*COVID-19: We are committed to helping our community through this crisis. To that end, our incredible portfolio companies have many materials and products to assist in this time of need, and we will be promoting them in this series. We’ll get through this together - read on and stay tuned.
Written by Investment Partner Holly Jacobus
Meditation is good for your health, and according to recent university studies, it can also boost your immune system. This is extremely important during a viral challenge such as we all face now.
But meditation has a reputation as being challenging to start and stick with, especially when you're cooped up with a lot of people in a small space (as so many of us are right now). Plus, good meditation teachers that inspire you to keep at it are hard to find.
Luckily, our sister fund Joyance Partners’ portfolio company Journey Meditation is here to help. Founder Stephen Sokoler originally built Journey to teach meditation in-person at corporations in order to reduce stress, illness, and improve performance in the workspace. After numerous studies, including with NYU and Humana, he launched Journey LIVE to take these well-formed practices to the broader world straight over the Internet.
Now, in response to the COVID-19 quarantines, Journey is offering this premium digital meditation experience for free to help people boost their immune system and find their joy.
How to get it
Access Journey for free during the Covid19 crisis with this exclusive link (available on iOS)
More about Journey
Science has proven that meditation reduces stress, improves performance, and increases happiness. It also shows that meditation improves performance in organizations, including significant and measurable increases in productivity and employee engagement. By making meditation simple and approachable, Journey provides these amazing benefits to individuals and organizations in a clear, straightforward way. Find out why TechCrunch called Journey "Peloton for Meditation" and AlleyWatch said its "A Meditation Studio in the Palm of Your Hand".
Spread the word
You are welcome to extend this opportunity to anyone you think would benefit - feel free to spread the word on Instagram, Linkedin, and Twitter.
TLDR -- The Research:
At Social Starts and Joyance Partners, we focus on bringing real structure and rigor to investing in health and happiness science. For those who appreciate free services in hard times, but like to go a bit deeper, here's some of the science behind the link between meditation and the immune system.
UCLA Study: [M]indfulness meditation appears to be associated with reductions in pro-inflammatory processes, increases in cell-mediated defense parameters, and increases in enzyme activity that guards against cell aging."
UC Berkeley Study: These findings demonstrate that a short program in mindfulness meditation produces demonstrable effects on brain and immune function. These findings suggest that meditation may change brain and immune function in positive ways and underscore the need for additional research.
UC Berkeley Article: When we encounter viruses and other disease-causing organisms, our bodies send out troops of immune cells that circulate in the blood. These cells, including pro- and anti-inflammatory proteins, neutrophils, T-cells, immunoglobulins, and natural killer cells, help us to fight disease and infection in various ways. Mindfulness, it turns out, may affect these disease-fighting cells.
In several studies, mindfulness meditation appeared to increase levels of T-cells or T-cell activity in patients with HIV or breast cancer. This suggests that mindfulness could play a role in fighting cancer and other diseases that call upon immune cells. Indeed, in people suffering from cancer, mindfulness appears to improve a variety of biomarkers that might indicate progression of the disease.
In another study, elderly participants were randomly assigned to an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course or a moderate-intensity exercise program. At the end, participants who’d practiced mindfulness had higher levels of the protein interleukin-8 in their nasal secretions, suggesting improved immune function.
Another study found increases in interleukin-10 in colitis patients who took a mindfulness meditation course compared to a mind-body educational program, especially among patients whose colitis had flared up. Yet another study found that patients who had greater increases in mindfulness after an MBSR course also showed faster wound healing, a process regulated by the immune system.
Studies have found effects on markers of inflammation, too—like C-reactive protein, which in higher levels can harm physical health. Research shows that people with rheumatoid arthritis have reduced C-reactive protein levels after taking an MBSR course versus being on a waitlist for the course. Overall, these findings suggest that mindfulness meditation can have disease-fighting powers through our immune response.
By Investment Partner Holly Jacobus
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