We can switch on our brakes and reduce the amount of times our alarm bell rings within a minute (longer if you have the time)! Noticing why we are getting, stressed, anxious, angry or irritated and turning our attention to our breathing helps us to come out of automatic pilot and be consciously aware of what we are thinking. Thoughts are transient they come and go. How we feel changes through the daytime. Mindfulness helps us become aware of when we do feel calm.

We only exist right now in the present moment. We don’t exist in the past and we haven’t yet existed in the future. Our minds like to follow our thoughts all of which spiral into overthinking.

Mindfulness has been clinically recognised to help manage stress, anxiety and low mood. If you identify your triggers and you feel ready to take positive action, mindfulness is one step to help improve health and wellbeing. It has been used in combination with other therapies such as counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy if anxiety and low mood have a significant impact on your life and you are aware what might be trigging it.

Noticing your breathing, the sound, the sensation as you breathe all help reduce a busy overthinking mind. Taking some longer, slower deeper breaths stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. It slows down heart rate, blood pressure and the stress hormone Cortisol. Regulating our breathing helps to reset the internal nervous system quickly by impacting our heart rate variability. We can reduce the affect of the fight or flight response just by changing our breathing.

Being mindful of your body and your breath helps you take control of how your body is reacting to your thoughts and can help you achieve an inner calm.

By Sharon Elizabeth Best