Everything Mindfulness and Quantum Healing
What is mindfulness? It is a mental state achieved by focusing one’s awareness on the present moment. It is used as a self-therapeutic technique for calming, acknowledging, and accepting one’s feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations. The method is commonly referred to as ‘meditation.’
Quantum Healist is using THREE different types of healing and quantum meditation practices to enhance: (1) self-confidence, (2) focus, (3) positive attitude, (4) stress release, (5) empathy, (6) clarity,(7) compassion, (8) self-healing, and (9) self-discipline. .
Mindfulness creates changes in the brain that correspond to less reactivity and improved ability to engage in tasks even when negative emotions are stimulated. There is an entire science and supporting studies behind such a simple and yet powerful technique. And yes, you guessed it right! We are going to share this piece of fascinating wisdom behind the science of mindfulness (and which has more so to do with quantum physics) with you in the following pages!
Where in your body does everything start every single day? The mind. Our minds are very powerful. Our brains are deeply connected with our hearts where the emotions are exceedingly experienced. It is in our minds that we begin the process of creating our reality. Our minds take our words, thoughts, feelings, and shapes our reality. Our minds and the universe are in constant communication. We speak to our environment with our words, thoughts, and feelings; our environment/universe, then speak to us with events! The universe does not judge your thoughts, feelings, and words; it merely matches the vibrations exerted by you and creates a matching experience. Hence, our environment is a response to our state of mind as well as the heart.
And so, what you think influences directly how you feel and behave: if you think that you are a failure, you will indeed feel like a failure. Then, you’ll act like a failure, which reinforces your belief that you must be a failure. In other words, once you draw a conclusion about yourself, you’re likely to look for evidence that reinforces your belief and discount anything that runs contrary to your view. With enough practice since childhood, we have become our consistent thoughts, feelings, words, memories, and beliefs. And all such experiences and habits get stored into the subconscious mind.
Below are the scientific explanation and demonstration of how our words, thoughts, and feelings create our reality!
The new science has proven that everything on our Universe is made up of energy, not matter. Socrates actually proposed this theory in Europe in 400 BC, and by the ancient saints of India thousands of years before that. Medical science is still practicing the Newtonian concept, while the rest of the world’s science has now moved onto quantum physics.
Quantum physics proves that as you look into the workings of the atom, you see that there is nothing there – just energy waves. It proposes that an atom is actually an invisible force field, behaving like a mild hurricane, which emits waves of electrical energy. Those energy waves can be measured and their effects seen. These energy waves behave like electricity much like everything else within our bodies and environment. As a result of such fascinating findings, science now embraces the idea that the universe is made of energy.
You see, we are made of atoms. And atoms are continuously giving off and absorbing light and energy at all times. What remains after the explosion or splitting of the atom is only particles of energy. And what we know as electrons (-), protons (+), and neutrons (no charge) are all particles of electricity. Every cell in the body has its atoms lined up in such a way that it has a negative and a positive voltage, inside and outside. In other words, every cell in our body is a miniature battery containing volts of energy. Each cell has 1.4 volts of energy and our bodies include about 50 trillion cells; when calculated, you get a total voltage of 700 trillion volts of electricity in your body, vibrating continuously without ever stopping. Your body’s energy can even be measured outside the body for a certain radius, depending on the sophistication of the instrument used. Your mind and your heart have the strongest electromagnetic energy field.
What is interesting is that, the cells that make up your bodies instinctively know what is nourishing them and what is toxic to them. This is because of what you just learned earlier: your cells are made of atoms, and each atom has its own frequency or vibration. And when two atomic waves are vibrating and meet, they either (A) create a harmonious effect (strong & powerful) if they are in sync called constructive impact, or (B) they meet out of sync and can’t seem to agree (weak) called destructive effect. And quantum physics proves that your atomic waves are always naturally meeting and getting entangled in each other with your environment’s, other people’s, nature’s, animals’ waves. This means that when your emotions, thoughts, feelings, and physical states are not in sync, your bodies are built to let you know. All animals and plants communicate through vibrations by sensing whether the energy is good or bad for them. It is also this natural ability that allows us to determine if we are compatible with others if we connect if we can build relationships. Unfortunately, we have been conditioned with our modern advances not to listen and communicate with our senses, and instead rely on what people say. So, you are not trained to use your ability to sense your body’s energy to communicate with you, even though it is your most potent inner resource. Science has found that to re-stimulate and reprograms our minds and bodies to sensing, practicing mindfulness is one of the most powerful and rapid ways of doing that. Mindfulness consistently brings awareness to your sensation skills and abilities. With Quantum Healist, quantum mindfulness activities are set to stimulate your senses, balance and realign your energetic vibration.
Remember how we earlier casually mentioned how your mind and your heart have the strongest electromagnetic energy field? Well, we feel that it’s crucial that you understand it because that statement makes all the difference in life for you and your teen.
Studies performed on February 26, 1998 in the issue of Nature (Vol.391, pp871-874), revealed that the longer a human observes or watches a situation, the higher the observer’s influence on what actually takes place. The findings were that the physical matter can’t exist or manifest until we give it our attention. Simply put, according to this “observer effect,” the mere act of observation can completely change the outcome of an event. Matter is continuously transforming, manifesting into the matter and disappearing into energy depending on the human mind: a concept referred to as mind over matter. Also, what it is stating is that energy flows where focus goes. Let’s repeat this one more time: energy flows where attention goes.
Energy does not possess nor understand the concept of time. It only functions in and from the present moment. Energy also does not understand the concept of negative or positive experiences, that is good or bad, sad or happy. Energy simply creates and manifests itself in the present moment according to your created demand, observation, thoughts, feelings, and words. The trick to a healthier and balanced self is to align your thoughts and emotions – a positive thought has to be aligned with a positive feeling. It is these findings that tie in and connect everything you’ve learned so far: (A) atoms give off a specific type of vibration into your environment, which ultimately causes (B) powerful or weak effect depending on your mental health. And so, (C) depending on your state of mind (happy, sad, angry, fearful, positive or negative), your mind is communicating with your environment; and (D) your environment matches the direction and vibration of your focus. Once, the vibration has been matched, (E) you experience all the things you have been genuinely thinking, feeling, saying, believing, and doing.
In quantum physics, matter is defined as a solid particle; and the immaterial energetic field of information is referred to as a wave. Quantum Physics proves that we live in a universe where the subjective (biased) mind has an effect on the objective (unbiased) reality. Everything in the physical universe is made up of electrons existing as pure potential. These particles are in wave state when they are not observed. They will exist when consciousness directs it. In other words, your mind (the OBSERVER) can influence the appearance of an electron or any possibility: mind and matter. Energy (frequency, the speed at which things vibrate) responds to mindful attention and becomes matter. The mind can change the outcome of the matter. The matter has the tendency and potential to manifest itself according to thoughts and feelings.
With furthermore research and data, findings on subatomic quantum level were that: (A) the human mind is directly connected to the behavior and appearance of matter (referred to as reality, material), (B) matter can act as both a wave and a particle depending on whether or not it is being observed, (C) observation can affect the outcome of events. Ultimately, you communicate with the physical universe through a field of information (quantum field) that unites matter and energy. And so, (D) the thoughts you think send out an electrical signal into the quantum field (field of information). The feelings you generate magnetically draw events/experiences to you based on your thoughts.
Here is a simple model recapping everything we just discussed regarding the Quantum mechanics:
- Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) is an intelligence system that keeps your heart beating.
- ANS is located in your brain.
- The brain has many specific tissues responsible for keeping the heart beating.
- These tissues are made up of cells.
- Cells are made up of molecules.
- Molecules are made up of atoms.
- Atoms are made up of subatomic particles.
- Subatomic particles are made of energies that carry information.
- And energy flows where the observer’s focus goes.
It is then safe to conclude that your physiological vehicle is made of the same particles as the rest of the universe making both: personal and universal intelligence. And now we move into discussing the role of the subconscious mind in our functioning lives.
Your subconscious mind stores all of your previous life experiences, beliefs, memories, skills. It is responsible for involuntary actions, such as breathing and heartbeats. The subconscious mind also controls all of your emotions. In simple terms, your subconscious stores all of your habits. The conscious mind, on the other hand, is responsible for logic and reasoning. It also controls all the actions that you intentionally and voluntarily take while being aware and alert.
Your belief system stored in the subconscious mind must be aligned with logic and reasoning of the conscious mind to create a positive experience and change in your state of being. The subconscious mind naturally filters out the beliefs that do not match the belief system stored inside of it since infancy, unless the conscious mind logically accepts a particular belief. As a result, to create a positive experience, you would have to become aware of your use of language, thoughts, and emotions.
Let’s recap: New experiences will present you with new beliefs and new memories. However, your subconscious mind is stubborn and will not accept change due to its long history of storing and conditioning habits since infancy. Unless of course, the conscious mind allows it through logic and calculations. The subconscious mind will need consistent, conscious efforts to break away from its old unhealthy habits and create new ones…a new self!
How can you then overcome such obstacles and make the necessary changes possible? Through the process of mindfulness, as discussed earlier. You see, you have about 60,000 thoughts going through your minds each day. You are in a way steadily in the state of distraction when you are alert during the day. For instance, the moment you wake up, you are deciding things, you are making judgments on the road while driving, listening to news or music, working, going to school, and paying very little attention to the present moment while going through the motions of the day.
We also discussed earlier how your bodies are naturally designed to know what is good or bad for you instinctively; and how your abilities to sense has been deactivated because of your constant state of distraction. And, your state of distraction in many ways are causing misalignment of energies between you and your environment. Most of you are holding onto your past stories and often too busy living for the future, yet the energy of your body and environment function from the present state of time.
Fortunately, the process of meditation creates an empty field as it eliminates the external noise of our physical environment outside and heightens all your five senses: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. Most importantly, meditation brings your focus to the present moment with the empty field in front of you filled with ‘potential’ energy. As discussed before in scientific terms, energy is in wave state and waiting for an observer to direct it into manifesting the reality that the observer wants or desires. Studies show that quantum meditations then allow you to change your brains, bodies, and state of being at a much faster rate and stimulate your natural instincts. It allows you to move beyond your analytical mind so that you can adequately get access to your subconscious mind. Once you tap into your subconscious mind in your meditative state, you are able to rapidly transform your negative habits into healthier, productive, and positive ones. Such meditative state regenerates DNA and restores healthy cells making healthy habits and behavior rapidly possible.
The human brain emits five electromagnetic waves, each corresponding to the level of brain activity. Meditation waves are primarily responsible for improving emotional state, strengthening your mind, calming your mind, and restoring a sense of peace. Meditation most importantly reprograms the traumatic brain and repairs DNA.
Let’s then explore the different brain waves to understand the power of meditation better.
- Gamma waves (39-100Hz), exist when your minds are actively learning, alert, and hyperactive.
- Beta waves (13-38Hz) exist when your minds are alert and performing daily tasks. The door between consciousness and sub-consciousness closes at this state.
- Alpha waves (9-13Hz) occur in your relaxed state of mind and body. Here, you are connecting with our inner selves and outer selves.
- Theta waves (4-7Hz) are associated with deep relaxation and in the subconscious state. This the most preferred meditation state, where wavelengths are much slower and visualization is much clearer. When you enter Theta state, your thinking minds transition to visual (meditative) minds, becoming hyper-aware of all your senses, most often referred to as “lucid state.”
- Delta waves (below 4Hz) occur during sleep for ordinary people, but in a meditative state for Tibetan monks who have been practicing meditation for many years.
It is in your Theta state that you can transition from old self to the new person with the use of your thoughts and feelings. With consistent meditation practice, your state of mind will begin to experience enhanced attention, empathy, compassion, peace, and youthfulness. Your parts of the brain associated with fear, anxiety, and stress will start to contract due to increased production of dopamine during meditation.
How does the transition from the old self to the new self occur? In creating a new self, you are essentially taking conscious control over what had become an unconscious process of being (old self). You again, replace your old habits with the use of the consistent practice of meditation with the new patterns. Hence, such a process requires you first to change your thoughts and emotions, followed by doing something new, creating a new habit. Why a new experience? ‘Change’ requires a unique experience, a new action, a new thought, a new look, a different approach, a new state. With new changes, you are also exercising your brain to stay in the present state. And since most of your old habits no longer serve you a healthy and definite purpose, you must introduce it to new and positive experiences that will become the new habit. A new experience produces a new feeling, and such a new feeling must be memorized in your system until it becomes a natural state of being: NEW SELF! Such a process requires the participation of three different parts of your brain to make a new state of being possible:
The neocortex is located in the top layer of cerebral hemisphere of the brain. The human neocortex accounts for 76% of your gray matter. It is the seat of consciousness and language amongst other things. It is also involved in higher functions such as sensory perception, motor commands, spatial
reasoning, and conscious thought. In general, neocortex processes knowledge and experience. Once knowledge has been processed, it prompts you to live what you have learned.
The primary structures within the limbic system of the brain include the amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, and cingulate gyrus. The amygdala is the emotion center of the brain, while hippocampus plays an essential role in the formation of new memories about past experiences. When neocortex has created an original thought and experiences consciously, a new network of neurons fire activating the limbic system – emotional brain- manufacturing and releasing chemicals in the form of peptides. Thus, these chemicals signal the body to record the event chemically. As a result of the formation of new memories, you begin to embody your new thought, emotion, and experience. If knowledge is for the mind and experience is for the body, then when knowledge applied has created a new experience, the new experience produces a new feeling; the new attitude is memorized. Your brain, then consciously delivers memorized new emotion and thought into the subconscious part of the brain called – cerebellum.
The cerebellum is located behind the top region of the brain stem. It receives information from the sensory system, and the spinal cord then regulates motor movements. The cerebellum stores certain types of skills, emotional reactions, repeated actions habits, conditioned behaviors, and unconscious reflexes. One of its best functions is that it downloads various forms of newly learned information into programmed states of mind and body.
Dr. Joe Dispenza does a great job at explaining the entire process in his words in his book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself:
“….First, we’ll see how through conscious mental rehearsal, the thinking brain (neocortex) uses knowledge to activate new circuits in new ways to make a new mind. Then, our thought creates an experience, and via the emotional (limbic) brain, that produces a new emotion. Our thinking and feeling brains condition the body to a new mind. Finally, if we reach the point where mind and body are working as one, the cerebellum enables us to memorize a new neurochemical self, and our new state of being is now an innate program in our subconscious.”
During the meditative process, the neurological and chemical changes that have been produced by the new thoughts and feelings will show physical changes in the brain and body: confirming the new state of being – the NEW SELF!
Sound and Music
Many western and modern therapeutic modalities read your symptoms and then tell you what pill to take, or surgery to undergo, but what if you could conduct “sound surgery” sending holistic and natural energetic vibrations into every single cell in your body? With sound and music, you do not need to understand what your symptoms are or why you are experiencing specific symptoms. Sound has a way of finding its way into every nook and cranny of our bodies so that we can start to resonate with vibration and align our thoughts, emotions, attitudes, and health. Sounds automatically go where it is needed most in your body and do its work. As a result, our cells then develop and gain their highest and powerful potential to transform as well as function in the most beneficial way for your health. Science has proven that music and individual sounds in your bodies cause specific physiological reactions. Other than meditation, physical exercise, and use of affirmations, sounds are most effective as well as a powerful way of balancing your emotional, physical, and mental state.
In very short and simple words, every object on the planet has a resonant vibrational frequency which can be measured. In the early 1990s, Bruce Tainio built the world’s first frequency monitor that could determine at exactly what vibration the human body most oscillates. And he found that it was between 67-72 Hertz. When this frequency dropped, the immune system became ill and weak. Furthermore, it was found that all the body needed was the proper frequency vibrating in return to bring the body back to its strong and functioning state. Tainio found the following most fascinating frequencies in our bodies:
- Cancer receptivity starts at 42 MHz*
- Candida overgrowth begins at 55 MHz
- Colds and flu begin at 57 – 60 MHz
- Death begins at 25 MHz
- Genius brain frequency: 80-82 MHz
- Heart: 67-70 MHz
- Human body from the neck down: 60-68 MHz
- Human body from the neck up: 72-78 MHz
- Liver: 55-60 MHz
- Lungs: 58-65 MHz
- Many other diseases begin at 58 MHz
- Normal brain Frequency: 72-90 MHz
- Pancreas: 60-80 MHz
- Thymus gland: 65-68 MHz
- Thyroid and parathyroid glands: 62-68 MHz
*The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the derived unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI) and is defined as one cycle per second. It is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the first person to provide conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. MHz: megahertz, abbreviated MHz, is a unit of alternating current (AC) or electromagnetic (EM) wave frequency equal to one million hertz (1,000,000 Hz). For instance, 1Hz = 0.000001MHz or 1MHz = 1000000Hz.
If you think you could not get any more fascinated with what we have so far presented to you, we bring you the studies on Cymatics. Cymatics is a study of visible sound frequency and how it can affect the human organism and other forms of life. Studies in Cymatics found that the world is swarming with holographic “bubbles of acoustic sound energy,” moving at 700 miles per hour into the ether – whether this sound is our own voice, from a musical instrument, or the sirens sounding when police cars pass by. Each of these “bubbles-in-a-hurry” leaves a fleeting vibrational imprint on our cells. Our bodies absorb these sounds, and they can either be harmonious to our human form or damaging. Sound is powerful enough to help dolphins and whales communicate across an entire ocean, or even form matter, as has been shown in the research conducted with CymaScopes, and the work of Dr. Hans Jenny, and many others.
Cymatics validates and proves that what we perceive as hard objects, including our bodies, are actually continuously vibrating at their own rates. This study clearly interconnects the fields of sound, geometry, light, physics, and mathematics into one through the presentation of stunning images created by frequencies of all kinds found in our bodies, in nature, and beyond. Figure 1 shows examples of visible sound frequencies in music.
Figure 1: Cymatics – images of visible sound frequencies in music.
Ernst Chladni, an 18th-century German physicist, is famous for studying the physics of sound by bowing a metal plate with sand on it to create simple geometric shapes. His work was the foundation in the future development of Cymatics. More than a century later, Dr. Hans Jenny started to experiment with vibrating frequencies with different liquids and solids to further test the physics of sound. A simple experiment demonstrating the visualization of cymatics was done by sprinkling sand on a metal plate and vibrating the plate, for example by drawing a violin bow along the edge, the sand will then form itself into standing wave patterns such as simple concentric circles. The higher the frequency, the more complex the shapes produced, with specific shapes having similarities to traditional mandala designs. His results found that these patterns were created using pure tones (simple sine wave vibrations) within the audible range. He was able to create a physical representation of vibration, or how sound manifests into form through the medium of various materials. It was Dr. Hans Jenny who created the term ‘Cymatics’ containing the Greek word, ‘Kyma’ which means ‘wave.’ Figure 2 shows images of sand sprinkled onto the metal plate experiment with different sound frequencies playing.
Figure 2: Cymatics – sprinkled sand on a metal plate while a violin bow is drawn along the edges of the plate.
As tones reveal themselves as patterns in water or on vibrating plates with sand or another substance, zero points are revealed. These zero points or nodes are places where vibration does not exist and where the materials form the pattern that we can see. It’s awe-inducing to realize that a tone does not create a vibration on the entire surface, but instead forms distinct and beautiful geometric shapes, each with a different pattern like snowflakes. Figure 3 demonstrates cymatic images from cymascope.com. Each note on the piano played forms a unique geometric shape.
Figure 3: Cymatics- visible sound frequency of piano notes.
Today, holistic practitioners use the term ’toning’ to describe the use of sound waves transmitted through the human body to bring alignment, balance, and synchronicity to the cells’ natural frequencies and healthy state of vibrational resonance. No, Quantum Healist does not use nor teach ‘toning’ methods for teens in our program. However, we do use very simple sound frequencies through the use of other resources that have proven powerful and transformational for the emotional and mental balance of children. We also use sound exercises to help teens develop more compassionate, loving, and effective language skills. They practice super fun and mindful guided language exercises that will balance their mental and emotional states – meaning, that we use it to reduce anxiety, anger, depression, promote relaxation, promote self-love, self-compassion, and promote creativity! Which brings us to Dr. Masaru Emoto’s work. Dr. Masaru Emoto work and experiments best shows how our thoughts and emotions are powerful electromagnetic forces capable of affecting matter all around us. His most famous experiment compared two different water samples, (A) one water that was infused with thoughts of love and happiness and, (B) the other thoughts filled with thoughts of negativity and hate. Both samples were frozen so a slice could be extracted and looked at under a microscope. The resulting visual patterns showed two completely different images and result: the image for ‘love’ had a beautiful geometric pattern, while the other sample had a random and unorganized pattern. This certainly shows the power of our intention on matter and how it can affect our environment. Pictures of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s experiment with water in Figures 4 and 5 demonstrate his findings.
Figure 4: A sample collection of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s images with intentions imprinted from
http://naturewhispering.com/masaru-emoto-the-power-of-intention.
Figure 4: A sample collection of Dr. Masaru Emoto’s images with intentions imprinted from http://www.abovetopsecret.com.
Please, check out one of our favorite videos on cymatics for kids! It is absolutely fascinating at https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/cymatics-science-music-audio-frequency-visualizations for a demonstration of the cymatic patterns with music. For more detailed information and studies on cymatics, please look up cymascope.com, cymatics.org, and cymaticsource.com.
Over the past few decades, with advanced science and technology, we are living in the most fortunate and opportunist time in history to learn and use our bodies natural resources to align and balance itself. There are unlimited sound frequencies that can be used to improve every area of our lives. Studies show that the benefits of sound and music are not only powerful, transforming, practical but also fastest ways of improving emotional and mental health. Sound and music:
- Relieve stress.
- Increase stress threshold.
- Develop feelings of optimism, calmness, and alignment.
- Promote greater vitality.
- Increase active and productive thinking.
- Increase creativity.
- Increase physical energy and strength.
Affirmations
Scientifically speaking, studies have shown that sound can direct energy because it contains certain frequency patterns that attract energy to flow in a controllable manner. Furthermore, sound is one of the natural forces used by nature to carry out our intentions, which are some of the building blocks of matter. In other words, our speech carries energy and vibrations into earth’s magnetic field; combined with thoughts and emotions, studies have proven that our words can materialize our reality and have the potential to reprogram our DNA. Therefore, voice and written affirmations are used to transform our negative state of mind to a powerful positive state of being.
Affirmations are simple statements that are chosen to create transformation in our minds and bodies. They serve as inspiration and reminders to stay focused on your goals and desires throughout the day. Also, they promote a positive attitude and positive behavior.
Studies have shown that practicing affirmations regularly will:
- Allow us to become more in tune with our thoughts and how we feel about ourselves. As we become aware of our thoughts, feelings, and actions, we’ll make an effort to eliminate negative thoughts.
- Keep us in a consistently productive and healthier state due to our healthier thought process.
- Allow us to have a clearer perspective on our goals and what fulfills us.
- Improve focus.
As you’ve learned that the subconscious mind is where all of your good and bad habits, thoughts, memories, experiences get stored since birth. The subconscious mind is very stubborn and will replace bad habits with good ones if you consistently practice positive behavior and attitude. Furthermore, the subconscious mind will help you overcome addictions, trauma, and depression by repairing your DNA and reprogramming your entire body with the use of positive words, emotions, and thoughts. And affirmations will allow you to tap into your subconscious mind because you will be using positive words. Positive words will send out its positive frequency to the mind, body, and your environment. As a result, your body and mind will only encourage you to function in good ways because you’ll feel, think, do, be kind! Having a positive attitude about yourself and your life increases the odds of success and happiness. A negative attitude is a pretty close guarantee of an unhappy and unsuccessful life. And so, using affirmations increases the odds of joy, happiness, and success!
Don’t mistake affirmations for wishful thinking. Affirmations are not wishful thinking. They are statements and thoughts that rewire the brain, bring awareness to what is important for you to achieve, transform doubt and fear to thoughts of confidence and courage, that transform your attitude from thought into taking action.
Simply put, much like exercise, they raise the level of feel-good hormones and reprogram our subconscious brain to form positive-thinking neurons. In the sequence of thought-words-emotions, affirmations play an essential role by breaking patterns of negative thoughts, harmful speech, and, in turn, negative actions.
Art Making
Art making and exercises have countless applications. Quantum Healist (QH) uses art exercises for its emotional and behavioral benefits. Using art exercises integrated with mindfulness and music, teens can explore their feelings, reconcile emotional conflicts, foster self-awareness, manage behavior, develop social and communication skills, reduce anxiety, and increase self-confidence.
Individuals with internal conflicts such as anxiety, depression, bipolar, PTSD often experience difficulty processing stress. Art exercises allow such individuals to observe, accept, process, and resolve stress as they mindfully paint, draw, or sketch.
The benefits of art-making with or without skills are many! We have provided a list of benefits for your convenience. Making art:
- Develops and improves focus.
Teens need help with direction, focus, and discipline. Art making helps to develop the skills to focus, build discipline and live a healthy life.
- Stimulates the release of dopamine and alleviates symptoms of depression.
Studies show a link between addiction and depression. Art and music combined can help foster a positive attitude and promote self-compassion. Art making is proven to help combat the chemical imbalances in the brain that may lead to depression.
- Improves communication skills.
Teens struggle with expressing and communicating their feelings and thoughts. Some even turn to drugs or alcohol as a way to escape. Art encourages self-expression and can help develop communication skills and the ability to reach out to others.
- Reduces and releases stress and anxiety.
Stress and anxiety are the most common reasons teens abuse drugs or alcohol. Lack of purpose and identity combined with peer pressure and rapid changes can take a toll on mind and body. Art activities help to release stress naturally and convert negative energy into positive, promoting relaxation and DNA repair.
- Builds self-esteem.
If we know anything about art, it is its gift of creative expression. Studies show that art raises self-confidence and self-awareness. Art taps into the part of the brain that screams creativity, empathy, and optimism. Art making helps build the self-awareness and self-esteem necessary to tackle various social situations and life challenges.
Breathing Exercises
Around 70% of your body’s toxins are released through our breath. Carbon dioxide is a natural waste product of your body’s metabolism. The benefits of breathing deeply help the systems in the body to process this more efficiently. Breathing exercises also release endorphins throughout the body. Endorphins interact with opiate receptors in the brain to reduce our perception of pain. The upward and downward movement of the diaphragm helps remove toxins from organs, promoting improved blood flow. It increases the production of oxygen levels and in turn, rising levels of energy. Overall, breathing exercises reduce stress, blood pressure, anxiety. They promote focus, release toxins, and self-awareness. Breathing exercises also benefit you by helping you feel more confident and able to let go of old belief systems as well as negative thought patterns that no longer serve you. As discussed earlier, letting go of old stories previously held onto on a subconscious level gives you new emotional depth and positive perspective. And breathing exercises do this by clearing the mind, slowing down our thoughts, stabilizing the flow of oxygen in the brain, and stimulating the release of feel-good hormones.
Breathing is part of your autonomic nervous system (ANS). ANS is a system responsible for essential bodily processes that you don’t need to put any thought into, such as digestive processes, how quickly you breathe, the metabolic process that affect your weight, overall body temperature, and blood pressure. Most of ANS functions are involuntary and some you can control by doing deep breathing exercises. Taking deep breaths can help you voluntarily regulate your ANS, which can have many benefits — especially by lowering your heart rate, controlling blood pressure, and helping you relax, all of which help decrease how much of the stress hormone cortisol is released into your body.
Most of us are not using our whole respiratory system to breathe. Studies show that many of us use only 33%, a mere third of our total capacity. Fascinating studies on breathing show that your breathing pattern reveals a lot about your behavior, health, past, and current flow of life. Studies explain that everyone’s breathing has a story that encompasses birth trauma, early childhood experiences, parental authority, school peers, and angst from our teenage years and early adulthood. Some of us are chest breathers while others are belly breathers. Then there are those who breathe more in the midsection. By opening and clearing the restricted breathing pattern, not only are you allowing the body’s natural healing to take place, but also transform your mindset and attitude.
Our primary breathing muscles are the diaphragm, intercostals, scalenes, and abdominals. Some use their upper chest muscles, which creates tension and restrict the natural flow of oxygen and blood in our bodies.
However, by focusing your attention on the benefits of breathing and how you regularly breathe, you begin to experience a relationship with your inner resources, your inner-tools, inner-wisdom that has the most potent and natural potential to nurture and heal itself in many ways. This way, the fear and pain you’ve internalized as a result of toxins or destructive thought patterns are transformed into love and joy.
Let’s briefly describe the different breathing patterns people have:
- Shallow Breather: People become shallow breathers during periods of stress, prolonged depression, lack of sleep, have had a bad day, and when feeling pressured. This type of breathing involves rapid expanding and contracting of the upper chest.
- Chest Breather: Such individuals are over thinkers who spend a lot of time in their head, constant negative thinkers and in a state of fear. Chest breathers are often protecting themselves, and such breathing leads to not allowing the heart to properly circulate blood throughout our bodies and mind; which means that emotions are not well understood or welcomed by the individual resulting in anxiety, anger, resentment, lower self-esteem, and least likely to reach for higher potential.
- Belly breathers: These are the healthiest breathers. Belly breathers experience less stress, hormonal imbalance, and are very connected to their body. And so, you want to be a belly breather.
Belly breathing, also known as abdominal breathing or deep breathing, has many benefits. It helps to manage the symptoms of conditions as wide-ranging as irritable bowel syndrome, depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, lowering heart rate, lowering blood pressure, improves your body’s ability to tolerate intense exercises, and helps cope with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Diaphragmatic breathing is breathing that is done by contracting the diaphragm, a muscle located horizontally between the thoracic cavity and abdominal cavity. Air enters the lungs, the chest does not rise, and the belly expands during this type of breathing.
In addition to our breathing exercises, Quantum Healist also integrates breathing exercises with art, affirmations, and mindfulness when possible. This way, most activities ensure the proper and persistent practice of belly breathing so that it becomes a natural habit.
This brings us to the completion of our brief introduction to Quantum Healist. We believe that we are wired to create habits and live a happy life. We have natural abilities as well as inner resources that allow us to achieve our highest potential and blissful state of being. We want to empathize that anxiety, depression, frustration, anger, guilt, pain, worry, and sadness expressed by not just teens, but by billions of people, are a result of being improper conditioning and training our minds. For most of us, we have been wrongfully led to believe that our happiness is achieved outside of ourselves. We have also made decisions that led us to believe that our abilities and potential are limited, when in fact, history proves us wrong every single day by the achievements of the impossible by those who are courageous to live their own truth.
It is our greatest goal that teens become empowered by their efforts of creativity and to ask greater questions that will inevitably lead them to a more enriched destiny. To open their minds to more expanded possibilities that challenge them to evolve and grow. To build an intimate relationship with their inner tools and resources that will allow space for courage, inspiration, progress, discipline, commitment, connection, optimism, resilience, love, and joy. Underneath of all layers, awaits a benevolent being who is compassionate, empowered, courageous, skillful, and ready to create a purposeful life. If that creation and purpose means just being themselves and nothing more, then it is our responsibility as adults to guide them be the happiest and best at that.