Mindfulness Techniques for Anxiety!

We have already covered some mindfulness techniques for dealing with social anxiety disorder as well as the anxiety that often accompanies borderline personality disorder, but the techniques can also aid the undiagnosed individual who suffers from occasional (or not-so-occasional) anxiety.

A meta-analysis was conducted in 2010 that provided evidence for the effectiveness of mindfulness exercises on anxiety and depression.  The researchers found that mindfulness-based therapy was moderately effective for treating anxiety and improving mood and that the effects lasted beyond the initial improvements (Hofmann, Sawyer, Witt, & Oh, 2010).

To begin applying mindfulness to your anxiety, or that of your clients,  Mindful.orghas provided a short description of 10 attitudes that will help build the foundation for successfully addressing anxiety:

• Volition or intention
  This is the building block of all other attitudes. First, you must bring your focus to the intention of working with your anxiety.
• Beginner’s mind
  This refers to a mindset that is ready to see from a new perspective and consider new ideas in regards to dealing with anxiety.
• Patience
  This is a very important attitude to cultivate since it can broaden your perspective and help you persevere when you run into obstacles on your journey.
• Acknowledgment
  Having the mindset of acknowledgment means that you take each experience for what it is; you accept what is happening and be secure in the knowledge that it, like the weather it will pass.
• Nonjudgment
  This attitude involves experiencing your present moment without evaluating and judging it.  It means you let go of value judgments about yourself and how you are feeling and allows you to begin your work from a more balanced starting block.
• Non-striving
  This attitude refers to the willingness to accept a situation or experience as it is, without trying to change it.  To combat your anxiety, you must first be present with it and accept your current state.
• Self-reliance
  The mindset of self-reliance is characterized by trusting yourself and your ability to handle your feelings.  Cultivating your self-reliance will allow you to more easily acknowledge, experience, and let go of your anxiety.
• Letting be or allowing
  Similar to the attitude of non-striving, letting be or allowing refers to the mindset of allowing yourself to feel anxiety.  Often it is more effective to work with your anxiety than expend energy trying to fight against it.
• Self-compassion
  As mentioned earlier, showing yourself compassion is an important part of mindfulness.  Being kind to yourself, as you would be kind to a dear friend or family member, can help you to decrease your anxiety by being a support for yourself.
• Balance and equanimity
  These are attitudes that allow wisdom to develop through a broadening of perspective and an understanding that your whole experience is so much more than your current feelings, whether positive or negative.

To practice each of these mindsets, first read the full description of eachmindsetthen try to embody each mindset or attitude. Take note of how you feel. Afterward, reflect on your experience and describe it, with a special focus on your feelings during the process.

For a rather more simple method of applying mindfulness to anxiety, you can try this quick exercise:

• focus on the sensations that arise in your body when you are anxious.  
• be present and in the moment,
• allow yourself to think the anxious and distressing thoughts, don’t fight them.

By recognizing these thoughts for what they are, you may come to realize that they are not true, and consequently be able to let them go (Hofmann, 2013). If you are interested in trying other mindfulness exercises to address anxiety, you can use this free short document or this extensive workbook (PDF).

If you would like more information on anxiety, and how to approach dealing with it through mindfulness you can also take a listen to Dr. Kim Taylor Show as she clarifies the signs, symptoms of anxiety and suggests viable techniques, resources which can aid the treatment and management of anxiety. Take a listen:

5 Simple Mindfulness Exercises from Dialectical Behavioural Therapy!

5 Simple Mindfulness Exercises from Dialectical Behavioural Therapy

In addition to the DBT mindfulness techniques used in clinical research, there are many informal mindfulnesstechniques and exercises shared online for anyone to try.

One such source comes is DrivingPeace.com, which offers five DBT-based mindfulness practices that can help with anxiety, especially anxiety resulting from borderline personality disorder, however, could be beneficial to a number of different clients. These five exercises are quick and easy and can be put into practice every day:

1. Observe a leaf for five minutes

This exercise calls for nothing but a leaf and your attention. Pick up a leaf, hold it in your hand, and give it your full attention for five minutes.  Notice the colors, the shape, the texture, and the patterns. This will bring you into the present and align your thoughts with your current experience.

2. Mindful eating for four minutes

As with the raisin exercise described above, this exercise calls for mindful eating.

Pay attention to what you are holding (preferably not something messy!), notice the feeling of it in your hands.  Once you have noticed the texture, the weight, the color, etc., move on to bringing your awareness to the smell.

Finally, move on to eating, but do so slowly and with concentrated attention. Notice the taste and its texture against your tongue.  This exercise may help you discover new experiences with familiar foods.

3. Observe your thoughts for fifteen minutes

Tenhance your awareness of your own thoughts.

This exercise is a staple of mindfulness, designed to simply 

o begin, sit or lie down in a comfortable position and try to let all tension in your body dissipate. Focus on your breathing first, then move your awareness to what it feels like to be in your body, and finally move on to your thoughts.

Be aware of what comes into your head, but resist the urge to label or judge these thoughts. Think of them as a passing cloud in the sky of your mind.

If your mind wanders to chase a thought, acknowledge whatever it was that took your attention and gently guide your attention back to your thoughts.

4. Mindfulness bell exercise for five minutes

In this exercise, you begin by closing your eyes and listening for the cue. When you hear it, your aim is to focus your attention on the sound and continue your concentration until it fades completely. This exercise helps you to keep yourself firmly grounded in the present. You can use the audio below:

5. Stare at the center

The goal is simple: to focus your attention on the center of the shifting pattern of color. You can let your mind wander freely, noticing whatever thoughts come into your head but staying in the present.

This experience is similar to the well-known phenomenon of the quiet fixation that results from staring at a candle flame or a campfire.

The same focus and deep thought can be brought on by this exercise, but be careful not to lose yourself in thought, and instead stay present in the moment and let your thoughts pass by. This exercise requires a video to practice, you can use the one below:

Yoga easy steps feeling relief stress!

Take a deep breath, expanding your belly. Pause. Exhale slowly to the count of five. Repeat four times.

Congratulations. You’ve just calmed your nervous system.

Controlled breathing, like what you just practiced, has been shown to reduce stress, increase alertness and boost your immune system. For centuries yogis have used breath control, or pranayama, to promote concentration and improve vitality. Buddha advocated breath-meditation as a way to reach enlightenment.

Science is just beginning to provide evidence that the benefits of this ancient practice are real. Studies have found, for example, that breathing.

How controlled breathing may promote healing remains a source of scientific study. One theory is that controlled breathing can change the response of the body’s autonomic nervous system, which controls unconscious processes such as heart rate and digestion as well as the body’s stress response, says Dr. Richard Brown, an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University and co-author of “The Healing Power of the Breath.”

Consciously changing the way you breathe appears to send a signal to the brain to adjust the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, which can slow heart rate and digestion and promote feelings of calm as well as the sympathetic system, which controls the release of stress hormones likecortisol.

Many maladies, such as anxiety and depression, are aggravated or triggered by stress. “I have seen patients transformed by adopting regular breathing practices,” says Dr. Brown, who has a private practice in Manhattan and teaches breathing workshops around the world.

When you take slow, steady breaths, your brain gets the message that all is well and activates the parasympathetic response, said Dr. Brown. When you take shall  rapid breaths or hold your breath, the sympathetic response is activated. “If you breathe correctly, your mind will calm down,” said Dr. Patricia Gerbarg, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at New York Medical College and Dr. Brown’s co-author

Dr. Chris Streeter, an associate professor of psychiatry and neurology at Boston University, recently completed a small study in which she measured the effect of daily yoga and breathing on people with diagnoses of major depressive disorder

Stress Relief

When your mind is racing or you feel keyed up, try Rock and Roll breathing, which has the added benefit of strengthening your core.

1. Sit up straight on the floor or the edge of a chair.

2. Place your hands on your belly.

3. As you inhale, lean forward and expand your belly.

 breath out and curl forward while leaning backward; exhale until you’re completely empty of breath.
4.Repeat 20 miuntes

Breathing Exercise to Relax in 10 Minutes or Less!

Overworked, underslept and feeling the pressure? There are plenty of ways to find calm, without investing in a four-hand spa massage. All you need is a pair of lungs, your breath and 10 minutes or less. Don’t wait until fight or flight kicks in before minding your breath. Controlled breathing not only keeps the mind and body functioning at their best, it can also lower blood pressure, promote feelings of calm and relaxation and help us de-stress.
While the effects of breathing techniques on anxiety haven’t yet been studied at length (at least not in a controlled clinical setting), many experts encourage using the breath as a means of increasing awareness, mindfulness or, for the yogis among us, finding that elusive state of Zen. To get to the bottom of the breath work, Greatist spoke to breathing expert Dr. Alison McConnell, yoga instructor Rebecca Pacheco and psychologist Dr. Ellen Langer. But follow closely: breathing easy isn’t quite as easy as it sounds.
From the confines of a bed, a desk or anyplace where negativity finds its way, consider these six breathing techniques to help keep calm and carry on.
1. Sama Vritti or “Equal Breathing”:-

How it’s done: Balance can do a body good, beginning with the breath. To start, inhale for a count of four, then exhale for a count of four — all through the nose, which adds a natural resistance to the breath. Got the basic pranayama down? More advanced yogis can aim for six to eight counts per breath with the same goal in mind: calm the nervous system, increase focus and reduce stress, Pacheco says.
When it works best: Anytime, anyplace — but this is one technique that’s especially effective before bed. “Similar to counting sheep,” Pacheco says, “if you’re having trouble falling asleep, this breath can help take your mind off the racing thoughts, or whatever might be distracting you from sleep.”
Level of difficulty: Beginner
2. Abdominal Breathing Technique:-
How it’s done: With one hand on the chest and the other on the belly, take a deep breath in through the nose, ensuring the diaphragm (not the chest) inflates with enough air to create a stretch in the lungs. The goal: Six to 10 deep, slow breaths per minute for 10 minutes each day to experience immediate reductions to heart rate and blood pressure, McConnell says. Keep at it for six to eight weeks, and those benefits might stick around even longer.
When it works best: Before an exam, or any stressful event. But keep in mind, “Those who operate in a stressed state all the time might be a little shocked how hard it is to control the breath,” Pacheco says. To help train the breath, consider biofeedback tools such as McConnell’s Breathe Strong app, which can help users pace their breathing wherever they are.
Level of difficulty: Beginner
3. Nadi Shodhana or “Alternate Nostril Breathing”:-
How it’s done: A yogi’s best friend, this breath is said to bring calm and balance, and unite the right and left sides of the brain. Starting in a comfortable meditative pose, hold the right thumb over the right nostril and inhale deeply through the left nostril. At the peak of inhalation, close off the left nostril with the ring finger, then exhale through the right nostril. Continue the pattern, inhaling through the right nostril, closing it off with the right thumb and exhaling through the left nostril.
When it works best: Crunch time, or whenever it’s time to focus or energize. Just don’t try this one before bed: Nadi shodhana is said to “clear the channels” and make people feel more awake. “It’s almost like a cup of coffee,” Pacheco says.
Level of difficulty: Intermediate
4. Kapalabhati or “Skull Shining Breath”:-
How it’s done: Ready to brighten up your day from the inside out? This one begins with a long, slow inhale, followed by a quick, powerful exhale generated from the lower belly. Once comfortable with the contraction, up the pace to one inhale-exhale (all through the nose) every one to two seconds, for a total of 10 breaths.
When it works best: When it’s time to wake up, warm up or start looking on the brighter side of things. “It’s pretty abdominal-intensive,” Pacheco says, “but it will warm up the body, shake off stale energy and wake up the brain.” If alternate nostril breathing is like coffee, consider this a shot of espresso, she says.
Level of difficulty: Advanced
5. Progressive Relaxation:-
How it’s done: To nix tension from head to toe, close the eyes and focus on tensing and relaxing each muscle group for two to three seconds each. Start with the feet and toes, then move up to the knees, thighs, rear, chest, arms, hands, neck, jaw and eyes — all while maintaining deep, slow breaths. Having trouble staying on track? Anxiety and panic specialist Dr. Patricia Farrell suggests we breathe in through the nose, hold for a count of five while the muscles tense, then breathe out through the mouth on release.
When it works best: At home, at a desk or even on the road. One word of caution: Dizziness is never the goal. If holding the breath ever feels uncomfortable, tone it down to just a few seconds at most.
Level of difficulty: Beginner
6. Guided Visualization:-
How it’s done: Head straight for that “happy place,” no questions asked. With a coach, therapist or helpful recording as your guide, breathe deeply while focusing on pleasant, positive images to replace any negative thoughts. Psychologist Dr. Ellen Langer explains that while it’s just one means of achieving mindfulness, “Guided visualization helps puts you in the place you want to be, rather than letting your mind go to the internal dialogue that is stressful.”

5 Simple Deep Breathing Exercises To Reduce Stress Level!

Stress is detrimental to our health, and the cause of innumerous health problems. Worryingly, 47% of Americans report feeling stressed. Whether it’s work, family issues or simply having too much on our plates, stress is something we need to combat if we are to lead healthy, happy lives.

What Are the Signs of Stress?

Short-term stress and anxiety are part of being human, but when we remain on ‘high alert’ in the long-term, can manifest in physical and psychological ways like increased heartbeat, headaches, muscle aches and shortness of breath.
Poor handling of anxiety and stress can lead to adrenal fatigue, whose symptoms may include morning lethargy, memory loss, lowered immune system function and an inability to focus on daily tasks. Many adults and teenagers exhibit impulsive behavior while some people partake in addictive practices like smoking, excessive drinking and overeating (especially salty foods).

How Do Deep Breathing Exercises Combat Adrenal Fatigue?

By learning how to deep breathe properly, you will help to lower stress levels and ward off adrenal fatigue. All of these breathing methods can be practiced at home or in the office, and take only a few minutes each day. They’re also excellent techniques to incorporate into meditation.

Belly Breathing

The first technique you need to learn to do is what’s called “belly breathing”. This is the most basic of the breathing methods we have at our disposal, and therefore is the one you should master before trying out the others. It’s very simple, and requires just a few steps:

1. Sit down comfortably, or lay down on a yoga mat, depending on personal preference.
2. Place one hand on your stomach, just below your ribcage. Place the second hand on the center of your chest.
3. Breathe in deeply through your nostrils and let your first hand be pushed out by your stomach. Your chest should remain stationary.
4. Breathe out through your lips, pursing them as if you were about to whistle. Gently guide the hand on your stomach inwards, helping to press out the breath.
5. Slowly repeat between 3 and 10 times.

Continue for as long as you feel necessary. After you have mastered this breathing exercise, there are four additional methods for you to try, ranging in difficulty.

The “4-7-8” Breathing Technique

The method which we call “4-7-8 breathing” also requires you to be sitting or lying down comfortably. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Get into the belly breathing exercise position, with one hand on your stomach and one on your chest.
2. Breathe in slowly but deeply. Take 4 seconds to breathe in, feeling your stomach move in the process.
3. Hold your breath for 7 seconds.
4. Breathe out for 8 seconds, as silently as you can manage. Once you reach a count of 8, you should have completely emptied your lungs of air.
5. Repeat as many times as you need, making sure to stick to the 4-7-8 pattern.

Roll Breathing

This method is great for those looking for a relaxation breathing exercise that can be done comfortably while sitting. Its aim is not just to relax, but also to encourage the full use of your lung capacity.
Beginners are advised to lie down, but after your first time, you should find these steps just as easy to complete this exercise while sitting:

1. Get into the belly breathing position, with your left hand on your stomach, and right hand over your chest.
2. Take a deep, slow breath from your lower lungs, ensuring that the hand over your chest doesn’t move as you take the breath. Use your nose to breathe in, and exhale using your mouth.
3. Repeat this diaphragmatic breathing up to 8 times. On the ninth repetition – once you have filled your lower lungs – take a breath that will move your chest up, as you would normally breathe. This will fill your entire lung capacity.
4. Gently exhale through your mouth, being sure to completely empty your lungs. While you exhale, make a small “whooshing” noise. You should notice that both of your hands move back towards your body as both your stomach and chest fall.
5. Practice this method for between 4 and 5 minutes. With each exhalation, you should be able to feel a marked difference in your stress levels.

Morning Breathing

While the above three exercises can be completed whenever necessary, the next method is called ‘Morning Breathing’ and, as the name suggests, should be practiced once you have woken up.
This breathing exercise aims to stretch relax your muscles after a good night’s sleep. The following steps will help to minimize tension for the remainder of the day:

1. Stand up straight and, with your knees slightly bent, bend your torso forward from the waist. Your arms should be limply hanging next to you, toward the floor.
2. Take a breath in slowly and return to your original standing position. To do so, pretend that you are ‘zipping’ yourself up from the waist to the top of your neck. Your head should be the last thing to straighten.
3. Slowly exhale, and return to the bent position forward by the end of your breath. When you have finished, stand up straight and stretch your muscles as required.

Deep Muscle Relaxation with Belly Breathing

This progressive muscle relaxation technique is more involved than the others in this list, but is one of the best breathing exercises for anxiety and extreme fatigue.
This exercise requires tensing specific muscle groups for 5-10 seconds, though never to the point of pain or cramping. Release the tension and observe the feelings of relaxation that radiate. Be sure to pay the most attention to muscles causing discomfort or ache.
Be sure to conduct this stretch with belly breathing, which will help you attain the relaxation response.
To start, sit down in a comfortable position and focus on your belly breathing, closing your eyes if need be. When you have found a rhythm:

1. Starting with your face, knit your eyebrows together and purse your lips. Try to pull your facial muscles toward your nose for 15-20 seconds and release.
2. Your jaw holds a great deal of pressure. To relieve some of it, clench your jaw for five seconds and release, letting the stress dissipate.
3. For your neck and shoulders, shrug your shoulders in the direction of your ears and hold, concentrating on the tension. Let it dissolve. Spend 15 seconds recovering before tilting your chin to your chest for another 5-10 seconds.
4. Pull your forearms towards your shoulders while flexing your upper arm muscles. Hold for five seconds and release, while imagining the stress melting away.
5. Move your focus to your abdomen by squeezing your stomach muscles. Hold for five seconds and relax. Repeat while paying special attention to your chest.
6. To destress your legs, first tense the muscles in your thighs and buttocks. Relax and recover. Next, your lower legs can be stretched, point your toes downward and holding for five seconds.

Combined with the correct breathing technique, progressive muscle relaxation is a wonderful exercise to fully relax the body, and is fantastic  to conduct before bedtime.

Regular meditation more beneficial than vacation!

As mindfulness meditation and yoga have become mainstream and more extensively studied, growing evidence suggests multiple psychological and physical benefits of these mindfulness exercises, as well as for similar practices like tai chi and qi gong.
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses analyzing hundreds of research studies suggest that mindfulness-based interventions help decrease anxiety, depression, stress, and pain, and help improve general health, mental health, and quality of life. These practices also appear to reduce inflammation and increase immune response.

You say vacation, I say meditation…

As much as this intuitively makes sense, I’ve often wondered if simple rest and relaxation could be just as good for you. The few studies conducted suggest that vacation does result in real, albeit temporary, positive effects on health and well-being.
So when the editors at Harvard Health Publications suggested I take a look at a recent study comparing a mindfulness meditation and yoga retreat to regular vacation in terms of mental health as well as physical health outcomes, I agreed. This is interesting stuff.
The study was conducted at a resort in Southern California with 91 female volunteers who had no major health problems, were not pregnant, nor taking hormones or antidepressants. The mindfulness intervention was an established meditation and yoga retreat consisting of 12 hours of meditation, nine hours of yoga, and self-reflective exercises over a week. The participants were divided into three groups of about 30 each: experienced meditators, women who had never meditated, and a group who simply “went on vacation.” The 30 “vacation participants” listened to health lectures and then did fun outdoor things for a week.
At the end, all three groups (vacation, novice, and regular meditators) showed statistically significant improvements in scores of stress and depression, which were measured using well-established and commonly used questionnaires. If we stop there, it seems that vacation is just as good as mindfulness exercises for stress reduction and mood lifting.
But what’s really striking are the result from 10 months later: the regular meditators still showed significant improvements on these scores, the novice meditators even more so. However, the vacationers were back to baseline. The researchers had ensured that all three groups were equal in average age, education level, employment status, and body mass index. This finding is in keeping with prior research showing that vacation has beneficial but very temporary effects, and that mindfulness therapies have sustained beneficial effects.

What about long-term physical benefits of meditation?

These researchers also took blood samples just before and after the week long study period. All three groups showed significant positive changes in the markers of immune function. However, regular meditators also showed additional, more interesting changes. I got in touch with study author Eric Schadt, Ph.D., director of the Icahn Institute at Mount Sinai, who offered this interpretation of the data:
“Regular meditators showed both the same types of ‘improvements’ at the molecular level as the others, but on top of that exhibited changes that were also associated with some aging/disease processes that also correlated with biomarkers of aging in a favorable direction. I think there is some suggestion there of improved healthy aging, so hopefully that motivates further study in this direction.”
He went on to explain that other factors that often go hand in hand with meditation (for example, exercise, diet, even exposure to incense) could help explain these improvements. “So that as well remains to be more fully resolved in future studies.”
The vacation study was fairly small and included only women, and the authors point out that more research in this area is needed. But the evidence that mindfulness exercises can result in long-lasting positive psychological effects, especially for people new to these experiences, is compelling. In addition, meditation and yoga can boost immunity, and regular practice seems to promote more complex genetic effects related to healthier aging.

Yoga and meditation offer health care savings and you can do them at home

A new research study shows that a little yoga or meditation a day might just keep the doctor away.
Stress-related health problems are responsible for up to 80% of visits to the doctor and account for the third highest health care expenditures, behind only heart disease and cancer. But as few as 3% of doctors actually talk to patients about how to reduce stress.
Mind-body practices like yoga and meditation have been shown to reduce your body’s stress response by strengthening your relaxation response and lowering stress hormones like cortisol. Yoga has been shown to have many health benefits, including improving heart health and helping relieve depression and anxiety.

But the cost-effectiveness of these therapies has been less well demonstrated — until now.

The study

Dr. James E. Stahl and his team of Harvard researchers studied a mind-body relaxation program offered through the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. The 8-week program taught participants several different mind-body approaches, including meditation, yoga, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral skills, and positive psychology. The study volunteers participated in weekly sessions and practiced at home as well.
The researchers found that people in the relaxation program used 43% fewer medical services than they did the previous year, saving on average $2,360 per person in emergency room visits alone. This means that such yoga and meditation programs could translate into health care savings of anywhere from $640 to as much as $25,500 per patient each year.
“There are many ways to get to the well state — many gates to wellness, but not every gate is open to every person. One of the strengths of the program is that it draws upon many different tools that reinforce each other and allow many gates to be opened to a wide array of people,” says principal investigator Dr. Stahl, who is now section chief of general internal medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.

Yoga and meditation are soaring in popularity — but will insurance pay?

Yoga and meditation programs are gaining wide appeal. Nearly one in 10 Americans practices yoga, and 45% of adults who don’t practice yoga say they are interested in trying it. Americans are also using other forms of complementary health therapies, such as meditation (8%) and deep breathing (11%).
Many health care plans do not cover yoga or meditation, although some provide discounts for fitness programs including yoga or tai chi. States like Washington require private health insurers to cover licensed complementary health care providers, but the majority of states do not. However, that may soon change.
A recent article in the Harvard Business Review recommends that health insurers cover wellness and prevention-oriented therapies that are both low-cost and evidence-based, as both yoga and meditation are. The article discusses a study of Aetna employees who participated in the company’s mindfulness program and enjoyed a 28% reduction in stress, 20% better sleep, and 19% less pain, as well as an increase in worker productivity worth an estimated $3,000 per employee per year. The company offers free yoga and meditation programs to its employees.
“There are a lot of great studies on the biologic side, just not enough on the economics,” notes Dr. Stahl, who is looking to change that with his ongoing research. As the evidence for the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of yoga and meditation programs continues to grow, we can expect to see more interest from health care insurers.
“If I have a tool that works in clinical medicine that has very little side effects and considerable benefit, why would I not use the tool?”

Insomnia Improves Sleep!

Mindfulness meditation helps fight insomnia, improves sleep:- 

If you’ve ever crawled under the covers worrying about a problem or a long to-do list, you know those racing thoughts may rob you of a good night’s sleep. Sleep disturbances, like having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep, affect millions of Americans.

The daytime sleepiness that follows can leave you feeling lousy and sap your productivity, and it may even harm your health. Now, a small study suggests that mindfulness meditation — a mind-calming practice that focuses on breathing and awareness of the present moment — can help.
The study, which appears in this week’s JAMA Internal Medicine, included 49 middle-aged and older adults who had trouble sleeping. Half completed a mindfulness awareness program that taught them meditation and other exercises designed to help them focus on “moment-by-moment experiences, thoughts, and emotions.” The other half completed a sleep education class that taught them ways to improve their sleep habits.
Both groups met six times, once a week for two hours. Compared with the people in the sleep education group, those in the mindfulness group had less insomnia, fatigue, and depression at the end of the six sessions.
The findings come as no surprise to Dr. Herbert Benson, director emeritus of the Harvard-affiliated Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine. “Mindfulness meditation is just one of a smorgasbord of techniques that evoke the relaxation response,” says Dr. Benson.
The relaxation response, a term he coined in the 1970s, is a deep physiological shift in the body that’s the opposite of the stress response. The relaxation response can help ease many stress-related ailments, including depression, pain, and high blood pressure. For many people, sleep disorders are closely tied to stress, says Dr. Benson.
Mindfulness meditation involves focusing on your breathing and then bringing your mind’s attention to the present without drifting into concerns about the past or future. It helps you break the train of your everyday thoughts to evoke the relaxation response, using whatever technique feels right to you.
Dr. Benson recommends practicing mindfulness during the day, ideally for 20 minutes, the same amount suggested in the new study. “The idea is to create a reflex to more easily bring forth a sense of relaxation,” he says. That way, it’s easier to evoke the relaxation response at night when you can’t sleep. In fact, the relaxation response is so, well, relaxing that your daytime practice should be done sitting up or moving (as in yoga or tai chi) so as to avoid nodding off.

To elicit the relaxation response, try these two simple steps:

Step 1: Choose a calming focus.:-
Good examples are your breath, a sound (“Om”), a short prayer, a positive word (such as “relax” or “peace”), or a phrase (“breathing in calm, breathing out tension”; “I am relaxed”). If you choose a sound, repeat it aloud or silently as you inhale or exhale.
Step 2: Let go and relax:-
 Don’t worry about how you’re doing. When you notice your mind has wandered, simply take a deep breath or say to yourself “thinking, thinking” and gently return your attention to your chosen focus.