This article is a guest post from Justin Demoss, MS, CSCS.

Justin is a hotshot with the Golden Eagles IHC and his ultimate goal is to provide wildland firefighters with the opportunity to improve their wellbeing. He utilizes his skills as an exercise physiologist and a yoga instructor to give individuals the knowledge, resources, and expertise to achieve greater levels of health.

The practice of yoga originated in Northern India over 5,000 years ago and is characterized as the union of the eight “limbs”, with the most popular of those limbs being pranayama (breathing), asana (posture) and dhyana (meditation) [Lemay et al., 2019]. Yogi’s, or those who have devoted their lives to the practice, follow the instructions originally set out in the ancient Sanskrit texts organized by Sage Patanjali in hopes of achieving long lasting mental, physical and spiritual health [Saraswati et al., 2002].

In an effort to present a clear and concise article while dealing with the multi-dimensional topic of yoga, this article will primarily focus on the background, mechanisms and benefits of dhyana. No surprise, the world is a VASTLY different setting than it was 5000 years ago and humans now endure a variety of stressors and stimuli that have resulted in 1 out of every 5 U.S. citizens being a effected to some degree by a mental illness [NIMH, 2020]. To add more specificity to this topic, it has been reported that over 27% of American adults, and 42% of young adults suffer from anxiety related symptoms [Terlizzi & Villarroel, 2019]. In a society and culture enveloped in externally driven stimuli, instant gratification and an overall misalignment between our current environment and our ancestral biology, it has been postulated that meditation may serve as a valuable tool in fighting this mental health decline [Cameron & Schoenfield, 2018].

There’s no way around it, people from ALL walks of life experience what we call “stress”. Stress can be defined as any stimulus that perturbs the body and pushes us away from our preferred state, or homeostasis [Selye, 1950]. After we experience a stressor, or “insult”, our body interprets what systems are insulted and initiates the necessary response via adaptations at starting at the cellular level and eventually make their way all the way up to the level of the human, or tangible differences we can observe [Cameron & Schoenfield, 2018]. One of the primary benefits of engaging in a daily meditation practice that have been clinically documented, relate to the marked increases in what is known as stress resilience [Hasenkamp & Barsalou, 2012; Kwak et al., 2019]. Resilience can be defined as the ability for a system to recover after experiencing significant adversity [Cameron & Schoenfield, 2018].

First responders are a group of individuals who experience an abundance of physical and psychological stressors on a daily basis. As a result of these stressors, it is natural for the external environment to heavily influence their internal states. The practice of meditation heavily parallels Buddhist concepts of mindfulness, self awareness and interoception that allows one to become better at observing these noxious stressors and employing the proper regulatory strategies to temper the response [Price & Hooven, 2019; Kwak et al., 2019]. In the history of meditation and its origination, humans did not have access to technologies such as functional MRI’s to track electrical activity of certain brain circuits, or western blots to identify levels of protein translation. However, it is HIGHLY cool that technology has advanced far enough to allow us to gain a deeper mechanistic understanding of how the mind and body adapt in response to engaging in the practice of meditation regularly.

The existing body of scientific literature points to four brain regions of interest in regard to this topic: the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (controlling attentional resources to cope with present of future demands), dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and bilateral anterior insula (immediate present moment processing and picking up of relevant stimuli) and what is known as the default mode network, consisting of the medial prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex (yields spontaneous thought process and diametrically opposed that of primary task, memory and planning states) [Hasenkamp & Barsalou, 2012; Kwak et al., 2019; Price & Hooven, 2019]. A central theme has been observed when evaluating the neural adaptations that follow short and long term engagement in a meditation: enhanced stress resilience, improved emotion regulation as well as improved concentration and focus [Hasenkamp & Barsalou, 2012; Kwak et al., 2019]. Additionally, there is evidence to support the notion that meditation practices have the potential to reduce the prevalence of anxiety-related symptoms and improve subjective quality of life [Morais et al., 2021].

Practical Application

Are you the kind of person who feels like you never have time for yourself? Are you the kind of person who works themselves to death in hopes of securing externally driven attempts to achieve happiness? Are you the kind of person who experiences chronic low grade stress? If you answered yes to any of the questions above, I urge you to think about taking on a daily meditation practice. It may seem daunting to start, you may wonder if you’re doing it “right” and you may question if this practice will result in tangible benefits to your well being. However, I am here to tell you that you are not alone and ANY individual just starting their journey into this realm has felt what you are feeling. This practice is difficult as it opposes the context that our brains are placed under from the novel environment we live in which consists of constant distractions and physiological stressors that directly impede our ability to sit and let the mind focus on a singular thought or simply rest.

My advice for all first responders, when starting their journey into meditation, is to find an environment characterized as quiet, dark and in a context when stillness is possible. It may be easier for you to create this environment at home, and if so, take advantage of this when starting your practice. However, for some, this isn’t so easy. Maybe you’re a wildland firefighter who spends 6 months out of the year away from home, or you come home to 5 kids screaming or you’re arguing with your spouse and living in a tension filled home. If these circumstances parallel your situation, you must get creative. Perform your practice at the station between calls, when you’re staged by the buggy or even show up to your shift 10 minutes early.

The main point is to find a responsible setting where you don’t have any immediate designation of responsibilities. Once you’ve found the correct setting, it’s time to find the right position. You undeniably won’t be able to concentrate if you can’t find a position that’s comfortable for you. Whether you’re sitting, standing or lying down, find a posture that you don’t have to fight against throughout your practice. Now, you have successfully set the stage for your practice.

Shakyamuni Buddah taught 84,000 dharmas, or methods, for individuals to achieve liberation from their suffering. These are not all specific to meditation, but it does illustrate that spiritual practices aren’t confined to a singular strategy. Your meditation practice only needs to serve you, and it’s okay if various methods do not serve you. Your meditation could involve the process of contemplation: acknowledging the suffering of others, yielding compassion for various groups of individuals or appreciating the opportunity of your precious human existence. Your mediation could also be non-contemplative: focusing on the pattern of our breath, concentration on your third-eye center or the sensations felt within our body.

Speaking from experience, it is quite difficult to transition from the high stress first responder environment, directly into a non-contemplative meditation characterized by a complete removal of external foci. It is my advice to let your mind or body “run around” for a bit prior to engaging. This could be a 10 minute HIIT workout, a quick yoga flow or a restriction-free journal session. The main premise of this precursor exercise is to “tire out” your mind prior to engaging in the practice.

My last piece of advice that I will leave you with is to never allow the following thought to take control of your practice: “am I doing it right?”. This thought comes about because of our contemplative mind, rooted in logic and reason. This practice is not meant to abide by the constructs that dictate our perception of reality. The more you attempt to find a protocol that yields a “successful” practice, the further you will be driven away from the essence of the practice. You will get distracted, you will lose focus and you may even get frustrated. Meet those negative thoughts and emotions with compassion for yourself, and gently return to the practice. In the early stages, you may spend the entire time redirecting your intention back to your focus. If you remain diligent with this process, it will slowly but surely lead to functional and structural alterations in the circuitry and regions of the brain that ultimately guide us towards an improved ability to concentrate, engage in the concepts for longer and build a relationship with what lies within our mind beneath the conceptual world that surrounds us.

If you are interested in learning more and seeking strategies to implement your own meditative practice into your daily routine please take note of the following resources that may help you on your journey.

• Reach out to me via: justin@hotshotwellness.org or @healthy_hotshot

• Wherever You Go, There You Are- Jon Kabat Zinn

• https://positivepsychology.com/mindfulness-based-stress-reduction-mbsr/

• Gates to a Buddhist Practice - Chagdud Tulku

References

[1] Cameron HA, Schoenfeld TJ. Behavioral and structural adaptations to stress. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2018 Apr;49:106-113. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2018.02.002. Epub 2018 Feb 5. PMID: 29421158; PMCID: PMC5963997.

[2] Hasenkamp, W., & Barsalou, L. W. (2012). Effects of meditation experience on functional connectivity of distributed brain networks. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 6, 38.

[3] Kwak, S., Lee, T. Y., Jung, W. H., Hur, J. W., Bae, D., Hwang, W. J., ... & Kwon, J. S. (2019). The immediate and sustained positive effects of meditation on resilience are mediated by changes in the resting brain. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 13, 101.

[4] Lemay, V., Hoolahan, J., & Buchanan, A. (2019). Impact of a yoga and meditation intervention on students' stress and anxiety levels. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 83(5).

[5] Morais, P., Quaresma, C., Vigário, R., & Quintão, C. (2021). Electrophysiological effects of mindfulness meditation in a concentration test. Medical & biological engineering & computing, 59, 759-773.

[5] National Institute of Mental Health. (2020). Any Anxiety Disorder. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health. Retrieved October 4th, 2023, from https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder

[6] Price CJ, Hooven C. Interoceptive Awareness Skills for Emotion Regulation: Theory and Approach of Mindful Awareness in Body-Oriented Therapy (MABT). Front Psychol. 2018 May 28;9:798. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00798. PMID: 29892247; PMCID: PMC5985305.

[7] Saraswati, S., & Saraswati, S. N. (2002). Four chapters on freedom: Commentary on the yoga sutras of Patanjali.

[8] Selye, H. Stress and the general adaptation syndrome. Br Med J. 1950 Jun 17;1(4667):1383-92. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.4667.1383. PMID: 15426759; PMCID: PMC2038162.

[9] Terlizzi EP, Villarroel MA. Symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder among adults: United States, 2019. NCHS Data Brief, no 378. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics. 2020.