Mindfulness for Stress Relief

What is Mindfulness? 

What does it mean to cultivate a mindfulness practice? Is mindfulness the same as meditation? There is a lot of uncertainty surrounding the idea of mindfulness–but it’s actually quite straightforward. Being mindful is the simple act of being aware of the moment you are in, while you are in it. 

When you’re mindful, you take notice of things like: 

• What sounds are you hearing?

• What smells are around you? Where are they coming from?

• What is it that you’re doing? Is your attention focused on that act, or is your mind wandering?

Most of us are so used to being stretched in a hundred different directions, that we rarely take time to be fully present. Practicing mindfulness helps you refocus on where you are, how you’re feeling, and the elements of the environment around you. Instead of trying to multitask to get many things done in a short period of time, a mindfulness practice asks that you center yourself in one experience at a time. By doing this, you are able to commit stronger energy and mental focus to what you’re doing, accomplish it to the best of your ability, and not feel so worn out that you can’t accomplish something else. 

The good news is: we all have the ability to cultivate a mindfulness practice. The multitasking, and stretching your mental energy across too many things is a practice we learn as we grow up, and just as we learned it, we can unlearn it! With focus and intention, mindfulness can become part of our routine, and help us increase our productivity, improve our quality of work, and reduce our stress!

How does mindfulness aid with stress relief?

There are four core components to mindfulness. These work as the pillars holding up your mindfulness practice, allowing it to function. They are: 

• Awareness: simply, what is happening around you? Call your attention to your senses: what do you see, feel, hear, smell, taste? A core part of mindfulness is being aware of the immediate world around you.

• Focus: if you are doing something, such as a project or activity, where is your focus? Is it split between two, three, or more things? In order for mindfulness to be truly effective, keeping your focus on the thing you are doing at the time, dismissing wandering thoughts as they come, is necessary. 

• Acceptance: this one can be tricky for many of us, but part of mindfulness is accepting the way you are feeling, or the thoughts you are thinking without passing judgment on them. Remember: feelings are not facts. They give us valuable information about ourselves, but they do not necessarily reflect reality. Accept your thoughts & feelings without judging them, and remind yourself that there is nothing wrong with your natural reactions. 

• Observation: when you do feel these negative or unpleasant thoughts and feelings, don’t try to block them or push them aside. Observe what you’re feeling, and explore why you’re feeling it. Learn what you can, and then allow yourself to let them go, and observe what comes next. 

So, what does this mean for stress relief? 

Mindfulness helps you to switch gears from your “doing” mode to your “being” mode, which in turn helps you to reduce your stress responses.  With a strong mindfulness practice, you are able to observe a situation without immediately reacting to it. You give yourself a moment to gather your thoughts and find the best solution. And when you are more aware of yourself, your body, and your environment, you are more aware of your needs. This awareness helps you to spot problems early on before they get so bad that you’re burned out or unable to function as usual. 

And, one of the key “selling points” of cultivating a mindfulness practice, is that your sleep & focus improve. This means that your energy is much better restored each day, and when you are working, you are able to commit yourself to whatever it is you’re working on without a million tiny distractions that take up your attention and contribute to your stress. 

Practicing mindfulness for stress relief:

So how can you get started? 

1. Start with guided meditations: When you’re new to mindfulness, it can feel daunting to just jump in on your own. So don’t! There are apps that will curate a feed of guided meditations for you. If you don’t want to commit to an app, search YouTube for guided stress relief mindfulness videos! As you practice with guided meditations and find what works for you, you may be able to create your own, unique practice. 

2. Do a body scan: do you feel yourself fidgeting throughout the day? Are you distracted by the tension you hold in your body? When your mind starts to wander and it gets hard to focus don’t just try to power through. Instead, take a few minutes to figure out what it is you need. Start with your toes and work your way up; are there aches in any part of your body? Do you need to stretch? Does your head hurt? Are you thirsty? Paying attention to the physical symptoms that your stress may present in your body will help you to stay on top of them, and reduce their effects. 

3. Try deep breathing: When you are feeling stressed or overwhelmed, give yourself a few minutes to focus on your breathing. Close your eyes and feel your body expand as you breathe in. Hold your breath for a moment before letting go, and then imagine yourself as a deflating balloon as you release your breath. How do you feel as you breathe deeply? This sort of exercise can help not only to calm you down in the movement, but bring yourself back to the present, refocus, and carry on without intrusive distractions.

If you're looking for support as you develop a mindfulness practice, or if you're not sure where to begin, contact us today for help!

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therapist in falls church, mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, arlington and vienna, va

Hope+Wellness is a psychotherapy practice serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. We provide individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

10 Mindfulness Apps to Improve Your Life Right Now

When was the last time you felt fully immersed in the present moment? If you are having trouble pinpointing a time, you’re not alone. Mindfulness can be a transformative practice that helps you learn to sit with your thoughts and focus fully on the here and now. Mindfulness has become such a popular practice that there are even dozens of mindfulness apps available to help you get started. But what is mindfulness, anyway? 

According to the Mayo Clinic, “Mindfulness is the act of being intensely aware of what you're sensing and feeling at every moment — without interpretation or judgment.”

Mindfulness is a practice, not a one-off event, so it’s important to actually put in the time to practice this skill. However, you don’t have to practice mindfulness for a long time before you can see the effects. In one recent study, people who had practiced mindfulness for just 100 minutes reported feeling more positive emotions and less troubled by the responsibilities of their lives. Even a little bit at a time can help you feel more present and grounded. 

If you’re a mindfulness novice, jumping in without a little guidance may seem way above your head. After all, it’s not easy to go from interpreting and judging our thoughts to simply noticing them and letting them pass by. But there’s no need to give up completely! No matter what level you’re at there are mindfulness apps & tools that can help you on your journey to become more mindful.

It might seem counter intuitive to suggest seeking mindfulness through your phone, a device that is typically labeled a distraction. However, let’s be real: your phone is probably with you the majority of the time. Mindfulness support can be literally in your pocket at all times! 

Not all mindfulness apps were created equal. The boom in the wellness industry in the last few years has given rise to practices like meditation, mindfulness, self-care becoming mainstream. This means that there are tons of apps to sift through, even if you don’t know what you’re looking for or what will be helpful to you. 

Here are 10 mindfulness apps to try in your wellness practice: 

Insight Timer

Insight Timer is a free mindfulness app that’s available on both iOS and Android. It bills itself as the world’s largest free library of guided meditations, and there are over 28,000 options for you to choose from. They have meditations for everything under the sun, as well as music tracks and ambient sounds that can be used for focus or help with sleep. There’s a timer so you can customize a mindfulness session that fits in your schedule. Insight Timer also offers a free course for beginners to teach you how to meditate in just 7 days. You can track your progress with charts in the app, and the meditations are available in over 30 languages. Another feature of Insight Timer is the community - there are discussion groups and you can see how many people in the world are using the app with you. 

Calm

The Calm mindfulness app seeks to live up to its name right from when you open it up! You’ll be greeted with nature sounds to help get you in the mindset of mindfulness. They offer a variety of guided meditations, breathing exercises, and sleep stories, which you can listen to as you fall asleep. They even have a section specifically dedicated to teaching kids mindfulness. You can access some of the content with the free plan, but for newly added content, there is a subscription fee of $60 per year. They do have the option for a lifetime membership at $400. You can download Calm on iOS or Android. 

Headspace

Headspace is another popular mindfulness app that is available on iOS and Android. They compare their app to a gym membership, but for your mind. With just a few minutes a day on their app, you can learn how to meditate. They offer meditations of various lengths to fit whatever time frame you have available, and they have what they call “SOS” meditations to help during a crisis. Plus, the animation style of the app is very cute! This app is not free, but they do have a 7 day free trial period if you want to try it out first. After 7 days, it costs $12.99 a month or you can pay for the full year for $95.88. 

Buddhify

Buddhify is the app for meditation on the go. In their catalog they have over 200 guided meditations to choose from that vary in their focus! Whether you’re trying to manage anxiety, stress, improve your sleep, deal with pain or difficult emotions, Buddify has a guided meditation for you. And because they’re all about working mindfulness into your unique life, you can find exercises for whatever situation you’re in–whether you’re at work, traveling, browsing online, eating lunch, etc. And no need to stick with just one guide! Buddhify offers a variety of experienced teachers so you can choose the one that’s right for you. The basic app costs $4.99, and there is an option to enroll in a membership to deepen your practice. Buddhify is available for iOS as well as Android.

Aura

Available on iOS and Android, Aura has a ton of wellness content. They offer meditations in varying lengths (including a lot of 3 minute ‘micro-meditations’ for people who don’t like sitting still!), nature sounds you can play as white noise, recorded short stories, life coaching, music, and a gratitude journal. You can advance to different levels as you meditate more, which gives the app a game-like quality. There is also a premium version with more features available. 

Ten Percent Happier

The aim of the Ten Percent Happier mindfulness app is to help you learn to meditate, sleep better, and build a mindfulness practice bit by bit. It has a library of 500+ guided meditations for you to choose from that vary in topic from anxiety, to parenting, to improving your focus. Plusm they release new content weekly so you don’t have to build your habit off of recycling the same old materials. In order to get access to the library of 500+ meditations, you do need to purchase a yearly subscription ($99/year)–but they do have a free version with a more limited selection you can try out to see if you like it! This app is available for both iOS and Android.

Mindfulness Daily

The creators of Mindfulness Daily developed their mindfulness app and continue to provide new content by working directly with scientists, physicians, and trainers. They offer a Mindful Daily Routine option which offers 3 meditation breaks a day to keep you on track. This app is especially helpful to those looking to reduce stress or improve their sleep. While this app is only available in iOS for now, they do have an Android beta testing program in the works. 

Smiling Mind

The Smiling Mind mindfulness app is broken down into categories based on age. They have specific mindfulness programs for adults, children, classrooms, and workspaces, and they offer their programs in multiple languages. The app was developed by psychologists and educators to help teach mindfulness techniques in just 10 minutes a day. This app is completely free to use for iOS and Android. 

Stop, Breathe, and Think

Stop, Breathe and Think is all about using meditation and mindfulness to boost your confidence and increase your emotional strength. It’s all in their name really–they want you to STOP: stop what you’re doing and check in with your surroundings + feelings; BREATHE: establish a mindful breathing practice to help you create space between your thoughts or emotions and your reactions; and THINK: broaden your perspective. Their library of guided meditations will walk you through this process no matter what topic you choose to focus on. The app is available for free for iOS and Android. 

Simple Habit

Simple Habit has an enormous library of meditations: 2,000+!! Their goal is to get you to work 5 minutes of mindfulness into your daily routine. So they have expert teachers who guide you through 5 minute mindfulness sessions, and a Mindful Minutes tracker that can help you keep a log of your progress. The basic app is free, but there is a premium subscription plans you can opt into if you want to level up your practice, which is purchased through either a yearly ($95.99) or monthly ($11.99) payment. It’s available for iOS and Android. 

Everyone has their own preferences, and luckily, there are dozens of mindfulness apps available for smartphones, so chances are you can find something that works for you. If you try an app that doesn’t make you want to practice mindfulness, there’s no harm in moving on to the next one! Eventually, you will find one that fits your lifestyle. 

If you're looking for support as you develop a mindfulness practice, or if you're not sure where to begin, contact us today for help!

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therapist in falls church, mclean, tysons corner, merrifield, arlington and vienna, va

Hope+Wellness is a psychotherapy practice serving the Falls Church, McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Arlington, Alexandria, and the greater Washington DC region. We provide individual therapy to children, teens, and adults with stress, anxiety, and depression. Our practice provides Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness and acceptance based therapies, and other top, premier evidence-based treatments. Call, email, or schedule an appointment with us online today. We’re happy to help!

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