Benefits of Mindfulness to Reduce Anxiety

May 3

Anxiety is your body’s way of letting you know that something is wrong and you’re in danger.

This can be a helpful alarm system if and when you are actually in danger, but it becomes more of a problem – and extremely frustrating and exhausting – when you are safe and not in any real danger. Anxiety also tends to focus on future or past events.

Future events that your anxiety might focus on may be a big exam that is coming up, what life will look like, how a big presentation or work trip is going to go, or what your boss wants to talk about at the meeting he requested for tomorrow. Past events that your anxiety might focus on may be when you messed up during a presentation at school, saying something rude or wrong to a friend, or realizing you made a mistake or wrong decision that will impact your future. While these may be legitimate concerns, sitting in constant thoughts about these things will generally increase one’s anxiety. This is where mindfulness can be helpful.

While anxiety is all about worrying about the future or past, mindfulness focuses on the present moment. This can be really powerful, as it takes away some power from the anxiety because there is nothing (assuming you are in a safe place) to worry about in the present moment. The more you practice mindfulness, the more your mind and body will get used to focusing on the present moment, rather than the past or future. It will take time and probably won’t be a quick fix for your anxiety, but interrupting the cycle of anxiety can be so helpful in lowering one’s level of anxiety.