Here’s an article about how mindfulness is changing law enforcement. It’s encouraging to see that the benefits of mindfulness practice are being appreciated by those who need it most.
Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders routinely experience extreme stress but aren’t provided the appropriate personal skills for addressing these challenges.
As a result, stress takes it’s toll on these individuals in the form of increased likelihood for addiction, divorce, and stress-related physical and emotional illness.
My practice has shown me first hand just how influential stress is in the creation of illness and just how unprepared we all are in dealing with it. These harmful influences are magnified in the lives of first responders, which is something I saw first hand in my own family.
My father was a firefighter who was forced to retire early because of a heart condition. In Miami in 1980 heart conditions in firefighters were considered job-related. The assumption at the time was that toxic smoke was the cause. The subject of stress wasn’t discussed or addressed in those days.
Mindfulness to the Rescue
It’s true that first responders are often strong, brave, and heroic but they’re also human. They have the same vulnerabilities and needs as the rest of us. It’s unrealistic to expect them to survive or thrive without the appropriate knowledge and training.
The article linked to above is a good example of how a mindfulness practice can be supportive. The Institute for HeartMath is also supporting first responders by sharing their techniques (which are a form of mindfulness training).
Here is a subtitled video from Holland about a HeartMath program involving 34,000 first responders.
A Quick Neuroplasticity Reminder
Mindfulness and related consciousness-based practices are the new medicine. It’s not easy to interrupt our habitual, stress-induced patterns of thinking, doing, and relating, but it is possible.
If you’d like to change or update your brain try this. Ten to twenty seconds of this exercise is enough to begin generating new neurology.
- Stop doing whatever it is that you’re doing.
- Think of something, someone, or some place that allows you to feel appreciation. Really feel and experience the feeling rather than just thinking about it. The comfort and softness of your seat cushion could be the perfect experience to appreciate.
- Breathe slowly. By the time you’ve breathed slowly and consciously for ten to twenty seconds while really feeling appreciation you’ve initiated the process of neuroplasticity.
- Repeat as necessary.
Steve is a retired Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, and HeartMath Trauma-Sensitive Certified Practitioner with over 35 years of clinical experience in the fields of Energy Medicine, Energy Psychology, and Biofeedback. 