Mindfulness: What is it and How do I do it?

by Brenna Tighe, MSEd, LMHC, CRC

Mindfulness: What is it and How do I do it?

Mindfulness has become somewhat of a buzzword over the last few years. We’ve heard of it being a cure-all for stress, anxiety, and overwhelm, but what exactly is mindfulness?​

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment. When you’re practicing mindfulness, you are observing your thoughts and feelings without judgement. In a world that is growing more complicated and fast-paced by the day, many of us are feeling a need to slow down and connect deeper with our Self. 
Mindfulness can benefit us in a plethora of ways. If you’re looking to reduce stress, mindfulness helps improve emotional regulation, which leads to a better mood & better ability to handle stress (Remmers, Topolinski, & Koole, 2016). It’s not only beneficial in reducing your current stress levels, but incorporating mindfulness into your daily routine is a great tool for effectively managing stress permanently.

How do I practice Mindfulness?

I know when I first heard about mindfulness a few years ago, I ignorantly thought it was sitting cross-legged on a yoga mat for hours, but there are so many different ways to practice mindfulness! I was unaware that there were a plethora of ways to incorporate mindfulness into my life in a way that felt simple and easy for me. Below are a few of my favorite ways to practice mindfulness on a daily basis…

Mindful Breath

Close your eyes and focus on your breath. Notice where you feel it, it might be the air going in and out at your nostrils, or the rise and fall of your chest/stomach. You can do this for as little as 30 seconds or as long as you want.

Mindful Shower

A daily shower is the perfect time to practice a mindfulness meditation exercise. As you step into the shower, notice how the water feels as it hits each part of your body. Notice which part of your body you wash first and switch it up. Habits like showering usually put us on autopilot, we go through the motions without thinking about it. ​

Mindful Five Senses Exercise

This is a grounding technique that uses all five sense to root down and feel entirely centered in your body. By engaging in this activity, our brain refocuses from ruminating thoughts to focusing on the present moment. ​

a. FEEL: name 5 things you can feel in or on your body
b. HEAR: name 4 things you can hear
c. SEE: name 3 things you can see
d. SMELL: name 2 things you can smell
e. TASTE: name one thing you can taste

Phone Apps for Mindfulness

There are also great apps you can download on your phone for guided mindful meditations. Guided meditations can be helpful for people who don’t know where or how to start. Having an expert lead you through the basic steps of your meditation practice can teach us how to do it ourselves down the line. Three of the most recommended apps for guided mindful meditations are…

1. Calm: Calm makes it easy to create a daily mindfulness practice. There are a handful of different options you can choose from (daily calm, quick and easy, mental fitness, sleep stories, etc) If you choose to download the Calm app, you have the option of signing up for a 7-day free trial. After the 7 days are up, you have the option of creating an account at an extra cost. 
2. Headspace: I personally use the Headspace app and can’t recommend it enough! Being new to mindfulness meditation, the 10-day basics course was a great place to start. It is designed to teach the essentials of meditation in just minutes per day. Headspace offers themed meditations (finding focus, dealing with regret, difficult conversations, etc), an entire sleep section that helps you wind down and prepare for sleep, and also an SOS section, which offers meditations to help manage intense experiences. Headspace offers a 7-day free trial, or a 14-day free trial when you buy an annual subscription.
3. Mindfulness Coach: this app is for iPhone users only and was designed by the US department of Veterans Affairs to help teach mindfulness to service members & veterans. The app is completely free and offers mindfulness training with the goal of reducing stress, improving emotional balance, increasing self-awareness & helping with anxiety and depression.

Life, especially right now, is so chaotic. It’s important to nourish ourselves and reconnect with our Self. If you’re struggling with anxiety, stress, depression, overwhelm, or self-awareness, give mindfulness a try!

RESOURCES:
Remmers, C., Topolinski, S., & Koole, S. L. (2016). Why being mindful may have more benefits than you realize: Mindfulness improves both explicit and implicit mood regulation. Mindfulness 7, 829-827.
https://www.calm.com/blog/about
https://www.headspace.com/meditation/guided-meditation
https://mobile.va.gov/app/mindfulness-coach

Brenna Tighe, MSEd, LMHC, CRC is a clinician at Healing & Growth Counseling, providing individual mental health counseling services to clients in person at our Massapequa Park office and online via telehealth to clients located across the state of New York. Well-versed in mindfulness, Brenna bring mindfulness skills to her clients to help in decreasing symptoms of anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and depression. She is a firm believer in practicing what she preaches, and incorporates mindfulness into her daily life.

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