Mindfulness and why you should do it everyday!

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.

While mindfulness is something we all naturally possess, it’s more readily available to us when we practice on a daily basis.

Whenever you bring awareness to what you’re directly experiencing via your senses, or to your state of mind via your thoughts and emotions, you’re being mindful. And there’s growing research showing that when you train your brain to be mindful, you’re actually remodeling the physical structure of your brain.

5 key benefits of mindfulness

1. Mindfulness helps us to experience life in all its fullness

Mindfulness isn’t some new age hippy theory and it isn’t just for those who practise yoga. It’s an important practice for everyone, no matter who you are. Mindfulness is actually very simple; it’s just about paying attention to life. Mindfulness doesn’t mean wandering around in a trance-like state, analysing every minute action and floating through life. It’s very much about experiencing life in its entirety – because more often than not, we tend to miss most of it…

Alan Watts equates life to music in one of his lectures, and it couldn’t be more true:

“In music one doesn’t make the end of a composition the point of the composition.  If that were so the best conductors would be those who played fastest, and there would be composers who wrote only finales. People would go to concerts just to hear one crashing chord; because that’s the end!

[And so with life]. We thought of life by analogy with a journey, with a pilgrimage which had a serious purpose at the end and the thing was to get to that end. Success or whatever it is, or maybe heaven after you’re dead.

But we missed the point the whole way along. It was a musical thing and we were supposed to sing or to dance while the music was being played.”

2. Mindfulness improves the mind’s efficiency

When your mind is ‘full’, what is it usually full of? Indeed, sometimes our minds are full of ideas, inspiration, contentment and passion.. For much of the day, the mind is also full of worry, anxiety, frustration, jealousy and discontentment. And it continues to ruminate for hours. Instead of ‘getting on’ with life, we often let thoughts about life – whether they’re accurate or not – control our attention.  

Mindfulness can make the mind a whole lot more efficient. It can help us get to the point of what we’re doing or thinking about, rather than allowing a cycle of constant worry to take over.

Many Yogic texts speak of cultivating Eka-Grata, meaning ‘one-pointedness’ or ‘one-pointed focus’. This is where our mind is utterly focused on the action we’re engaged with. You may instinctively feel yourself being (as Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it) “in the flow” – which incidentally, is also thought to be ‘the secret to happiness’.  

3. Mindfulness gets us in the ‘flow’

Skiing, snowboarding or skateboarding, along with more common sports like swimming and running are often where people feel they’re ‘in the flow’. Totally focussed on and absorbed with the action they’re engaging with and no intermittent thoughts or distractions*. Because of this, we often enjoy what we’re doing and are likely to improve each time we practise it.

Mindfulness is a little like this: if we choose to be utterly immersed in what we’re doing (whether it’s skiing or mopping the floor), we actively choose to be more ‘alive’ in that moment. We’re also more likely to enjoy what we’re doing and become better at it too.

We may not feel as though mopping the floor, washing dishes or any other day-to-day tasks are worth paying attention to, but they’re all part of the music of life….

*For more on this, read ‘The flow state and how to get there‘

4. Mindfulness leads us to absorption

Mindfulness can be equated to two of the steps towards meditation, and a part of Patanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga, known as Dharana and Dhyana.

Dharana is translated as ‘holding’ or ‘holding steady’. It relates to holding something in our attention whilst practising the steps towards meditation, whether that thing is an object, a deity, the breath or a mantra. Many Tantric practices use a specific mantra or a yantra (a geometrical diagram, or any object, used as an aid to meditation in tantric worship) to focus on as a point of meditation. Each mantra or yantra represents a certain power or quality to be imbibed.

Dhyana is the action of becoming absorbed into the object of focus. Thought to be the penultimate stage of yoga, translating as ‘contemplation’ or ‘reflection’, this is the part where all other thoughts and distractions cease, and we are really truly there in that moment. 

5. Mindfulness teaches us to appreciate the Now

Mindfulnessis not a practice intended to take us away from the world and render us useless, it’s not something to ‘do’ for an hour each day and forget about. What mindfulness is, is a way to teach us about ourselves and the world around us, and to help us become kinder, stronger, more compassionate and useful human beings. 

By practising mindfulness within everyday tasks, we can begin to bring the mind into a habit – since the mind and physical brain are so malleable and ‘plastic’ – of being more mindful in each situation we meet. The first step is to practise mindfulness with something simple, such as washing the dishes.

In Thich Nhat Hanh’s book The Miracle of Mindfulness’, he tells us one simple phrase which I have always remembered since reading it: “Wash the dishes to wash the dishes”….

How often do we hurry a task or duty, just to get it out of the way? How often do we do everyday things whilst thinking and planning the rest of life? To quote John Lennon; “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.

Six simple ways to declutter your mind

From the desktop p.c., to the laptop, the smartphone and now ‘smart wearables,’ never before has information been so easily accessible. Social media, online messaging, email, streaming services, television, news… all help play a part in subjecting our brains to information overload.

According to a landmark study published in August 2018, people spend on average 24 hours a week online, with one in five spending as much as 40 hours a week online – for some, that’s an entire working week! We consume almost 90 times more information than we did in 1940. Little wonder, then, that we may feel a little frazzled at times.

How do you know if your mind is cluttered?

Do you find it hard to focus on one thing at a time, or that your mind is spinning? Do you struggle to concentrate and often feel restless? Are you easily distracted and feel that there is always somewhere else you should be, or something else you should be doing? Do you sometimes get to the end of the day feeling like you haven’t stopped, yet struggle to recall what you’ve done? If so, it’s likely that your mind could benefit from some decluttering.

What are the benefits of mentally decluttering?

Decluttering our physical space helps us to feel calmer and yes – joyful! The same goes for decluttering our mental space. Clearing out the clutter increases our ability to focus, enables us to concentrate for longer periods of time, and generally helps us to feel calmer.

How can we declutter our minds?

Since the availability and accessibility of information and stimulus (particularly the online aspects of it) is unlikely to decrease any time soon, the onus is on us to manage their impact on our lives. Here are our top 6 tips:

1. Schedule tech-free time

Decide on a cut off point in your day – perhaps 7 or 8pm – where you turn off your computer / put your laptop away, and switch your phone to silent – or better still – off. A great tip from Esther Ekhart is to turn off your wi-fi off at night and don’t turn it on again until the following morning after your breakfast or yoga / meditation practice. That way, even if you are tempted to grab your phone within the first 5 minutes of waking up (as 65% of all adults under 35 do), you won’t be drawn down the online rabbit hole.

Make ‘phone-free’ spaces such as the dinner table or bedroom so that there are at least a couple of times a day where you can be fully present. We also have a phone-free bathroom rule (with two teenagers in the house it’s a necessity!) and a ‘telephone hotel’ that our phones spend every night recharging their batteries in.

2. Connect with nature

Although the physical benefits of exercise are well-documented, taking a moment to truly connect with nature can have a profound effect on our overall sense of wellbeing. (And by ‘connecting’ I don’t mean charging around a forest, while listening to music or a podcast).

In a 2015 study, researchers found that people who had walked in nature showed lower activity in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region that is active when we find ourselves trapped in a repetitive loop of negative thought patterns. Even if it’s a few minutes spent feeling the fresh air on your skin, listening to the birds singing or watching the clouds drift by, nature can have a powerful effect on our mental state.

3. Stop multitasking

When life speeds up, we have a tendency to speed up too – as if spinning seven plates with half an eye on each will help us get more done. It won’t; some of them will get smashed. Even in our so-called downtime, we watch TV or a movie whilst simultaneously scrolling through our Instagram or Facebook feed.

In fact, what is known as ‘multi-tasking’ is more accurately described as ‘task-switching’ because the brain isn’t capable of focusing on two serious tasks at the same time. So try to focus on doing one thing at a time and do only that. Even if we’re browsing social media, it’s much easier to do it mindfully if we haven’t got half an eye on Netflix at the same time.

4. Practise mindfulness

Mindfulness is a practice where we give our undivided attention to whatever we are doing at a particular moment, aware of our thoughts and emotions but not reacting to or judging them.

It works a bit like this: if we choose to be totally absorbed and pay attention to what we’re doing (whether it’s skiing or mopping the floor), we actively choose to be more ‘alive’ in that moment and are more likely to enjoy what we’re doing. Practising mindfulness can also improve the efficiency of our minds, helping us get to the point of what we’re doing or thinking about, rather than allowing a cycle of constant worry to take over. If you’re new to this, try our Introduction to Mindfuless meditation

5. Scroll responsibly

The average person now spends a staggering four hours of their day on their mobile phone and though much of this is as a result of clever algorithms designed to take advantage of our ‘dopamine-driven’ desires, we can take back some control. The iphone has a setting which allows you to monitor how much time you’ve spent on apps. For Android, you can download an app (the irony) which does the same. 

Another simple tip I’ve found really helpful is to move apps that you use a lot off your home screen and ‘bury’ them in a harder-to-access folder. Better still, remove them altogether. However, perhaps the best thing I’ve done is to delete all notifications from my phone – that way, I can be more mindful of when and how often I check my messages – rather than at the behest of a tiny, red notification bell.

6. Embrace boredom

Research has shown that even just a few minutes of downtime can aid learning and helps us retain information. Not only this, but as the saying goes, a relaxed mind is a creative mind: Mental idle time may “foster a particular kind of productivity,” according to Jonathan Schooler, a professor of psychological and brain sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He says overcoming impasses  often happen when people’s minds are free to roam.

In a society that values ‘busyness’ and ‘productivity,’ it can be difficult to give ourselves permission to pause, let alone stop for long enough to get (gasp) bored. Yet, not only is there evidence to suggest boredom sparks creativity, a greater capacity for insight and aids problem solving, but that it’s simply good for our mental health. It allows the body and mind simply to process life. If you cannot recall the last time you let yourself STOP, try this practice with EkhartYoga teacher, James Reeves, and embrace the life-changing magic of doing nothing.

Practical techniques for Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

What influences the way we think and behave is very complex. From our environment, the way we grew up, social media, what we watch, who we spend time with - these things can all shape us in one way or another. However, our feelings, reactions and behaviours are ultimately up to us and they can be changed. The article below outlines Cognitive Behavioural Therapy - what it is, how it can help us to explore/ modify our thoughts & behaviours, and techniques we can implement.

Even if you’re relatively unfamiliar with psychology, chances are you’ve heard of cognitive-behavioural therapy, commonly known as CBT. It’s an extremely common type of talk therapy practiced around the world.

If you’ve ever interacted with a mental health therapist, a counsellor, or a psychiatry clinician in a professional setting, it’s likely you’ve participated in CBT. If you’ve ever heard friends or loved ones talk about how a mental health professional helped them identify unhelpful thoughts and patterns and behaviour and alter them to more effectively work towards their goals, you’ve heard about the impacts of CBT.

CBT is one of the most frequently used tools in the psychologist’s toolbox. Though it’s based on simple principles, it can have wildly positive outcomes when put into practice.

What is CBT?

“This simple idea is that our unique patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving are significant factors in our experiences, both good and bad. Since these patterns have such a significant impact on our experiences, it follows that altering these patterns can change our experiences” (Martin, 2016).

Cognitive-behavioural therapy aims to change our thought patterns, our conscious and unconscious beliefs, our attitudes, and, ultimately, our behaviour, in order to help us face difficulties and achieve our goals.

Psychiatrist Aaron Beck was the first to practice cognitive behavioural therapy. Like most mental health professionals at the time, Beck was a psychoanalysis practitioner.

While practicing psychoanalysis, Beck noticed the prevalence of internal dialogue in his clients and realised how strong the link between thoughts and feelings can be. He altered the therapy he practiced in order to help his clients identify, understand, and deal with the automatic, emotion-filled thoughts that regularly arose in his clients.

Beck found that a combination of cognitive therapy and behavioural techniques produced the best results for his clients. In describing and honing this new therapy, Beck laid the foundations of the most popular and influential form of therapy of the last 50 years.

This form of therapy is not designed for lifelong participation and aims to help clients meet their goals in the near future. Most CBT treatment regimens last from five to ten months, with clients participating in one 50- to 60-minute session per week.

CBT is a hands-on approach that requires both the therapist and the client to be invested in the process and willing to actively participate. The therapist and client work together as a team to identify the problems the client is facing, come up with strategies for addressing them, and creating positive solutions (Martin, 2016).

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Cognitive Distortions

Many of the most popular and effective cognitive-behavioural therapy techniques are applied to what psychologists call “cognitive distortions,” inaccurate thoughts that reinforce negative thought patterns or emotions (Grohol, 2016).

There are 15 main cognitive distortions that can plague even the most balanced thinkers.

1. Filtering

Filtering refers to the way a person can ignore all of the positive and good things in life to focus solely on the negative. It’s the trap of dwelling on a single negative aspect of a situation, even when surrounded by an abundance of good things.

2. Polarised thinking / Black-and-white thinking

This cognitive distortion is all-or-nothing thinking, with no room for complexity or nuance—everything’s either black or white, never shades of grey.

If you don’t perform perfectly in some area, then you may see yourself as a total failure instead of simply recognising that you may be unskilled in one area.

3. Overgeneralisation

Overgeneralisation is taking a single incident or point in time and using it as the sole piece of evidence for a broad conclusion.

For example, someone who overgeneralizes could bomb an important job interview and instead of brushing it off as one bad experience and trying again, they conclude that they are terrible at interviewing and will never get a job offer.

4. Jumping to conclusions

Similar to overgeneralisation, this distortion involves faulty reasoning in how one makes conclusions. Unlike overgeneralising one incident, jumping to conclusions refers to the tendency to be sure of something without any evidence at all.

For example, we might be convinced that someone dislikes us without having any real evidence, or we might believe that our fears will come true before we have a chance to really find out.

5. Catastrophising / Magnifying or Minimising

This distortion involves expecting that the worst will happen or has happened, based on an incident that is nowhere near as catastrophic as it is made out to be. For example, you may make a small mistake at work and be convinced that it will ruin the project you are working on, that your boss will be furious, and that you’ll lose your job.

Alternatively, one might minimise the importance of positive things, such as an accomplishment at work or a desirable personal characteristic.

6. Personalisation

This is a distortion where an individual believes that everything they do has an impact on external events or other people, no matter how irrational that may be. A person with this distortion will feel that he or she has an exaggerated role in the bad things that happen around them.

For instance, a person may believe that arriving a few minutes late to a meeting led to it being derailed and that everything would have been fine if they were on time.

7. Control fallacies

This distortion involves feeling like everything that happens to you is either a result of purely external forces or entirely due to your own actions. Sometimes what happens to us is due to forces we can’t control, and sometimes what it’s due to our own actions, but the distortion is assuming that it is always one or the other.

We might assume that difficult co-workers are to blame for our own less-than-stellar work, or alternatively assume that every mistake another person makes is because of something we did.

8. Fallacy of fairness

We are often concerned about fairness, but this concern can be taken to extremes. As we all know, life is not always fair. The person who goes through life looking for fairness in all their experiences will end up resentful and unhappy.

Sometimes things will go our way, and sometimes they will not, regardless of how fair it may seem. 

9. Blaming

When things don’t go our way, there are many ways we can explain or assign responsibility for the outcome. One method of assigning responsibility is blaming others for what goes wrong.

Sometimes we may blame others for making us feel or act a certain way, but this is a cognitive distortion. Only you are responsible for the way you feel or act.

10. “Shoulds”

“Shoulds” refer to the implicit or explicit rules we have about how we and others should behave. When others break our rules, we are upset. When we break our own rules, we feel guilty. For example, we may have an unofficial rule that customer service representatives should always be accommodating to the customer.

When we interact with a customer service representative that is not immediately accommodating, we might get angry. If we have an implicit rule that we are irresponsible if we spend money on unnecessary things, we may feel exceedingly guilty when we spend even a small amount of money on something we don’t need.

11. Emotional reasoning

This distortion involves thinking that if we feel a certain way, it must be true. For example, if we feel unattractive or uninteresting in the current moment, we think we are unattractive or uninteresting. This cognitive distortion boils down to:

“I feel it, therefore it must be true.”

Clearly, our emotions are not always indicative of the objective truth, but it can be difficult to look past how we feel.

12. Fallacy of change

The fallacy of change lies in expecting other people to change as it suits us. This ties into the feeling that our happiness depends on other people, and their unwillingness or inability to change, even if we demand it, keeps us from being happy.

This is a damaging way to think because no one is responsible for our own happiness except ourselves.

13. Global labelling / mislabelling

This cognitive distortion is an extreme form of generalising, in which we generalise one or two instances or qualities into a global judgment. For example, if we fail at a specific task, we may conclude that we are a total failure in not only that area but all areas.

Alternatively, when a stranger says something a bit rude, we may conclude that he or she is an unfriendly person in general. Mislabelling is specific to using exaggerated and emotionally loaded language, such as saying a woman has abandoned her children when she leaves her children with a babysitter to enjoy a night out.

14. Always being right

While we all enjoy being right, this distortion makes us think we must be right, that being wrong is unacceptable.

We may believe that being right is more important than the feelings of others, being able to admit when we’ve made a mistake or being fair and objective.

15. Heaven’s Reward Fallacy

This distortion involves expecting that any sacrifice or self-denial will pay off. We may consider this karma, and expect that karma will always immediately reward us for our good deeds. This results in feelings of bitterness when we do not receive our reward (Grohol, 2016).

Many tools and techniques found in cognitive behavioural therapy are intended to address or reverse these cognitive distortions.

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9 Essential CBT Techniques and Tools

There are many tools and techniques used in cognitive behavioural therapy, many of which can be used in both a therapy context and in everyday life. The nine techniques and tools listed below are some of the most common and effective CBT practices.

1. Journaling

This technique is a way to gather about one’s moods and thoughts. A CBT journal can include the time of the mood or thought, the source of it, the extent or intensity, and how we reacted, among other factors.

This technique can help us to identify our thought patterns and emotional tendencies, describe them, and change, adapt, or cope with them (Utley & Garza, 2011).

2. Unravelling cognitive distortions

This is a primary goal of CBT and can be practiced with or without the help of a therapist. In order to unravel cognitive distortions, you must first become aware of the distortions from which you commonly suffer (Hamamci, 2002).

Part of this involves identifying and challenging harmful automatic thoughts, which frequently fall into one of the 15 categories listed earlier.

3. Cognitive restructuring

Once you identify the distortions you hold, you can begin to explore how those distortions took root and why you came to believe them. When you discover a belief that is destructive or harmful, you can begin to challenge it (Larsson, Hooper, Osborne, Bennett, & McHugh, 2015).

For example, if you believe that you must have a high-paying job to be a respectable person, but you’re then laid off from your high-paying job, you will begin to feel bad about yourself.

Instead of accepting this faulty belief that leads you to think negative thoughts about yourself, you could take an opportunity to think about what really makes a person “respectable,” a belief you may not have explicitly considered before.

4. Exposure and response prevention

This technique is specifically effective for those who suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; Abramowitz, 1996). You can practice this technique by exposing yourself to whatever it is that normally elicits a compulsive behaviour, but doing your best to refrain from the behaviour.

You can combine journaling with this technique, or use journaling to understand how this technique makes you feel.

5. Interoceptive exposure

This technique is intended to treat panic and anxiety. It involves exposure to feared bodily sensations in order to elicit the response (Arntz, 2002). Doing so activates any unhelpful beliefs associated with the sensations, maintains the sensations without distraction or avoidance, and allows new learning about the sensations to take place.

It is intended to help the sufferer see that symptoms of panic are not dangerous, although they may be uncomfortable.

6. Nightmare exposure and rescripting

Nightmare exposure and rescripting are intended specifically for those suffering from nightmares. This technique is similar to interoceptive exposure, in that the nightmare is elicited, which brings up the relevant emotion (Pruiksma, Cranston, Rhudy, Micol, & Davis, 2018).

Once the emotion has arisen, the client and therapist work together to identify the desired emotion and develop a new image to accompany the desired emotion.

7. Play the script until the end

This technique is especially useful for those suffering from fear and anxiety. In this technique, the individual who is vulnerable to crippling fear or anxiety conducts a sort of thought experiment in which they imagine the outcome of the worst-case scenario.

Letting this scenario play out can help the individual to recognise that even if everything he or she fears comes to pass, the outcome will still be manageable (Chankapa, 2018).

8. Progressive muscle relaxation

This is a familiar technique to those who practice mindfulness. Similar to the body scan, this technique instructs you to relax one muscle group at a time until your whole body is in a state of relaxation (McCallie, Blum, & Hood, 2006).

You can use audio guidance, a YouTube video, or simply your own mind to practice this technique, and it can be especially helpful for calming nerves and soothing a busy and unfocused mind.

9. Relaxed breathing

This is another technique that will be familiar to practitioners of mindfulness. There are many ways to relax and bring regularity to your breath, including guided and unguided imagery, audio recordings, YouTube videos, and scripts. Bringing regularity and calm to your breath will allow you to approach your problems from a place of balance, facilitating more effective and rational decisions (Megan, 2016).

Some More CBT Interventions and Exercises

Haven’t had enough CBT tools and techniques yet? Read on for additional useful and effective exercises.

1. Behavioural experiments

These are related to thought experiments, in that you engage in a “what if” consideration. Behavioural experiments differ from thought experiments in that you actually test out these “what ifs” outside of your thoughts (Boyes, 2012).

In order to test a thought, you can experiment with the outcomes that different thoughts produce. For example, you can test the thoughts:

“If I criticise myself, I will be motivated to work harder” versus “If I am kind to myself, I will be motivated to work harder.”

First, you would try criticising yourself when you need the motivation to work harder and record the results. Then you would try being kind to yourself and recording the results. Next, you would compare the results to see which thought was closer to the truth.

These behavioural Experiments to Test Beliefs can help you learn how to achieve your therapeutic goals and how to be your best self.

2. Thought records

Thought records are useful in testing the validity of your thoughts (Boyes, 2012). They involve gathering and evaluating evidence for and against a particular thought, allowing for an evidence-based conclusion on whether the thought is valid or not.

For example, you may have the belief “My friend thinks I’m a bad friend.” You would think of all the evidence for this belief, such as “She didn’t answer the phone the last time I called,” or “She cancelled our plans at the last minute,” and evidence against this belief, like “She called me back after not answering the phone,” and “She invited me to her barbecue next week. If she thought I was a bad friend, she probably wouldn’t have invited me.”

Once you have evidence for and against, the goal is to come up with more balanced thoughts, such as, “My friend is busy and has other friends, so she can’t always answer the phone when I call. If I am understanding of this, I will truly be a good friend.”

Thought records apply the use of logic to ward off unreasonable negative thoughts and replace them with more balanced, rational thoughts (Boyes, 2012).

Here’s a helpful Thought Record Worksheet to download.

3. Pleasant activity scheduling

This technique can be especially helpful for dealing with depression (Boyes, 2012). It involves scheduling activities in the near future that you can look forward to.

For example, you may write down one activity per day that you will engage in over the next week. This can be as simple as watching a movie you are excited to see or calling a friend to chat. It can be anything that is pleasant for you, as long as it is not unhealthy (i.e., eating a whole cake in one sitting or smoking).

You can also try scheduling an activity for each day that provides you with a sense of mastery or accomplishment (Boyes, 2012). It’s great to do something pleasant, but doing something small that can make you feel accomplished may have more long-lasting and far-reaching effects.

This simple technique can introduce more positivity into your life, and our Pleasant Activity Scheduling Worksheet is designed to help.

4. Imagery-based exposure

This exercise involves thinking about a recent memory that produced strong negative emotions and analysing the situation.

For example, if you recently had a fight with your significant other and they said something hurtful, you can bring that situation to mind and try to remember it in detail. Next, you would try to label the emotions and thoughts you experienced during the situation and identify the urges you felt (e.g., to run away, to yell at your significant other, or to cry).

Visualising this negative situation, especially for a prolonged period of time, can help you to take away its ability to trigger you and reduce avoidance coping (Boyes, 2012). When you expose yourself to all of the feelings and urges you felt in the situation and survive experiencing the memory, it takes some of its power away.

5. Graded exposure worksheet

This technique may sound complicated, but it’s relatively simple.

Making a situation exposure hierarchy involves means listing situations that you would normally avoid (Boyes, 2012). For example, someone with severe social anxiety may typically avoid making a phone call or asking someone on a date.

Next, you rate each item on how distressed you think you would be, on a scale from 0 to 10, if you engaged in it. For the person suffering from severe social anxiety, asking someone on a date may be rated a 10 on the scale, while making a phone call might be rated closer to a 3 or 4.

Once you have rated the situations, you rank them according to their distress rating. This will help you recognise the biggest difficulties you face, which can help you decide which items to address and in what order. It’s often advised to start with the least distressing items and work your way up to the most distressing items.

Here are some of the most popular workbooks and manuals for clients to use alone or with a therapist:

• The CBT Toolbox: A Workbook for Clients and Clinicians by Jeff Riggenbach;

• Client’s Guidebook: “Activities and Your Mood” by Community Partners in Care;

• The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anxiety: A Step-by-Step Program by William J. Knaus and Jon Carlson;

• The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression: A Step-by-Step Program by William J. Knaus and Albert Ellis;

• Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Skills Workbook by Barry Gregory;

• A Course in CBT Techniques: A Free Online CBT Workbook by Albert Bonfil and Suraji Wagage.

There are many other manuals and workbooks available that can help get you started with CBT, but the tools above are a good start.

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5 Final Cognitive behavioural Activities

Before we go, there are a few more CBT activities and exercises that may be helpful for you or your clients that we’d like to cover.

1. Mindfulness meditation

Mindfulness can have a wide range of positive impacts, including helping with depression, anxiety, addiction, and many other mental illnesses or difficulties.

The practice can help those suffering from harmful automatic thoughts to disengage from rumination and obsession by helping them stay firmly grounded in the present (Jain et al., 2007).

Mindfulness meditations, in particular, can function as helpful tools for your clients in between therapy sessions, such as to help ground them in the present moment during times of stress.

2. Successive approximation

This is a fancy name for a simple idea that you have likely already heard of: breaking up large tasks into small steps.

It can be overwhelming to be faced with a huge goal, like opening a business or remodelling a house. This is true in mental health treatment as well, since the goal to overcome depression or anxiety and achieve mental wellness can seem like a monumental task.

By breaking the large goal into small, easy-to-accomplish steps, we can map out the path to success and make the journey seem a little less overwhelming (e.g., Emmelkamp & Ultee, 1974).

3. Writing self-statements to counteract negative thoughts

This technique can be difficult for someone who’s new to CBT treatment or suffering from severe symptoms, but it can also be extremely effective (Anderson, 2014).

When you (or your client) are being plagued by negative thoughts, it can be hard to confront them, especially if your belief in these thoughts is strong. To counteract these negative thoughts, it can be helpful to write down a positive, opposite thought.

For example, if the thought “I am worthless” keeps popping into your head, try writing down a statement like “I am a person with worth,” or “I am a person with potential.” In the beginning, it can be difficult to accept these replacement thoughts, but the more you bring out these positive thoughts to counteract the negative ones, the stronger the association will be.

4. Visualise the best parts of your day

When you are feeling depressed or negative, it is difficult to recognise that there are positive aspects of life. This simple technique of bringing to mind the good parts of your day can be a small step in the direction of recognising the positive (Anderson, 2014).

All you need to do is write down the things in your life that you are thankful for or the most positive events that happen in a given day. The simple act of writing down these good things can forge new associations in your brain that make it easier to see the positive, even when you are experiencing negative emotions.

5. Reframe your negative thoughts

It can be easy to succumb to negative thoughts as a default setting. If you find yourself immediately thinking a negative thought when you see something new, such as entering an unfamiliar room and thinking “I hate the colour of that wall,” give reframing a try (Anderson, 2014).

Reframing involves countering the negative thought(s) by noticing things you feel positive about as quickly as possible. For instance, in the example where you immediately think of how much you hate the colour of that wall, you would push yourself to notice five things in the room that you feel positively about (e.g., the carpet looks comfortable, the lampshade is pretty, the windows let in a lot of sunshine).

You can set your phone to remind you throughout the day to stop what you are doing and think of the positive things around you. This can help you to push your thoughts back into the realm of the positive instead of the negative.

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A Take-Home Message

In this post, we offered many techniques, tools, and resources that can be effective in the battle against depression, anxiety, OCD, and a host of other problems or difficulties.

However, as is the case with many treatments, they depend on you (or your client) putting in a lot of effort. We encourage you to give these techniques a real try and allow yourself the luxury of thinking that they could actually work.

When we approach a potential solution with the assumption that it will not work, that assumption often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When we approach a potential solution with an open mind and the belief that it just might work, it has a much better chance of succeeding.

So if you are struggling with negative automatic thoughts, please consider these tips and techniques and give them a shot. Likewise, if your client is struggling, encourage them to make the effort, because the payoff can be better than they can imagine.’

Article author: Courtney Ackerman
Article source: https://positivepsychology.com/cbt-cognitive-behavioral-therapy-techniques-worksheets/

Meet Matt Ringrose from Bondi Meditation Centre

Bondi Meditation Centre is a stunning space in the heart of Bondi, founded by Matt Ringrose. Matt has created a place for people to come together, as a community, and either learn or deepen their meditation practice. We interviewed Matt to learn more about his story, read below!

Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to find meditation and where your passion stemmed from?

I found out about Vedic meditation through the book ‘Catching the Big Fish’ by the film director David Lynch. I devoured the book in one day 13 years ago and learned Vedic Meditation that same week.

How did the Bondi Meditation Centre come about and what amazing work do you do there?

I trained as a VM teacher almost 10 years ago and to my delight and surprise found that Bondi Meditation was available as a URL and business name! How things have changed in the last decade. The first 'Bondi Meditation Centre' was my house in Bondi but we outgrew that. So in April 2019 we moved to the current Bondi Meditation Centre - a beautiful space at the top of O'Brien St. Read more here!

How do you feel meditation has impacted your life?

Meditation dramatically improved my long term anxiety and depression, it cured my long term addictions, improved my relationships and gave me a connection to Nature and myself which I never had, or lost a long time ago. Lots more - everything really - but those are the headlines.

You teach Vedic Meditation at The Bondi Meditation Centre, what drew you to this style in particular?

It's an extremely easy and effective meditation. Anyone can learn. If you can think you can learn Vedic Meditation. And if you do it twice a day your life will be transformed for the better. Vedic meditation is accesible to anyone, whereas some other techniques are much harder to to learn.

Do you have any wise words for those who are struggling with meditation, or who have felt defeated by it in the past?

Find yourself a teacher and learn Vedic Meditation. It's as easy as falling off a log and will give you the meditation of your dreams.

Outside of meditation, what else do you enjoy doing?

Listening to house music, being a Dad and having a laugh.

Do you have a favourite book, song, movie or quote you would like to share with us?

All You Need is Love

Want to learn more about Matt and the Bondi Meditation Centre?

Read here.

Author: This is Yoga

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12 Types of Meditation: Everything You Need to Know

Knowing where to start with meditation can be challenging. Often when people think of meditating, they imagine sitting in silence whilst trying to quieten the mind. In actual fact, there are many different techniques to meditation, each worth a try for those starting out, or those with a well established practice. Take a read of the article below to learn more about the styles.

Meditation is the practice of focusing the mind and developing awareness to help achieve clarity and calm. It is widely recognised for its incredible benefits, including reducing stress and anxiety, improving sleep and concentration, and increasing overall happiness.

There are many styles of meditation that offer different ways to redirect your focus and attention. There's not one universally accepted "best" type; it's about finding what works for you. Here are 12 key types of meditation to start exploring:

1. Guided meditation

In guided meditation a teacher leads you through the practice, either in person or via an app or course. This type of meditation is perfect for beginners, as the teacher's expert guidance can help you get the most out of a new experience.

How to practice:

The main thing here is to find a teacher you like and connect with. You can also tailor your search based on a desired result and try guided meditations focused on sleep, stress relief, or acceptance.

2. Mantra meditation

In mantra meditation you focus your attention on a mantra: a word, phrase, or syllable. This is a good approach for those days when the thoughts and feelings seem completely overwhelming, as it gives your brain something else to focus on. It's also thought to increase the vibrations associated with the mantra, helping you enter a more positive and deep state of being.

How to practice:

Choose a mantra that resonates with you. It may be a self-affirmation (such as "I am worthy"), or it may be a simple chant (such as "om"). Repeat that mantra over and over again for a few minutes. Each time you get distracted, don't worry about it. Just draw your focus back once more to the mantra.

3. Spiritual meditation

Spiritual meditation is the mindful practice of believing in and connecting to something that is greater, vaster, and deeper than the individual self. In this meditation you are trusting that there is something bigger out there and that everything happens for a reason.

How to practice:

Sit in silence with the awareness on the breath and repeat affirmations focused on surrender and trust, such as: "I am conscious and aware," "I let everything simply be as it is in this moment," or "I live in my Creator and my Creator lives in me."

4. Present-moment meditation

Present moment (or mindfulness) meditation trains us to move from thinking to sensing. Rather than dwelling on the past or dreading the future, this meditation encourages you to become aware of your immediate surroundings or experience, crucially without any judgment. It urges us not to get attached to our thoughts but rather just allow them to be.

How to practice:

Mindfulness meditation is something you can do almost anywhere. Bring your awareness to the physical sensations of the breath and the body: the rising and falling of the abdomen and chest or the feeling of the breath as it travels in and out the nostrils or mouth. You could also bring focus to any sounds or smells around you. Once you feel settled, bring your awareness to the thoughts and emotions, letting them come and then letting them go. Imagine each thought is like a cloud moving across a clear blue sky, always changing.

5. Transcendental meditation

Transcendental meditation involves sitting with your eyes closed for 20 minutes twice a day repeating a specific and personal mantra (or set of words) given to you by a Transcendental Meditation teacher. The ultimate goal is to transcend or rise above the person's current state of being.

How to practice:

Find a qualified Transcendental Meditation teacher to initiate you into the meditation technique with a mantra. This mantra is decided by a complex set of factors, including the year the practitioner was born, and the year the teacher was trained. Sit twice a day for 20 minutes repeating this mantra.

6. Vipassana meditation

This meditation technique, also called "Insight Meditation," involves sitting in silence, focusing on the breath and noting any and all physical or mental sensations that arise. The idea is to find "insight" into the true nature of reality (which vipassana teaches is suffering), by examining all aspects of your existence. Multi-day vipassana retreats are a popular way to dive deeper into this practice.

How to practice:

Sit quietly and concentrate on the breath as it moves through the body. Let all emotions, sensations, thoughts, and sounds arise without getting attached to them. Label any distraction, for example, "a bird chirping" and return your focus to the breath.

7. Metta meditation

Also known as a "loving-kindness" meditation, in this practice you bring your awareness to the people in your life (both near and far, known and unknown, liked or disliked) and direct positive energy and thoughts toward them. It's a wonderful technique for decreasing anger and increasing understanding, positivity, and compassion.

How to practice:

Find a comfortable position, and with the eyes closed, bring your awareness to the chest, to the heart center. As you breathe in, imagine you are breathing in warmth, compassion, and unconditional love for yourself, and as you breathe out, imagine you are directing that warmth, compassion, and unconditional love to the people around you. Start with close friends or relatives, and move out to directing it to neutral acquaintances and then those you don't particularly like right now.

8. Chakra meditation

This meditation is used to keep the body's seven chakras, or energy centers, open, aligned, and fluid. It is based on the idea that blocked or unbalanced chakras can cause negative physical or mental ailments and that by meditating on them we can bring the self back into harmony.

How to practice:

Become familiar with the chakras and their corresponding properties and qualities. Spend time resting your awareness on the chakras that you feel you need to bring into balance. Concentrate on the bodily location of each chakra and picture energy flowing through that area that is the colour of that chakra. Here are some more details on meditations tailored to the themes of each chakra.

9. Yoga meditation

Just as there are many different types of meditation, there are many styles of yoga. Some types, such as Kundalini, focus on using meditative techniques to strengthen and relax the nervous system. You can bring a meditative awareness to any yoga style or class simply by focusing on the breath and the present. 

How to practice:

While taking any yoga posture, keep your awareness on the breath and the physical sensations in the present moment. Each time you find the mind wandering to thoughts, gently draw it back once more. Corpse pose (savasana) taken at the end of all yoga classes, is one of the best pathways for meditation.

10. Candle-gazing meditation

Trataka, or candle gazing, is a type of meditation in which you keep your eyes open and focused on a point or object—frequently, the flame of a lit candle. Objects such as crystals could also be used. This practice helps bring energy to the third-eye chakra and can increase concentration.

How to practice:

Sit comfortably with your gaze focused on a single object, such as a candle, tree, or crystal. With relaxed eyes, try your level best not to blink. Maintain focus until your eyes begin to feel uncomfortable and then close the eyes. Keep the image of the object in your mind's eye, then open your eyes and start again.

11. Visualisation meditation

In a visualization meditation, you picture something or someone in your mind, to the exclusion of everything else. It can feel challenging but is no different really than focusing on the breath or body. Frequent visualisation can help you manifest the things you want in life, by staying focused and pouring energy into them.

How to practice:

Closing the eyes and sitting comfortably, bring to mind someone or something you either want or have negative feelings around that you want to let go of. Keep your focus here and keep returning each time the mind wanders. Observe, too, any physical sensations that may arise (such as bodily heat in response to anger). Do not get attached; continue only to observe.

12. Become the observer meditation

Similar to vipassana, in this meditation you bring your awareness completely but impartially to the self and observe your thoughts, feelings, patterns, and behaviours. Through this focus, you will begin to learn more about yourself and from that awareness be able to effect any change you may need or want to see in your life. 

How to practice:

You can do this meditation anytime, anywhere, simply by bringing the awareness inward. Observe your mind as if from the outside, becoming completely conscious of your thoughts and behaviours but remaining completely impartial and nonjudgmental. Be a witness to your experience.

Whichever meditation style you choose, doing it regularly will lead to the best results. Try a technique every day for 10 days and see how you feel at the end. And remember: You can't meditate wrong, so don't worry if the mind is busy. This is very normal. Meditation is not about forcing the mind into stillness but rather redirecting the focus and attention in order to give yourself a little break.

Read original article here

Article author: Lily Silverton

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