Fibromyalgia

Presenting symptoms: This 52-year old female presented with long-term, body-wide pain and tender points in joints, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues. She reported with pain in the neck, shoulders, arms, hands, legs and especially in the lower back. She also reported feeling fatigued, morning stiffness, sleep problems, headaches, numbness in hands and feet, depression, and anxiety.

Outcome: After four 30-minute sessions of life coaching and four weeks of practicing meditative yoga 90 minutes per session, she reported that her pain has subsided considerably and that she was able to resume her my normal life. "Now I feel like a totally different person, pain free, stress free and full of energy."

Insomnia and Anxiety Associated
with Loss of a Loved-one

Presenting symptoms: This 55 year-old female presented with a multiplicity of symptoms and issues, including, loss of a family member, a sister diagnosed with lung cancer, despair, generalized anxiety, and total body weakness.  

Eating Disorder

Presenting symptoms: This 49-year old female nurse presented with an abnormally high proportion of body fat and a body-mass index (BMI) of 42 kg/m² (obese BMI is considered greater than 30kg/m² ). Her main reason for coming to the clinic was overeating.

She indicated that she cares most about her family, her health, her job, her house, her family, and her boyfriend.

She reports having difficulty concentrating or making decisions, snapping at others, feeling alone, feeling sick a lot of the time, and frequent insomnia. Her greatest worry is being alone and sick in her old age. Her major goals are to quiet an addictive mind and gain control over her eating habits. Her special problems include: being easily distracted and needs to explore her patterns of behavior and set boundaries for her life.  

At the time she started the program, her regimen of treatment included diet, swimming as a form of exercise, and medication. Despite the fact that with this regimen she managed to lose a significant amount of weight, achieving a BMI of 30 kg/m², she was unable to maintain the reduced body weight.

Outcome:  She participated three times in the eight-week Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program (modeled on the Stress Reduction Program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School established by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.) This helped her change her daily routine to a mindful mode, including mindful eating. Within a three-month period, she managed to lose weight and maintain a BMI that oscillates between 25 and 27 kg/m².

Work-related Stress

Presenting symptoms: This 53-year old female appeared underweight and presented with anxiety over the fact that her immediate supervisor and colleague died and that the present supervisor classified her as an independent contractor without the previous benefits she enjoyed. Her stress level index was high (8 on a scale of 1 to 10). She attributes this to a "boss" that is rude, unfair and very demanding.  She also felt guilty about not seeing her aging mother in Canada.

As goals she set: 1) going to see her mother and 2) looking for a better job.

Her regimen of management included: six life-coaching sessions and ongoing once per week participation in a meditative yoga class.

Outcome: After, and during, compliance with the regiment of management, she reports feeling much happier, made arrangements and went to visit her mother, and now is able to tolerate her boss.  She also indicates that she is really enjoying life now and able to enjoy her food much more.

Multiple Stressor-Induced Anxiety

Presenting symptoms: This 50-year old female presented with a stress index of 10 (on a scale of 1 to 10) and a multiplicity of problems stemming from her past:

1. Loss of husband 27 yrs ago
   
2. Brake up of family
   
3. Losing purse; has fear of identity theft
   
4. Fears of losing the inheritance she deserves from husband, since Husband's trust is to his mother and children - not to her.
   
5. Fear of having no home if husband dies
   
6. Fear of having no purpose in life "feelings of "not belonging"

Angry and frustrated she resorts to alcohol (wine of beer) at night to soothe the issues. (Alcoholism diagnostic questionnaire indicates that she is not an alcoholic.)

Regimen of management included four, and ongoing, life-coaching sessions and ongoing once a week participation in a 90 minute meditative yoga session, private meditation session. and life coaching. Her self-defined management included journaling her pleasant and unpleasant daily events, at least two three-minute breathing session, meditating to a guided meditation CD, mindfulness throughout the day, including mindful cooking and eating.