What is Mindfulness & How Can it Help My Anxiety?

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I’m pretty sure you’ve at least heard of mindfulness, right?

It’s boomed in popularity in recent years and is being used in schools, hospitals, psychotherapy, corporations and there’s a plethora of books, apps and guided mindfulness meditations available to “stick your toe in the water” with…

But maybe you’re still not sure what exactly it is…or how it may help if you suffer from chronic stress, anxiety or depression.

I’ll be honest – because the essence of mindfulness is really an experience, it’s not that easy to put into words.

I would loosely define it as a way of relating to your present-moment experience with acceptance and compassion as well as a set of techniques that help you to develop this way of relating. (If you’re thinking “meh…what’s the big deal about that and how would that help?” Keep reading, I’ll explain in a bit…)

Other definitions I’ve found include:

“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it’s not something you have to conjure up, you just have to learn how to access it.” (mindful.org)
“Mindfulness does not change our experience. Rather, it changes our relationship to our experience. Mindful awareness contributes to a compassionate understanding whereby we may begin to see how we cause ourselves our own suffering so we can begin to learn to respond to, rather than react to painful experiences.
Thus, mindful awareness is ultimately about seeing things as they are so that we can respond consciously and skilfully in challenging circumstances.” (mi-psych.com.au)

Ancient Eastern Origins of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is rooted in ancient Buddhist teachings and is central to Buddhist practice which aims to develop a pure and clear mind free of mental “impurities” such as anger, aversion, greed, fear, stress etc…
It gained traction in the West thanks to a medical doctor and enthusiastic meditator, Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn who started applying it to his patients living with chronic pain and his positive results led to an explosion of research into using mindfulness for mental health conditions, performance, focus and more – and as the evidence-base has grown, it has very much entered mainstream medicine and psychotherapy and been incorporated into Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy among others.
These adaptations still carry the essence of mindfulness practice found in Buddhism, but are secular and modernised versions that can apply to anyone, regardless of beliefs or religion – at it’s core, there is nothing to “believe” about mindfulness, it is something to practice and experience for yourself.

Mindfulness Techniques – The Brass Tacks!

To gain the profound benefits of mindfulness, it has to be practiced consistently.

 

The main types of practice can be classed as formal and informal practices. At the heart of formal mindfulness practice is mindfulness meditation – which can be done seated, standing or walking…or lying if you can stay alert and awake!!

 

Informal practice involves incorporating mindfulness into your daily activities such as mindfully doing chores, eating, listening or even bringing it into activities such as yoga or exercise.

 

In my opinion, it’s essential to practice both formally and informally, as they feed and develop upon each other.

Thinking VS Awareness

As your mindfulness skills develop, you start to develop the ability to not get lost in your thoughts so much, and to tap into a whole other part of your brain: your awareness.

 

So up until now, as you go about your daily life, you are most likely continually plugged in to your thinking mind and accompanied by a non-stop internal radio of usually inane, repetitive and often judgmental or even anxious thoughts:
“Hmmm what do I need to do next, I have so much to do, after this I have to ……..”
“What is she wearing, seriously, does she realise what that looks like”
“OMG, WHY did I just do that, I am SO stupid”
“Remember that time….”

“What if…..”

Our thinking mind, sometimes also referred to as our egoic mind, loves to gnaw on problems and create a lot of drama and noise.
It is also usually fearful, worrying and critical of self and others and either rehashing the past or rehearsing for or dreading the imagined future. Now is never enough for the thinking mind, it is always searching and seeking for something better, the next best thing that will truly bring some contentment and peace, but it is never satisfied…as depressing as this sounds, the very nature of our default thinking minds (as proven by neuroscience) is dissatisfaction. It is completely out of touch with the present moment and the true beauty of our lives.
The good news is: we have a whole other aspect of our consciousness – awareness.
Awareness is clear, non-judgmental observation of what is going on in the moment. It sees reality as it is without the overlay of our mental filters. It surrenders and accepts. It is pure, wide, spacious and calm. It is also free – from attachments, preferences, dramas and stories. And it is satisfied because it seeks nothing, only experiences the moment as it is.

 

Unfortunately, living in a culture that encourages and rewards the over-developed thinking part of our minds, we don’t often get to experience prolonged states of awareness in modern day life. But perhaps you have had a taste of it – a moment when you were listening to a beautiful piece of music and all thought stopped, or when you took in an extraordinary sunset and just for a moment, time stood still and you were filled to overflowing with peace and wonder. Sports people sometimes experience it for brief moments when they are suddenly “in the flow” and their movements become completely effortless.
Mindfulness meditation retrains your mind to slip into awareness more easily. And that awareness starts to spill over from your meditation session into your everyday life – and then everything can change from the inside out.

It’s also important to understand that this type of awareness isn’t just a cold, detached, observational awareness – it is infused with warmth, compassion and “friendliness” toward our experience. In ancient Pali, the language in which most of the Buddhist suttas are written, there actually isn’t a separate word for mind and heart, they are considered the same thing…so mindfulness could just easily be called heartfulness. One of my favourite mindfulness teachers, Ajahn Brahm, actually refers to it as ‘kindfulness’.

How Mindfulness Helps With Stress, Anxiety and Depression

In next week’s post, I’m going to cover the exciting research and studies that have proven the benefits of mindfulness for mental health, but let me give an overview of how it helps here.

Beyond Blue describes some of the mental benefits of mindfulness:
“It strengthens our ability to react and perceive things with greater clarity, openness and awareness which in turn improves our ability in a range of areas, including dealing with stress, regulating emotions, making decisions, creating positive relationships and showing resilience in the face of adverse conditions.”

One profound way mindfulness helps with anxiety and depression has to do with the thinking/awareness states of mind I mentioned earlier. So much of anxiety and depression lives in the thinking mind. In anxiety, there is often catastrophising thoughts, obsessive or intrusive thoughts, frightening “what if” thoughts that project into the future and if there are physical symptoms of anxiety, often fearful, reactive thoughts that can in turn not only add to the suffering of the situation, but prolong or worsen the physical symptoms. Likewise, in depression, often there is underlying sadness or other emotions that are compounded by the thinking mind…dwelling on past mistakes or misfortunes, projecting into a hopeless future, reacting to situations with negative judgments and often criticising the self with unkind or derogatory thoughts….and in both anxiety and depression there is often a lack of self-compassion and self-acceptance which adds to the suffering.

Through mindfulness training you develop the skill to “put down” these mental burdens for awhile at least, and experience pure awareness. One of my meditation teachers, Ajahn Brahm, likens it to putting down two heavy bags (the past and the future) that we have been carrying everywhere for years, and having a nice rest in the present moment. And as our mindfulness develops, we find we are less and less inclined to “pick them up” again as we go about our day. The compassion we learn to cultivate for ourselves is also very healing – we are able to tend to our own suffering more and more and become our own best ally, which builds immense fortitude and resilience.

Mindfulness can also “switch on” the relaxation response and “switch off” the stress response, thus effecting our physical bodies by increasing calming, pleasure-boosting hormones such as oxytocin, and reducing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin. And slowly, slowly it rewires our brains to be less reactive to stress and more calm, positive, engaged in the moment and grateful.

If you’re interested in learning how to rewire your brain to be less anxious with mindfulness, jump on the waitlist now to be notified when my 8 week online program The Calmer Mind Course opens up again for enrolment – it’s opening soon and is a great way to learn mindfulness skills with the support of a teacher so you can really get the most out of what you learn and experience the profound benefits of mindfulness for yourself!

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What is Mindfulness & How Can it Help My Anxiety?

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I’m pretty sure you’ve at least heard of mindfulness, right?

It’s boomed in popularity in recent years and is being used in schools, hospitals, psychotherapy, corporations and there’s a plethora of books, apps and guided mindfulness meditations available to “stick your toe in the water” with…

But maybe you’re still not sure what exactly it is…or how it may help if you suffer from chronic stress, anxiety or depression.

I’ll be honest – because the essence of mindfulness is really an experience, it’s not that easy to put into words.

I would loosely define it as a way of relating to your present-moment experience with acceptance and compassion as well as a set of techniques that help you to develop this way of relating. (If you’re thinking “meh…what’s the big deal about that and how would that help?” Keep reading, I’ll explain in a bit…)

Other definitions I’ve found include:

“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it’s not something you have to conjure up, you just have to learn how to access it.” (mindful.org)
“Mindfulness does not change our experience. Rather, it changes our relationship to our experience. Mindful awareness contributes to a compassionate understanding whereby we may begin to see how we cause ourselves our own suffering so we can begin to learn to respond to, rather than react to painful experiences.
Thus, mindful awareness is ultimately about seeing things as they are so that we can respond consciously and skilfully in challenging circumstances.” (mi-psych.com.au)

Ancient Eastern Origins of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is rooted in ancient Buddhist teachings and is central to Buddhist practice which aims to develop a pure and clear mind free of mental “impurities” such as anger, aversion, greed, fear, stress etc…
It gained traction in the West thanks to a medical doctor and enthusiastic meditator, Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn who started applying it to his patients living with chronic pain and his positive results led to an explosion of research into using mindfulness for mental health conditions, performance, focus and more – and as the evidence-base has grown, it has very much entered mainstream medicine and psychotherapy and been incorporated into Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy among others.
These adaptations still carry the essence of mindfulness practice found in Buddhism, but are secular and modernised versions that can apply to anyone, regardless of beliefs or religion – at it’s core, there is nothing to “believe” about mindfulness, it is something to practice and experience for yourself.

Mindfulness Techniques – The Brass Tacks!

To gain the profound benefits of mindfulness, it has to be practiced consistently.

 

The main types of practice can be classed as formal and informal practices. At the heart of formal mindfulness practice is mindfulness meditation – which can be done seated, standing or walking…or lying if you can stay alert and awake!!

 

Informal practice involves incorporating mindfulness into your daily activities such as mindfully doing chores, eating, listening or even bringing it into activities such as yoga or exercise.

 

In my opinion, it’s essential to practice both formally and informally, as they feed and develop upon each other.

Thinking VS Awareness

As your mindfulness skills develop, you start to develop the ability to not get lost in your thoughts so much, and to tap into a whole other part of your brain: your awareness.

 

So up until now, as you go about your daily life, you are most likely continually plugged in to your thinking mind and accompanied by a non-stop internal radio of usually inane, repetitive and often judgmental or even anxious thoughts:
“Hmmm what do I need to do next, I have so much to do, after this I have to ……..”
“What is she wearing, seriously, does she realise what that looks like”
“OMG, WHY did I just do that, I am SO stupid”
“Remember that time….”

“What if…..”

Our thinking mind, sometimes also referred to as our egoic mind, loves to gnaw on problems and create a lot of drama and noise.
It is also usually fearful, worrying and critical of self and others and either rehashing the past or rehearsing for or dreading the imagined future. Now is never enough for the thinking mind, it is always searching and seeking for something better, the next best thing that will truly bring some contentment and peace, but it is never satisfied…as depressing as this sounds, the very nature of our default thinking minds (as proven by neuroscience) is dissatisfaction. It is completely out of touch with the present moment and the true beauty of our lives.
The good news is: we have a whole other aspect of our consciousness – awareness.
Awareness is clear, non-judgmental observation of what is going on in the moment. It sees reality as it is without the overlay of our mental filters. It surrenders and accepts. It is pure, wide, spacious and calm. It is also free – from attachments, preferences, dramas and stories. And it is satisfied because it seeks nothing, only experiences the moment as it is.

 

Unfortunately, living in a culture that encourages and rewards the over-developed thinking part of our minds, we don’t often get to experience prolonged states of awareness in modern day life. But perhaps you have had a taste of it – a moment when you were listening to a beautiful piece of music and all thought stopped, or when you took in an extraordinary sunset and just for a moment, time stood still and you were filled to overflowing with peace and wonder. Sports people sometimes experience it for brief moments when they are suddenly “in the flow” and their movements become completely effortless.
Mindfulness meditation retrains your mind to slip into awareness more easily. And that awareness starts to spill over from your meditation session into your everyday life – and then everything can change from the inside out.

It’s also important to understand that this type of awareness isn’t just a cold, detached, observational awareness – it is infused with warmth, compassion and “friendliness” toward our experience. In ancient Pali, the language in which most of the Buddhist suttas are written, there actually isn’t a separate word for mind and heart, they are considered the same thing…so mindfulness could just easily be called heartfulness. One of my favourite mindfulness teachers, Ajahn Brahm, actually refers to it as ‘kindfulness’.

How Mindfulness Helps With Stress, Anxiety and Depression

In next week’s post, I’m going to cover the exciting research and studies that have proven the benefits of mindfulness for mental health, but let me give an overview of how it helps here.

Beyond Blue describes some of the mental benefits of mindfulness:
“It strengthens our ability to react and perceive things with greater clarity, openness and awareness which in turn improves our ability in a range of areas, including dealing with stress, regulating emotions, making decisions, creating positive relationships and showing resilience in the face of adverse conditions.”

One profound way mindfulness helps with anxiety and depression has to do with the thinking/awareness states of mind I mentioned earlier. So much of anxiety and depression lives in the thinking mind. In anxiety, there is often catastrophising thoughts, obsessive or intrusive thoughts, frightening “what if” thoughts that project into the future and if there are physical symptoms of anxiety, often fearful, reactive thoughts that can in turn not only add to the suffering of the situation, but prolong or worsen the physical symptoms. Likewise, in depression, often there is underlying sadness or other emotions that are compounded by the thinking mind…dwelling on past mistakes or misfortunes, projecting into a hopeless future, reacting to situations with negative judgments and often criticising the self with unkind or derogatory thoughts….and in both anxiety and depression there is often a lack of self-compassion and self-acceptance which adds to the suffering.

Through mindfulness training you develop the skill to “put down” these mental burdens for awhile at least, and experience pure awareness. One of my meditation teachers, Ajahn Brahm, likens it to putting down two heavy bags (the past and the future) that we have been carrying everywhere for years, and having a nice rest in the present moment. And as our mindfulness develops, we find we are less and less inclined to “pick them up” again as we go about our day. The compassion we learn to cultivate for ourselves is also very healing – we are able to tend to our own suffering more and more and become our own best ally, which builds immense fortitude and resilience.

Mindfulness can also “switch on” the relaxation response and “switch off” the stress response, thus effecting our physical bodies by increasing calming, pleasure-boosting hormones such as oxytocin, and reducing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin. And slowly, slowly it rewires our brains to be less reactive to stress and more calm, positive, engaged in the moment and grateful.

If you’re interested in learning how to rewire your brain to be less anxious with mindfulness, jump on the waitlist now to be notified when my 8 week online program The Calmer Mind Course opens up again for enrolment – it’s opening soon and is a great way to learn mindfulness skills with the support of a teacher so you can really get the most out of what you learn and experience the profound benefits of mindfulness for yourself!

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anxiety natural treatment

What is Mindfulness & How Can it Help My Anxiety?

Posted on by • 0 Comments

I’m pretty sure you’ve at least heard of mindfulness, right?

It’s boomed in popularity in recent years and is being used in schools, hospitals, psychotherapy, corporations and there’s a plethora of books, apps and guided mindfulness meditations available to “stick your toe in the water” with…

But maybe you’re still not sure what exactly it is…or how it may help if you suffer from chronic stress, anxiety or depression.

I’ll be honest – because the essence of mindfulness is really an experience, it’s not that easy to put into words.

I would loosely define it as a way of relating to your present-moment experience with acceptance and compassion as well as a set of techniques that help you to develop this way of relating. (If you’re thinking “meh…what’s the big deal about that and how would that help?” Keep reading, I’ll explain in a bit…)

Other definitions I’ve found include:

“Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. Mindfulness is a quality that every human being already possesses, it’s not something you have to conjure up, you just have to learn how to access it.” (mindful.org)
“Mindfulness does not change our experience. Rather, it changes our relationship to our experience. Mindful awareness contributes to a compassionate understanding whereby we may begin to see how we cause ourselves our own suffering so we can begin to learn to respond to, rather than react to painful experiences.
Thus, mindful awareness is ultimately about seeing things as they are so that we can respond consciously and skilfully in challenging circumstances.” (mi-psych.com.au)

Ancient Eastern Origins of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is rooted in ancient Buddhist teachings and is central to Buddhist practice which aims to develop a pure and clear mind free of mental “impurities” such as anger, aversion, greed, fear, stress etc…
It gained traction in the West thanks to a medical doctor and enthusiastic meditator, Dr Jon Kabat-Zinn who started applying it to his patients living with chronic pain and his positive results led to an explosion of research into using mindfulness for mental health conditions, performance, focus and more – and as the evidence-base has grown, it has very much entered mainstream medicine and psychotherapy and been incorporated into Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy among others.
These adaptations still carry the essence of mindfulness practice found in Buddhism, but are secular and modernised versions that can apply to anyone, regardless of beliefs or religion – at it’s core, there is nothing to “believe” about mindfulness, it is something to practice and experience for yourself.

Mindfulness Techniques – The Brass Tacks!

To gain the profound benefits of mindfulness, it has to be practiced consistently.

 

The main types of practice can be classed as formal and informal practices. At the heart of formal mindfulness practice is mindfulness meditation – which can be done seated, standing or walking…or lying if you can stay alert and awake!!

 

Informal practice involves incorporating mindfulness into your daily activities such as mindfully doing chores, eating, listening or even bringing it into activities such as yoga or exercise.

 

In my opinion, it’s essential to practice both formally and informally, as they feed and develop upon each other.

Thinking VS Awareness

As your mindfulness skills develop, you start to develop the ability to not get lost in your thoughts so much, and to tap into a whole other part of your brain: your awareness.

 

So up until now, as you go about your daily life, you are most likely continually plugged in to your thinking mind and accompanied by a non-stop internal radio of usually inane, repetitive and often judgmental or even anxious thoughts:
“Hmmm what do I need to do next, I have so much to do, after this I have to ……..”
“What is she wearing, seriously, does she realise what that looks like”
“OMG, WHY did I just do that, I am SO stupid”
“Remember that time….”

“What if…..”

Our thinking mind, sometimes also referred to as our egoic mind, loves to gnaw on problems and create a lot of drama and noise.
It is also usually fearful, worrying and critical of self and others and either rehashing the past or rehearsing for or dreading the imagined future. Now is never enough for the thinking mind, it is always searching and seeking for something better, the next best thing that will truly bring some contentment and peace, but it is never satisfied…as depressing as this sounds, the very nature of our default thinking minds (as proven by neuroscience) is dissatisfaction. It is completely out of touch with the present moment and the true beauty of our lives.
The good news is: we have a whole other aspect of our consciousness – awareness.
Awareness is clear, non-judgmental observation of what is going on in the moment. It sees reality as it is without the overlay of our mental filters. It surrenders and accepts. It is pure, wide, spacious and calm. It is also free – from attachments, preferences, dramas and stories. And it is satisfied because it seeks nothing, only experiences the moment as it is.

 

Unfortunately, living in a culture that encourages and rewards the over-developed thinking part of our minds, we don’t often get to experience prolonged states of awareness in modern day life. But perhaps you have had a taste of it – a moment when you were listening to a beautiful piece of music and all thought stopped, or when you took in an extraordinary sunset and just for a moment, time stood still and you were filled to overflowing with peace and wonder. Sports people sometimes experience it for brief moments when they are suddenly “in the flow” and their movements become completely effortless.
Mindfulness meditation retrains your mind to slip into awareness more easily. And that awareness starts to spill over from your meditation session into your everyday life – and then everything can change from the inside out.

It’s also important to understand that this type of awareness isn’t just a cold, detached, observational awareness – it is infused with warmth, compassion and “friendliness” toward our experience. In ancient Pali, the language in which most of the Buddhist suttas are written, there actually isn’t a separate word for mind and heart, they are considered the same thing…so mindfulness could just easily be called heartfulness. One of my favourite mindfulness teachers, Ajahn Brahm, actually refers to it as ‘kindfulness’.

How Mindfulness Helps With Stress, Anxiety and Depression

In next week’s post, I’m going to cover the exciting research and studies that have proven the benefits of mindfulness for mental health, but let me give an overview of how it helps here.

Beyond Blue describes some of the mental benefits of mindfulness:
“It strengthens our ability to react and perceive things with greater clarity, openness and awareness which in turn improves our ability in a range of areas, including dealing with stress, regulating emotions, making decisions, creating positive relationships and showing resilience in the face of adverse conditions.”

One profound way mindfulness helps with anxiety and depression has to do with the thinking/awareness states of mind I mentioned earlier. So much of anxiety and depression lives in the thinking mind. In anxiety, there is often catastrophising thoughts, obsessive or intrusive thoughts, frightening “what if” thoughts that project into the future and if there are physical symptoms of anxiety, often fearful, reactive thoughts that can in turn not only add to the suffering of the situation, but prolong or worsen the physical symptoms. Likewise, in depression, often there is underlying sadness or other emotions that are compounded by the thinking mind…dwelling on past mistakes or misfortunes, projecting into a hopeless future, reacting to situations with negative judgments and often criticising the self with unkind or derogatory thoughts….and in both anxiety and depression there is often a lack of self-compassion and self-acceptance which adds to the suffering.

Through mindfulness training you develop the skill to “put down” these mental burdens for awhile at least, and experience pure awareness. One of my meditation teachers, Ajahn Brahm, likens it to putting down two heavy bags (the past and the future) that we have been carrying everywhere for years, and having a nice rest in the present moment. And as our mindfulness develops, we find we are less and less inclined to “pick them up” again as we go about our day. The compassion we learn to cultivate for ourselves is also very healing – we are able to tend to our own suffering more and more and become our own best ally, which builds immense fortitude and resilience.

Mindfulness can also “switch on” the relaxation response and “switch off” the stress response, thus effecting our physical bodies by increasing calming, pleasure-boosting hormones such as oxytocin, and reducing stress hormones such as cortisol and adrenalin. And slowly, slowly it rewires our brains to be less reactive to stress and more calm, positive, engaged in the moment and grateful.

If you’re interested in learning how to rewire your brain to be less anxious with mindfulness, jump on the waitlist now to be notified when my 8 week online program The Calmer Mind Course opens up again for enrolment – it’s opening soon and is a great way to learn mindfulness skills with the support of a teacher so you can really get the most out of what you learn and experience the profound benefits of mindfulness for yourself!

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