Why practice mindfulness for anxiety?
When we suffer from anxiousness our minds confuse worry and speculation with fact instead of recognising that they are just thoughts. We obsess over the past and are fearful for the future. This can become so severe that it can bring on a physical response.
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Mindfulness is perfect for helping with anxiety as it brings us back to the present. By focusing on the here and now, what’s around us and what we feel in the present moment we can shift our attention from those anxious thoughts.
Mindfulness exercises are usually simple and quick and can usually be practiced wherever you are. They can also reduce cortisol which is a hormone that can contribute to stress and anxiety.
Here are 5 quick mindfulness exercises to relieve anxiety and focus the mind.
Mindfulness exercises for anxiety
Anchoring
Anchor yourself by focusing completely on the lower half of your body. Start with your feet and how they feel. How do your shoes or socks feel? If you are barefoot how does the drowned feel? Are you standing on carpet, wood flooring, grass? How does it feel beneath your feet?
Progress upward to your legs, how do they feel? Do your muscles feel loose or tight and tense? What sensations can you feel in your legs? What temperature are they? Are they tingling, do you feel pain? End by focusing on the breath.
The beauty of this exercise is that it can be done any place and anytime.
Three Senses
This is a really simple and quick mindfulness exercise. Focus on what you are experiencing through the senses of sound sight and touch.
- What 3 things can you hear?
- What 3 things can you see?
- Reach out, what 3 things can you feel?
Go through this exercise slowly, name each answer in your mind. You can’t do this without being present and mindful.
Observation Exercise
Choose something small, like a stone, a leaf or a flower. If you can hold it in your hands and take a good look at it and try to observe everything about it. Focus all of your attention on it.
Notice the items appearance, what size and shape is it? What colours can you see? Does the item have different textures?
Do not assess the item or judge it just observe it for what it is.
A Thought Audit
Stop what you are doing and notice what thoughts are going through your head right now. Focus on your thoughts but don’t label or judge them.
I like to think of my thoughts as butterflies fluttering around me. I observe the butterflies and am completely aware of them but I don’t pick out one butterfly over another.
I don’t notice good or bad butterflies, happy or sad ones, or ugly or beautiful ones. I simply am aware of and acknowledge all of the butterflies.
This exercise brings you back to the present moment which can reduce anxious feelings.
Mindful Breathing For Anxiety
- Sit or lie down comfortably in the floor. You do not have to sit with your legs crossed. Just go with what is the most comfortable for you.
- Close your eyes.
- Start taking some deep breaths.
- Breathe in through your nose. Focus on where your breath is entering from.
- Notice where your breath is going and where you feel it the most. Do you feel it in your chest, mouth, or stomach?
- Exhale through the mouth, and focus on the breath leaving your body.
When anxious thoughts creep in give these simple exercises for anxiety a try. Let me know how you will get on.
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