cartoon by Doug Neil (thegraphicrecorder.com)

There are a lot of reasons why mindfulness is a good practice. Practicing mindfulness can bring positive changes in overall health, attitudes, and behaviours.

Mindfulness improves our greater well-being. Being mindful of each current experience allows us to savour the pleasures in life as they happen, helps us become fully engaged in what we’re doing, and creates a greater capacity to handle life’s messes. When we focus on the present moment, we are less likely to get caught up in worries about the past or future, success or self-esteem and we can form deeper connections.

Mindfulness improves physical health. If greater well-being isn’t convincing enough, scientists have discovered that mindfulness helps improve physical health too! Mindfulness can: help relieve stress, treat heart disease, lower blood pressure, reduce chronic pain, improve sleep, and alleviate gastrointestinal difficulties.

Mindfulness improves mental health. Recently, mindfulness has been an important part of treating mental health issues including depression, substance abuse, eating disorders, couples’ conflicts, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. And, it is working!

So let’s dive in and learn some easy tips to bring mindfulness into your daily life!

Mindfulness centers around being aware and engaged with what is happening in the present moment:

What is in your environment,
What you are feeling (physically and emotionally),
What you are thinking.

When someone has difficulties with anxiety, they often spend a lot of time thinking about the past or worrying about the future. Do you ever find yourself worrying about what you did or didn’t do, what will happen next, what others think/feel?

Living in the past and/or the future means we aren’t able to engage with what is happening right now. Being mindful means that we work to re-engage with the current moment by noticing what is happening right now without necessarily trying to change it. When you take notice of the present moment, even if it’s just little things (how your clothes feel on your body, what colour your water bottle is), you’re pulling yourself out of your head because you’re no longer thinking/worrying about the past or future. When you can get a break from worrying, you’re better able to take action to live the life you want.

Here are some quick and easy tips for practicing mindfulness. They’re split into two groups:

Focusing-in Activities
Expanding-attention Activities

For all of these activities, try not using judgemental terms like (it’s bad, it’s good) and try to stick with descriptions (it’s yellow, it’s smooth).

Focusing-in Activities

Focusing-in activities ground us in the present moment by helping us to focus on the details of some of our environment. Here are three that may be helpful to get started with, although there are many out there that you can find and try.

1 – Grounding with 5-4-3-2-1

This exercise uses all 5 senses to pay attention to what is in your environment.

First, take a deep breath and then:

photo courtesy of @gmf.designs www.gmf-designs.com — photo courtesy of *@gmf.designs www.gmf-designs.com*

Describe 5 things you see.

I see the wall, it’s blue and has pictures on it. I see a pen, it’s black and has a cap. I see a chair, it’s wooden and has a chip in the leg. I see the table, it is covered in cups and papers. I see my computer, it’s silver with a black keyboard.

Describe 4 things you feel or touch.

I feel my toes pushing against my shoes. I feel the pressure of the chair on my back. I feel my hands laying on top of my knees. I feel the texture of my jeans against my fingers.

Describe 3 things you hear.

I hear the car outside the window beeping its horn. I hear the sound of blowing air, like a fan blowing in the ceiling. I hear voices, it sounds like someone next door is talking.

Describe 2 things you smell.

I smell food cooking, it smells like fresh cookies or something. I smell the coffee that I made.

Describe 1 thing you taste.

I taste the coffee I just drank.

Mindful Object

This exercise will help you focus your attention on the details of one particular object in your environment. It could be something you happen to see (e.g., a painting, a pen/pencil, etc.) or something you carry with you for this purpose (e.g., a little gem, etc.).

First, take a deep breath.
Take your time to notice all aspects of the object you are focusing on.
Name and describe everything you are noticing about the object: texture, shape, colour, the way it feels in your hand (if possible), etc.

Mindfulness in Everyday Activities

Any activity can become a mindfulness exercise – eating, walking, listening, breathing, showering, brushing your teeth, house chores, etc. Here is how you can integrate mindfulness into these things.

First, take a deep breath.
Pay attention to the activity and how you are experiencing it using all 5 senses – what does it look like, sound like, smell like, feel like, taste like.
What movements are you making? What do they feel like? What do you notice as you move – does anything change/shift or feel different?

Expanding-attention Activities

Expanding-attention activities help us open our minds to our experience so we take more notice of what we’re feeling or thinking. It’s about noticing our thoughts and feelings and then letting them go by without judgment or attempting to change them.

Body Scan

This exercise helps you become more aware of the feelings and sensations you feel in your body by paying attention to different parts of it that you may not normally notice. Below are a few resources you can access to complete the exercise.

Written script to read, from AnxietyBC.com: https://youth.anxietybc.com/sites/default/files/Body_Scan.pdf

Audio recordings to listen to, from AnxietyBC.com: https://www.anxietybc.com/resources/audio/mindfulness

Mindfulness of Experience

This exercise helps you become more aware of your experience, whether that be thoughts, physical sensations, or emotions.

Sit comfortably and take a deep breath, keep breathing deeply throughout the exercise.
Notice what you are experiencing right now. Be mindful of any thoughts, emotions, urges, physical sensations, etc.
As you notice what you are experiencing, simply acknowledge what your experience is and describe it, then let it go without trying to control, hold on to, or change it.

For some, it can be helpful to think of their experiences as being on clouds that move across the sky, as a banner notification that comes and goes on your phone, or as the highlights/information that scrolls on the bottom of the TV during newscasts or sports programs. Regardless of the image that works for you, or if you don’t use an image at all, the important part is that it helps you get used to noticing your experiences and then allowing them to pass by without trying to change them, hold on to them, or control them in any way.

Example: When Kevin gets anxious he starts feeling overwhelmed, which often means he feels flushed and like he’s suffocating. At those times his mind starts to race with so many worries at once that it’s difficult to pinpoint the one that is the “worst”. When his mind races, it becomes very difficult to concentrate. At these times, Kevin focuses on the sensations in his body:

He thinks about his breathing, noting that it is shallower and faster than normal.
He thinks about his heart rate, noting that it is faster than normal.
He thinks about his muscles, starting with his feet and moving up to his head and jaw, noting the tension he feels in different parts of his body.

Each time he focuses on something different, he acknowledges what he is feeling by saying something like, “I’m feeling anxious right now. I know because I notice I’m breathing faster than normal. That’s OK, it’s just a feeling - nothing more, nothing less. I don’t have to get stuck on it.” Oftentimes that’s enough to stop him from becoming even more anxious about those feelings. After a short while, he is able to refocus on identifying his thoughts and challenging them the way he’s been learning to, and he’s able to come up with more balanced thoughts.

General Mindfulness Tips

1. Practice, practice, practice! When you practice regularly, there are benefits to becoming more aware of your environment. It also makes it easier to use the skills when they’re really needed like when you are feeling really anxious, emotional, and/or overwhelmed.

2. When practicing, it can be helpful to set aside some specific time for it each day so that you can be in a quiet and comfortable place.

3. Sometimes it’s difficult to keep our mind engaged in mindfulness exercises – it’s not the way we typically go through the day. If you find your mind rushing or wandering away from you, that’s okay, remember that it’s not about control or judgement of how our minds work. At those times, notice it and then gently bring it back to the exercise. For example, you could say/think something like: “I notice my thoughts wandered to what may happen this evening when I leave work to drive home. That’s ok. I also notice my breath going in and out. I see the wall, it’s blue and has pictures on it, I see…”

4. Often you can find resources (e.g., YouTube videos, apps) that have recordings of mindfulness exercises you can listen to, including some similar to those above and many more.

We hope this helps!