Hello Everyone,
Whether it’s from COVID-19 updates, racial tension and police brutality on the news, fears surrounding treatment, or the many tasks of daily life, we are feeling immersed in stress and uncertainty like never before.
Stress looks different for everyone, but regardless of how it shows up for you, it impacts us all in a mental, emotional, physical, and perhaps even spiritual way. It can keep you awake at night, cause tension and pain in your muscles, make your heart race or your thoughts swirl, and even contribute to cancer recurrence and growth.
Knowing this, and how absolutely VITAL it is to manage stress, I wanted to take a moment to talk to you all about the importance of mindfulness. Mindfulness is the ability to create space between what you experience and your reaction. When we are traumatized and stressed, the space between the two narrows.
By practicing mindfulness through things like breathwork, yoga, and meditation, we can bring our focus to the PRESENT moment, expand that space, and ultimately choose how we respond to the world around us.
Mindfulness is an essential practice in stress management. I hope this list of tips, strategies, and resources can help make mindfulness a part of your daily life.
TIP #1: Try a news fast…pick a period of time that you will NOT get on your phone, TV, or radio, to listen to or read the news.
The “news” is often NOT new and it may not be relevant to YOU. Remember: the media is a BUSINESS that is designed to talk about ANYTHING that will keep viewers engaged and make money, even if that means perpetuating FEAR.
TIP #2: If you are new to meditation, try guided meditations or visualizations on Simple Habit, HealthJourneys.com, or Calm Masterclass. You can find more resources by simply Googling “guided meditation” to find videos, websites, or downloadable apps for your phone that contain meditations.
“Blissful Deep Relaxation” from TheHonestGuys on YouTube is a lovely introductory video to guided meditation that can make meditation easier for those of us new to meditating.
I also recommend a meditation from HealthJourneys.com called “Fight Cancer” which can be found here. Listen to it daily.
TIP #3: Try a body scan. Close your eyes, lie down, and inhale through your nose for a count of 4. Hold that breath for a count of 4, and exhale through your mouth for a count of 4. Repeat FOUR times.
Then scan your body from your toes up to your head. Look for where you are holding stress and focus on intentionally releasing that stress.
For some this looks like visualizing a set of “healing hands” working out the tension, or a warm ball of light heating up the stress and melting it away; whatever you choose, it’s important to begin to recognize areas where stress lives in your body so you can gain control of releasing that stress.
Try “Ten Minute Guided Body Scan” by The Meditation Coach on YouTube. Again, for those of us new to body scans or meditation, this video walks you through visualizing stress in your body and helping you to release it.
TIP #4: On Amazon or iTunes, buy or download “Soul of Healing Meditations” from Deepak Chopra and listen to the first four tracks. These powerful guided meditations help release resentment, cultivate acceptance, and teach you more about body scanning.
TIP #5: Seek professional counseling. Counseling is an amazing way to develop self-awareness, coping skills tailored to your specific needs, gain emotional support, process trauma, or talk through your experiences in a safe, confidential environment.
I see almost exclusively cancer patients and their families, and run a support group on Saturdays for bereaved spouses. To contact me, call (248) 798-2942 OR (269) 808-6422; or email me at jessica@aimnatural.com.
I am a Master’s level oncology mental health counselor, and one of only a few specialists in the state who sees cancer patients, their caregivers, and their families for the stress, anxiety, depression, and fear associated with a cancer diagnosis. I’m covered by insurance, and I do offer a sliding scale for those that don’t have insurance.
TIP #6: Object Meditation is another way to ease into meditation. It’s important to cultivate a relationship with an object: a rosary, a crystal, a rock, a piece of fabric, etc. Try to choose something special or interesting and carry it with you.
Once you have your item, utilize your SENSES to focus on that item. What does it feel like in your hand? How heavy or light is it? Does it have a smell? What kind of texture can you feel?
Using your senses to focus on the item can help GROUND you in the present moment; allowing you to mindfully focus on the here and now.
Unsure of what item to use? Common chemotherapy drugs like Taxanes come from the bark of the Pacific Yew Tree; platinums come from the earth’s core and are the heavy metal often used in wedding bands; or the tecans, which come from the bark of the Chinese Happy Tree. All items that you can bond with and focus on through object meditation.
TIP #7: With businesses opening and many people starting to be less cautious about staying sanitary, it’s easy to become stressed or worried about COVID-19. If you are worried about going out, take things slowly and don’t do anything YOU are NOT comfortable with.
Try to take things in baby steps. First go to your yard, check in with how you feel and then take another step; perhaps have a family member or someone you trust come over and visit them outside for a while (with masks and a safe distance).
The risk is real, but with caution and attention to your safety, you can begin to determine what you feel is safe for you.
TIP #8: Reading the right things can help you understand your stress and gain insight into how you can manage it effectively. I recommend titles such as “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” by Robert Sapolsky; “The Body Keep the Score” by Bessel van der Klok; or “Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change” by Pema Chodron.
TIP #9: 4-7-8 breathing or SQUARE breathing is a breathwork technique that can lower your heart rate, slow your breathing, and help you focus on your surroundings.
It goes like this: inhale through your NOSE for a count of 4, hold for 7, and exhale through your MOUTH for 8. Remember, always inhale through your nose when trying to lower cortisol.
Try keeping a rubber band on your finger, or fabric on your wrist, that reminds you to do this breathwork.
TIP #10: Practicing good sleep hygiene has phenomenal benefits for lowering stress. To practice good sleep hygiene, sleep in a dark, cool room and use air filters or plants to clean the air. Having specific plants in your home to purify the air around you can help with sleep as well as stress. “TED Talks TV: How to Grow Fresh Air” can be found online, and this amazing resource walks you through which plants you NEED in your home to help with air quality.
Minimize distracting noises by using a sound machine, or anything that produces “white noise” like a fan. You can even avoid those middle-of-the-night awakenings by having a tiny, protein-rich snack, and by taking 200-400mg of L theanine (a non-narcotic, non-habit forming, anxiolytic) at bedtime. L theanine can be purchased from BeWellWithAIM.com
TIP #11: 27% of cancer patients struggle with PTSD. PTSD is when you have experienced a previous life trauma, perhaps a divorce, abuse, or some sort of betrayal…and the current medical experience triggers THOSE feelings.
When we become a patient, we go from a name to a medical record number, we are surrounded by decision makers that hold our lives in their hands, we can feel voiceless, powerless, and invaded.
This triggers the old wound, and a lot of feelings from previous life experiences come up. It could look like sleep disturbances, addiction, tearfulness, panic…this is PTSD.
PTSD is something that you CANNOT manage on your own. It’s important to have a coach, like myself or another trained professional, there to guide you as you identify your triggers and learn to manage when your fears are coming up so you can cope better with today.
TIP #12: Lean into your faith or spirituality. With so much uncertainty in the air, it’s important to connect to one another; and to explore our relationship with the Divine, whatever that may mean to you.
Through religious or spiritual practices, we can feel connected to our communities, our neighbors, and our families, regardless of what may keep us apart.
We can step outside of ourselves and feel in touch with the infinite as we pray, or read scripture, or meditate.
Regardless of what we may face, we can be reminded to be grateful and to look for the joy in the world around us. And in doing so, we can transform our experience.
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I genuinely hope you find these tips helpful. Remember, if you are feeling stressed or anxious, you are NOT alone. To get the help you need and learn more strategies that work for YOU, call me at (248) 798-2942 OR (269) 808-6422; or by emailing directly at jessica@aimnatural.com.
Until we speak, be well.
Jessica
