Using Mindfulness to Combat Anxiety: 3 Exercises to Get You Started

It is easy to feel overwhelmed by anxiety as we navigate our daily lives. Worries can build up quietly, turning small concerns into a sense of dread or major stressors before we even realize it. The emotional signs of feeling frustrated over small things or having difficulty concentrating may arise. When our minds are consumed by anxious thoughts, it can be difficult to make choices that align with our best interests or reflect our true intentions. Fortunately, practicing mindfulness can help us regain a sense of control over this anxiety. By becoming more aware of our thoughts and emotions, we respond to stress with greater clarity, making it easier to manage the anxieties that ebb and flow throughout the day.

Introduction to Mindfulness

Being mindful is something that you may have heard of but never had a clear definition of. What does it really mean to be mindful? Mindfulness is the practice of intentionally bringing our attention to the present moment with openness, curiosity, and acceptance. It involves observing thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations without judgment while also being attuned to our external environment. Rather than reacting impulsively, mindfulness helps us foster a conscious and balanced response to stressful situations.

Research in neuroscience and psychology has found that mindfulness significantly reduces anxiety and regulates emotions by altering brain activity. Mindfulness calms the amygdala, the brain’s center for emotions–including fear and worry, and bolsters the prefrontal cortex, which improves rational thinking and impulse control. Regular practice of mindfulness can also decrease cortisol levels, the stress hormone, by lowering the activity of our brain’s default mode network which can lead to lack of focus or mind-wandering when left too active. Mindfulness based interventions such as cognitive therapy can also help us respond to stress with greater resilience.

4 Signs that You Might Need Help Practicing Mindfulness:

Ruminating on the Past or Worrying about the Future:

This is a classic symptom of anxiety. You may constantly dwell on things that happened in the past or worry excessively about your future. You are not being fully present in the current moment and feel stressed out over this.

Overthinking or Overanalyzing a Situation:

Anxiety may cause you to overthink in an attempt to gain control over situations. You may catch yourself excessively overthinking a scenario or analyzing a situation with no real satisfying conclusion. This can lead to feeling burnt out or cause heightened anxiety.

Lack of Self-Compassion:

You are overly critical of yourself when facing challenges. You punish yourself too hard when you experience setbacks amplifying your stress and anxiety. You may even blame yourself for your distress and think that you should be able to “handle things better.”

Overuse of Escapism:

Anxiety can push you to engage in avoidant behaviors. You might distract yourself to avoid addressing uncomfortable emotions. This might look like spending countless hours on TikTok or YouTube, ignoring the underlying issues that you currently face.

Three Tips for Practicing Mindfulness

To help you get started on practicing mindfulness, I want to provide three tips to help you embark on your journey.

Exercise 1:

If you are not sure where to start, a simple exercise that you can do right now is to write down what you notice is happening within your mind and body. First, sit down at a computer or grab a pen and paper to start writing about something that happened to you recently. This could be anything from good news to bad news whether you received an encouraging message from your friend or you spilled coffee on your favorite shirt.

Focus on these three things after describing the facts of your event:

1. Thoughts: What do you notice is happening with your thoughts? Are you replaying a negative moment over and over thinking about what you could have done differently? Or maybe you are thinking about how your friend’s good news made you feel.

2. Emotions: What emotions do you feel? Is it something along the lines of happiness and joy? Do you feel sad or embarrassed because you said something you regret?

3. Physical Sensations: What is happening to your body? Is your heart beating faster than usual? Are your breaths shallow? How is your posture?

These are all things that we can be aware of at all parts of the day. When we break down the task of being mindful into the three distinct components of thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, the job seems much more manageable. It’s okay to take your time when something happens to you during the day to address these three things in your head. You may find that your head is more clear when deciding on what to do next.

Why this works:

Having something concrete in front of us, whether it’s a piece of paper or a computer screen, helps us organize and keep track of our thoughts and feelings. The brain processes information more effectively when we externalize our experiences. This reduces the cognitive load as well as it frees up mental resources for problem-solving and regulating emotions. Studies in cognitive psychology suggest that journaling engages both hemispheres of the brain, which enhances self-awareness and the ability of processing emotions.

Additionally, research in affective neuroscience shows that writing down our thoughts activates the prefrontal cortex, which we know plays a large role in rational thinking, while working in tandem with the amygdala to regulate emotions. This can help decrease the intensity of negative emotions such as anxiety by creating psychological distance between us and distressing experiences. Furthermore, journaling has been linked to lower levels of cortisol and increased emotional resilience over time.

There are so many other things happening in our minds that it can be difficult to keep a mental journal when we are tasked to report on sensations that we are not used to considering. Documentation of our progress is also readily available after effective journaling. This can be useful in going back to review our notes and examining if any of our thoughts, emotions, or physical sensations have changed when thinking about the same situation. It can be helpful to measure progress to fulfill a sense of accomplishment. It can also be motivating to be able to see progress which may help us build and keep a routine in becoming our best selves.

Exercise 2:

At its core, the concept of mindfulness resides in the awareness of the three core areas: thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations. We can also do exercises that focus on a specific aspect of the core. With a focus on our body’s physical sensations, meditation can help us reach our desired state of mindfulness.

This focus is important because our bodies react to stress before we can consciously recognize it. Tuning into sensations like breathing or muscle tension helps activate the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing symptoms of anxiety such as elevated heart rate and shortness of breath. By identifying these signals early, we can use coping mechanisms to regulate emotions and respond to anxiety with greater control and adaptive strategies.

Breathing awareness is a key aspect to meditation and mindfulness practice. This is because breathing anchors us to the present moment. When we pay attention to our breaths, we can move our focus from stressful thoughts or other distractions to the physical sensations of inhaling and exhaling. This also gives ample oxygen to our brains to clear our minds. A simple act of cognizant breathing helps us calm down and reduce anxiety. With this calm and open state of mind, we can then begin our non-judgemental observations while making a connection between our mind, body, and the present moment.

Here is an overview of diaphragmatic breathing, which is also known as belly breathing, to help you get into the right state of mind.

1. Find a comfortable position. Sit or lie down in a cozy position and relax your shoulders. If you are sitting, make sure to plant your feet firmly on the ground.

2. Place your hand on your stomach. It should be just below your rib cage.

3. Inhale through your nose. Take a slow and deep, steady breath inhaling through your nose. While you are doing this, focus on expanding your belly instead of your chest. Notice your hand rising as you inhale.

4. Exhale through your mouth. Slowly begin to exhale through your mouth, and let all of the air out. You can purse your lips to slow down your breathing. Notice your hand lowering as you do this exhale.

5. Repeat these steps. Continue to do this inhale and exhale at a slow but comfortable rate. Do this for several breaths and pay attention to your breathing.

6. Focus on your body’s physical sensations. Observe how your body feels. What do you feel as air is entering and leaving your lungs? What do you notice about your chest and stomach as you do this exercise?

This is a simple exercise that you can practice daily right away. You only need to set aside 5 minutes in a quiet and comfortable environment. Once you make this a habit, you may find that there is a routinely effective time of day that works for you. It could be right after you wake up, during your lunch break, or just before bedtime. You don’t have to confine this exercise to just your routine though. Diaphragmatic breathing can help ground you during stressful moments. Whenever you feel overwhelmed, remember that you can return to this to calm yourself and reduce your nervous system to regain focus.

Exercise 3:

Another tool you can use to focus on your physical sensations is body scanning. Body scanning is a great way to practice mindfulness because it systematically brings your attention to different parts of your body. This promotes awareness, reduces stress, and helps you relax. A key benefit of body scanning is its ability to invoke the relaxation response. This is a physiological state of being that counters stress and anxiety proven in research led by Dr. Herbert Benson and other neuroscientists. Their research has shown that techniques such as body scanning activates the parasympathetic nervous system which reduces heart rate, lowers levels of cortisol in the body, and calms the amygdala. By bringing awareness to different areas of the body, body scanning helps neutralize anxiety by shifting intrusive thoughts towards present-moment sensations thus reinforcing a state of relaxation and emotional regulation.

Here is an overview of steps to practice this technique.

1. Get comfortable. Sit or lie down straight. If you’re sitting, plant your feet firmly on the ground, and put your hands on your thighs. If you’re lying on your back, place your hands by your sides. It is recommended to close your eyes to feel more comfortable and get a better connection with your body.

2. Adjust your breathing. Focus on your breaths momentarily to get into the zone. Take slow and deep breaths by inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth. Take your time to get into a good rhythm of breathing.

3. Start the body scan. Bring your attention to the top of your head. Observe how you feel in that area. Notice anything that feels tense, warm, cold, or relaxed. Be open to your observations, and try not to stray from your body’s physical sensations.

4. Continue the body scan. Continue the observations for each of your body parts moving down the body. Go from your head and down to your neck and shoulders. Move down to your arms then hands. Think about what you’re feeling in your chest and back, then your hips and thighs. Next observe your knees and calves, then finally your feet and toes.

5. Take it slowly. Spend enough time on each body part before you move onto the next. Be fully immersed in your connection to your body.

6. Release tension. If you start to feel tense or uncomfortable, return to focusing on your breathing. Allow your body to relax before you continue your scan. If you find yourself being distracted by other thoughts, guide your attention back to the body scan and focus on the present moment.

7. Wrap up the body scan. Take a moment to observe your body as a whole, not just the parts. What do you notice? Think about how you feel not just physically but also emotionally. Once you have done this, return to focusing on your breathing. After a few deep breaths, open your eyes and resume your day with a new sense of calm and presence.

You can reduce stress and anxiety by practicing body scans. Start with shorter sessions that last about 10-15 minutes, and gradually increase the duration of the exercise as you become more familiar with the steps.

Additional Tips for Practicing Mindfulness

Be consistent. The best type practice you can do is one you can do consistently. These tips will not be that helpful if you only practice them once and then forget about them. Find the best routine for yourself so you can do these exercises often enough while maintaining enough energy per session to keep a sharp focus and concentrated intent on your practice.

Take a non-judgmental stance. Sometimes when we observe our thoughts or actions, we are quick to criticize everything. It is highly important that we make our observations without labeling everything as good or bad. Constantly reinforcing a negative narrative around ourselves can be damaging to our self-esteem or confidence in being more mindful as people.

Be patient. Maybe you will be distracted the first times you run these exercises. You might think that the observations of your thoughts and feelings are inadequate at the start as well. Remember that this takes time to get down. It will be a process to develop mindfulness skills just like anything else in life.

Get Treatment for Anxiety or Stress

Deeper Connections Counseling is here for you. We know you are capable of being your best self. Our therapists are available to help you practice mindfulness and manage anxieties, stress, and more.

To get started, reach us by:

1. Contact us online

2. Hear back from a therapist within 24 hours (except on Sundays)

3. Feel more connected and hopeful

You can also reach out to me directly. You don’t have to feel alone, anxious, or isolated. Counseling can help.

Leon Xue, LAMFT

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