How to Use Mindfulness to Reduce COVID-19 Anxiety
By Vittoria DeSimone-Maida, M.A. RP
Registered Psychotherapist
It has been about three weeks now since the world has been put ‘on hold’. We’ve all been told to wash our hands, practice physical distancing while being socially connected, and self-isolate. We’re all doing our part for the sake of our physical health and to help ‘manage’ the COVID-19 virus but it’s hard and it feels scary to not know what’s coming next. Having to live through a global pandemic is something none of us has ever experienced or could have imagined.
The significant anxiety we are collectively feeling is due to our uncertainty and fear of the unknown, and the question we are all asking is… how do we get through this?
Mindfulness can help you adapt to difficult situations.
Photo by Motoki Tonn on Unsplash
Mindfulness teaches us how to respond to stress with a nonjudgmental awareness of what is happening in the present moment instead of acting instinctively, where we let our emotions or motives drive our decisions.
Research has shown mindfulness reduces anxiety and depression by encouraging us to open up and accept our emotions. As a result we are better able to identify, experience, and process our emotions. Mindfulness also encourages us to see things from different perspectives - helping us to distance ourselves from our thoughts and feelings without labeling them as good or bad.
How to be mindful right now
There is no big secret behind mindfulness practices. Any activity can become mindful if you focus on the experience of the present moment. One of the easiest ways to be mindful is with your food. Take a little bit of time and practice mindful eating by looking at the food, smelling the food, noticing the different flavors and the texture of the food while slowly eating it. You will be surprised by how much more enjoyable and satisfied you will you feel - and interestingly, you’ll consume less - when you eat mindfully rather than mindlessly.
Another immediate way to practice mindfulness is to focus on your breath for a few minutes. Feel your chest rise and fall, notice the sensation of the breath as it enters and exits your nose. When your mind wanders, simply return your attention to the breath. Focus on the present moment: the here and now. Notice this very moment; it feels good to be alive, right now.
Mindfulness strategies
The following strategies are offered by some of the wisest people that I have come across. I have tried and tested most of these ideas with my own uncertainties and fears. Give them a try. What I say to my clients is simply try them on for size, see if they fit. If something does not suit you, try something else.
Lean into the uncertainty with courage and learn to be tolerant.
Guided Meditation: The RAIN of Self Compassion
Rather than doing things to avoid the anxious feelings of uncertainty, developing a tolerance of this uncomfortable feeling is important. Tara Brach, a clinical psychologist who blends Western psychology with Eastern Spiritual practice (Western Buddhism) offers her RAIN guided meditation. This activity invites you to RECOGNIZE what is going on; ALLOW the experience to be there just as it is; INVESTIGATE with interest and care, and NURTURE with self-compassion. Tara suggests that “after the RAIN we need to rest in the present.” She explains that this mindful mediation helps you to shift the fight, flight or freeze response into a habit of attending and befriending.
Use curiosity to confront the fear of ‘not knowing’.
Book / Audiobook: The Fear Cure
In her book The Fear Cure, Lissa Rankin invites us to use curiosity and to not be afraid when confronted with the overwhelm feeling of ‘not knowing’. She suggests that we “question everything, stay open, be curious” as this allows us to find a way to comfort ourselves and eventually find our peace. Rankin suggests trying to accept the fact that you are not certain of what will happen but “trust anyway.” You can place this trust in a Higher Power, the Universe, God, Mother Earth or your Higher Self. As humans we want to control and understand by making meaning of everything that happens. Unfortunately, at times we just do not know what will happen next and learning to rest in this uncomfortable stance is like exercising a muscle that needs to be strengthened over time.
Find the refuge of calm in the midst of the storm.
YouTube Video: Facing Pandemic Fears with an Awake Heart
Some of you will say “Really?! How do I do this?” In her most recent talk on YouTube Facing Pandemic Fears with an Awake Heart, Tara Brach offers the mindfulness techniques of breathing and grounding. Breathe in while counting up to 5 and breathe out while counting down from 5 to 0. For grounding, touch a soft blanket or sweater, name the things that you see, hear, taste, or smell. Both of these strategies allow you to calm and nurture the nervous system. She also suggests doing gentle stretches like yoga and connecting with nature by taking a walk. These are all very accessible strategies we can all engage in.
Connect with your resilience and courage with a warrior stance.
Book: Warrior Goddess Training
HeatherAsh Amara explains in her book Warrior Goddess Training that by taking a warrior stance we are invited to “adjust to change when our world has been turned upside down”. She advises that we “step toward rather than ignore, fight or resist change”. How can we do this right now during this enormous time of change in our world? Amara urges us to take this Warrior stance instead of a victim stance when confronting difficult moments in our lives as this allows us to be “co-creators with change”.
Cultivate compassion as you embrace the unknown.
Book: Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion
In her book Comfortable with Uncertainty, Pema Chödrön describes how we can control challenging situations using tools such as meditation and compassion practices. It features the most essential and stirring passages from Chödrön's previous books, exploring topics such as lovingkindness, meditation, mindfulness, "nowness," letting go, and working with fear and other painful emotions. Through the course of this book, readers will learn practical methods for heightening awareness and overcoming habitual patterns that block compassion. She invites us to embrace the unknown as part of the journey or adventure.
Surrender and trust that the ‘universe has your back’.
Book: The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith
In her book The Universe Has Your Back, Gabrielle Bernstein teaches readers how to transform their fear into faith in order to live a divinely guided life. Each story and lesson in the book guides readers to release the blocks to what they most long for: happiness, security, and clear direction. The lessons help readers relinquish the need to control so they can relax into a sense of certainty and freedom. Readers will learn to stop chasing life and truly live. Making the shift from fear to faith will give readers a sense of power in a world that all too often makes them feel utterly powerless. When the tragedies of the world seem overwhelming, this book will help guide them back to their true power. Gabrielle says, "My commitment with this book is to wake up as many people as possible to their connection to faith and joy. In that connection, we can be guided to our true purpose: to be love and spread love. These words can no longer be cute buzz phrases that we merely post on social media. Rather, these words must be our mission. The happiness, safety, and security we long for lies in our commitment to love." When readers follow this path, they’ll begin to feel a swell of energy move through them. They will find strength when they are down, synchronicity and support when they’re lost, safety in the face of uncertainty, and joy when they are otherwise in pain. Follow the secrets revealed in this book to unleash the presence of your power and know always that ‘the universe has your back’.
Start with some ‘love-kindness’ meditation.
Audio: Guided Loving-Kindness Meditation
Loving-kindness meditation (sometimes called “metta” meditation) is a great way to cultivate our propensity for kindness and is one of the most important Buddhist practices. It involves mentally sending goodwill, kindness, and warmth towards others by silently repeating a series of mantras. Most simply, metta is the heartfelt wish for the well-being of oneself and others. When describing metta, the Buddha used the analogy of the care a mother gives her only child. Loving-kindness is closely related to the softening of the heart that allows us to feel empathy with the happiness and sorrow of the world.
In metta practice we water the seeds of our good intentions. When we water wholesome intentions instead of expressing unwholesome ones, we develop those wholesome tendencies within us. If these seeds are never watered they won't grow. When watered by regular practice they grow, sometimes in unexpected fashions. We may find that loving-kindness becomes the operating motivation in a situation that previously triggered anger or fear.
Guided Loving-Kindness Meditation
Strengthen feelings of kindness and connection towards others through this audio exercise.
Photo by Valentina Yoga on Unsplash
It is obvious that we live in an anxious world, and it's becoming increasingly so. Economic insecurities, tragedies (personal or constant bombardment by the news), and a general feeling of lack of control over the future. However, I hope you have discovered that with mindfulness, you can be present with what you are feeling instead of stuffing it away. When practiced over time this can lead to greater resilience and less anxiety.
Want to know more?
Resource Books
Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think. Dennis Greenberger, PhD and Christine A. Padesky, PhD. 2016.
Comfortable with Uncertainty: 108 Teachings on Cultivating Fearlessness and Compassion. Pema Chodron 2008.
The Science of Self-Compassion Kristin Neff in Wisdom and Compassion Psychotherapy:Deepening Mindfulness in Clinical Practice Edited by Christopher K. Germer and Ronald D. Siegel. 2012.
Warrior Goddess Training: Becoming the Woman Are Meant To Be. HeatherAsh Amara 2014.
The Fear Cure: Cultivating courage as medicine for the body, mind and soul. Lissa Rankin, M.D. 2015.
The Universe Has Your Back: Transform Fear to Faith. Gabrielle Bernstein, 2016.
Loving-Kindness. The Revolutionary Art of Happiness. Sharon Salzberg, 1995.
Resource Articles
National Center for Biotechnology Information The effect of mindfulness-based therapy on anxiety and depression: A meta-analytic review
Insight Meditation Center The Issue at Hand
Access to Insight Metta. The Philosophy and Practice of Universal Love
Greater Good in Action Loving-Kindness Meditation