Tips for an Effective Mindfulness Practice
Having anxiety is not fun. There's the constant chatter in your head which is exhausting. And all the physical symptoms such as tight muscles or clenching your jaw, a general feeling of unease, you may have a higher heart rate or higher blood pressure, fatigue, etc. It's distracting at the least and debilitating at the worst. Mindfulness helps ease the symptoms. It won't cure anxiety per se, but depending on what's causing your anxiety, it can definitely decrease it on it's own.
Mindfulness takes practice. It is not something we're good at as adults. If you have anxiety, you have to unlearn some behaviors and learn others while trying to soothe the survival system. The way to have the survival brain give up control and thus decrease your anxiety is to give the survival brain experiences that right here, right now you are safe. I started mindfulness exercises years ago and I'm still not good at it. Sometimes I'm better than other times, but it is hard to stay in the moment non judgmentally.
I recently read a book called The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey. I don't play tennis but it was a recommended book for mental performance. I recommend reading it. He talks about getting in the "zone" - how and why it's helpful to tennis. But he knows that all the tips he has are helpful in the world as well. Being “in the zone” is being mindful. You’re so fully engaged in what you’re doing that you are not aware of anything else outside of what you’re doing.
As you’re working on being more mindful, keep this “in the zone” mentality by letting go of all else but what is happening right here, right now. An important aspect of mindfulness that Mr. Gallwey talks about is to not *try* to be in the zone. Just let it happen. You can try different forms of mindfulness from walking to eating to meditation to yoga to body scans to brushing your teeth to anything you want.
Incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine, even if each time you work on mindfulness is only a few minutes has a significant benefit. Creating new routines is hard. It means giving something up for the sake of something else. If you're busy, or a parent, or just like scrolling on your phone, giving something up for the sake of starting a new, "healthy", routine goes against survival. This is because when there is status quo in a person's life, the brain can put it's energy to other uses that will potentially save your life. When you are so focused on one thing, you may miss other things around you.
Have you seen Jurassic Park? Remember when Muldoon and Ellie were going to turn on the breakers...Muldoon noticed the raptor in front of him, but there were two others who attacked him from the sides. When we are so focused on one thing, we may miss other important things. So, the brain wants us to go back to status quo; less brain usage; more ability to survive.
Routines gives structure. As humans we thrive on structure. Some of us create our own structure and buck against others creating it for us, others love when structure is given to us. Structure feels safe to our survival system. In a chaotic world, I know *xyz* will happen. Creating routines are hard at first but when they become "routine" they're not as difficult to keep up with.
Routines don't mean do the exact same thing at the exact same time (unless you want it to). A morning routine can be done whatever time you get up. An after work mindfulness routine can be yoga one day, meditation another, walking a third, etc.
Think of routines as doing something regularly and consistently. Like eating dinner. Every evening, you know you'll have dinner. It is a thing that happens regularly after work, consistently everyday even if it's not the same meal or same time.
Looking at mindfulness this way, how can you make mindfulness a part of your daily routine? When can your brain and body expect to be mindful?
Here are some tips for mindfulness:
- Don't think about it so hard, just allow your body to be with whatever you're doing. Often when you get there you say "I did it!" Once you do this you tend to come out of the "zone". That's ok for now. Gently get back into it, letting go of the judgement and ant expectations.
- Habit stacking is one way to make new routines easier. Do your mindfulness while doing something you already do as a matter of habit. Be mindful brushing your teeth, or showering or even scrolling your phone. Instead of scrolling mindlessly, pay attention to how it physically feels, every detail you see in each post you're scrolling past. It may be boring, but it will help you get better and being mindful.
- Mindfulness is staying present to the here and now without judgement. Saying a tree is beautiful is judging the tree. Saying a tree is an Oak Tree for example is not. Don't give a subjective quality to the situation you are in. The room is cold is a judgement. Instead, say I am shivering. Or I am clenching my jaw.
- Our feelings come from our thoughts and our thoughts come from our experiences and our judgements and stories we tell ourselves about those stories. When you're adding mindfulness into your routine, be aware of the judgements or stories you're telling yourself about the new routine and see if you can back away from those judgements and stories.
As you start adding mindfulness into your daily routine, you will find that it becomes easier to do and as the judgements slip away, so does the anxiety.
Mindfulness takes practice. It takes more than only mindfulness to let go of anxiety, but this is an important place to start as it gives the brain the experience right here right now you are safe. If you’re ready to take action on this and start taking control of your mind and letting go of the unwanted judgements and irrational fears and thoughts, I have an 8 week program to help you do just that. Check it out right here!
Or if you’re ready to get started with me, I encourage you to schedule a 15 minute clarity call with me!