Chicago Therapist Talks Mindfulness, Meditation, and Mindfulness Exercises for TIME Magazine
Chicago Therapist Shares Mindfulness Exercises to Bring Mindfulness Benefits Without Meditation
Mindfulness is a buzzword that continues to gain momentum as more and more people experience the benefits of mindfulness practices for lowering stress, focusing attention, and connecting more deeply with life. Despite this trend, in my work as a therapist for trauma, anxiety, stress, and burnout, I often encounter people who say that they don’t like mindfulness or that they can’t clear their mind or calm their restless body enough to enjoy meditation.
It’s true that many people who struggle with anxiety or with feeling overwhelmed have difficulty settling their minds and bodies enough to find meditation practices comfortable or helpful, at least initially. They may have had experiences in the past in which they were encouraged to close their eyes, clear their mind of all thoughts, or focus on their breath as meditative practices, only to discover that their busy mind wouldn’t quiet down; their breath was boring; or tuning into their physical body felt overwhelming or distressing.
When I hear these concerns, I try to clarify the differences between meditation and mindfulness, and help people find enjoyable and accessible ways to practice and benefit from mindfulness even if meditation is not something that they like.
What is Meditation and What Does Mindfulness Mean?
Mindfulness and meditation have a number of similarities and shared benefits, but they are not one and the same. Both focus in part on reducing distracting mental chatter, but their approaches and areas of focus differ. Meditation is generally a practice of quieting the mind and body, turning attention inward, and focusing deeply on an emotion, physical sensation, thought, or matra.
Mindfulness is the practice of bringing your body and mind into alignment so that your mind is fully engaged with, and attending to whatever your physical body is doing at the time. Meditation may be one of the ways that a person can practice mindfulness, but you can also be mindful without ever meditating. This makes mindfulness a wonderful option for people who have not enjoyed meditation, find the practice of meditation intimidating, or for those who like meditation but have difficulty carving out the time for meditation as often as they might want.
Jon Kabat-Zinn is generally regarded as the father of modern-day mindfulness. I use his definition of mindfulness as a guide when talking about mindfulness in therapy. Specifically, I make a point to highlight four key mindfulness components: mindfulness involves a conscious choice to focus attention on the present moment while avoiding judgment. With those essential ingredients in mind, a person can practice mindfulness any time that they choose and while doing any activity. This makes the benefits of mindfulness available even if a person can only sprinkle mindfulness into their day or week for a few moments at a time.
Benefits of Mindfulness Activities
Mindfulness activities help the body and mind by connecting them in space and time. When our thoughts drift away from whatever we are doing in the present moment, we get pulled out of our current experience; depriving us of noticing or fully connecting to the positive aspects of our everyday moments. Moreover, when our mind wanders it tends to focus on concerns that we have about the future or upsets that have happened in the past. This can stir up unpleasant and uncomfortable feelings such as anxiety, distress, anger, and sadness, even though nothing occurring in the present is actually connected to those emotional experiences.
Mindfulness exercises help us to practice noticing when our thoughts are drifting away from the present moment and strengthen our ability to choose where to focus our thoughts. Sometimes people have difficulty avoiding becoming frustrated when they start practicing mindfulness and find that their attention drifts, a thought intrudes, or they make a judgment when they are trying to be mindful. They may start to get caught up in self-judgment about being good or bad at mindfulness.
I try to teach people that they are working to build their mindfulness muscles. Noticing their attention drifting and bringing it back is just like doing reps with weights at the gym. You don’t get upset when you finish a rep only to discover that you have to do another one; that is how the muscles get stronger and more efficient. It is the same with mindfulness. When you observe that your attention drifts or that you judge your experience, and you then bring your attention back to your chosen activity, your ability to control where to focus your attention gets stronger. With practice, this will help you be more effective at directing your attention in more challenging circumstances or deepening your focus on any activity or experience of your choice.
Mindfulness Moments: Finding Opportunities for Mindfulness in Your Everyday
An example that I sometimes use to illustrate mindfulness moments in daily life is to think about doing the dishes mindfully. Rather than going through the motions of washing plates or cups while you watch TV, have a conversation, or get carried away with other thoughts in your head, you can use this as a chance to practice a few minutes of mindfulness. First apply the key principles of mindfulness by choosing to focus your attention on the task of doing dishes without judging your thoughts, observations, or experience. Try focusing your attention on how the dish soap smells, or the feeling of the warm water on your hands. Notice how the bubbles reflect the light and make rainbows, or dissolve into nothingness as they pop. If you get distracted by an intrusive thought, acknowledge it and let it go; refocusing your attention on how the water flows from the sponge when you squeeze it, or how the dishes all line up in the dish rack. Taking these few minutes of mindfulness to rest your busy mind and allow yourself to connect to your experience can help you gain better control over how to tune in and how to let go.
Talking with TIME Magazine About How to Practice Mindfulness
I recently had the opportunity to join other mental health experts in sharing some of our favorite ideas for practicing mindfulness with TIME. They are great options if meditation just isn’t for you or for times when a meditation session is not possible. Check out the full article for many great suggestions.
Understanding that the concept of mindfulness can be applied to any activity for any length of time allows people to integrate mindfulness into their lives as a practice or when they recognize that they might benefit from disengaging from the distracting thoughts in their head and tuning into the moment. Drinking coffee, eating lunch, watching your child’s soccer game, or whatever you might be doing right now, are likely all perfect moments for mindfulness.
Mindfulness Therapy Online Chicago or Across the United States
If you are interested in learning more about how to use mindfulness techniques to reduce stress or anxiety, combat burnout, or reduce the impact of trauma, I may be able to help. Contact me for a free 15-minute phone consultation to talk about your experiences and needs. I provide therapy for parent burnout and caregiver burnout; therapy for trauma and PTSD; EMDR therapy; and affirming therapy for marginalized and oppressed adults including neurodiversity-affirming therapy and affirming LGBT therapy. I specialize in online therapy to better support the needs of people in over 35 states across the U.S.
