Chapter 5
Practising Deeper Mindfulness Meditations for Anxiety
- Discovering the body scan meditation
- Practising a sitting meditation
- Overcoming anxiety with mindful imagery
You may not be familiar with the concept of being in the present moment and being aware of yourself and your body in the present moment. In modern society and everyday living, you can all too easily become disconnected from yourself, tending to live in your head which is lost in thoughts, future plans and worries. This chapter is about reconnecting with yourself using your mind, body and breath.
I describe three different styles of meditation: one focused mainly on the body; another focused on increasing your whole awareness; and the third focused on increasing attention to your thoughts and emotions. All three styles of meditation overlap in the sense that they incorporate all the three elements, but getting to know a range of different techniques is helpful, as is discovering what you find easiest or most comfortable when practising mindfulness.
Each meditation has different benefits for managing anxiety, but I suggest that you do them in the order I set them out in this chapter because they gently help increase your awareness step by step.
Introducing the Body Scan Meditation
Have you ever noticed a tendency to live in your head? Most people do on a day-to-day basis, without ever connecting with their body. Some people refer to it as the “talking head”. They think of their body as just a structure that serves to carry the brain around! They don't take much notice of the rest of the body, unless they feel pain, are hungry or need to use the bathroom!
Getting into this unhelpful mental state is easy. Factors such as too much paperwork, a stressful job and a busy lifestyle can all contribute to this disconnection from your body. In fact, multitasking is the ultimate factor in becoming disconnected from the body, something that modern society doesn't help with by emphasising how you can better multitask with all the available gadgets!
You can correct this disconnection from the body with simple exercises, such as the body scan. The body scan helps you reconnect mindfully with your body by using kind, nonjudgemental, nonstriving, gentle attention on the body itself. You do so by kindly focusing your mindful awareness on zones of the body bit by bit, perhaps together with your breathing.
Discovering the benefits and purpose of the body scan
Ever tried breathing through your toes? Sounds a bit odd, I know, but in fact this is one of the ways that you can use to guide your breath and mindful attention through your body!
The body scan has many benefits:
- Tuning into bodily sensations: The body scan helps you be more aware of your bodily sensations and therefore more aware of anxiety as it arises in your body. Being able to catch your anxiety feelings early as they arise puts you in a position where you can regain some of your control over your anxiety before negative thoughts and emotions spiral away from your reach.
- Tuning the mind into the present moment: Instead of getting lost in worrying thoughts and being stressed or anxious about events in the future, you focus on the present moment. Your body is ever-present. As you focus on different parts of the body while doing the scan, you ground your focus into what's happening now, which is a body scan.
- Allowing and accepting emotions instead of suppressing them: Stressful events from your past, such as a divorce, job loss or the loss of a loved one, can cause great fear and can get locked in your body as physical tension. With the body scan, you bring emotions to the surface and release them, allowing then to express themselves. Think of how a flower slowly opens itself to reveal its petals and then withers and dies over time. Your emotions are much the same. If you suppress them, they're remain always just below the surface, ready to burst through. But if you allow them to flower, they go through their natural lifecycle and slowly wither away.
Practising the body scan
The body scan is about getting back in touch with your body. It's a time totally for yourself. Find a comfortable place where you won't be disturbed for 10 to 30 minutes depending on how long you decide to practise for.
The body scan is about accepting yourself as you are, not pushing to improve yourself, so try allowing whatever happens to just happen.
You may find it relaxing, but the aim of this practice isn't just to try to relax. In fact, your experience of the body scan may well be different every time, so don't worry about trying to find a right or wrong way to practise. Instead, the body scan is about simply allowing your experience to be, just as it is.
Sometimes, practising the body scan is easier when you listen to a guided meditation. Have a search for some at www.youtube.com using the keywords ‘guided body scan meditation’, go to my website (www.joellemarshall.com) or listen to the audio that accompanies Mindfulness Workbook For Dummies by Shamash Alidina and myself (Wiley). (Use Track 2 at www.dummies.com/go/mindfulnessworkbookuk.)
Allow yourself 10 to 30 minutes for the following meditation or whatever feels right for you. Wear comfortable clothes and loosen any tight clothing.
- Lie down in a comfortable, warm position on a yoga mat, for example, or a bed.
You can cover yourself with a blanket if you think you're likely to feel cold later in the practice.
- Place your palms facing upward, hands down by your sides and legs slightly apart.
Close your eyes.
- Be aware of your attitude.
Decide that you're going to allow and accept whatever arises in this meditation as best you can.
- Notice the weight of your body on the floor, mat or bed.
Feel the contact of your whole body with the ground from your head to your heels.
- Focus on your breathing for a few minutes.
Don't force your breathing to be a certain way; just try to notice it as it is.
- Take a deep breath and imagine it going down your body, down your chest, abdomen and pelvis into your left leg, all the way down until it reaches the big toe of your left foot.
If imagining your breath going down your body doesn't work for you, you don't have to do it.
- Focus on the big toe of your left foot, bringing a sense of curiosity to the sensations.
Does it feel cold or warm? Can you feel any contact of, say, the socks with your toe?
- Expand your awareness to your little toe and all the toes in between.
What does the sensation feel like? If you can't feel anything, just be aware of the lack of sensation.
- Expand your awareness to the sole of your left foot.
Focus on the heel and ball of the foot. What do they feel like? Again, if you don't feel anything, just be aware of the lack of sensation.
- Repeat this process slowly, moving up the leg, the ankle, the kneecap, the thigh and the hip.
Bring curiosity to each body part, again being aware of any sensations or lack of sensations. Breathe deeply and imagine the breath going all the way down the body into the part you're focusing on. Does your left leg now feel different to the right?
- Shift your attention gently to your right leg, imagining the breath going all the way down into the big toe of the right foot.
Repeat the process you did with the left leg in Steps 7 to 10.
- Focus your awareness on the pelvic region, including your hips and bottom.
Breathe into them and imagine you're filling them with nourishing oxygen. If doing so helps, visualise your pelvic region as a bowl situated in between your hips and focus on filling it with your breath.
- Move your attention upwards gently toward your lower abdomen and lower back; notice the movement as you breathe in and out.
This area is where emotions can get stored in the body. Without judgement, see whether you can accept whatever arises. If you feel anxiety or some other emotion, see whether you can just accept the experience as it is. If that's too overwhelming, you can always come back to your breathing or the feeling in your feet.
- Move your attention and awareness gently to your chest and upper back.
Feel your ribcage rising and falling. Be aware of any emotions rising from the heart area. Again, just allow them to be present without judgement.
- Concentrate on the fingertips of both hands together.
Imagine the breath moving upwards through both arms, past the elbows and into the shoulders.
- Move your mindful attention from your neck to your jaw, being aware of any tension there, move it onto the face, becoming aware of any frowning on the forehead, and then finally move your attention to the top of your head.
Bring a sense of gratitude for your brain and all the amazing abilities that are located in the head, such as your vision, your hearing and your sense of smell.
- Imagine a space at the top of the head and a space at the bottom of the feet, if you feel comfortable doing so; take a deep breath and imagine that the breath is going from the top of the head sweeping down the body, down both arms, down the chest, the abdomen, the pelvis and down both legs.
Imagine that breath is filling you with energy and life-saving oxygen.
- Let go of any efforts you've been making to practise mindfulness and get a sense of your body as a whole.
Rest with the knowledge that you're whole, perfect and complete just as you are.
The body scan is generally a safe exercise to do. However, if you've had a stressful event in your past, you may have suppressed feelings about it. The body scan may unlock painful emotions that have been stored in your body over time. If you find this very difficult to cope with, try seeking advice from a qualified therapist or mindfulness teacher. If you can, though, open up to these feelings and sensations and see what happens. You may find that they start to dissolve in their own time.
Overcoming common difficulties that arise with the body scan
The body scan may be an unusual concept for you, particularly if you haven't been in touch with your body for a while. The following difficulties are common and nothing to worry about, especially if you've had an unusual experience with the body scan:
- You fall asleep. People tend to lead busy lives, and maybe the body scan is the first time you've had to lie down and do nothing in some time. Make sure that you're getting enough sleep and try practising at another time of the day if you find that helpful. If you still keep falling asleep, don't be too hard on yourself. Try a different position, such as sitting up with your back supported. The main thing is to keep practising whether you fall asleep or not.
- You can't feel any sensation. Don't worry if you can't feel sensation in certain parts or large areas of the body. Mindfulness is about accepting the lack of sensation just as much as accepting any sensations that may arise. With more practice over time, you may start to feel more physical sensation. If not, it doesn't matter.
- You feel more anxious or stressed. From picking up a book about managing anxiety with mindfulness, the last thing you probably want is for your anxious feelings to be exacerbated.
Mindfulness isn't relaxation, and you may feel worse before you feel better. If you're trying to achieve a certain experience, let that idea go. If the anxiety keeps coming, explore the feeling of it within your body. Bring your attention to where you feel the sensation specifically and gently allow it to rest there. Try not to be critical with yourself.
- You feel bored or restless. If you're used to rushing around, being active and never staying still, you may find the body scan boring and begin to feel restless.
Instead of giving up, try to become aware of the feelings of boredom or restlessness within your body. Bring a sense of curiosity to the feelings. What do they feel like? What colour or shape are they? Becoming aware of these feelings and lack of concentration is the essence of mindfulness. The boredom or restlessness should disappear in time.
- You feel difficult or disturbing emotions. Sometimes the practice of the body scan can release suppressed emotions. As you relax into the body scan, thoughts and emotions can arise into your conscious awareness and then be released. Try and accept the feelings as they come, just as they are.
- You feel a bit dizzy. Open your eyes for a few minutes, come out of the practice and allow your mind to settle. When you're ready, start again, with your eyes open if it helps you ground yourself.
- You feel like you want to move. If you're not used to it, lying down in one position for a period of time can begin to feel quite uncomfortable. If you feel the urge to move while practising the body scan try, do so in a mindful way. Move slowly and with awareness on the parts of the body you're moving. Try to make yourself more comfortable at the beginning of the practice by using more pillows under your knees or wherever you need.
Introducing the Sitting Meditation
The sitting meditation is simply about being mindful but in a seated position.
Practise this meditation after a couple of weeks of daily body scan practice (see the earlier ‘Introducing the Body Scan Meditation’ section).
Discovering the purpose and benefits of the sitting meditation
Sitting meditation follows on from the body scan's focus on bringing your attention back to your breath and body. But it increases your attention even further, by increasing a wider range of present-moment experiences to be aware of. Your mind still strays into different thoughts, as is perfectly natural, but you begin to change your relationship towards your thoughts.
If you have anxiety and perhaps anxious thoughts that you aren't even usually aware of, the sitting meditation may be able to change your relationship with these thoughts. As a result, instead of identifying with them, you can take a step back and just observe them.
Also, mindfulness of breath, the first section of the sitting meditation, can help engage the relaxation response. This process can increase your ability to focus, thus allowing you to place your attention on something other than your anxious thoughts or feelings.
The sitting meditation comprises several stages and breaks up thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations. This arrangement allows you more easily to pinpoint and manage your anxiety wherever it arises, whether in thoughts, feelings or bodily sensations.
Practising the sitting meditation
Sitting meditation is also called the expanding awareness meditation and has been used for thousands of years. You can choose from different seated postures. Select one of the following positions that's most comfortable and right for you when you practise:
- Sitting on a chair: People generally tend to slouch in chairs, including at the office. For meditation, sit up away from the back of the chair and support your own weight with a straight back and spine, if you can. Already this sends a signal to your brain that you're alert and something different is happening.
Try putting magazines or something similar under the back two legs of the chair because it tilts you slightly forward and helps your back to straighten naturally. Place your feet flat on the floor, put your hands face down on your knees or place them in each other. Allow your head to lift naturally and gently until it's ‘balanced’ on your head and shoulders and then lean forward and backward a few times until you find the right position for you.
- Sitting on the floor: You may have seen the Burmese position before among experienced meditators or Buddhist monks: the cross-legged position on top of a cushion or blanket on a soft ground. To adopt this position, stretch out your legs and any other part of the body that needs a stretch. Cross your legs and allow the knees to touch the ground. If they don't touch the ground, use more cushions to support the knees.
Allow the heel of the left foot to touch gently the inside of the right thigh. Your right leg should be in front of the left leg with the heel pointing toward the lower left leg. If you find this difficult, adjust yourself as much as you can until you're comfortable. Lean forward and backward until you feel like you're in a comfortable position and your head feels balanced on your shoulders and neck.
When you find a seated position with which you feel comfortable, begin the stages of sitting meditation. If you want to begin with just one stage at a time, that's perfectly okay. But you can also do all the stages from the start if you feel comfortable enough.
Do this practice for about 30 minutes, spending 5 to 6 minutes on each section, but you can do less or more if you feel like it.
- Be mindful of your breath.
Sit in a chair or on the floor. Gently become aware of your breathing. Try to sense the breath where it feels easiest: perhaps the nose or back of the throat, the chest or the abdomen.
Don't force the breath to be a certain way; just gently notice it, with a sense of warmth and kindness. Your mind wandering off to other thoughts is perfectly natural. Just gently guide it back to the focus of the breath.
- Be mindful of your body.
Gently expand your awareness to your whole body. Become aware of any bodily sensations. If you have aches and pains, try to bring a sense of acceptance to them as best you can. Imagine your breath going in and out of that part of the body.
- Be mindful of sounds.
Gently open your awareness to any sounds you can hear. Try to notice how your mind labels a sound and can bring judgements to it.
For example, I'm sitting in the library at this moment, and I opened my awareness to sounds. I can hear the traffic going past. My mind automatically thinks it's a bad sound, and the library windows should be shut. But I was able to bring awareness to my mind's judgements and think of the sounds as neutral and not an annoyance.
Become aware of the volume, pitch and quality of the sounds as they change from moment to moment. Notice the silence between and underneath all sounds. Let the sounds come to you instead of reaching for them. Then gently rest your attention on the sounds.
- Be mindful of thoughts.
Become aware of your thoughts, but try not to become caught up in them; just be an observer of your thoughts. Remember that your thoughts aren't facts but merely thoughts (see Chapter 4 for more). Watch the thoughts arise and pass away, just like sounds do.
- Be open in awareness.
Just notice whatever you're most aware of – your thoughts, your bodily sensations, the sounds you can hear or your breath, whichever is strongest for you at this time. Have a choiceless awareness, which means stay open to everything that happens in your present moment experience without preference. If your mind wanders off or gets pulled along in a train of thought, just gently guide it back to the breath and begin again. Bring a sense of patience and curiosity throughout this practice if you can.
Overcoming difficulties with the sitting meditation
You may encounter some common difficulties with the sitting meditation, many of which overlap with those of the body scan. Check out ‘Overcoming common difficulties that arise with the body scan’ earlier in this chapter and see whether you spot similarities with the difficulties you may be facing with the sitting meditation – such as your mind wandering off or falling asleep.
Here are a couple of extra difficulties that you may find with the sitting meditation:
- Discomfort merely from sitting for that length of time: A very common problem, especially with people who aren't used to sitting and meditating. If you do a job where you crouch over a desk all day, your muscles aren't accustomed to sitting up straight in this position. Stand up, mindfully stretching out a bit, and then return to sitting.
- Constant discomfort or pain when practising: If you feel pain or discomfort, try to move your attention toward it instead of trying to push it away or ignore it. Bring a sense of acceptance to it if you can, while also being aware of your breathing. Try to relax into acceptance of the pain or discomfort, which may sound odd, but bring as much relaxation and acceptance as you can.
If it is severely uncomfortable for you to sit in a cross-legged position for a long time and causes unnecessary pain, then, of course, you don't have to practise it like that. Try another seated position, such as sitting upright on a chair. You can also lie down for this meditation if you want. Be aware of what is right for you – this meditation can be practiced either sitting or lying down.
Discovering Mindful Imagery Meditations for Anxiety
Sometimes doing mindful imagery can help when you're practising mindfulness: it can make things clearer for you. The two mindful imagery meditations in this section help you step away from identifying yourself with your thoughts and cope better with whatever's coming your way.
When you separate your thoughts from your identification with them, negative thoughts have no room to expand and increase your anxiety. These meditations allow you to picture how you can separate yourself and also become a grounded observer, while your thoughts arrive and pass away.
Mindful imagery isn't a form of escapism. It's about being as present as possible in order to picture the setting as fully as you can. Imagine being present and connecting with your senses within your imagination as best you can.
Practising the clouds in the sky visual meditation
This visualisation helps aid you in the mindfulness tool of seeing your thoughts as separate from yourself:
- Lie down in a comfortable position and gently close your eyes.
- Imagine that it's a warm, sunny day and you're lying on soft grass at the side of a lake, on a beach or in a park, whichever feels most relaxed for you.
- Look up at the beautiful blue sky and watch some clouds passing.
- Move your awareness gently to your thoughts and when you become aware of a thought, place it on a cloud and watch it pass by.
- Continue this process for a few minutes, whenever you become aware of a thought.
This meditation is easy to do at any time and is particularly useful when you're feeling very anxious. Also, try it at night before sleep, if you find that your mind tends to race.
Standing tall with the mountain meditation
The mountain meditation helps you deal with strong emotions and whatever arises for you. It's a way of visualising yourself as a whole complete being, while everything else rises and eventually falls away – another important tool of mindfulness.
To practise the mountain meditation, carry out these steps:
- Sit upright and take a couple of deep breaths.
As you breathe in, imagine your breath giving you energy and vitality. As you breathe out, imagine a sense of letting go.
- Let your breath return to normal.
Gently close your eyes.
- Visualise a beautiful, majestic mountain, standing high above the rest of the landscape.
The mountain is strong and sturdy, unaffected by the rain, wind and snow that it faces. Imagine watching the mountain go through every season and encountering sunshine, storms and blizzards. Notice how the mountain is unaffected by everything going on around it.
- Imagine yourself as this mountain – strong, stable, balanced and grounded.
You're ever-present, despite what your thoughts and emotions are doing. They change like the seasons, but the essence of your being is still the same whatever arises for you, just like the mountain.
If you're struggling to visualise, don't worry; some people are more visual than others. In fact, I know mindfulness teachers who aren't very visual! If you can't conjure up any images for your visualisations and are struggling, just concentrate on the other meditations in this chapter.
Savouring the Mindful Eating Meditation
The mindful eating meditation is a simple one to get you from becoming lost in your thoughts back to the present moment.
Have you ever walked into a room and thought ‘What did I come in here for?’ That's called being on automatic pilot or the doing mode. Your mind isn't on the task at hand and has wandered off from the present moment. Though not necessarily bad some of the time, if you're constantly on automatic pilot, you may not be aware of any anxious or negative thoughts you're having. You're missing out on your life now because you're not living in the present, and you may be getting into bad habits without even realising.
Practising mindful eating
You can carry out the mindful eating meditation with any small piece of food, such as a raisin, a cranberry, a chocolate bar or a small piece of fruit, such as an apple.
Allow yourself about ten minutes for this meditation, longer if you can. It's an easy meditation to do anywhere, out and about or at work. All you need is a small piece of food that you can hold in one hand – so best avoid soup!
Get a pen and paper and note down your experience: write down everything you experience if you want to. Making a note of it can help you to notice any differences with your experiences of food before and after this meditation.
Here's how to practise the mindful eating meditation:
- Get the piece of food and place it before you.
What do you notice about its appearance? What colour is it? What shape is it? If appropriate, what's the skin like? Look closely and be as specific as possible.
- Pick up the piece of food and roll it in your hand.
What does the texture feel like against your skin? Close your eyes to help you get a real sense of the feeling in your hand. Is it heavy? Is it light? Does it feel hollow? Does it feel full? Gently squeeze it and see how it feels.
- Hold the piece of food close to your ear, rolling it in your hand gently as you do so.
Can you hear any sounds within the food? If you can't hear anything, what does the silence feel like?
- Move the food towards your nose.
What does it smell like? Try to mindfully feel the sensations in your arm as you move it. If you can smell the food, does the smell bring up any memories for you?
- Bring the food towards your mouth.
Notice whether your mouth is watering. Touch the food to your lips and be aware of any sensations there. Take a bite. Do you notice any sound? If so, what does it sound like? Move the piece of food around your mouth feeling the weight of it. Note the taste of it as it releases its juices and you gently start to chew. Feel the sensation of your teeth as you chew.
Reflect on the experience of the food meditation. Did the food taste any different? Was it different to your normal experience of eating that piece of food?
If you didn't feel anything different, don't worry; just be aware of the lack of sensation you had when practising the mindful eating meditation. You may be used to eating when watching TV, at your desk working or on the run, so this exercise may be quite unusual for you. Try experimenting with different foods and notice your thoughts compared to foods you like or dislike.
Make your way over to Chapter 8 for more on fitting mindful eating into your everyday life. Also, don't forget to check out my mindful cooking practice in Chapter 11.