How Practicing Mindfulness Can Give Your Better Control Over Your Anxiety

Have you been trying to manage your anxiety without much success? While habit and lifestyle changes aren’t necessarily a cure for anxiety, certain practices can help. Practicing mindfulness can often alleviate symptoms of anxiety. Whether you want to meditate or try yoga, either of these habits can help you become more mindful.

Mindfulness can be transformative, yet it doesn’t always come naturally. Learning how to be mindful is a skill like any other. But why is mindfulness so effective for healing anxiety? And which aspects of anxiety does mindfulness address?

Let’s explore a few of the benefits of mindfulness for anxiety.

Live in the Moment

Through mindfulness practices like meditation, yoga, or even journaling, you can learn to live in the moment. People who suffer from anxiety often struggle to focus on the present. Instead, they worry about the future, or they feel stressed over things that happened in the past.

Even when you wish you could enjoy a particular moment, you may still feel like your thoughts are elsewhere. But when you can embrace the present moment, you won’t feel as anxious – and gaining a sense of presence is what mindfulness is all about.

Let Go of Anxious Thoughts

Many people with anxiety spend lots of time dwelling on negative thoughts. Anxiety can make you prone to rumination. Rumination involves fixating on negative thought patterns for long periods of time. You might analyze everything you said in a past conversation, or you might reflect on an awkward moment.

Mindfulness can teach you to let go of these thoughts. For instance, meditation can help you learn to notice a thought, acknowledge it, and simply let it pass by.

Emotional Regulation

When you’re suffering from anxiety, it can be difficult to regulate your emotions. You might wish that you could simply calm down, but your heart is pounding. Or you may experience moments when you feel low, and you wish you could give yourself a pep talk – but no matter what you try to tell yourself to cheer up, everything seems to ring hollow.

Through mindfulness, you can learn to regulate your emotions and get a better handle on your emotional state.

Reduce the Physical Symptoms of Anxiety

Anxiety can bring physical symptoms. Although anxiety is a mental health condition, it can also affect your physical health. For instance, you might have noticed yourself feeling nausea or getting headaches more often. You may have trouble sleeping at night or struggle to concentrate during the day.

And sometimes, these symptoms can cause more stress – you might not realize that they are connected to your mental health, which can leave you worrying about your physical health.

But by practicing mindfulness, you may notice a reduction in your physical symptoms of anxiety. For example, it might be easier for you to sleep at night, you might develop a healthier appetite, or you may stop experiencing headaches.

Face Stressful Situations With Confidence

When you have anxiety, dealing with stress is difficult. Even facing the minor stresses of daily life can feel overwhelming. And when you’re dealing with an emergency, you may feel paralyzed. But if you practice mindfulness in your daily life, you can learn to face stressful situations with more confidence.

When you become more mindful, you begin to recognize that all stressful situations will pass, and that you have the skills to handle them. You’ll be able to keep a level head, even in the face of anxiety.