Barriers to Mindful Living
Stress & Overwhelm
"It feels like I am under constant stress all the time, and I don't think I can do anything about it."
Poor Self-Speak
"I can't do this! Everything I do is wrong!"
Lack of Knowledge
"I don't know what to do to feel better."
Solutions for Mindful Living
Awareness
Tuning into the sensations of your body is the first step to making a change. A tightness in the chest, fast-paced breathing, sweating, or knotted stomach are all signs to stop and help your body out of that physical state of panic.
Actionable Steps to Change Negative Self-Speak
Listening how you speak to yourself can help you move from being a passive observer of your stress to an active advocate in the courtroom of your own mind.
Deep Breathing in the Belly
Deep breathing techniques are simple to use and amazingly effective! Simply expanding your belly to breathe instead of your chest signals to your body that you are safe and that it is time to clam down.
Learn More
How can I become more mindful when I'm overwhelmed?
We all live with daily stressors that vary in degree of severity. Thankfully, mindfulness is a skill that can be learned and applied to decrease the impact of acute and long-term stressors and improve well-being.
- Mindfulness is correlated with fewer complaints of stress, overall lower levels of stress, and acts as a buffer between stress and negative mental health [1].
- Positive self-talk, implementing one’s own voice, is a powerful tool for reducing the amount of anxiety and feelings of depression associated with negative self-talk.
- Awareness and mindfulness help us emotionally regulate anxiety, depression, and stress, and cultivate presence, or being in the moment. Awareness enables us to speak self-affirming words that lead improve health [2].
Breathing happens automatically while people sleep and throughout the day; however, when people deliberately take deep breaths in the belly it signals safety and calms the nervous system.
- Try the A52 Breath Method: The idea is to breathe into the nose for five counts followed directly by five out breaths then hold for two seconds and repeat this for ten minutes [3].
- Take time to calm the mind and body and regain your focus when you are experiencing the effects of stress, such as increased heart rate and respirations, and use breath work to calm the nervous system.
In conclusion, there is no shortage of stress in today's world, so cultivating mindfulness, learning to deep breathe into the belly, or becoming aware of how you speak to yourself throughout the day are powerful tools to regulate the nervous systems.
[1]. Lu, F., Xu, Y., Yu, Y., Peng, L., Wu, T., Wang, T., Liu, B., Xie, J., Xu, S., & Li, M. (2019). Moderating
Effect of mindfulness on the relationships between perceived stress and mental health outcomes among Chinese intensive care nurses. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00260.
[2]. Jo, H., Park, C., Lee, E., Lee, J., Kim, J., Han, S., Kim, J., Kim, E., Kim, E., & Kim, J. (2024). Neural
effects of one’s own voice on self-talk for emotion regulation. Brain Sciences, 14.
https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci14070637.
[3]. Little, A. (2025). The A52 Breath Method: A narrative review of breathwork for mental health and stress resilience. Stress and Health, 41. https://doi.org/10.1002/smi.70098.