note: this blog post is FULL of links to free meditations and practices so take your time looking through the whole post!
the best, natural, side effect free, anti-anxiety medication? it’s available to you right now.
Many of you have been asking me how to manage the anxiety you experience as a result of living with chronic pain, and I’ve gotta tell you: I have a lot to say on the topic. I could write a whole book on the topic! But with anxiety comes overwhelm, and in an attempt to not overwhelm you I’m going to start with the basics.
In a way what I’m about to share is the most basic and fundamental concept when it comes to using mindfulness to soothe an anxious mindbody, but in other ways it can be a complex concept to grasp and challenging to put into practice! For now let this be an invitation to explore these ideas and play with the practices. I can assure you that over time these concepts and practices will make more sense and feel more natural :)
So without further ado, I introduce to you, the powerful anti-anxiety medication known as:
The H E R E + N O W
yup.
That’s it.
The present moment!
Sounds simple enough, right?
why is accessing the present moment such an effective antidote to anxiety?
The experience of anxiety is fueled by thoughts having to do with realities outside of the present moment. i.e. the thought “omg what if I have this pain in my lower back forever and it never goes away?!” has to do with some imagined future and not with the here + now. But when we connect to the present moment fully we are able to, even if only for a moment, let go of that story and come back to the simplicity and truth of the present moment. In that moment the truth of the present moment might be, “I notice I have tight sensations in my lower back, I notice I have thoughts passing through my mind about how long the pain will last, I notice my body is starting to tighten and my heart rate is going faster.” That is what is happening inside of you in that moment and the story of the future is just a story.
Brief note about the idea of “stories”. Humans love stories. I love stories! As an actor bringing made up stories to life was my job! Stories add color, texture, intrigue and meaning to our lives, but what happens when the stories weave a tale that leads to anxiety? A tale that feeds fear? We can get trapped in the web of a tale we wove. The story no longer adds color that makes your life brighter and more meaningful, but darker and more stressful, which directly negatively impacts not just your mental health but also your physical health.
When I coach my clients on mindbody techniques for chronic pain I have them make a list of unhelpful beliefs and stories they have about their chronic pain. These might include things like, “I’ll be in pain forever” or “I’ll never fall in love and get married because of this condition” or “this pain is all my fault and I deserve this”. Once you know the stories you repeat in your mind you can detect them when they pop up and make the choice to set the story down and return to the present moment.
So, how can you drop the anxiety-provoking story in your mind and find your way back to the present moment? First begin by recognizing that you have left the present moment. You might recognize you are dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. You might notice that you were aware of a physical sensation and then fell down a rumination rabbit hole about what this pain means. Just notice that this has happened. Now that you have noticed you have left the present moment there are a number of ways you can find your way back:
Connect to your 5 senses. The 5 senses are the doorways in to the present moment. What we perceive with our 5 senses always exists in the present (until we distort our perception with stories!). Here are several ways to connect to your 5 senses:
practice a 5 senses meditation. Spend one minute mindfully, non-judgmentally observing the 5 senses for a total of 5 minutes. Mindfully notice your surroundings, observe sounds coming and going, notice sensations in your body, smell the air, and notice anything you taste in your mouth. Listen to this 5 senses meditation here.
practice “5-4-3-2-1”. Notice 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell and 1 thing you taste.
Choose one of the senses to mindfully observe. The key here is to practice not judging what you are observing. It can help to imagine that what you are seeing/hearing/sensing/smelling/tasting is for the very first time. It is not about liking or disliking it and it is neither good nor bad. The object of your observation just is.
Once you discover which of the 5 senses feels the easiest and most calming to connect to you can use specific “anchors” to return to. For example, if the sense of sight is your favorite you might choose an object to meditate on, if you choose sense of hearing then you might return to a particular song, if sense of taste is your favorite then you might carry around a mint or something with a flavor you love that you can access any time, for sense of smell you might carry around your favorite essential oil.
Practice the 3 Minute Breathing Space, which comes from Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. This practice allows you to pause, connect to the present moment, and continue your day more mindfully. In the first minute you label your thoughts, sensations and emotions, in the second minute you mindfully observe your breath, and for the third minute you expand your awareness back to your whole body and consider how you might move forward with your day from this mindful perspective.
Practice the Environment/Body/Breath meditation. This is something I developed along with my colleague Emily Jeanne Brown. This meditation helps you connect to the present moment by encouraging you to take your attention from the inward focus of rumination to outward mindful attention on your environment. Once you have taken time mindfully observing your environment (in a similar fashion to the 5 senses meditation), you may then shift your awareness to sensations you feel in your body. Once you have scanned your body then you shift your awareness to your breath. There are many ways to engage with this format and I will be expanding on this practice in a blog post here.
Move your body!! Many of my clients feel an immediate reduction in anxiety just by moving their body. My go-to practices include even just 5 minutes of Qi Gong or Yoga. Combining breath with movement and intention is really powerful.
Here’s an example of breath+movement+intention you can practice right now: take a breath in as you lift your arms up over head, hold your breath in for a moment as you feel your whole torso inflated, then as you exhale release your arms and imagine sending your anxiety down into the ground for the earth to absorb it.
You could even just shake your body or squeeze your body with your hands.
Breathe! Mindfully :) The breath, just like the 5 senses, is always in the present moment. Taking a moment to do a breath practice can root you in the present moment and help you get out of the stories in your mind. If you find that when you’re anxious it feels challenging to connect to the breath you might try first connecting to your environment, then your body, then your breath. The simple yogic Dirgha Breath is a great breath to start with. I will share more soon about how to use the breath as a mindfulness practice. You can also practice this mindfulness of breath meditation, which rather than using the breath in an intentional way instead invites you to just observe the breath exactly as it is.
Practice a Mindful Body Scan. Mindfully observe the sensations in your body.
Meditate on the reality that in the present moment everything is OK. This can be a challenging one, but the more you practice your other mindfulness practices and learn to connect to a sense of peace within you, the easier it will become to pause and remind yourself “in this moment everything is OK”.
The simplest approach is also the one that will be made easier by consistent practice of the techniques listed above. The simplest approach is to label what is true and real about your present moment experience. This could include aspects of the above practices such as labeling what you are experiencing with your senses, labeling the kinds of thoughts you are having and emotions you are experiencing, and noticing the quality of your breath. Once mindfulness becomes a part of your life you will find a sense of ease and relief from anxiety just by connecting to the bare bones reality that exists right in front of you. At first it may not feel as colorful and compelling as the stories in your mind but over time a mindfulness practice can make the world around you even more vibrant.
Several years ago when I was on a meditation retreat at the Insight Meditation Center I noticed that every time I was lost in thought my brow was furrowed and every time I came back to the present moment (through an awareness of one (or all) of my five senses) my face and body relaxed. I then began to repeat to myself:
Concepts Contract // Reality Relaxes
My hope for you is that this is one of the many gifts you will receive from a mindfulness practice. The gift of relaxation, ease and joy just by connecting to what is here and what is now.