Mindfulness for Anxiety 💓 A Beginner's Guide 21/30

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Mindfulness for Anxiety
Practicing mindfulness can help you shift your perspective on emotions, especially anxiety. It’ll help you get better at soothing anxiety, process sad feelings, and quiet negative self-talk. Mindfulness combined with CBT has been shown to work as well as medication at treating depression and anxiety, but without the side effects. And it’s more effective in the long term.

By the end of this video you’re going to know how to use mindfulness for anxiety in your life. You’re going to experience mindfulness with two quick activities, and you’re going to learn how mindfulness can help you calm anxiety in your body and mind.

Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC, and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health.

About Me:
I’m Emma McAdam. I’m a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and I have worked in various settings of change and growth since 2004. My experience includes juvenile corrections, adventure therapy programs, wilderness therapy programs, an eating disorder treatment center, a residential treatment center, and I currently work in an outpatient therapy clinic.

In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction.

Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC
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[trickyrat]

"The goal is not to make you feel better; the goal is to make you better at feeling."

Perfectly phrased.

[suetupper]

If you have a cat or dog, petting them is a form of mindfulness. I often spend 5-10 minutes petting my pets and they love it. We are all in the moment!

[cyndiguillory]

Girl, you may not be aware (or maybe you are) of how much you help those of us who have been to therapists, counselors and have been through the mental health system and found absolutely no help. You understand exactly what I need to hear...a teacher giving out tools to your students. I'm am so thankful to have found you here. 🙏❤

[DorianEyre]

God bless you for making mental health exercises and practices so accessible
Not everyone can afford therapy

[generationfigtree]

“Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” John 14:27 kjv

[sacdaabdurhman]

“We need to accept that we won’t always make the right decisions, that we’ll screw up royally sometimes – understanding that failure is not the opposite of success, it’s part of success.” Sharing some love from small YouTuber. I am believe in you even if I don’t know you.

[patwarburtonr]

As we crawl out of a weary season let your light shine in all our broken places. There is power in the name of Jesus. 🙏

[ItsMe-gwkb]

I'd have to say I'm mostly numb. On the positive side, it gets a little bit better sometimes. I'm learning how to laugh again. I'm not giving up, and encourage people not to give up either. We all have value. I'm going to apply the ideas in this video.

[krishnaakhilachanta]

You don't realise how big of a help you've been Emma. Everytime I get back to my bad patterns..I pop your channel up..maybe a bad coping mechanism but atleast at peace for few minutes.

[Topofthemormingtoyou]

Thanks for this video. I have noticed before that I hold my breath when feeling stressed. Even if we practice being more aware of this one thing, its a good step to being more mindful.

[janeeugureli]

I don’t go a day without you in my life. Your logic and voice is so soothing. You are my first port of call when things stack up. I suffer from health anxiety and wake with palpitations and you really calm me down. Thank you x

[leighbrook]

Here in 2024 and wanted to say thank you because this is a great refresher for me and definitely highly needed and is so helpful thank u so much

[Lazydemon]

Watched this on the verge of an emotional breakdown. It calmed me and helped me get better. Hopefully i can deal with the thing that caused that in the first place better in the future

[royce]

My therapist has been working on mindfulness with me but I really struggle bc I overthink things. I felt crazy bc until I watched this…I couldn’t tell when I am mindful, overly focused on the present, not mindful enough, etc.

This video is AMAZING!!!! I finally understand mindfulness. Best parts:

1) example of mindfulness experience at the beginning
2) creating joy in the present moment
3) “it’s just being aware”
4) acceptance- but actually a good definition
5) “the goal is not to make you feel better, it’s to get better at feeling….it’s not relaxation”
6) “the purpose of this activity is NOT to change your breathing” as a chronically ill person, i get distressed focusing on my body because I know I should be breathing differently and that keeps me from being present

Caveat- ADHDers please don’t feel bad if you need some level of distraction. Try white noise.

[chloedavis]

You're one of the best, absolute best, resources on the entire internet.

[selfhelpchampion]

Thanks Emma, we also need kindfulness🙏🙏

[susanfromthemountains]

Hello everyone. I enjoy this channel and God bless this lady that puts all this good information up and out there for us.
I want to suggest what helps me greatly whenever I get a negative thought.
Whether it's just a negative thought or anxious thought this is what I do and it helps me greatly more than anything that I have tried.
And here it is:
Whenever I get a very negative thought or an anxious thought or a thought that is just not helpful to going forward- you know those thoughts, where you're always looking back on the negative things that have occurred- well here's what I started doing and it helps so much!
I instantly think of something to PRAY to God for. Just one thing, pray to God for just one thing, or up to three things, EVERY TIME you get a negative thought. THIS HELPS SO MUCH!
And while my mind is thinking of who or what to pray for I realize simultaneously, that I am doing more good by transforming the negative into an action of positive that will have a helpful and eternal effect on me and the things I'm praying for.
While I think of what to pray my mind is alleviated completely of the negative thought and usually never comes back when I'm done with the prayer.
You can do this silently while standing or sitting or laying in bed at night nobody knows you're doing it and it works!
At least for me it has proven to be the most effectual help to completely alleviate the negativity and anxiety.
I also feel that my inner spirit is lifted, (to love and be gracious toward others afterwards) AND I have a much * clearer, "more sound mind" to share that love.
I hope this helps at least one other person as it has helped me.
God bless you all.

[codelinguist]

Sending love from the Philippines! You're a great blessing to the world.

We just moved to a new house and I could not sleep because my anxiety came back. I did not feel safe even though I know the house is very secure (locks and everything) . We also have a dog outside. I kept having thoughts about how someone could break in and I kept buying those thoughts. Yesterday, I searched youtube for "anxiety over safety" and that's how I found your videos. I watched them and did the mental exercises. Guess what, I had a good sleep last night!

[meditationJD]

Very good for a world filled with anxious people.

[kristinsleuth]

Thank you for this! I've been told on so many occasions that I need to slow down and be more mindful, but I wasn't totally sure what that meant. I especially appreciated your explanation of the difference between mindfulness and meditation.