How Mindfulness Can Help With Anxiety.

Hi All

I have just finished an 8 week Mindfulness CBT course and have found it to be very helpful, I have booked onto an other 8 week course in November. It took me a few weeks to get into but found it to be a huge help as did others on the course and I would recommend it to others. It is good for helping with anxiety/depression and chronic pain which has been a added bonus. I have put together the following information which I have found on the web and hope this gives an idea of what is involved in being mindful.

The entire idea of mindfulness or being mindful; is complete engagement in the present moment. It is a state where you are not thinking, reflecting, judging, or deciding, but are instead simply in experiencing the things currently in your available experience. It has roots in Buddhist philosophy and has been gaining widespread attention in the treatment of anxiety disorders and depression. The following is an overview of the principles of mindfulness and suggestions on how you can apply it for yourself starting right now.

Philosophy
In general, we are largely unaware of our present moment, and often operate on “auto-pilot” to some degree. Part of this is adaptive. If we were completely aware of our moment-to-moment experience at all times we would fail to use our past to inform our present, and we would be incapable of making decisions for our future. However, there are times where completely engaging yourself in the present is desirable, helpful, and adaptive. Fortunately, we are capable of achieving this, but it requires practice. Once achieved, mindfulness can provide a richer life experience and can be instrumental in helping one reduce and control anxiety and worry.

Elements of the Mindfulness Attitude
There are 7 elements of the mindfulness attitude that are required for someone to achieve a mindful state:
1. Non-Judging: taking the role of an impartial observer to whatever your current experience is. This means not making a positive or negative evaluation of what is happening, just simply observing it.

2. Patience: cultivating the understanding that things must develop in their own time.

3. Beginner’s Mind: having the willingness to observe the world as if it was your first time doing so. This creates an openness that is essential to being mindful.

4. Trust: having trust in yourself, your intuition, and your abilities.

5. Non-Striving: the state of not doing anything, just simply accepting that things are happing in the moment just as they are supposed to. For people from Western countries this tends to be one of the more difficult components due to our hectic lifestyles.

6. Acceptance: completely accepting the thoughts, feelings, sensations, and beliefs that you have, and understanding that they are simply those things only.

7. Non-Attachment: avoidance of attaching meaning to thoughts and feelings, or connecting a given thought to a feeling. Instead, let a thought or feeling come in and pass without connecting it to anything, observing them exactly as they are.

How To Use This
Since GAD for example is built primarily on the inability to control anxiety and worry, achieving a state where these are all present can provide tremendous relief and a new perspective on anxiety provoking situations. The best way to practice mindfulness is to find a comfortable position (laying down, sitting comfortably, etc) and relax your breathing. After a brief period of time, start observing everything that is happening inside and outside of you with the peaceful mindfulness attitude.

After 10 minutes see how you feel. Were you able to let anxiety provoking thoughts pass without attaching them to others? Were you able to find a new appreciation for the complexity of the environment you are in? Were there new things that you noticed about yourself? Do you feel more relaxed and at peace? If so then you were able to become mindful, but for most people the first try can be frustrating. Taking at least 10 minutes everyday to practice can have a fantastic payoff and can become an important tool in helping you with anxiety/depression.

I have done a number of different talking therapies but have found Mindfulness to have been the most eye-opening and has really made me realise how much my life has been controlled by anxiety and depression. Your mind moves on but your body remembers and during the course I could feel the damage and hurt but have learnt to breath into it and then let the hurt go. I am only starting out on my mindfulness journey and still have a lot to learn about mindfulness thinking.

It might not be for every one which is fine but if it sounds like something which you my find useful then feel free to ask any questions you may have and as I mentioned there is a lot of information on the web.

Take care and be kind to yourself.

Hibee

Hi SC

Mindfulness has been around for a long time but only in the last couple of years has it become recognized as a helpful way to reduce anxiety/depression. When it is combined with CBT it in view is very effective but as with all these things a lot of personal work is required.

Hope all is well with you? I am spending the next couple of weeks basically planning my life lol the last couple of years have been tough but hopefully on the up again just need to get my back pain sorted now.

Hibee

Great info, thanks!

Something else that might work is sort of "dissecting objects," if that makes sense. Look at something, and trace it's shape with your eyes, and imagine taking it apart, piece by piece and imagine what each individual piece looks and feels like and sounds like.

Because it's such an 'involved' process, it can help to keep your focus!

Good stuff.










M.

Thanks for sharing! Great info & something I have been considering.

Hey Hibee,

I'm really interested in mindfulness as well. What course did you take? How much did it cost?

Thanks for sharing

Hi Moose1109

I live in the UK and the course I did was provided on the NHS so i did not have to pay anything so very lucky in that respect. The course was 8 weeks long which I think is the standard time for a Mindfulness course I really found the course helpful and would recommend it to anyone who is suffering with anxiety.


Park12

Mindfulness really helps to teach you to live in the moment and to not worry about the past or future. In mindfulness we do a meditation called the body scan which can take anywhere between 25-45min I do this every morning and find that it focuses my mind for the rest of the day and helps to keep the anxiety at bay but it does take a lot of practice so you really need to be persistent and stick with it.


Hibee

I haven't looked into it here and can't find any of these classes available what is the best YouTube video that will help me practice this?

I found some classes in my area but they are expensive and far away from me. So, I found a CD book online and will try using an 8 week session to teach me mindfulness.

Thanks for posting how you found success with it.