In a moment of panic, it remains a challenge for people to figure out their surroundings and how to cope with them. Thoughts race through the brain and leave a person exhausted, enough to make anyone question their ability to manage their anxieties and stressors.

“I manage my stress by just relaxing and distancing myself from everyone and everything to be in a calm state of mind,” sophomore Kamayah Richardson said.

Although using classic techniques to calm anxieties can prove effective, mindfulness serves as a useful tool in achieving serenity within one’s self, and accepting the feelings that may arise due to a stressful situation.

“Mindful meditation has changed our lives. I think the mindfulness meditations will make you more mindful in the rest of your day, as well as while you’re meditating,” AP Seminar Teacher Jenna Essenburg said of her and her husband’s decision to pursue meditation and mindfuless.  

One should take control of the present moment and not think too much into the future, something society pushes on younger generations. Achieving this mentality takes practice, but in the end, acknowledging feelings, thoughts, and bodily sensations will benefit any mental health patient.

“The act of focusing your brain on your body—specific breaths, feelings of body parts in the moment, and just training your brain to slow down and calm down— has a huge effect on controlling my overall emotions,” Essenburg said.

Incorporating mindfulness into one’s daily life could certainly lower most people’s anxiety levels. By doing this, the brain physically remodels itself because an extremely understimulated part of the brain begins to practice mindfulness. A person’s experiences triggers the remodeling of the brain; however, the plasticity of it does not change.   

The five senses (touch, taste, hear, see, and smell) can help the brain in processing the act of mindfulness. If one practices mindful listening, influences from past experiences may fade away or become extremely unimportant.

The Five Senses 

Hear

See

Touch

Smell

Taste

For someone who may have an eating disorder, using the sense of taste may be of great help. Instead of the person focusing on what they are eating and how they may feel about it, mindful tasting can be used as a tool to shift the focus off of what they typically would dwell on. Actually savoring the taste of something instead of worrying about what it's doing to your body can relax the minds of eating disorder victims and just people in general. 

Although mindful breathing is considered the usual outlet when practicing it, mindful listening can bring a newfound appreciation to everyday sounds. For example, listening to background noises can help in letting go of the habit of judging something based on first impression; instead, it allows for an individual to dive deeper into the sounds around them. 

Mindful seeing allows an individual to visually distinguish details in what they are observing. Curiosity drives much of mindful seeing because when most people are looking at something, they begin to ponder questions about it. In terms of using mindful seeing for anxiety, seeing a person or object with positive significance in one's life can calm the anxiety. 

If someone with high anxiety is starting to have a panic attack, the sense of touch may prove useful. Objects with texture, like blankets, tv remotes, or even another person, can be the perfect source for mindful touching. On a blanket, it would occupy the mind to admire the stitching and texture of the blanket. Using the fingers to touch something of importance can send a soothing wave of calmness throughout the body. 

In the human brain, scents are associated with different people, places, or experiences. Using the sense of smell can allow one to be more aware of their environment, and it can help to sharpen memories. In a time of panic, a smell that is liked by that person would be the most beneficial in calming them. For example, if someone liked the scent of their grandmother's perfume and it reminded them of good times, finding a way to smell that scent would lower anxiety and increase ceratonin levels in the brain. However, if a putrid smell is used, it could make the person more anxious.  

Mindful listening creates a more positive outlook on life and prevents judgemental thoughts from occurring. Picking an unfamiliar song to listen to allows the listener to try and keep an unbiased opinion on the song based off of the genre, author, or song title. It forces them to not think about the music, but hear the music.

Mindfulness possesses a number of different benefits that one can apply to any part of their daily life. For example, the use of mindfulness can reduce stress levels by allowing a calm examination of the situation at hand and carefully thinking through how to handle it.

Even simple tasks like looking in the mirror can train the brain to practice mindfulness as second nature. Looking in the mirror causes much distress for a handful of people; immediately people judge what they look like and what they can do to fix any imperfections they see, but utilizing mindfulness techniques suppresses the quick-whimmed judgement of one’s physical appearance.

Anxiety and depression levels lower with the use of mindfulness because it creates a distraction for the brain. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America,  anxiety and depression affects 40 million people in the United States every year, so the use of mindfulness can provide a safe haven for those dealing with this issue.

Other mental disorders can benefit from the use of mindfulness as well. Humans can only physically pay attention to something for 20 minutes, and for someone with obsessive compulsive disorder, OCD, shortening their attention span will improve their repetitive thinking patterns.

The application of this therapeutic technique can also take place in a number of recreational activities. Baking, doing yoga, and painting provides an outlet for people with anxiety, all of which involve applying mindfulness techniques.

Baking, and overall just the presence of food, brings joy to most—if not all—people, and a positive reaction to food that a baker creates reiterates that using mindfulness techniques benefits their mood. In fact, bakers use mindfulness without even realizing it. When they measure certain ingredients and follow a certain process to create the food, it requires focus, a form of mindfulness.

Incorporating mindfulness into everyday routines can significantly improve lives. It allows the mind to become more open to different ideas, and it can even alter concrete opinions that once seemed unchangeable.  

However, for mindfulness to work properly, one must keep in mind that no one practices it the same. Personalizing the way you practice it enhances the benefits, and overall makes your experience using it joyful.

Mindfulness guarantees to help in the road to recovery for those who struggle daily with anxiety and will help people to think through their issues without panicking.