A Simple Mindfulness Tool to Calm Anxiety
By Dr. Roxanne Ahmadpour
Feeling stressed, frazzled, overwhelmed, tense, and anxious? Do you have a hard time stopping or controlling worry, fear, and what-ifs? Do you have a hard time feeling settled?
You are not alone. This is a common experience in our modern world -- full of stressors, demands, unpredictability, never-ending stimulation, and exposure to fear-based media coverage. The pandemic has not helped -- the rates of mental health disorders including anxiety and depression have skyrocketed over this past year.
Unfortunately, there is a great deal of stigma around mental health, and this can prevent people from seeking help and feeling better. You can feel better. Getting support from a professional is a great place to start. They can help you sort out your experience, provide support, treatment options, and referrals.
The following is a simple exercise that I use with many of my patients with anxiety and depression. This exercise can help you shift your attention away from mental chatter and overwhelming emotions and ground yourself in the present moment. This exercise is immediately calming, and with practice it will help regulate your nervous system so in the face of the same stressors, you can more easily access a sense of inner stability and groundedness.
What is this simple tool? Engage your senses.
This exercise is one that can be practiced anywhere, anytime, and it can have some immediate calming effects. I love to practice this exercise while I am outside, in a natural environment or going for a walk. If I notice that my mind is wandering, I am ruminating about the past or future, or I’m feeling stressed, I will shift my attention to my senses while I walk. I shift my focus to what I see, hear, smell, feel, and taste. In order to make space for my sensory experience of the present moment, my mind naturally lets go of worrying thoughts. My walk becomes much more pleasant and therapeutic!
Give it a try. Take a moment to pause. Stop what you are doing, and begin to shift your attention to your senses, to your sensory experience at this very moment.
The traditional five senses are: sight, sound, felt-sense/touch, smell, and taste.
Sight: Start slowly taking in the world around you through your sense of sight. Really take your time to look around. What do you see? Name specific objects to yourself as you take them in. Take your time to notice light, colors, textures, and shapes. Look up, down, behind you, all around.
Sound: Shift your attention to your sense of sound. What do you hear? Take your time to notice sounds in your environment, from the obtuse to the minute and barely perceptible.
Felt-sense/Touch: Now shift your focus to what you feel. Not emotional feelings, rather what you feel with your sense of touch. Maybe you start by rubbing your hands together, or rubbing your hands on your thighs. You may notice the texture of clothing, the sensation of the object you are sitting or standing on, the temperature or feel of the air.
Smell: Now, what do you smell? Do you notice any particular scents or smells?
Taste: Finally, connect with your sense of taste. Are there any taste sensations you can identify and name?
Now take a moment to notice how you feel. You may notice the inner chatter in your mind has settled, and you feel slightly more grounded.
Dr. Roxanne Ahmadpour is a naturopathic physician specializing in functional gastroenterology and integrative treatment of mental and emotional health. She is passionate about providing a safe, nonjudgmental space for patients to explore and inhabit all aspects of their being. Dr. Ahmadpour received a master’s degree in Integrative Mental Health and a doctoral degree in Naturopathic Medicine from National University of Natural Medicine (NUNM). She is currently completing a post-doctoral residency under the mentorship of Dr. Steven Sandberg- Lewis at Hive Mind Medicine in Portland, Oregon.
Hive Mind Medicine blog posts are for educational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your health care practitioner for personalized guidance.