Managing Mental Health with Mindfulness

Imagine what it would feel like to fully focus on a moment without reaching into the phantom future or stewing in the concrete past. How would the moment change without negative judgments or fearful possibilities hovering over it? Mindfulness reveal the present and it’s a great tool for mental wellness.

When mindfulness was first introduced to me, I was resistant. I remember sitting in class, building up the mental brick wall to the intangible exercises that sounded far too much like meditation. “This hippy stuff won’t work,” I thought skeptically.

In the present, my skepticism has softened into acceptance. The concept of mindfulness as a healthy practice has seeped into my pores through osmosis. It surrounded me until one day I found the brick wall keeping it out completely dissolved.

Mindfulness broke down my resistance because, well, it works! Once it’s learned, it can’t be unlearned. I’ve taken it in and utilized it on my own without even intending to as I’ve brought it to my therapeutic work. Unwittingly, I find myself loving the practice the more I preach it.

Enough of me gushing! Let me explain what mindfulness is, what it does, and how you can use it for your benefit.

 What is mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of being in the moment, fully present, without judgment. It is closely connected in meditation and a necessary part of it some might say. However, meditation isn’t needed to use mindfulness. Mindfulness can act all its own to provide an array of benefits to many areas of living—this article will just be focusing on mental health.

What does mindfulness do?

It reduces stress—When aware in the moment, we are able to recognize what is happening in mind and body before it overcomes us. Mindfulness can give a fighting chance against stress. Consider this, if you notice your thoughts are negative and rapid along with tense shoulders, you have the power to attend to your thoughts and work to relax your tensing muscles. Bringing the buildup of stress to a halt.

The research backs this up—researchers found in 2007 that mindfulness reduced overall levels of stress in graduate students studying clinical psychology. As a bonus, they found a reduction in ruminating on thoughts and, as we will explore more below, the participants were better able to regulate emotions (Shapiro et al., 2007).

It improves emotional regulation—Think of a time when you didn’t recognize how you were feeling until it disrupted the day, others began to notice the change, or, at worst, it was misdirected to cause emotional harm to self or others. Using mindfulness promotes awareness of emotional experience which can increase reaction time to said emotions for management. The sooner the emotions are recognized, the sooner their impact can be managed and reduced; emotional regulation.

Improved emotional regulation with use of mindfulness was specifically studied by Hill and Updegraff in 2011. Results of this study showed with mindfulness practice, emotional regulation was improved and this included reduced emotional reactivity and less rapid switching between emotions (Hill & Updegraff, 2011). Mindfulness practice enhanced the ability to control emotions rather than letter emotions be in control.

It can help treat anxiety and depression symptoms—Anxiety and depression can both be related to stress and emotional deregulation. We know mindfulness helps with both of these. Additionally, anxiety sends the mind into the future, fearing what may come to pass, and depression send the mind into the past, lamenting missed chances and what no longer is. If mindfulness works to bring the mind into the present then it cannot also occupy the past and future.

In the research, mindfulness is kept in the context of therapy, called mindfulness based therapy, to help treat anxiety and depression. One meta-analysis study by Boston University researchers looked at 39 studies that focused on mindfulness based therapy treating these disorders. They found that mindfulness based therapy was an effective treatment for anxiety and depression across these many research results (Hofman et al., 2010).

It does…so much more—I suspect we are just starting to understand what mindfulness can do for mental health and the research will only grow. In addition to the above, Jeena Cho presented more information on mindfulness in a Forbes article that included benefits such as increased body satisfaction, lower distractedness, and overall better cognition (2016). In personal and clinical experience, I find mindfulness improves focus, time management, and motivation. Such a vast array of payback for an easy and enjoyable practice!

Ready to learn to use mindfulness? Let’s get started…

How is mindfulness practiced?

As you know now, it can be used alongside meditation, but that’s not the only way to use it. I’d like to start you off with two of my go-to exercises for beginning mindfulness practice. These are separate from meditation and easy to do.

Mindful Breathing:

Find a quiet space to sit comfortably and close your eyes or soften them to focus on one spot. Start at five minutes and increase your time to 10 or 15 as you progress. You can set an alarm to manage time.

Once in your space, understand that the goal of mindful breathing is to focus on your breath and the sensations related to it. As you breathe, you can notice the air in and out of your lungs lifting and dropping the chest, stomach and/or shoulders. Feel the air temperature in and out and the sensation of air entering your throat.

During the time you’re practicing this focus your mind may wander. Acknowledge the stray thoughts, let them go, do not judge them or yourself, and calmly return to the breath. This exercise makes minimal demands while allowing for training in basic principles of mindfulness.

Due to its minimal nature, mindful breathing may be difficult to start with for people who need active focus. For this, I use the body scan exercise with elements of progressive muscle relaxation. This provides a moving focus while operating on the same principles.

Body Scan:

Find a comfortable seating position or lay flat with eyes closed or softened. The focus will start at the breath as in the mindful breathing exercise. Once focused, bring attention gradually to each food, calf, and thigh, the core, the chest and back, the shoulders, each arm and hand, the neck, and the head/face, moving up as though doing a scan of the body.

Examine each area for sensations such as temperature, internal feeling, external feeling, muscle tension, and so on. Once completed in the area of focus, let go of anything no serving you such as tension or judgment. It helps me to imagine it flowing out in light wisps; use any visualization you’d like. At the end you should feel muscles relaxed and return to your breathing before exiting the exercise.

After either the body scan or mindful breathing is completed, notice any thoughts that were difficult to let go of or sensations you didn’t recognize before starting. Consider if your temperature, posture, heart rate, or breathing changed. You may want to keep a journal of this process to see progress.

Once you feel you’ve made enough progress to feel comfortable in using mindfulness, you can use more advanced exercises as well. There are so many great resources for mindfulness exercises across the web and supported in mobile apps.

Mindful Eating:

This exercise turns a mundane, daily, sometimes thoughtless activity into an opportunity for awareness. It’s often recommended using a food that is small, textured, and aromatic to do this practice, such as a raisin. However, mindful eating can be done with any food you choose to eat.

Your goal will be to focus fully on eating without distracting thoughts or judgment. Take time to examine the food, each bite of it, with all senses. Feel the weight of the utensil in your hand, the temperature of the food, and the texture as you chew. Smell from the plate and from your utensil. See the colors, consistency, and arrangement of it. Hear the sounds of scraping, chewing, and swallowing. Of course, take time to slowly taste and savor each bite.

Three 3’s Grounding Exercise:

Mindfulness grounding exercises are helpful for a quick reset when the day gets overwhelming. While some use the 5-4-3-2-1 exercise, I prefer to use three 3’s because it’s easier to remember when focus is off. You can do this in any setting (that is safe to do so) by taking a moment to be aware. Start with finding three things you can feel such as the ground under your feet and examine each. Move on to three things you can hear like the tick of a clock and move through each slowly. Finally, attend to three things you can see and really take in the features of what you look at. Once completed, breath once to reset and bring your focus back to the present renewed.

Be consistent—These exercises are at their best when used consistently. Daily practice may not be necessary but regular practice makes it easier to use them naturally in daily life. It’s tempting to only use these when struggling, but practice when you’re doing well can increase effectiveness when stress is higher. Use mindfulness intentionally and consistently because practice makes…nothing is perfect…really good!

This information and the exercises are only the beginning. There’s a whole world of mindfulness techniques, tips, and technology available to advance and supplement your practice. Check out the the sources cited for more information on mindfulness and mental health.

Sources Cited

Cho, Jeena. “6 Scientifically Proven Benefits Of Mindfulness And Meditation.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 14 July 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/jeenacho/2016/07/14/10-scientifically-proven-benefits-of-mindfulness-and-meditation/#626ff6e163ce.

Hill, Christina L.M., and Updegraff, John A. “Mindfulness and Its Relationship to Emotional Regulation.” PubMed, vol. 12, no. 1, Dec. 2011, pp. 81–90. ResearchGate, doi:10.1037/a0026355

Hofmann, Stefan G, et al. “The Effect of Mindfulness-Based Therapy on Anxiety and Depression: A Meta-Analytic Review.” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, vol. 78, no. 2, 2010, pp. 169–183. SemanticScholar, doi: 10.1037/a0018555.

Shapiro, Shauna L., et al. “Teaching Self-Care to Caregivers: Effects of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction on the Mental Health of Therapists in Training.” Training and Education in Professional Psychology, vol. 1, no. 2, 2007, pp. 105–115., doi:10.1037/1931-3918.1.2.105.

Share To Facebook

Share To Twitter