#65 - 3 Minute Thursday: How to Boost Health Through Compassion
The Calm & Free Podcast with Pooja Mottl
English - October 28, 2021 14:00 - 3 minutes - 3.22 MB - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsSelf-Improvement Education Society & Culture Personal Journals ancient wisdom business motivation mindfulness life lessons coaching spirituality greatness philosophy inner peace Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Welcome to our new segment, "Three Minute Thursday" (#3MinThursday) where I highlight a piece of wisdom I’ve come across from my own readings over the past week, or share with you an inspirational anecdote that can help you lead a more calm, free and full life.
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This week I have compassion on my mind. Compassion is an antidote to stress, anxiety, and a gateway practice to thriving.
I recently learned this from taking part in a talk given by Dr. Jim Doty at Stanford University who is a co-founder of a program called ACT – Applied Compassion Training.
Jim spoke about how compassion has been scientifically proven to be a health-booster not unlike exercise, the Mediterranean Diet and meditation.
When we are kind and compassionate, our physiology changes through the reward centers in our brain. By practicing compassion, our blood pressure goes down, our immune system is boosted, there's a decrease in levels of inflammatory proteins, and a decrease in stress hormones levels. We move from the fight or flight (threat mode) mode to the rest and digest mode, where we’re tapping into the parasympathetic nervous system. We actually live longer when we’re compassionate!
So how do we become compassionate and practice compassion? Compassion happens when we see ourselves in others – or we're able to see the other as ourselves. When we realize we are all a part of a common humanity. We are all one. Compassion happens when we wake up to the truth that we’re innately hardwired to connect with others and to have empathy for our fellow humans.
This talk really opened my eyes to what truly affects our long-term health. Its not just meditation and fitness that can work wonders, its our relationship with others, its showing up with kindness, caring for one another, and realizing our oneness, that can further our mental and physical health. Compassion is no doubt compelling. And if you’d like to learn more about the science behind it – please look up the ACT program and the CCARE program at Stanford Medicine.
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For more from Host Pooja Mottl: www.PoojaMottl.com
Podcast Producer: www.Go-ToProductions.com
Twitter: @PoojaMottl
Instagram: @TheCalmandFreePodcast and @PoojaMottl
LinkedIn: @PoojaMottl
Special Thanks :
Kris Kosach of the TPR Podcast for lending her VO for our Podcast Intro.
Jessica Panian for her help with our graphic design.
Sufi Kaur for managing and designing our social graphics.