfulness meditation teaches the individual to focus on distracting thoughts and sensations rather than tuning them out, as other types of meditation do.
Kabat-Zinn writes in the book "Mind Body Medicine" that this form of meditation "was developed as a means of cultivating greater awareness and wisdom" and is "a way for people to experience and understand the mind-body connection firsthand and use it to deal better with their illnesses and their lives."
After several studies showed the meditation method was successful in reducing stress and pain in patients, Kabat-Zinn developed a meditation curriculum for health-care professionals.
Dr. Garcia-Smith began meditating about five years ago to alleviate stress and had already been considering incorporating meditation into some of her patients' treatments.
"Meditation was helpful to me, and I started giving instruction on meditating to some of my patients, and ... they reported improvement. Knowing that I have tremendous limitations with traditional medicine and there are people who are suffering in spite of everything we have, that's when I faced frustration. I thought, what else can I do for these people to help them feel better, to help them cope better?"
Complementary treatment
Two years ago, Dr. Garcia-Smith put her private practice in internal medicine on hold while she completed Kabat-Zinn's meditation training program. She says she does not recommend meditation as a replacement for traditional medicine, but rather as a complement.
"If you are suffering from pain, there is no reason why you shouldn't get some relief in that way [medication]. But if you combine medication with these techniques, perhaps your requirements for pain medication will decrease, or perhaps you will get better results from the medication," she explained.
Dr. Garcia-Smith said she hopes to continue offering the program depending on the need of the community. She also said that the program, which consists of eight weekly sessions, a daylong retreat and daily homework, requires a commitment from participants to reap the full benefits.
"It's very participatory. I cannot do it for them. I'll walk them through and I'm there for them, but the work is done by them," she said.
Free orientation sessions will be available to people who want to check the program out, ask questions and try a short meditation session to see if it's right for them.
Dr. Garcia-Smith encourages anyone living with chronic pain or stress to attend the orientation session and express their concerns if they are skeptical.
"We know from all the research that people who have gone through the program have experienced a drop in pain, that it has been helpful. They actually cope with the pain better and see it in a different way and are able to manage life a little better," she said.