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Neurodrumming: Towards An Integral Mental Fitness Training For Healthy Aging
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Humans as far back as ancient history have been leveraging the physiological and psychological benefits of drumming to enhance health, access higher states of consciousness, and cultivate shared optimal experiences. It is understandable that the applied practice of drumming is now starting to permeate into mental fitness training research as a healthy alternative toward cross training the brain. Extensive surveys conducted in the United States show that 60% of individuals who are in middle age and older complain about their memory. This translates to approximately 80 million Baby Boomers reaching the age of memory decline. Furthermore, according to the UCLA research, the main factors necessary for a healthy brain lifestyle and to combat memory decline are physical activity, social engagement, mental challenges, and unfamiliar stimuli. Neurodrumming has incorporated these findings into a therapeutic intervention that targets brain health, emotional health, stress management, and social engagement, all of which help to prevent cognitive decline, and promotes mental performance. This study offers a meta-theoretical exploration to determine the comprehensiveness of Neurodrumming as a therapeutic mental fitness intervention for healthy aging, by applying Integral Theory as an epistemological framework.
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In July 2015, Oxford University Press published a substantial volume titled The Oxford Handbook of Applied Ethnomusicology, co-edited by two eminent ethnomusicologists, Svanibor Pettan and Jeff Todd Titon. The book is an impressive collection of different approaches in applied ethnomusicology, developed through a combination of ethnographic research (personal experiences and fieldwork in different parts of the world) and contemporary scholarship.
Despite the increased use of the term mental fitness in the popular and psychological literature, there is little consensus in relation to theory, definition and measurement. The concept of mental fitness could be used to parsimoniously engage, educate and promote proactive, positive mental health activities to the wider community, without stigma and within a language that is easily understood. This Delphi study engaged an international expert panel (n = 25) to evaluate a definition and four guiding principles of mental fitness. Expert consensus was achieved supporting the definition and four guiding principles with suggested modifications. The final definition of mental fitness is “the modifiable capacity to utilise resources and skills to flexibly adapt to challenges or advantages, enabling thriving”. The final four guiding principles are (1) fitness is a positive term without connotations of illness implied by mental health or mental illness; (b) mental fitness could be understood by the wider community in a similar way to physical fitness; (c) mental fitness is measurable; and (d) mental fitness can be improved, in a similar way to physical fitness. The panel also offered valuable recommendations for future research and practice.
The number of Americans over the age of 65 has been growing much faster than the overall population's growth rate. These changes can be largely attributed to the improvement in life expectancy. This demographic shift yields a unique and exciting opportunity to provide both expedient and cost-efficient care to a growing patient population.
Over the last two decades, Eastern psychology has provided fertile ground for therapists, as a cornerstone, a component, or an adjunct of their work. In particular, research studies are identifying the Buddhist practice of mindfulness-a non-judgmental self-observation that promotes personal awareness-as a basis for effective interventions for a variety of disorders. The Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness is a clearly written, theory-to-practice guide to this powerful therapeutic approach (and related concepts in meditation, acceptance, and compassion) and its potential for treating a range of frequently encountered psychological problems. Key features of the Handbook: A neurobiological review of how mindfulness works. Strategies for engaging patients in practicing mindfulness. Tools and techniques for assessing mindfulness. Interventions for high-profile conditions, including depression, anxiety, trauma Special chapters on using mindfulness in oncology and chronic pain. Interventions specific to children and elders, Unique applications to inpatient settings. Issues in professional training. Appendix of exercises. The Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness includes the contributions of some of the most important authors and researchers in the field of mindfulness-based interventions. It will have wide appeal among clinicians, researchers, and scholars in mental health, and its potential for application makes it an excellent reference for students and trainees. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009. All rights reserved.
The short-term training effects on various executive functions (EFs) by a movement-based contemplative practice (MBCP) are examined. Three aspects of EFs (working memory capacity, inhibition, switching) are assessed before and after a month-long 12-h training period using Body-Mind Axial Awareness (BMAA) principles that Confucius followers have practiced for more than 2000years. A mindfulness-based practice (Chan-meditation) and a waiting-list control group served as contrast groups. Our results showed that the BMAA group performed better on the task that measured working memory capacity than did the Chan-meditation and the waiting-list groups after training. In addition, the Chan-meditation groups outperformed the control group on attentional switching, a novel finding for this kind of practice. Our findings not only show a new effect of short-term MBCPs on EFs, but also indicate movement-based and mindfulness-based contemplative practices might benefit development of various aspects of EFs in different ways.
In previous work I explored how Integral Theory can be applied as a metatheoretical and transdisciplinary framework, in an attempt to arrive at an integrally informed metatheory of addiction. There was an overemphasis on Integral Methodological Pluralism in that thread of research, without clarifying the ontological pluralism of addiction as a multiple object enacted by various methodologies. To arrive at a comprehensive integral metatheory and integral ontology of addiction, I believe it is necessary to include the conception of Integral Pluralism and Integral Enactment Theory as posited by Sean Esbjörn-Hargens. Integral Enactment Theory highlights the phenomenon of addiction as a multiple and dynamic object arising along a continuum of ontological complexity; it adeptly points out how etiological models “co-arise” in relation to methodology (methodological pluralism) to enact a particular reality of addiction (ontological pluralism) while being mediated by the worldview of the subject (epistemological pluralism) applying the method. This article briefly explores the significance of including Integral Pluralism and Integral Enactment Theory in the quest of an integral metatheory and integral ontology of addiction.