Stress management technique: mindfulness

Nicole D

I have been struggling with how to cope with stress lately...saw a counselor who pointed me in the direction of "Mindfulness" as written about by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn. I am very excited to try it. Basically, anxiety-provoking thoughts are dealt with in a meditative non-confrontational way, to strip them of their power and to help focus in on the here and now.

Has anyone else tried this? I will let you know how it goes if there is interest.

Also, I mentioned that I often shop to relieve stress and he advised to NOT stop shopping but IN ADDITION to try some of the mindfulness as another self-reward. Yes! This counselor and I are going to get along just fine.

12 years ago

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13 replies

Latest reply was from

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Smiling about the shopping advice.

Yes, I have done the Kabat-Zinn mindfulness course, many years ago, as has my husband. It was helpful to both of us in different ways (we had different reasons for exploring it, so this was good.) I still practice some of the techniques when I am under particular stress. And the company I work for includes a mindfulness component in its weight loss program following very similar principles.

Another very helpful book (with a slightly different emphasis) is The Happiness Trap.

Good luck with this Nicole, and do keep us posted!

12 years ago

Anonymous

Good luck Nicole! I hope this works for you. I would be interested in hearing more.

12 years ago

lyn*

(website)

Veteran

We do some mindfullness training, but I don't find it particularly helpful for myself.

12 years ago

pil

Veteran

My yoga teacher thinks highly of this. She suggested Full Catasrophe Living for a friend of mine. I hope it is productive for you, Nicole.

12 years ago

Anonymous

I have not heard of this course, so I'd be interested to know more too. Good shopping advice

12 years ago

Kristin L

Veteran

I've never taken a course in it, but I practice mindfulness mediation. It had been one of the best stress relief techniques I've learned. I'll look into that book.

Nicole, have you read "Full Catastrophe Living" by the same author? Like Pil suggested, it's a great book. I'm still working on reading it, but it seems like it has some great ideas. Another great book about meditation is "Meditations in a New York Minute" by Mark Thorton. He doesn't go into a lot of depth about the philosophies, but it's a great primer of sorts to understand how to do it.

http://www.amazon.com/Full-Cat.....phe+living

http://www.amazon.com/Meditati.....1591794293

12 years ago

Anonymous

I'm not sure if this is quite the same thing, but I downloaded Terri Cole's meditation CD to my phone last week. It has a variety of short guided meditations -- 6 minutes, 8 minutes, some just a few minutes. I've been doing one or two every day, and I've been really, really surprised at the impact even 6 minutes of meditation can have on my day.

Good luck with your practice!

12 years ago

Nicole D

Veteran

Thanks for all the encouragement and tips. I have downloaded "Full catastrophe living" just this morning. Alicat, I will try the 6 minute meditations too, the counselor did advise starting with very small steps. By the way, this forum is a great stress buster too. Always brings a smile to my face to go on YLF!

12 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Don't know about Jon Kabat-Zinn, but I approve of the practice of mindfulness. Pema Chodron, western buddhist nun, has a wonderful thing on shenpas. Catholic St. Therese (I think it was her) called them alligators. The little stings, bites of anxiety, anger, etc. that hook us and reel us in.

Interesting tidbit: There's a brief window of opportunity, between when they're about to start and when they get going, to go a different way. The trick is to sort of slow down and extend that window. Catching that "about to start" moment is definitely a learned thing.

12 years ago

Ariadne

Veteran

I've done mindfulness work, but what I learned was derived from DBT and techniques used with serious mental illness. Not sure if that's the same thing, but I found it very helpful. It was a lot of work and commitment, though, and it was not something I've been able to maintain consistently. I'd like to get back into it when I can.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D.....indfulness
http://www.goodtherapy.org/blo.....ndfulness/
http://www.dbtselfhelp.com/html/mindfulness.html

12 years ago

Caro in Oz

Veteran

I haven't read these books they sound great. Yoga has taught me that the thoughts will always be there it's the finding the way of not hooking into them that is important for me.

12 years ago

Sona

Veteran

I've done a lot of mindfulness work along my depression journey and in turn teach some to my patients as well. I find some techniques helpful, others make me more anxious. I find ACT- action and commitment therapy a lot more practical and 'relatable' to me.

12 years ago

Anonymous

This might be of interest:

https://plus.google.com/events.....uga21uilj8

12 years ago

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