Episode 1: Meditation Mondays with Barbara Chutroo
Welcome to the Meditation Mondays series, created with MBC patients in mind and designed for people who want to assist their body's natural tendency to repair and heal. It's not a substitute for medical treatment, but a compliment to it. More and more people find that using their minds in this way helps them relax, feel stronger. And it seems that when you take a more active role in your health, you generally feel better and do better.
Inspired by a very enthusiastic response to monthly meditation sessions from one of SHARE’s MBC support groups, this episode kicks off our plan to release sessions recorded in the last 12 months. These sessions are on average 20-25 minutes long and will be released monthly, on the third Monday. Our meditation sessions are led by Barbara Chutroo, an MBC patient herself and a member of the group.
Recent research has shown that using imagery can produce some remarkable changes in the body. . It begins by helping you to relax and clear the mind. Then it calls upon your senses and memory to engage your imagination. And finally, it encourages you to experience a story that contains many healing images. All you need to do is settle in, relax, and let yourself listen.And because imagery is more effective when it is felt in the body, there are many feeling images for you here. You may find that as you use this over time, it has a stronger and stronger effect. Sometimes the images just naturally shift and change of their own accord. Don't get concerned about whether or not you're listening attentively enough. Relaxed concentration is best. But over time, the words and images that are good for you will seep in anyway. If you notice your mind wondering, you can gently guide it back. Every now and then, this will bring forth unexpected emotion. If this is the case with you, see if you can allow the feelings to just come up and move through you. Seeing it is a necessary kind of rinsing that's taking place. It won't hurt you to do this, and it may, in fact, be very good for you.
Some of our episode rely on affirmations. These are positive statements that can be very useful in the healing process, a short of reprogramming of your unconscious mind to combat negative thinking. For some people, affirmations are more effective than guided imagery. With any of this, take what is useful and leave the rest. If there is an image or phrase that is especially meaningful to you, try to play it over in your mind several times a day, when you brush your teeth, stop for a red light, or even better, just as you enter that twilight zone just before falling asleep, an especially powerful time to do this.
Listen to this as often as you like. After several weeks, you may want to put it aside for a while, try some others, and then come back to it.
Every now and then, you may want to review these instructions as a way of keeping yourself on track.
Listen to these calming meditations to help you live better with MBC.
Research and Articles
Mindfulness in Cancer Care: Hype or Help? https://ascopost.com/issues/july-10-2018/mindfulness-in-cancer-care/
Using Mindfulness to Reduce Stress and Strengthen Your Immune System https://www.bcrf.org/blog/using-mindfulness-reduce-stress-and-strengthen-your-immune-system/
Evidence for the Role of Mindfulness in Cancer: Benefits and Techniques https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6623989/
Meet the Guests of the Episode
Barbara Chutroo
Barbara Chutroo has made use of SHARE’s services since her first diagnosis in 2015 and is eternally grateful for all the support she has received. She is a clinical social worker and movement therapist who worked with severe and persistent mental illness in the South Bronx for thirteen years. She also taught psychology and child development at NYC College of Technology. She is especially interested in the integration of body and mind, an investigation she makes use of in her meditation practice. She began to study zen as an undergraduate in 1976 and has continued since then to explore various different meditation practices. The meditation community has provided her with valuable guiding principles for her life and personal growth.
She was born and raised in New York City where she lives with her husband and two rescue cats.
