Managing Anxiety with Mindfulness For Dummies

175 Pages·2015·1.95 MB·English

by  Joelle Jane Marshall

Managing Anxiety With Mindfulness For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., The Atrium, Southern Gate,
Chichester, www.wiley.com
This edition first published 2015
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, Chichester, West Sussex.
Registered office
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West
Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom
For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for
information about how to apply for permission to reuse the copyright material
in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the
UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of
the publisher.
Wiley publishes in a variety of print and electronic formats and by print-on-
demand. Some material included with standard print versions of this book
may not be included in e-books or in print-on-demand. If this book refers to
media such as a CD or DVD that is not included in the version you
purchased, you may download this material at www.dummies.com . For more
information about Wiley products, visit www.wiley.com.
Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often
claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book
are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their
respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor
mentioned in this book.
LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: WHILE
THE PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR HAVE USED THEIR BEST
EFFORTS IN PREPARING THIS BOOK, THEY MAKE NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH THE RESPECT TO
THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF
THIS BOOK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IT IS SOLD ON THE UNDERSTANDING
THAT THE PUBLISHER IS NOT ENGAGED IN RENDERING
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AND NEITHER THE PUBLISHER
NOR THE AUTHOR SHALL BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES ARISING
HEREFROM. IF PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OR OTHER EXPERT
ASSISTANCE IS REQUIRED, THE SERVICES OF A COMPETENT
PROFESSIONAL SHOULD BE SOUGHT.
For general information on our other products and services, please contact
our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the
U.S. at [phone]-3993, or fax [phone]. For technical support,
please visit www.wiley.com/techsupport.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-1-118-97252-6 (paperback); ISBN 978-1-118-97261-8 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-97257-1 (ebk)
Managing Anxiety with Mindfulness
For Dummies®
Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/managinganxiety
to view this book's cheat sheet.
Table of Contents
Cover
Introduction
About This Book
Foolish Assumptions
Icons Used in This Book
Beyond the Book
Where to Go from Here
Part I: Getting Started with Managing Anxiety
Chapter 1: Peering into the World of Anxiety
Comparing Fear, Excitement and Anxiety
Discovering the Effect of Anxiety on the Mind
Finding out the Physical Effects of Anxiety on Bodily Functions
Understanding the Fight-or-Flight Response
Exploring Why Thinking Negatively Is a Natural Human Trait
Recognising Whether Your Anxiety Is Normal or Severe
Applying Mindfulness to Your Anxiety
Chapter 2: Finding Out the Common Causes of
Anxiety
Exploring Common Causes of Anxiety
Understanding the Influences Affecting Your Anxiety
Realising How Modern-Day Living Can Affect Your Anxiety
Part II: Learning More about Mindfulness for Anxiety
Chapter 3: Discovering Mindful Attitudes Toward
Anxiety
Discovering Your Starting Attitude
Understanding the Benefits of Mindfulness
Challenging Preconceived Ideas about Mindfulness and
Meditation
Common Misconceptions
Viewing Mindfulness as a Way of Living
Introducing the Mindful Breathing Exercise
Chapter 4: Managing Your Thoughts Mindfully
Accepting That Thoughts Impact Your Mind and Body
Bringing Mindful Attention and Curiosity to Your Thoughts
Understanding That Thoughts Aren’t Necessarily Facts
Discovering the Breathing Space Meditation
Chapter 5: Practising Deeper Mindfulness
Meditations for Anxiety
Introducing the Body Scan Meditation
Introducing the Sitting Meditation
Discovering Mindful Imagery Meditations for Anxiety
Savouring the Mindful Eating Meditation
Chapter 6: Using Mindful Self-Compassion and
Kindness for Anxiety
Understanding Loving-Kindness
Letting Go of the Perfectionist
Discovering Compassion for Yourself and Others
Chapter 7: Journeying from Excessive Anxiety to
Mindful Wellbeing
Starting the Journey at the Edge of the Forest
Keeping a Journal to Strengthen Your Practice
Enjoying the Vital Support of Other People
Part III: Applying Mindfulness Every Day for Anxiety
Chapter 8: Living Mindfully Day-to-Day
Engaging in Daily Mindfulness Meditations
Maintaining Positive Relationships
Dealing with Difficult Relationships
Chapter 9: Changing Unhealthy Habits to Healthy
Ones to Combat Anxiety
Cutting Down on Stimulants and Certain Drugs
Looking after Yourself Physically
Avoiding Overuse of Technology at Home
Motivating Yourself to Meditate
Chapter 10: Taking the Next Step in Your
Mindfulness Practice
Determining Whether Your Anxiety Needs Medical Attention
Engaging in an Eight-Week Mindfulness Course
Using Mindfulness with Other Forms of Therapy
Expanding Your Mindfulness Practice
Part IV: The Part of Tens
Chapter 11: Ten Simple Mindfulness Exercises for
Managing Anxiety
Being Mindful in Nature
Carrying out a Mini Body Scan Meditation
Trying out a Mini Sitting Meditation
Breathing Mindfully
Practising a Mini Loving-Kindness Meditation
Listening Mindfully
Cooking Mindfully
Walking Mindfully
Stretching Mindfully
Cleaning Mindfully
Chapter 12: Ten Mindful Attitudes for Easing
Anxiety
Practising Present-Moment Awareness
Helping Your Beginner’s Mind to Blossom
Spotting Your Tendency to Judge
Considering Curiosity
Opening up to Anxiety
Developing Self-Compassion
Pursuing Patience – without Rushing
Operating with Optimism
Generating Gratitude
Allowing Acceptance to Grow
About the Author
Cheat Sheet
Advertisement Page
Connect with Dummies
End User License Agreement
Introduction
Welcome to Managing Anxiety With Mindfulness For Dummies. Mindfulness
has ancient roots in Buddhism and other religions but is now rapidly gaining
recognition as a secular practice that can help manage and reduce chronic
pain, depression and anxiety. It also has many other benefits such as greater
joy in the present moment, better sleep quality and less stress.
Everyone experiences some difficulties over the course of their life, including
anxiety. This is a natural and normal part of the human experience.
Mindfulness offers a way of managing anxiety in an accepting and balanced
way, so that when anxiety does arise, you will be able to realise it and
manage it and watch it evaporate in its own time, without judging or forcing
it to move away.
Mindfulness also helps you when your life is going well. You live more in the
present moment, are more focused and less stressed, are kinder to yourself
and those around you, more willing to forgive yourself when you make
mistakes, have a greater connection to the world around you and are more
grateful.
I’ve written this book to make managing your anxiety with mindfulness
achievable in your life. There are explanations for what anxiety is and why
we experience it and meditations that you can practice in your daily life.
Some are short exercises and some are longer, so even with a busy life, they
are easy to slot into a daily routine.
About This Book
In this book is some theory about anxiety and why we suffer from it, how
mindfulness works to help manage it and a range of different exercises with
explanations of how to do them. Mindfulness works best when it is practised
by engaging in the meditations and exercises, so this book is great for not
only understanding your own anxiety but also how to begin to implement
mindfulness in your own life.
This book can be used as a guide for mindfulness exercises to help manage
your anxiety. The informal mindfulness exercises mentioned in the book
cover a wide range of common activities and can be done several times a day,
cover a wide range of common activities and can be done several times a day,
while the more formal mindfulness meditations can be completed once or
twice a day to get the maximum effects of mindfulness.
Anxiety is the main focus of this book as it looks at the main ways in which
you can use mindfulness to overcome anxiety. However, the mindfulness
exercises and tips are also useful if you are suffering from depression, stress
or physical health conditions. Mindfulness is also great for improving
creativity, allowing yourself to live more fully in the present moment and
improving focus and concentration. It has benefits for everyone, not just those
who are trying to manage conditions such as anxiety, stress or depression.
Foolish Assumptions
If you have picked up this book, I am assuming that you have heard about
mindfulness and how it can help anxiety and want to know more. I am
assuming that you want to learn a little bit about how the mindfulness
exercises can help you. Lastly, I’m assuming that you want to begin to try
mindfulness for yourself, formally, informally or both, which is where this
book can help you.
You may have anxiety and are looking for a solution, you may be a therapist
who is looking to understand more about mindfulness and use it to help your
clients or you may be a concerned friend, relative or partner of someone who
struggles with anxiety and would like to learn more about mindfulness in
order to try and help. Whatever the situation, I hope this book will prove to be
a helpful guide.
Icons Used in This Book
I use icons throughout this book to bring different types of information to
your attention and to clearly guide you through the book.
This icon is used to remind you to keep certain things in mind as you
go through the book.