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Anxiety: Mindfulness for Preventing Chronic Worry
Do you constantly dwell on negative thoughts or excessively worry in the hope of addressing stress? You will be aware that worrying or ruminating all the time will only serve to make you feel worse. However, there is a solution that may help to get rid of your anxiety, and that is to practice mindfulness. An ancient technique rooted in eastern spiritual traditions, western practitioners, such as Kabat-Zinn, discovered mindfulness and reformulated it as a secular strategy for western audiences, to help people prevent the onset of symptoms such as anxiety, stress, and depression.
What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is paying attention to any present moment to moment experience, with an attitude of curiosity, kindness and non-judgment. It is simply letting go of all mental constructs and being aware of your direct experience, without evaluation or interpretation of any phenomenon. So no thinking, only being present with what is.
This may entail being aware of the details of whatever you can see; being aware of sounds that may be near or far away; being aware of the space between sounds or of silence; being aware of what you can smell; what you can taste; what you feel; and aware of any sensations you experience. However, at the same time trying not to name, label or attach any meaning to the phenomena you are aware of. Regarding negative thoughts, emotions and situations, rather than trying to suppress or avoid them, you simply allow yourself to experience them ‘as they are’, without trying to change or fix anything.
When I go running in the forrest, for example, I bring gentle awareness to my breathing, to the sensations in my body, to my feet each time they touch the ground, to the sounds of different birds, and trees. Sometimes I may focus more on my body sensations, how I’m breathing and what I see directly in front of me, at other times I may be aware of all sense experiences, including thoughts. Sometimes my mind might get distracted with a thought, however as soon I’m aware of this, I simply acknowledge it and then maintain focus on my sense experience, without getting irritated or annoyed at myself.
The great thing about mindfulness is that you can practice it anywhere. Whilst sitting, working, walking, talking, eating or exercising. In fact mindfulness is all about integrating present moment awareness into everyday activities, and all aspects of life.
Benefits of mindfulness
The research literature also supports the benefits of mindfulness for health and wellbeing. Studies have shown that regularly practicing mindfulness can:
- Prevent symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression
- Improve focus and concentration
- Develop emotion regulation and increase resilience
- Improve sleep
- Enhance mood
- Reduce symptoms of chronic pain
- Promote positive relationships
Therefore I highly encourage you to incorporate mindfulness as a regular self-care technique to improve your wellbeing. It may be challenging if you are a beginner, however with continuity of practice you will experience the benefits of reducing your risk of suffering from mental stress and generally feel much happier.
Remember however, if you struggle with chronic distress that interferes with your daily activities then it is strongly recommended that you seek professional mental health support.
I hope you found this article useful. If you would like guidance in applying mindfulness or if you have any questions regarding the technique then feel free to get in touch.
With best wishes,
Sadaf
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