Introduction
Welcome to Managing Anxiety With Mindfulness For Dummies. Mindfulness has ancient roots in Buddhism and other religions but is now rapidly gaining recognition as a secular practice that can help manage and reduce chronic pain, depression and anxiety. It also has many other benefits such as greater joy in the present moment, better sleep quality and less stress.
Everyone experiences some difficulties over the course of their life, including anxiety. This is a natural and normal part of the human experience. Mindfulness offers a way of managing anxiety in an accepting and balanced way, so that when anxiety does arise, you will be able to realise it and manage it and watch it evaporate in its own time, without judging or forcing it to move away.
Mindfulness also helps you when your life is going well. You live more in the present moment, are more focused and less stressed, are kinder to yourself and those around you, more willing to forgive yourself when you make mistakes, have a greater connection to the world around you and are more grateful.
I've written this book to make managing your anxiety with mindfulness achievable in your life. There are explanations for what anxiety is and why we experience it and meditations that you can practice in your daily life. Some are short exercises and some are longer, so even with a busy life, they are easy to slot into a daily routine.
About This Book
In this book is some theory about anxiety and why we suffer from it, how mindfulness works to help manage it and a range of different exercises with explanations of how to do them. Mindfulness works best when it is practised by engaging in the meditations and exercises, so this book is great for not only understanding your own anxiety but also how to begin to implement mindfulness in your own life.
This book can be used as a guide for mindfulness exercises to help manage your anxiety. The informal mindfulness exercises mentioned in the book cover a wide range of common activities and can be done several times a day, while the more formal mindfulness meditations can be completed once or twice a day to get the maximum effects of mindfulness.
Anxiety is the main focus of this book as it looks at the main ways in which you can use mindfulness to overcome anxiety. However, the mindfulness exercises and tips are also useful if you are suffering from depression, stress or physical health conditions. Mindfulness is also great for improving creativity, allowing yourself to live more fully in the present moment and improving focus and concentration. It has benefits for everyone, not just those who are trying to manage conditions such as anxiety, stress or depression.
Foolish Assumptions
If you have picked up this book, I am assuming that you have heard about mindfulness and how it can help anxiety and want to know more. I am assuming that you want to learn a little bit about how the mindfulness exercises can help you. Lastly, I'm assuming that you want to begin to try mindfulness for yourself, formally, informally or both, which is where this book can help you.
You may have anxiety and are looking for a solution, you may be a therapist who is looking to understand more about mindfulness and use it to help your clients or you may be a concerned friend, relative or partner of someone who struggles with anxiety and would like to learn more about mindfulness in order to try and help. Whatever the situation, I hope this book will prove to be a helpful guide.
Icons Used in This Book
I use icons throughout this book to bring different types of information to your attention and to clearly guide you through the book.
This icon is used to remind you to keep certain things in mind as you go through the book.
The Tip icon can offer little additions to help you enhance a particular exercise or meditation.
This icon is used to help you to engage with mindfulness exercises.
This icon is an alarm that alerts you to common errors and possible dangers, and warns you to take care.
This little owl is an icon for stories and little pearls of wisdom.
Beyond the Book
Find out more about Managing Anxiety With Mindfulness by checking out the bonus content available to you at www.dummies.com.
You can locate the book's e-cheat sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/managinganxiety, where you'll find handy hints and tips.
Be sure to visit the book's extras page at www.dummies.com/extras/managinganxiety for further Managing Anxiety With Mindfulness-related information and articles.
Where to Go from Here
This book offers theory and some exercises to manage anxiety with mindfulness. Being a more of a theory book, I give more space to understanding anxiety and mindfulness and less to practising mindfulness. If you'd like a more practical approach to developing the mindfulness exercises and to experience some guided audio meditations, you may also like Mindfulness Workbook For Dummies by myself and Shamash Alidina (Wiley).