Just when you think you’re relaxed and your mind calm, your anxiety hits you with full force, making you forget your relaxed state. Struggling with anxiety is not uncommon and while we can try many different ways to reduce anxiety, only a few work.
One of them is grounding an individual’s presence back to the present. Bringing one’s consciousness back in the present moment can be achieved by practicing mindfulness exercises and techniques.
In this blog, I’ve combined for you the best, simple yet effective mindfulness techniques for anxiety that you can practice when you feel your anxiety taking control of your mind and peace.
Before we get to the mindfulness exercises for anxiety, let’s understand how mindfulness works and how effective mindfulness activities for anxiety are.
Practicing Mindfulness For Anxiety
When we practice mindfulness, the simple principles of mindfulness counters the hyper-alertness and overthinking that anxiety often accompanies. When we’re in the throes of anxiety, our minds revert to rumination and over worrying, which leaves us struggling to stay in the present moment.
Anxiety brings all the negative thoughts – about yourself, your loved ones, and about the situations you can’t control – to the forefront. Lost in these moments, we forget to notice the senses that bind us to the present.
Mindfulness is a concept that helps us take our attention away from our negative thoughts, anxious mind, and worries by acknowledging them. Mindfulness allows us to not ignore those anxious thoughts but pay attention to our senses while letting those thoughts stay in our consciousness.
By helping we focus our attention in the present moment, mindfulness helps calm our overly anxious mind and soothe our frayed nerves.
Mindfulness does not work on eliminating the stress or our problems but helps us center our mind back to the present moment so that we can effectively deal with them. When you become mindful and aware of your current predicament, you learn to accept your problems without any judgment.
Mindfulness allows us to pause for a moment and think, instead of blindly reacting to a bad situation.
Now, let’s take a quick look at the 10+ mindfulness techniques for anxiety that can help you come back to the present moment.
10+ Mindfulness Techniques For Anxiety
1. Focus On Intention
Intentions are a way to help you stay focused whenever your anxiety pops up. You can try to practice setting an intention in the morning. This intention will help you focus and remind yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. You can set a small intention for the day or a big one you want to accomplish by the end of the day.
2. Meditation Always Help
Mindfulness meditation for anxiety is always a good option when it comes to mindfulness exercises. You can practice a quick meditation either via an app or a guided meditation video online. Meditation is easy, simple, and the best way to center yourself back to the present moment.
3. Distract Your Mind With A Doodle
When you’re feeling anxious or stressed, take a moment out of your time and doodle. Let your creativity flow and give your mind a break. Doodling can help take away your anxious thoughts. You can buy an adult doodling book or just doodle mindlessly on paper.
4. Take A Mindful Walk
Did you know that taking a walk can help reduce your anxiety? But did you also know that taking a mindful walk can do wonders for your overall wellness? When you take a walk, pay attention to the sounds of nature around you, the smell, the feel of the breeze on your skin. Don’t use your phone during this mindful walk. Try to stay focused on your senses.
5. Think About Someone Else’s Happiness
Gratitude is another mindfulness technique for anxiety that can help you focus on the good instead of the bad. Just take a moment out of your time to think about someone else’s happiness. You don’t have to say it, just think about someone with gratitude.
6. Stargazing Can Help
The world is bigger than your problems, to put it bluntly. Look up at the stars. If you’re anxious, stargazing makes it the best mindfulness exercise. Pause, take a deep breath and look up to the stars. Let the vast and untouchable universe remind you that your life is bigger than your problems right now.
7. A Cup Of Tea Can Help
Caffeine can enhance your anxiety but a decaf cup of tea can help calm you down. I know you won’t believe me but drinking a cup of tea can be considered a mindfulness technique if done right. Focus on the little things; how the tea brews, the steam that rises from the cup, and the taste.
8. Take One Thing At A Time
Your to-do list has a lot of things, so what? Mindfulness can only work when you do it right. Instead of focusing on all the tasks, focus on one thing at a time. For your convenience, you can set a timer to give each task a dedicated time. During this, avoid using your phone or multitasking.
9. Say No To Your Phone
You don’t need to be attached to your phone all the time. If you’re practicing mindfulness for anxiety, it’s best if you leave your phone in another room. If you’re having lunch, instead of scrolling through your phone, eat mindfully. Take a moment away from your phone to reduce your anxiety.
10. Do Your Chores, Mindfully
Another mindfulness exercise for anxiety that I like the best is doing your chores but mindfully. Instead of just washing your dishes, try to be mindful of your actions. Focus on how the cold water feels on your skin, how the soap washes your dishes. You can do this while folding laundry or cleaning the house.
11. Journaling Is Always The Best
There is no better way to reduce anxiety and your anxious thoughts more than journaling. When you feel anxious and need to be mindful, take out your journal and scribble your thoughts. Penning your thoughts can help bring the untamed feelings out of your mind and help you calm.
12. Do Absolutely Nothing
Sometimes trying to be mindful of every moment can add to your anxiety. To reduce your anxiety, you can try not doing anything that requires you to be mindful. Let your mind wander off, watch a movie, listen to a song. Just let yourself loose and not worry about anything for a while.
Mindfulness may not always be the best solution to calm your anxiety nor is it a replaceable option to medication or psychotherapy. If your symptoms of anxiety are severe, then you must follow up with your therapist and continue going to therapy and taking medications.
Mindfulness techniques for anxiety are just some exercises that you can practice when you’re not in therapy and need to center your mind to focus on your problems at hand.
Even 5 minutes of mindfulness can help calm your anxiety and bring you back to the present moment. Remember, mindfulness is not magic. It only works when you’re consistent in your practice and are willing to move past your negative thoughts.
Try this 2-minute meditation for quick stress relief…
I hope these mindfulness exercises for anxiety will help you reduce your anxious thoughts and symptoms. If you’d like to connect with us, you can write to us at info@calmsage.com or DM us on social media.
Tried these mindfulness techniques for anxiety? Did any of these work? Are there any that we missed mentioning? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
Take Care!
The post Reduce Your Anxiety With These 10+ Simple Yet Effective Mindfulness Tricks appeared first on Calm Sage – Your Guide to Mental and Emotional Well-being.