Meditation and Crohn's

[Davidm]

I am very interested in the benefits that regular meditation can bring to crohn's sufferers. So if any forum users have a good experience from meditation do let me know.

 

[xJillx]

Hi David. I don't have any experience with meditation, but I wanted to welcome you to the forum.

Do you have crohn's or do you know someone who does? Please tell us about yourself!

 

[bushydougie]

I've been doing meditation for the past couple of months. Mainly to just de stress and keep calm. Am loving doing it. It's very relaxing and I am surprised by how still I can be for 15 minutes
I started off by using an app on my iPhone which gives you 10 10 minute talk throughs whilst you meditate. They also have a website which I think you can do it through too. They are called get some headspace.
I've also just got a book which talks through meditation
Let me know if you want to find anything more out but I am by no means an expert!

 

[SarahChoueiry]

I do and i just actually posted on my weekly update a guide on how to do a meditation that I do every morning. It helps me a lot when I am consistent with it and it is something you have to make sure to have compassion with yourself bc some days it will be hard and you will move around and your mind will drift, but you are human and that is ok and just bring yourself back in http://www.myjourneywithcrohns.com/2012/12/weekly-update.html

 

[CrohnsChicago]

Physical pain/discomfort and anxiety/stress can turn into a vicious cycle where you can't have one without the other.

I have been practicing mindfulness meditation off and on for the last few years. This form of meditation in general involves a focus on the present experiences as they are (living in the now). It can be a good stress-reducer, mood-booster and some even suggest it has immune-boosting powers as well. It includes various techniques such as walking meditations, breathing meditations, body scans, mindful eating practices and yoga.

I started it as a complimentary treatment for my anxiety. Over time, daily practice contributed to a significant decrease in stress which in turn created a decrease in physical pain and discomfort as well as less of a need for anxiety medication.

While I don't consider it a primary treatment for crohn's, it definitely helps me to mentally decompress when my mind is stressed and too focused on the disease or the cramping and other pains I experience from it. For milder symptoms, my body can sometimes relax a bit more through this practice.

If you are looking for resources, there is a man named Jon Kabat-Zinn who is known for bringing mindfulness meditation mainstream through his mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques. There are various books and recordings of his you can use to learn the practice of mindfulness meditation. I warn you, for his recordings, he can be a bit chatty/distracting...but there are others such as Bob Stahl, Chris Croniak and Elisha Goldstein who have very good mindfulness meditation recordings based off of the teachings of Jon Kabat-Zinn. I like to keep some of the short, 5-15min. meditations on my iPod for my lunch break or travel and will do longer, 45min. practices at home.

I would say the body scan meditations and breathing meditations are the most helpful for me.

 

[CrohnsChicago]

BTW i just realized this was a "revived" post! But I'm sure the information will be helpful to others here. lol

 

[technoczar]

It is great to hear all the experience from participants. I just discovered this post while searching for others who've had the same success addressing Crohn's via Meditation. Making all aspects of Yoga a part of my life (what I eat, how I breathe, how I think or Meditate) has helped me reach and maintain remission and reduce my reliance on heavy doses of control medications.
Hoping this helps others too. Please let me know if I can answer any questions.