How a mindfulness-based or yoga' stress reduction program would be successful for adolescents - Assignment Example

Running head: stress management Stress Management Discuss in this paper how a mindfulness-based or yoga stress reduction program would be successful for adolescents. How a mindfulness-based or yoga stress reduction program would be successful for adolescents Adolescence, as the transitional stage of physical and mental human development occurring between childhood and adulthood, and involving biological, social, and psychological changes experiences onset of different types of thoughts. Communication becomes major challenge when adolescents try to renegotiate their relationships at the family and social levels.

Other stresses and family issues further contribute to the emotional difficulties of adolescents in an effort to cope with all these changes. Sexually active adolescents face greater physical and emotional health risks than any other segment of the population. Buddhist psychology and cognitive theories postulate mind and body get stressed due to inappropriate thoughts, inaccurate beliefs, unrealistic expectations and insatiable desires (Semple & Lee, 2008), and adolescents’ mind tends to juggle between all of these newly formed feelings and experiences.

Research and evidence related to best possible stress management, in such situations and more serious mental disorders, has indicated that case-specific social activities or exercises are more effective than pharmacotherapy (Hofmann, 2007). Through these activities, adolescents can be trained to consciously divert their attention to specific purposes, thoughts, feelings and body sensations. One of the best methods of exercises recommended in this category is practice of yoga postures designed to enhance efficiency of body-mind complex, specifically through Hatha Yoga (Baer, 2003).

Hatha Yoga is based on the principle that human life is a combination of life force (body) and consciousness (mind), and that by controlling the life force, mind is automatically controlled (Saraswati, 1982). The expected sequence of events through these processes are reduction in pain and anxiety levels, increased relaxation, increased threshold to take on more stress, increased feelings of wellbeing and self-esteem, and increased positive self-concept. Thus, controlling mind from undesirable distractions, characteristic of adolescent development, can be achieved through systematic mindfulness exercises, including meditation and yoga and liberate the mind from stressful impressions carried from the past.

References Books: Semple, R.J and Lee, J. (2008). Treating Anxiety with Mindfulness: Mindful-Based Cognitive Therapy for Children. In Greco, L.A and Hayes, S.C’s (ed) Acceptance & Mindfulness Treatments for Children & Adolescents: A Practitioners Guide. Canada: New Harbinger Publications. Journals: Baer, R. (2003). Mindfulness Training as a Clinical Intervention: A Conceptual and Empirical Review. American Psychological Association. DOI: 10.1093/clipsy/bpg015 pp. 125-143. Hofmann, S. G. (2007). Cognitive Factors that Maintain Social Anxiety Disorder: a Comprehensive Model and its Treatment Implications.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Vol. 36 Issue 4, p193-209. Magazine: Saraswati, S.S. (1982). The True Spirit of Hatha Yoga. Yoga Magazine. Accessed November 4, 2009, from http://www.yogamag.net/archives/1982/isep82/sphatha.shtml