Mindfulness and Anxious Thoughts

By Lindsey Novakowski

Many of us have experienced anxiety before — racing thoughts, sweaty palms, a pounding heart, and more signs of unease within the nervous system. Even though anxiety is often an unconscious protective response and is your body’s way of trying to keep you safe, it can often feel overwhelming and difficult to manage in everyday life. This is where Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) can make a real difference. A gentle approach that can help with interrupting the cycle of anxious thinking and grounding into the present moment, MBCT can be a helpful approach for those seeking treatment for anxiety.

Understanding the Anxiety Loop

Anxiety can look different for everyone, but a common concern in people seeking counselling is a constant loop of negative and worried thoughts. Sometimes these thoughts can be referred to as cognitive distortions — negative thoughts that, although they might feel true in the moment, can actually be incredibly inaccurate, colouring and shaping our worldview through a lens of worry and pessimism. Some examples are catastrophic thinking and always imagining the worst, or labelling and defining yourself negatively, using unkind words like “lazy” or “failure”. Often these cognitive distortions can become second nature and before we know it, we’re spiraling and panicking before we can even try to put a stop to it. MBCT techniques can help with becoming more aware of these thought patterns and harnessing new skills to help with interrupting the anxiety loop, letting go of negative thoughts or judgments, and refocusing the mind on the present.

Mindfulness and the Present Moment

A key feature of MBCT is mindful awareness. When we allow ourselves to be fully present in the current moment, we don’t have space in our minds to either ruminate on the past or worry about the future. As well, being present allows us to tune into our bodily sensations, such as the feeling of your feet on the ground or the coolness and warmth of air as you breathe in and out. This can also help with grounding, being in the present moment and taking focus away from anxious mental chatter.

The Three-Minute Breathing Space: A Helpful Tool

This is a quick practice that can help interrupt those spirals of anxious thoughts by giving yourself a pause in which to observe any thoughts and emotions without judgment. It can also help ground you back into the present moment by tuning into your bodily sensations. With this simple tool, you can practice putting a stop to those anxious thoughts before they become a spiral, and you can practice tuning into what your body may be trying to tell you and work towards intentionally soothing yourself through the breath. Here’s how it’s done:

Minute 1: Awareness – Acknowledge what’s happening right now. What thoughts are present? What emotions are here? What are you feeling in your body?

Minute 2: Breathing: – Gently focus your attention on the breath, especially the sensations of breathing in and out.

Minute 3: Expanding – Broaden your awareness to include the whole body, noticing sensations, posture, or areas of tension, and creating space around your experience.

Remember, it’s perfectly okay and very normal to not be great at something the first time you try it. Mindfulness is a skill, and like any skill, it takes practice. With time and some practice, you may notice your anxiety shifting and becoming easier to spot and interrupt before it turns into endless rumination or spirals of worry.