Calming the nervous system with meditation
Using the five senses to settle and relax
There are many ways to work with the stress of life: listening to music, making art, exercising, etc. Mindfulness meditation is a practice that can be done anywhere, anytime. In as little as 10 minutes a day, meditation can soothe the effect of anxiety on the body and mind over time and provide a go-to for times of stress. “Anxiety is something most of us have experienced at least once in our life. Public speaking, performance reviews, and new job responsibilities are just
some of the
work-related situations that
can cause
even the calmest person
to feel a little stressed,” according to University of Rochester Medical Center.
The effects of continued stress and anxiety, if not managed, can be quite unsettling.
At Harvard Medical School, radiology instructor Gaëlle Desbordes is part of a community of researchers that in recent decades has been studying how meditation works. Desbordes and her colleagues have found “there are a handful of key areas — including depression, chronic pain, and anxiety — in which well-designed, well-run studies have shown benefits for patients engaging in a mindfulness meditation program, with effects similar to other existing treatments.”
As a mindfulness and meditation instructor, I guide and coach students and individuals in practices that grow resilience into everyday lives. Meditation is a centuries-old practice that has been proven to soothe stress and anxiety by bringing our momentto-moment attention to what is actually happening in the present moment. In doing so, we move reactions from the limbic part of the brain to the frontal cortex, where logic and reason can take place.
Ruminating is something that keeps us stuck in our anxiety and stressful thoughts as a spiral that keeps going around and around without end, much like recycling thoughts. The frontal and outer parts of the brain are where we can stop the spiraling of rumination by engaging our five senses: sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell.
This month’s five-step exercise can be very helpful during periods of anxiety or stress by helping to ground us when our mind is recycling uncomfortable thoughts.
Before starting this exercise, we pay attention to our breathing for a few minutes. Slow, deep, long breaths can prepare us for a structured meditation practice. Once you are comfortable following your breath, go through the steps that ground the mind and body by moving attention away from the rumination into a space where our entire body can be calmed.
Anne-Marie Emanuelli is the founder and creative director at Mindful Frontiers LLC, a Benefit Corporation (BCorp) committed to community wellness by providing schools and organizations with mindfulness meditation tools that nurture positive social-emotional growth. With over two decades of meditation experience, AnneMarie provides coaching for children, families, individuals, groups, and classrooms. She is a certified meditation leader and a certified labyrinth facilitator. Featured practices can be found on the Welcoming a Mindful Future podcast and Insight Timer app. The website is mindfulfrontiers.net.