Mindfulness exercises can do a lot to help calm anxiety. The act of being mindful involves becoming mentally and emotionally present in the moment. When you are consciously mindful, you are actively letting go of your worries by telling yourself that you can only control the moment you are experiencing right now. Now, this isn’t always easy to accomplish. That is why there are mindfulness exercises to help you get started.
It may seem impossible to keep yourself focused on the moment at hand when your mind keeps jumping to anxious thoughts or to all of the things that you need and want to accomplish.
One of the ways we create anxiety for ourselves is by an absence of mindfulness. By assuming we can control a situation that is not directly at hand, we create an overwhelming obstacle that has very little chance of being defeated. Now, it’s ok to get lost in thought every now and again. However, if these thoughts or daydreams are causing you anxiety, then you need to practice mindfulness exercises to bring you back to the moment.
Mindfulness Exercises – Moment Mindfulness Exercise
The first of the mindfulness exercises is what I like to call “Moment Mindfulness.” It’s a great exercise to get started with and can be completed just about anywhere. All you need to do is focus on your breathing for the next 60 seconds. It may seem like a long time at first, but once you will be completely present at the end of that minute. You need to be ready to focus on your breathing and nothing else. The mind can wander easily back to those anxious thoughts, so you need to dedicate yourself to the full minute of focus.
Don’t worry if you don’t make it through the whole minute the first couple of times. Anxiety and worry can be very distracting, and it can take some practice to become mindful. There is no wrong way to perform this exercise. This is only a way for you to experience the moment at hand and nothing else.
Feel free to do this exercise as many times a day as you feel is necessary. Once you become proficient at being mindful for 60 seconds, you may extend the duration for as long as you would like. This opens the door to more advanced meditations.
Mindfulness Exercises – 10-Second Mindfulness
With this exercise, we will focus on concentration by tweaking the Moment Mindfulness slightly. Instead of concentrating on your breathing patterns, you will be closing your eyes and counting to ten. All you need to do to complete the 10-Second Mindfulness exercise is focus with your eyes closed and make it all the way up to 10. If you find that your mind has wandered before reaching the end, you will need to start at the beginning again. Sounds easy, right?
Well, most people have the hardest time with the exercise. The first few times people try the 10-Second Mindfulness, they only make it to count three or count four before their mind wanders. Thankfully, this exercise brings great focus and will allow you to be present after some practice.
Mindfulness exercises are very beneficial to those people with anxiety. Hopefully, by now, you are starting to see why it is important to be in the moment.
Mindfulness Exercises – Thought Observation
If you want to learn how to calm anxiety, then this exercise will definitely help you. As someone who suffers from anxiety, you probably know what it feels like to have a non-stop stream of thoughts flowing through you. Sometimes you might even get more worked up when you try to force these thoughts to stop. Mindfulness exercises, such as the Thought Observation, allow you to use these thoughts to your advantage. Instead of trying to force these thoughts to stop, try to observe each one of them.
There is no right way to do this. Simply just observe and take notice of each thought that comes to you. As you become fully aware of each thought, you will find that your anxiety decreases and that the intensity of that thought loses power over you.
Mindfulness Exercises – Mini Moments
Try to uses these mini mindfulness exercises when you’re on the move:
- Become aware of your feet while you’re walking
- Notice how your chair feels while you are typing or working
- When you are waiting for something or someone, breath consciously
- Clean the house purposefully; Notice every movement you make
- When you find yourself starting to get annoyed or anxious, make yourself smile instead of focusing on the anxiety. Notice how that feels.
Anxiety can only have control over you if you allow it that control. If you are sick of being overwhelmed or worried about things that never come to fruition, it is up to you to make a change. Mindfulness exercises are a fantastic way to calm anxiety. Try the suggestions in this article and see how they work for you!
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