7/28/2019 Practicing mind over matter: Dr. Murali Krishna on Relaxation techniques to improve employee productivity

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THE JOURNAL R ECORDThursday, Jan. 3, 2013 www.journalrecord.com Vol. 118, No. 2 Two Se

Practicing mind over matteBY HEIDE BRANDES

T HE J OURNAL R ECORD

OKLAHOMA CITY Dr. Murali Krishna wantseveryone to just relax.

As co-founder and president of the James L.Hall, Jr. Center for Mind, Body and Spirit, an affil-iate of Integris Health in Oklahoma City, and pres-ident and chief operating officer of IntegrisMental Health in Oklahoma City, Krishna said themost important thing employees and the public atlarge can do is relax and just stop stressing out.

Not only does stress negatively affect every single part of the body, it is also a physical force ongeneral health. It causes problems with heartfunction, brain function and every cell in thehuman body, but still, teaching patients and work-ers how to incorporate relaxation techniques toimprove productivity and overall wellness is achallenge.

Using meditation and relaxation techniquesand using the mind, body, spirit connection is rel-

atively new to Western medicine, Krishna said.In the 1970s, a doctor wrote a book about the mir-acle benefits of relaxation, and thats what startedit in Western medicine. But, relaxation techniqueshave been going on for a long time in ancient tra-ditions around the world.

Now, Krishna wants Oklahoma City and theworld to know that they can have an active role intheir health and happiness. Hes published a book,Vibrant: To Heal and Be Whole From India toOklahoma City , and hosts podcasts about wellnessand happiness at integrisok.com/mentalhealth.

But his biggest challenge is teaching thoseskills to hordes of employees and patients who areallowing stress, frustration and anger to kill themslowly.

The awareness of the mind, body and spirit is

better in this community and much better thanksto increased media attention, Krishna said. Butin todays society, it is even more important. We asemployees are now required to do more, tacklemore with less time and less rest. More is being asked of us in our professions with less time toaccomplish it. The healing power of the mind, body and spirit and their connection needs to bediscovered and used in our lives.

Its easier now to engage patients in their ownhealing by using meditation or relaxation tech-niques than it was 20 years ago, and the health andhealing benefits of mindfulness is slowly getting the respect Krishna said it deserves from the med-ical community. In 1997, he was invited to speak toa group of doctors about relaxation and medita-

tion techniques.They tell me, We know you and respect you

as a doctor. How come you are getting mixed up inthis stuff? Krishna said. I got up to speak tothem about how the mind, body and spirit con-nect. I tell them that if they areangry about their food being late or cold, whatever, if they are angry, then in the next twohours, their chance of a heartattack goes up 230 percent.

Now, major university stud-ies from Duke University, theUniversity of Wisconsin andmore are backing up whatKrishna has been saying.Studies show that negativeemotions like stress, anger, frus-tration and unresolved grief notonly cause blood vessels to con-tract and blood pressure to rise,they also cause platelets in the

blood to clot faster. Negativeemotions create problems inevery single function of the body.

When emotions are very negative, new studies say it alsocauses ourselves to age faster,Krishna said. It causes thetelomeres, which are the pro-tective covering on our cells andchromosomes, to break faster, causing us to age.

Stress is bad. Relaxation and prayer-medita-tion help. However, in an age of speeding up andworking more and more, how do employers takeadvantage of this form of wellness?

Relaxation and meditation techniques are very powerful techniques that improve employ-ee health and productivity, and corporations will be on the bandwagon soon, Krishna said. One,they know it is the right thing to do for employ-ees wellness. Secondly, it is economically imperative.

When employees learn to control their stress,companies see enormous savings, and productivi-ty goes up, Krishna said. Meditation, prayer andrelaxation help people to learn to be mindful andaware. Just five minutes a day, and people see dra-matic changes within mere weeks.

Krishna said employees who practice stressreduction techniques are shown to develop posi-tive states of mind and more engaged behavior.They also show improved emotional control, and ashift happens in the prefrontal brain from the

right side of the brain to the left, which results in better concentration, according to studies fromthe University of Wisconsin.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is an Oklahoma City company that is embracing the idea, Krishna said,

with its Your Life Mattersprogram. The program helpsemployees understand howtheir emotional healthaffects their overall well- being. Topics include stress,relaxation techniques, howto get better sleep and howtheir patterns affect them.

Dr. Karrie Oertli, a chap-lain for Integris, says shesseen the benefits of whatKrishna is trying to do.

I think it is a hallmarkof good healing when apatient can access his or herown strength, Oertli said.

That strength comes frommany forms, including medi-tation and prayer. Whenpatients use these methods,we see significant improve-ment to their health whenthey can connect with them-selves.

Workplace stress also isaffected. Once an employee

learns calming techniques, it doesnt take long for that worker to be proficient at it. Althoughmeditation or prayer works to help a patient oremployee handle the stress better, it still will nottake the place of traditional treatment, Oertlisaid.

Dont do away with what has worked, butmeditation, relaxation and massage, they all com-plement traditional medicine and give patients achance to participate in their own healing, shesaid. Patients show a decrease in anxiety, bloodpressure and depression when they learn to calmthe mind.

For more than 40 years, Krishna has collectedwhat he has learned about the mind-body connec-tion. It became the basis for his book.

I wanted to share with people the things Ilearned from my experience my insights, wis-dom and practical use, Krishna said. Whatever you learn, you need to share, and this is very prac-tical experience that is very important. Its to helpothers acquire the skills to help themselves andmake an impact on our world.

Murali Krishnas new

book. C O U RTE S Y P H O T O

Doctor: Relaxation techniques can be used to improve employee productivity