Mindfulness Applied to Mental Health

Episode 59: Mindfulness Applied to Mental Health

Helen Sneed: Welcome. Welcome to our award winning podcast, Mental Health Hope and Recovery. I'm Helen Sneed.

Valerie Milburn: And I'm Valerie Milburn.

Helen Sneed: We both have fought and overcome severe chronic mental illnesses. Our podcast offers a unique approach to mental health conditions. We provide practical skills, guest experts, and inspirational true stories of recovery. Our knowledge is up close and personal.

Valerie Milburn: Helen and I are your peers. We're not doctors, therapists or social workers. We're not professionals, but we are experts. We are experts in our own lived experience with multiple mental health diagnoses and symptoms. Please join us on our journey.

Helen Sneed: We live in recovery, so can you.

Valerie Milburn: This podcast does not provide medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be a substitute for or relied upon as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. The podcast is for informational purposes only. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health providers with any health related questions you may have.

Helen Sneed: Welcome to episode 59, mindfulness applied to Mental Health. Now here on Mental Health Hope and Recovery, we end every episode with the mindfulness exercise led by Valerie, always a great favorite of our listeners everywhere. Now, both Valerie and I have used mindfulness at the core of our fight for recovery. And an entire episode on mindfulness was in the planning stages. But given the impact of our most recent episode, all about the power of anxiety in American life, today, we were propelled to do mindfulness. Now. You see, in preparing for last month's episode, we each examined our own journey with an anxiety disorder. Focusing on anxiety opened up the earliest symptoms of my own mental illness. It was, ah, anxiety that stopped me from functioning, that and panic attacks, and that led to other illnesses. An all encompassing anxiety came to the forefront of my current life. While we were researching and preparing the episode, without even thinking, I practiced mindfulness and found relief.

Valerie Milburn: I knew I was struggling with anxiety at that time, much more than I had in many years. And I knew it was just life on life's terms causing my anxiety. It was nothing huge, but it was a lot of life happening at once. A family health issue, a strained relationship and a big business decision. It was boom, boom, boom. But as we prepared for the episode on anxiety disorders, the research I did and the strategies and skills for managing my anxiety that I re examined propelled me into the solution. And then I saw the solution clearly. After we finished the episode, I saw that I had lost my mindfulness focus. Getting ready for today's episode certainly brought me back to a mindful state of being. We hope you, our listeners, find peace through mindfulness by joining us today.

Helen Sneed: Well, understanding the concept of mindfulness is something that seems to come first. Mindfulness is an ancient practice adopted by many cultures across time. Okay, but what is it now? For many years, the very concept of mindfulness perplexed me. I mean, I simply couldn't get it. To me, mindfulness seemed to be a contradiction, something deceptively simple, and at the same time requiring a lot of abilities such as self discipline, self respect, self awareness, all of which were unreliable to non existent for me. Little did I realize at that time that if I began to practice mindfulness, it would help me develop those very qualities. So let's begin with some basic definitions of mindfulness. Now, Webster says mindfulness is the practice of maintaining a non judgmental state of heightened or complete awareness of one's thoughts, emotions or experiences on a moment to moment basis. Mindful.org gives us this definition. Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us. And finally, Dr. Roxanne Sukal of the Cleveland Clinic has a great definition. She says mindfulness is being present in the current moment.

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Helen Sneed: And however you do that is mindfulness.

Today we're especially focused on the application of mindfulness to mental health. Valerie, you've looked into this. Can you explain how it works?

Valerie Milburn: Yes. Let's take a look at the research on mindfulness and its impact on mental health. The National Institute of Mental Health summarizes the effects of mindfulness on, mental health with this. Mindfulness has been theoretically and empirically associated with psychological well being. While that's pretty clear, the Institute goes on to state that the elements of mindfulness, namely awareness and non judgmental acceptance of one's moment to moment experience, are regarded as potentially effective antidotes against common forms of psychological distress. Distress such as rumination, anxiety, worry, fear, anger, many of which involve the maladaptive tendencies to avoid, suppress or over engage with one's distressing thoughts and emotions. The National Institute of Mental Health goes into further detail on the effects of mindfulness on mental health by breaking mindfulness into two trait mindfulness and meditation. I had never seen mindfulness broken into these two categories and I was intrigued by it. Trait mindfulness is defined as having four mindfulness skills. These skills are basically dialectical behavioral skills. Yeah. Helen, our beloved dbt.

Helen Sneed: Well, I think I'd like to say here that, we find DBT so helpful to people that we are doing an entire episode in our next episode in our entire, focus on dbt in Our next episode. Next episode.

Valerie Milburn: That's going to be great. We've been wanting to do that one for a long time too. So these four trait mindfulness skills are observing one's m, moment to moment experience, describing one's experiences with words, acting or participating with awareness, and non judgmental acceptance of one's experiences. Trait mindfulness has been associated with higher levels of life satisfaction, agreeableness, conscientiousness, vitality, self esteem, empathy and optimism, all of which we know are important for mental health. Studies have also demonstrated that mindfulness can play a significant role in battling depression, battling dissociation, rumination, social anxiety, difficulties in emotional regulation and general psychological symptoms.

Helen Sneed: You know this is quite a impressive list of what of, of what mindfulness can do. And it's coming from the, you know, our authorities, the National Institute on Mental Health. I mean this is, this is really amazing.

Valerie Milburn: It is, it is so amazing. The more research I did, the more, well, I can't say the bigger believer I was in mindfulness because I'm already just a huge believer in mindfulness. It really runs my, my my temperature, I can say that I run cooler because of mindfulness.

So I said there were two categories the National Institute of Health broke mindfulness into and we just looked at trait mindfulness. And the other category is meditation. People who meditate regularly reported significantly higher levels of self compassion and an overall sense of well being and significantly lower levels of psychological symptoms of lower levels of rumination, thought suppression, fear of emotion and difficulties with emotion regulation. Whenever the subject of meditation arises, I like to emphasize that meditation is achievable for all of us. There is no right or wrong way to meditate. It's a matter of finding what works for ourselves and practicing it regularly. Regularly for me means daily in order for me to achieve the benefits of meditation. And the great news is research shows that the benefits of meditation can be gained through just 10 minutes of meditation daily. And you know, meditation can be focusing on our breath, focusing on a visual image or on a specific phrase or sound for just a few examples. And there are hundreds of meditation apps to try and I'm going to share more ideas in a bit. But the most important thing to know about meditation is this. Try it. You cannot do it wrong. And also to explore the full study by the National Institute of Mental Health that I've been referring to, you can click on the link in our show notes. It is a fascinating study, worth further exploration.

Helen Sneed: Yeah, I, I have not read it yet and I'm really Looking forward to it. Because I have to say, Valerie, I don't know that I've ever seen the National Institute of Mental Health this expansive and enthusiastic about any treatment method. Yeah, this is wonderful.

Valerie Milburn: It really is.

Helen Sneed: Now we want to look at the everyday mindfulness practices. It's just. Okay, now that we know, we've kind of defined it, we know what it is, and Valley's proven that it really helps. But I can remember when confronting it for the first time, I felt very overwhelmed. I mean, how does a person begin to practice mindfulness? Well, many years ago, a, therapist was trying to get me to do a mindfulness exercise. She even had a gong. And she said, first, imagine yourself in a safe place. Well, sure, I could imagine a nice place, but if I was in it, it was not safe. I simply couldn't go any further with the exercise. I worked around mindfulness. Now, there were some great skills that I developed to help me control my thoughts. And only years later did I recognize them as essential practices of mindfulness. I had been using it with great results while calling it by the wrong name. Now, here's what I know. Now, daily mindfulness involves bringing open, non judgmental awareness to the present moment through intentional practices, beginning with simple things such as mindful breathing, body awareness, sensory perceptions during, everyday activities such as eating, walking, or showering. Repetitive use of these exercises can lead to the balance and centering needed to lay, a strong foundation for mental health.

Valerie Milburn: Yes, exactly. And there are some easy mindfulness exercises that are simple to integrate into our daily routines, and they can help us pause, reset, and connect with the present. Helen, will you kick us off with the practice of mindful eating, please?

Helen Sneed: Yes, I want to talk about mindful eating. When I was in my first DBT group, mindful eating was none too popular. I can remember a young woman wailing, but I don't want to eat mindfully. And all of us in the class agreed with her. But, you know, I've learned that it's possible to transform meals into an even richer experience. Pause to breathe before eating. Slow down, take smaller bites and pay attention to each one. And try to be aware of the taste, texture, and flavor of your food. Learn to recognize your body's hunger, urges, patterns, and triggers.

Valerie Milburn: The next one is the mindful pause. One of my daily readings has a line in it. Pause when agitated or doubtful, and ask for the next right thought or, action. And what is interesting is that most of our actions run on autopilot. But by intentionally pausing and creating reminders which can be things like sticky notes or phone alarms. We can shift from the fast brain, our, automatic responses to the slow brain, deliberate decision making. And we can literally rewire our behavior over time. I leave sticky notes on my kitchen counter, my vanity mirror, and on the back door that leads to my carport. And phone alarms are my friends.

Helen Sneed: And you know, Valerie, I could not function without Post its.

Valerie Milburn: Hey, I gave the. Alan, you remember the Christmas I gave you a big stack of Post it notes?

Helen Sneed: Oh, they're gone. I used all of them.

Valerie Milburn: Oh my Lord, there must have been 300 of them.

Okay, the next one. The next simple mindfulness exercise that we can incorporate into our day is a mindful workout. And I m mean if we're exercising, dancing or gardening, we can bring a mindful focus to our movement. We can begin with a clear purpose and focus on the rhythm of our breathing with our movement. This makes exercise not only a way to improve fitness, but also a method to center our mind. The next one is mindful breathing. Diaphragmatic breathing is what works best for me. And we practice diaphragmatic breathing when we start each of our mindfulness exercises at the end of our episodes. I can take 10 diaphragmatic breaths at any point in my day to calm myself and get refocused. But basically it's as easy as taking deep breaths and focusing on the sensations of the air moving in and out of our bodies.

Helen Sneed: I just did that. Now the next one, is, mindful

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Helen Sneed: walking. And you know, it's you're out there and it's just learn to take notice of the air around you. Something as basic as that. Take in the sights, sounds, and physical sensations of being outdoors during a walk. At first, my daily walk was a difficult task. I wanted to be physically strong. That was my goal. But I was starting out in pretty bad shape, so I was very discouraged. And also a, ah, real problem was that the route seemed impossibly long. You know, I just, it just seemed like I just, I could not make myself go all the way through to the end. So the first mindfulness practice I used successfully was to tell myself, stay in the moment. And so if I begin dreading the distance to the end, I have learned to think, stay where you are. Don't look ahead. You're not there yet. I literally keep myself in the moment step by step.

Valerie Milburn: I can relate to that. When I used to do hills on my bike, I wouldn't look up. Yeah, don't look up. Just keep going. Look at the ground in Front of you. The next one is sensory awareness. This is bringing attention to our surroundings by noticing colors, sounds, smells, and textures. Colors, sounds, smells, and textures during our daily tasks, like taking a shower, washing dishes, doing yard work, folding laundry, cooking, doing it mindfully.

Helen Sneed: And here's one that I am not really well suited to talk about, but I'm going to talk about mindful driving now. Even in stressful traffic, a mindful approach can transform a person's experience. Take deep breaths, and try to extend compassion to, you know, yourself and fellow drivers. This practice helps reduce road rage and stress, turning a frustration into an opportunity for calm reflection. In my own life, I have a long way to go. Austin has famously terrible traffic and many reckless drivers. So when alone in my car, I have to rein in my anchor as I judge and curse the other drivers. Now, Valerie, I want you to pledge to me right now. And, hear that. You will let me rely on your guidance to improve this pitiful behavior.

Valerie Milburn: Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like you could use a mindful driving buddy. You and I are going to have to work on this together. We'll be mindful driving buddies. And, we can do that. So all of these practices that we just went over can help reduce stress, improve our concentration. Helen, you need to really work on that, reducing stress in your driving.

Helen Sneed: I promise I will. I will.

Valerie Milburn: So the benefits, again, for these simple practices that we incorporate into our lives are reducing stress, improving our concentration, and basically encourage a, richer, more intentional experience of our everyday lives.

Helen Sneed: Well, I think it's great to go over these sort of just the basic things that you can do, mindfulness tools, whatever, practices. But there are key principles of mindfulness. There are four of them. And when I first read about them, it just stopped me in my tracks because they describe the basic practices that have allowed me to achieve recovery and to maintain a, full life in recovery. So here they are. It's sort of like the four pillars, you know, that hold up the whole thing. The first one is pay attention. Intentionally focus on what you are doing, seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, or touching. Slow down and concentrate on what is in front of you. Is it a loved one? A dog? A painting? New music? Warm soup? Cool water? The tide coming in? Restrain the impulse. We all have to race on to the next thing. Try to stay with the object of your attention and if possible, observe details you've never noticed before. So many of life's richest gifts are found in listening, observing, and interacting with what the moment has given you. Now, the second one is acknowledge and accept Some of the wisest words I ever read came back to me during this section. Blaise Pascal was a mathematician, physicist, inventor and philosopher. In 1654, he said all of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. One of the major strengths of mindfulness is learning to notice your thoughts and feelings alone, without judgment. Identify the thought or the feeling, observe it, however negative, and let it go. In other words, don't get sucked into the endless scathing battle within that the thought may have engendered in the past. Look at it, don't refute it, let it go.

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Helen Sneed: To this day, I can't believe that I have learned to do that. For now, at last, I can sit quietly in a room alone. The third one is return to the present. Focus on life in the moment, which of course is easier said than done. It's recommended that a person gently redirects their attention back to the present moment when their mind wanders off. Right. Well, in my own life, early on, I had to be far more aggressive to pull myself out of the burning thoughts and tortured feelings. As I finally began to stop the self destructive practices that had hurt me more, I began to develop primitive skills to return to the present because I knew I had to be there. And I literally would say shut up, shut up, shut up dozens of times to stop the thoughts. And gradually my skills became more tempered and I could cajole myself. Darling, why are you looking back? You know the past will kill you. And that kinder tone allows me to wrench myself out of the past and back into the moment, the day at hand, where I can take action and fully participate in life. And finally, number four, be kind to yourself. Recognize that your mind will wander. The mindfulness is a practice, not a performance to be perfected. Learn to accept this in yourself. If you do, you can get back on track without beating yourself up. Mindfulness is not a contest. It's the ongoing practice, tool, method that you can turn to again and again, even if it doesn't work the first time. And, that reminds me that I have a word of caution. It may not work at first. Mindfulness has to be learned through practice and experience. And it certainly didn't work at first for me. But the key is to keep doing it until it becomes a habit, almost an instinct, like blinking. I use it repeatedly every day, often without thinking. It remains a major contributor to the healthiest part of me, you know, one.

Valerie Milburn: Of the biggest joys of us working together.

Helen has been watching you incorporate mindfulness into your life. And you have just really brought warmth to my heart by how much you, now say that mindfulness is a part of your life. Because I've seen you be able to shift gears by doing things. Like just a minute ago when you said, oh, I just breathed like that, you know, you said, I just did that because I see you, I see you take those breaths and it's, it's, it's wonderful.

Helen Sneed: Well, I, again, I've learned a lot from you. And then as I said earlier, I learned that I was. All these things I was doing that were helping me recover and have a great day daily life were really, were mindfulness skills that I just had been calling by a different name.

Valerie Milburn: Yeah, like you said, you can now sit alone in a room by yourself. That is a form of meditation. I mean, you are meditating. Even though you always say, I don't meditate, you are meditating.

Helen Sneed: Well, I'll tell you, it's it's the difference between, between night and day to be able to do that. Yeah, I never could.

Valerie Milburn: I loved that definition earlier. Mindfulness. Whatever you are doing to get to the point of being in that state, the definition was that's mindfulness. You know, I love that.

Helen Sneed: Is mindfulness.

Valerie Milburn: So now here we are. Yeah, here we are. So now I'm going to talk about one of the most meaningful books I have ever read in my life. And some of my favorite practices come from this book, the Book of Joy. The Book of Joy is a chronology by Douglas Abrams of a multi day meeting between his Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, two great spiritual leaders. Abrams does a beautiful job of sharing their conversations with us, most of them verbatim. It is indeed one of the most powerful and life changing books I have ever read. I have not only read it, I've listened to it twice. And I've done a book club study on it. I'm going to share a few of what are called joy practices from the Book of Joy. I'll start with one that is common among Tibetan monks. It's called morning intention setting. Every conscious action begins with intention, which is simply setting goals. Many Tibetan monks do this each morning as a way of preparing their mind and their heart for how they wish to face the day. We can do this too. One option is to read short inspirational passages that support our highest ideals. Another option is to ask ourselves these.

Valerie Milburn: Two wonderful questions during meditation.

Valerie Milburn: What is my

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Valerie Milburn: heart's desire? What do I wish for myself, for my loved ones and for the world? The examination of these questions leads to.

Valerie Milburn: Setting our intention for the day.

Valerie Milburn: And it can be a specific or a general intention. For example, today I will greet everyone with the love that is in my heart. Or today may I be less judgmental. Or today may I be patient and.

Valerie Milburn: Loving with my children.

Helen Sneed: That is really, really inspirational and great advice, what you've just said, to ask yourself those key questions that we never sit down really and ask ourselves. But to try to look at it regularly.

Helen Sneed: And to let it sort of help you decide, so how am I going to do this today? And there you go, you know, I love it. Now, another Joy practice is a, morning meditation, walk or exercise. Walking, hiking, running, or any other exercise can be made into a meditative experience. The key is to avoid all external distractions like talking, music, television. The goal is to simply listen to the wisdom of the spirit. That often comes through the wisdom of the body. Now, when I make my daily walk, I, I start with thinking of a problem I need to resolve. But then I just drop it and I begin to move, not thinking, you know. And usually at some point in my m walk, creative thoughts just rise unbidden and solutions or actions come to mind. Not in some tidy bundle, you know, but a big new perspective, insight, or just a small revelation. It sounds strange, but there's nothing forced about it. It just seems sort of organic to the process.

Valerie Milburn: That's a wonderful way to look at it.

So the last of the 11 joy practices that are in the Book of Joy that I will share with you is called Loneliness, A Common Humanity Practice. And it will be our mindfulness exercise today. It is taken in its entirety from the Book of Joy. Are you ready? Let's get mindful.

Valerie Milburn: If you're driving or walking, please adapt this mindfulness exercise in such a way that it works in your current surroundings. If you can find a comfortable seated position, try closing your eyes. If it's safe to do so, settle in and breathe. As always, let's begin with a few diaphragmatic breaths. Whether your eyes are open or closed, let's steady our breathing with two diaphragmatic breaths. When you do this on your own, take as many breaths as you need to. Become calm and centered. I usually take about 10. Let's breathe. Inhale through your nose, expanding an imaginary balloon in your stomach. As you inhale, exhale through your mouth, pulling your stomach in as you do, forcefully exhaling again. Inhale through your nose, expanding that balloon. Drop your shoulders. Exhale through your mouth. Pull your stomach all the Way in. Keep this slow, steady breath going. Think of someone you love. A child, a parent, a sibling, a close friend, a cherished pet. Bring their image into your mind. Allow yourself to feel the love that you have for them. Notice the sense of warmth and open heartedness that comes from feeling your love for them. Imagine their desire to be happy and to avoid suffering. Reflect on how they live their life to achieve these aspirations. Now, think of someone you know, but.

Valerie Milburn: Do not know well.

Valerie Milburn: You could think of a colleague at your job, someone in your class at school, or someone who works at

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Valerie Milburn: one of the stores where you shop. Allow yourself to recognize how, your feelings for this person are different from the feelings you have for the person you just had in mind. We often do not feel empathy or connection for those who we consider strangers. Perhaps you feel indifference, perhaps a sense of separation, or perhaps even judgment. Now try to imagine being this person. Imagine their life, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, their disappointments, and their suffering. Recognize that, just like you, they wish to achieve happiness and to avoid even the slightest suffering. Let your mind dwell in this realization and understand that you do not need an introduction because you already share the greatest bond, your humanity. They may be just as lonely as you, and your reaching out to them might be a gift to them. And finally, take this awareness into the world. Start living from this newfound connection by opening your heart to those around you. You can start by smiling or acknowledging other people, by looking at them warmly and nodding your head. Different cultures have different ways of acknowledging others. But find what is appropriate in your situation and begin greeting your human family. Do not get discouraged. If some are suffering from their own loneliness and isolation and do not acknowledge you, you can have empathy from your own feelings of loneliness. Greet the world with greater trust, kindness and compassion, and the world will greet you with greater trust, kindness and compassion. When you smile at the world, the world does tend to smile back at you. Thank you to the Book of Joy for that wonderful mindfulness exercise. And thank you for joining me for doing that exercise.

Helen Sneed: Thank you, Valerie. Now, I think that's one of the most beautiful mindfulness exercises you've ever led us in. I was quite moved by it.

Helen Sneed: We want to thank all our listeners for joining us for this entire episode on mindfulness, and we hope it will be helpful in developing or growing your own mindfulness and meditation practices. We wish you the peace we have gained through our own ability to grow in these pursuits. Our next episode will be eye opening and inspirational for a multitude of individuals fighting for recovery. Our subject will be Dialectical Behavior Therapy, dbt. This is a comprehensive system of treatment and methods that teaches many practical skills for overcoming tidal waves of unmanageable thoughts, feelings and actions caused by the symptoms and suffering of mental illness. DBT has saved countless lives. Mine is one of them. It can become the foundation on which an individual can build recovery and a life worth living. And we'll have a special guest expert to explain the principles, practices and benefits of doubt. And until then, I leave you with our favorite word. Onward.

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