Teaching Mindfulness-based Training in High-Stress Contexts with Sensitivity for the Autonomic Nervous System
Speaker: Elizabeth Stanley, PhD, MBA, SEP
Format: Audio & Slides

This Presentation Dialogue will discuss modifying mindfulness-based training for contexts characterized by extreme or prolonged stress and trauma. Drawing on our experience training troops before deployment to combat, and others in high-stress occupations, this dialogue will examine how mindfulness skills training can integrated with an understanding of the role of the autonomic nervous system in stress and trauma. Mindfulness- based Mind Fitness Training (MMFT) provides skills training in two key areas: mindfulness and stress resilience self-regulation skills. It cultivates mindfulness with specific exercises to train attention and interoceptive awareness (awareness of sensations in the body). It cultivates stress resilience self-regulation skills with specific body-based exercises to support the body and mind in regulating the physiological and psychological effects of extreme or prolonged stress. In the high-stress context, the acute self-awareness of body sensations developed through mindfulness can lead to excessive activation of the autonomic nervous system, including flashbacks, nightmares, intrusive thoughts, heightened restlessness, panic attacks, irritation, and hyperarousal. The possibility of these sensitivities is taken into account with a progression of exercises, including some unique to MMFT, that differs significantly from MBSR. The presentation will briefly outline the structure of the MMFT course, and share some empirical evidence of its efficacy among troops in terms of cognitive performance during stress and nervous system regulation. Most importantly, this dialogue will explore how mindfulness exercise instructions and sequences can be most effectively modified to address prior stress and trauma exposure with sensitivity and compassion. Participants in the session will be encouraged to share their experiences in working with similar populations (high-stress environments where participants may not self-select into the training).