Five Ways to Use Mindfulness

HELLO and welcome to the second article in the 5W2 series.

The 5W2 series is a selection of short articles on strategies and techniques to support our emotional development within our personal and professional roles. Each article includes tried and tested practical self-development tools.

This second article is Five Ways to Use Mindfulness, and will cover using mindfulness to:

1. Reduce chronic pain.

2. Lower blood pressure.

3. Help with depression.

4. Lose weight.

5. Calm anxiety.

Before I get into the detail of the Five Ways I thought it might be useful to share what mindfulness is and isn’t, as I know from experience with clients that there can be a bit of confusion and mystery surrounding mindfulness.

Mindfulness is:

1. A simple form of meditation.

2. Paying attention on purpose.

3. Increasing your awareness of your thoughts.

4. Observing your thoughts.

5. Using your breathing to focus on the present.

Mindfulness isn’t:

1. The latest fad — it’s at least 2,500 years old!

2. Easy — as it requires regular practise.

3. Just stopping thinking.

4. A cure for clinical conditions — but it can be used together with conventional medicine.

5. Relaxation — but relaxation can be a welcome side effect of mindfulness practise.

Personally, mindfulness helps me:

• Focus on the present moment and stops me worrying and feeling overwhelmed.

• Allows me to increase my awareness of what I am grateful for.

• Creates space between thinking and acting so I have more options of how to respond.

• Help me step back from my thoughts (both positive & negative) and remind me my thoughts are just thoughts, not facts.

For those of you who want to see and hear a great description of mindfulness click on this link and watch Andy Puddicombe’s TED talk: All it takes is 10 Mindful Minutes.

https://ted.com/talks/andy_puddicombe_all_it_takes_is_10_mindful_minutes?utm_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tedspread

There are so many ways to use mindfulness, but I have chosen the following 5, which can be used for ourselves and in the workplace:

1. Using mindfulness to reduce chronic pain

We all know people who have chronic pain and struggle to exercise, sleep and carry out normal day-to-day tasks. These challenges can cause emotions such as anger, frustration, sadness and anxiety. Holding onto these emotions only prolongs the 'suffering'. Using mindfulness in chronic pain helps understand that the pain is inevitable but suffering is optional and using their breathing and awareness of their thoughts can reduce their suffering.

The following resource was recommended to me by a physiotherapist I worked with. She encourages all her patients with chronic pain to use the app daily,  as she believes it helps them to feel more in control of their pain.

• CALM app– This is a mindfulness meditation app. The app is free for the simplest version and has a small cost for the whole range of meditations. It provides a selection of guided 2, 5 and 10 minute mindfulness meditations to help be more present, aware of thoughts and reduce tension. The app is really easy to use and is worthwhile recommending to patients.

2. Using mindfulness to lower blood pressure

This is a quick and simple technique that can give immediate results.

1. Close eyes and take 3 deep breaths.

2. Make sure the focus of breathing is within the diaphragm and you are not breathing with your shoulders!

3. Imagine you have a balloon inside your chest that gets bigger as you breathe in and gets smaller when you breathe out.

4. Think of your favourite colour and make the balloon that colour.

5. Focus on the action of your coloured balloon for quite a few breaths or until you can sense you are more relaxed and are taking quality breaths.

6. Keep your attention on the balloon while you take your BP again.

On most occasions the BP result after this exercise is lower.

While studies have found mindfulness can help reduce stress, there is currently no strong evidence that it has clinical benefits for people with hypertension.

3. Using mindfulness to help with depression

Mindfulness can be helpful in people that have depression caused by repetitive negative thinking patterns (rumination) or negative automatic thoughts (NATS). By practising mindfulness regularly the person becomes more aware of how a focus on breathing stops the negative thinking patterns and connects them to the present moment.

Regular practise can help shift the individual's perspective from “I’m always depressed” to “I have a feeling of depression just now which I know is temporary and won’t last forever”. This healthier approach towards emotions can be achieved by practising mindfulness daily. As a starting point I recommend the CALM app starter session: 21 days of calm, as well as a 10 minute guided session of your choice every morning and a 10 minute guided session on 'gratitude' before sleep.

4. Using mindfulness to lose weight

Mindful eating helps increase awareness of inner thoughts and emotions that drive comfort eating. Mindfulness helps individuals to eat in a healthy and conscious way that develops positive eating choices. The following are a list of tips on how to develop mindful eating:

• Focus on the food – turn off TV, put phone away and minimise distractions.

• Take 3 deep breaths.

• Notice your food, the colours, the smell and acknowledge how grateful you are to have this food.

• Take a small mouthful of food and chew slowly noticing the taste, texture and smell.

• Take another mouthful only after you have finished the first mouthful.

• Eat slowly to help you be aware of your stomach and the feeling of being full.

• When you feel full, stop eating even if your plate is not empty.

Use these tips at 2 or 3 meals within a week to help develop a more balanced approach to eating.

5. Using mindfulness to calm anxiety

5,4,3,2,1 is a grounding technique using the simplicity of your five senses. Use this together with deep breathing anytime when you or others are feeling overwhelmed or anxious.

• 5 – SEE. Observe 5 things around you.

• 4 – FEEL. Feel the texture of 4 things around you.

• 3 – HEAR. Listen for 3 sounds around you.

• 2 – SMELL. Experience 2 smells around you.

• 1 – TASTE. Notice 1 taste around you or recall a recent taste.

Taking 5 minutes out to focus on these 15 things can bring your thoughts to the present moment and allow you to take control of them and calm anxiety.

Ok that’s it, Five Ways to Use Mindfulness. I’d like to finish the article by sharing a little quote from one of my favourite films, Kung Fu Panda!

“Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and now is a gift,

that’s why we call it the present” Master Oogway

Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I hope there is something here that will help you and others use mindfulness to increase awareness and manage thoughts.

The next article in the 5W2 series is Five Ways to Self Coach.

©Leading2solutions2018