Mindfulness: one of the recommended 5-a-day health kicks from the NHS, and a Buddhist staple. There is a classical cliche of ’emptying your mind’ (!) – yet zoning in on what is there is not often an emptying experience. When meditating – emotions, physical sensations, associated thoughts, memories, and metaphorical imagery… a soup of related experience flows up, and letting this flow through and past us is something that EMDR utilises in its healing approach. Yet this can be a real challenge to do alone, when there is a lot going on internally.
Some other forms of ‘meditative acts’ are more helpful than this classic meditation when we are overstimulated. Many activities can be ‘meditative’ particularly when they alert us to our senses. When ‘here-and-now’ physical experiences are activated and a repetitive action is zoned in on… we achieve a state of presence, or mindfulness, that can be soothing and settling. Examples include running, painting, listening to music, playing ASMR sounds on Youtube…
I have loved literally moving bricks around my garden, making new walls or a patios, and then dismanteling them again and moving them somewhere else. There is something physical, repetitive, outdoors… it brings me into the present moment, and makes my internal narrative float by me instead of demanding all of my attention. Perhaps I was also a bricklayer in a past life. Of course, whether you are zoning in or zoning out… there’s a balance to be struck. Being able to move your focus from your internal world to your external surroundings, to flit back and forth between the two, can be a very useful practice when we need to regulate our feelings.
ONLINE SUPPORT:
There are a few sites or apps providing online mindfulness support and activities. These are good practice for learning methods to help soothe anxiety or stress. The voice overs on these apps are instructive – like when visiting a therapist, you are accompanied, and I’d argue that especially at first – this sense of being accompanied makes this practice easier. Here are some sites I’d recommend:
HEADSPACE
Here’s a link to one of headspace’s example meditations. You can join for a free trial. On most of these apps, you’ll be asked some questions when you join… why you’re joining (do you need help reducing stress or improving sleep?) …when in the day do you need support the most? (are mornings hard or the end of the day?) …so they can tailor meditations or mindfulness actvities to you. If meditation is very new for you, you could start at 3 minutes per audio and then work your way up to 10 minutes. Headspace offer a ‘Basics’ course which is great for a beginner testing out these kinds of activities.
https://www.headspace.com/meditation/basic-meditation
INSIGHT TIMER
Insight Timer is a phone app that has free and longer meditations/listenings.
https://insighttimer.com
BALANCE
…are offering a free one year trial:
https://support.balanceapp.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407832441115-How-does-the-free-year-trial-of-Balance-work#:~:text=Your%20first%20year%20of%20Balance,and%20you%20will%20be%20charged.
ACTIVITY EXAMPLE: 5-4-3-2-1
Have a go at the following…
- First, take time to zoom in on 5 things you can see. What can you notice about these objects? How far away are they, what colours are they… add plenty detail to your descriptions of these things. E.g. it’s not just a cup… its a hard metal blue cup with a missing handle and a shimmering surface. Really zone in on it.
- Then, close your eyes and listen, locate 4 things you can hear. Listen to each one intently, slowly. You’ll notice miore sounds appearing than you were previously aware of. Traffic, people talking in the distance, birds tweeting, the sound of the boiler pipes in your walls whirring… let yourself sink into each sound and listen for a while.
- Next, move enough to touch 3 objects. It could be a pillow, a phone, a plant. Whatever is nearby – notice the texture and how it feels to your hand. Furry, warm, hard, frizzy, smooth…. how many adjectives can you use to describe this thing.
- The next sense… 2 smells? Smell your jumper, smell a cup of tea, smell a flower, smell some coffee grains, smell the diesel outside… what is available?
- And taste… something! Go to the fridge, literally pick an item and taste it, eat it slowly, how long can you make it last. And if no fridge is around – describe your saliva. It’s always there.
You may prefer zoning in one of these senses. You may find moving around and feeling the texture of things is a helpful distraction that brings you back into your body when your brain won’t stop ruminating. Or you may find that zoning in on sounds leaves you peaceful and meditative. It’s personal preference. Change the order. There’s no rule. But 5-4-3-2-1 is a helpful structure to begin with.
These kinds of activities are especially useful when you are overstimulated, over anxious, stuck in your head. You give your thinking mind a break – by zooming in on the physical stuff. And you give yourself a break from intense internal feelings – by zooming in on what’s around you.