5 Mindfulness Techniques for Anxiety From a Licensed Therapist

Takeaway: If you’ve ever experienced anxiety, you know how overwhelming and uncomfortable it can be. Thankfully, these mindfulness exercises for anxiety can help you feel calmer and more grounded. Try them all to see which ones work best for you! And, remember, you can try these at your own pace in a manner that is most comfortable for you.

Have you ever wondered if mindfulness exercises can actually decrease anxiety and help you feel better every day? It can! All of us experience anxiety at some point. Anxiety is challenging and sometimes overwhelming but here, we will identify accessible tools to manage your stress and anxiety through five easy mindfulness techniques. First its important for me to mention that awareness changes everything. When you are able to identify what is happening to you, why, in what situation or with which particular people, you are far more likely to get a hold of your anxiety, reduce stress and successfully employ mindfulness techniques.

How do you describe your anxiety? People often describe their anxiety as having fast or anxious thoughts, physiological sensations such as shaking or sweating, difficulty thinking, sleeping or breathing and other symptoms. Do any of these sound familiar? Do you know when your anxiety kicks in? Is there a person or situation that triggers your anxiety? Being able to identify your anxiety is the key to begin mastering mindfulness and managing difficult emotions.

Understanding anxiety

Anxiety manifests in a number of different ways. The Diagnostic Statistics Manual (DSM) outlines several anxiety disorders. If you are interested in exploring your unique symptoms of anxiety, it is important to rely on a professional to accurately diagnose. Don’t hesitate to schedule a session with us if you’re interested! Some common DSM disorders and their symptoms include:

Generalized Anxiety Disorder
- Excessive worry about most things
- Can include difficulty concentrating, irritability, muscle tension, trouble sleeping, restlessness, and hypervigilance
Panic Disorder
- Feeling of dread
- Having unexpected panic attacks
- Panic attack can involve increased heart rate, shortness of breath, sense of choking, dizziness, trembling, or fear of losing control
- Panic attacks are abrupt and peak within 10 minutes lasting either a few minutes or a few hours
Phobias
- Anxiety about a specific object or situation
- Can involve animals, environment (heights, deep water, thunderstorms, germs), situational (flying, going to dentist), or bodily (seeing blood, receiving injections)
Social Anxiety Disorder
- Fear of being judged in social situations
- Anticipatory anxiety focused on an upcoming social situation
- Can include social situations like performing in public, shaking hands with someone, eating in public, etc.

Triggers that cause anxiety are as individual as the person experiencing them. However, there are some common factors to consider:

Are you uncomfortable in crowds or social situations?
Are you currently or have been experiencing stress that has not been addressed or does not seem to go away?
Is your self-talk critical, judgmental, negative or spiraling?
Do the people around you exacerbate your negative self-talk or beliefs?
Are you in a situation where you feel unable to make the changes you would like?
Do painful memories trigger anxiety symptoms that impact your daily life?
Do you often feel a need to control other things or people and get aggravated that things are not as you desire?

If you are struggling with the items described above and would like to explore your symptoms or overall mental health, do not hesitate to reach out!

How mindful techniques for anxiety can help

Practicing mindfulness creates awareness in the present moment. The simple act of being present can decrease your anxiety. This helps because our thoughts can have a snow-ball effect where they get faster and bigger and seemingly take over until our nervous system begins to respond and manifests physical symptoms.

Using mindfulness techniques is an ideal way to manage anxious thoughts. These tools are accessible almost anywhere at any time, which means you’re always prepared if anxiety arises. Mindfulness practice is like flexing a muscle, the more you do it, the stronger it becomes. As your ability to be mindful increases, so does your ability to manage strong emotions.

Five mindfulness activities for anxiety

What mindfulness practices are best for you, your lifestyle and the anxiety you experience? Each person is different in terms of how they experience anxiety and the best ways to decrease it or diminish it. There are multiple approaches that increase mindfulness and help manage anxiety. Some are more structured approaches such as classes for yoga, meditation, breath work, a mindfulness workbook or sound baths. Other approaches are focused on internal tools that can be accessed quickly and easily. All of these approaches are effective and work well when combined so you create a multi-faceted mindfulness practice that is tailored to you, your preferences and needs

Here are five exercises that just take a moment and can help you in everyday life that you can bring with you, where ever you go:

1. Use Breathing Exercises

Breath awareness involves paying attention to how you are breathing. This form of mindfulness helps bring your heart rate down and lets oxygen signal to the brain that you are okay. Begin by having mindful awareness and simply slow down to take a few deep breaths. There are a number of structured breathing techniques that are very effective such as Dr. Weil's 4-7-8 Breathing Technique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8fjYPC-k2k. This technique is excellent for calming and resetting the sympathetic nervous system and taking a step back from whatever was causing your feeling of anxiety or stress. Conscious breathing is one of the easiest exercises to employ when you start to feel anxious!

2. Awareness of Senses:

Present moment awareness is a key component of mindfulness. A way to practice this is to examine your senses in a mindful way. Take a moment to bring your attention to the present moment and your surroundings. Slowly work through the fives senses and list the following:

5 things you see
4 things you feel
3 things you hear
2 things you smell
1 thing you taste

This 54321 exercise is designed to bring awareness to the present moment and simply observe your surroundings. Focusing on your senses allows for self awareness and can ease anxiety. If you find that your mind wanders often and you struggle to be present, this exercise gives your thoughts a focal point. Lastly, it aids in distancing yourself from an anxious thought.

3. Be Compassionate with Yourself When Anxious and Negative Thoughts Arise

Having self compassion is a powerful tool. As our thoughts spiral, we can find ourselves thinking critically or judgmentally which exacerbates the swirl of thoughts, emotions, and somatic symptoms. Meeting yourself with a kinder dialogue can restore your inner peace. Using a guided meditation on YouTube or apps like Calm or Headspace can help guide you through mindful breathing so that you don't have to come up with it on your own.

4. Slow Down the Self-Talk in Your Head

You can decrease feelings of anxiety by being aware of the pace of your thoughts. Often, we are engaged in another activity as our thoughts begin to go from a walking pace to a full-on sprint. Stop whatever you are doing. If you're sitting, plant your feet on the floor. If you're walking or standing, find a place to stop, even for a moment. Gently tell your thoughts to slow down. Take a breath. Take in your environment. Ask yourself what you need in this moment as you ease your anxiety. If anxious thoughts arise, tell your thoughts they are just thoughts and they are allowed to slow down. This can be a very grounding meditation.

5. Body Scan

Another mindfulness meditation you can use is a body scan. This is useful to calm anxiety because you are tapping into your parasympathetic nervous system (the network on nerves that relaxes your body). Take a moment to bring awareness to the physical sensations in your body. Notice where any tension or discomfort exists. The physical body holds many of our negative emotions, so it is important to be paying attention to these areas. You can start to slowly scan through your body starting with your toes all the way up to your head and bring awareness to any and all bodily sensations. Simply noticing what you're feeling is half the battle with mindfulness. You don't always need a formal meditation to reduce anxious feelings, it can simply involve paying attention to your body.

How to practice mindfulness for anxiety: Tips for implementing my strategies

The most important thing to consider when thinking about mindfulness tips for anxiety is to look for what works for you. Talk to your friends, family members, read articles and blogs (like this one) and listen to podcasts to find what is best for you. Here are tips to implementing these strategies:

Write down the top three exercises you want to try out and then begin! Consider practicing each new exercise for a week (unless you really dislike it!)
Give yourself a few chances to try out these new exercises
Use a mindfulness workbook or app
Journal about your feelings and experience using mindfulness meditation
Be open minded that the right exercises for you are effective
Give yourself a physical cue to remind yourself to practice (every time I get in the shower or every time I start the car engine)
If a mindfulness activity for anxiety doesn't feel right or good, try another one!

A therapist’s perspective on mindfulness practices for anxiety

Mindfulness practices for anxiety are there for you to use whenever you may need them. They are effective to a small or large extent but you won't know which ones are the best fit for you and how effective they can be unless you try various approaches.

I had a client whose anxiety came from her need to control externally. As a result, she was often angry, critical and impatient. To address these difficult feelings, we developed simple tools and strategies for her to decrease her anxiety and even begin to smile more frequently! It was her young son who pointed this out as she had not noticed. On road trips with her family, instead of being in the front seat being a back seat driver, she began to sit in the back seat, listen to podcasts, close her eyes and take the opportunity to relax. We identified that she was bored and felt isolated, leaving too much time alone and in her head. She was able to identify activities in her community that she enjoyed, began making friends and took on responsibility that gave her purpose and a sense of value. She was able to do this by being willing to look at and address both internal and external challenges within herself.

Sometimes people feel self-conscious or uncomfortable doing breathing exercises on their own. Kind of like having a personal trainer, a therapist can be by your side to guide you through mindfulness exercises and introduce new approaches.

If you feel overwhelmed, self-conscious, embarrassed or even ashamed because you’re concerned about your mental health, then it may be time to reach out to a professional.

Get the professional, compassionate anxiety support you need to thrive.

If you feel unsure or exasperated at the idea of yet another "thing" it may be the perfect time to talk to someone. There is a sea of options available to you and SG Therapy Group is one of them. We are well-versed in all things anxiety management as we provide mindfulness based therapy approaches (including mindfulness based stress reduction) that are comfortable and specifically tailored to each individual client.

Our approach is holistic, taking into consideration mind-set, self, talk, breathing, eating, sleeping, exercising and even socializing habits. We make it easy, safe and effective so you can begin to feel better.

If this sounds like a good match for you and you would like to schedule an initial session with one of our practitioners, contact us today at sgtherapygroup.com

Aviva Brill, LCSW

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