Dialing Down The Chatter
6 Ways To Quiet Your Mind.
You’re lying in bed. You[ve swapped out and fluffed your pillows. You’ve turned the air up. You’ve gone pee one more time. You’ve changed positions, traded comforters…you’ve even switched rooms, jammies and lighting schemes. But nothing can stop your brain’s rolling waves of to-do lists for the next day or the rehash of all that went down the day before. So what can you do to quiet down your “monkey brain” and fall asleep, meditate or just settle your nerves? According to the research, the answers lie in mindfulness. And these top mindful practices can deliver some fast relief —at night or any time of day.
Take Ten
When your thoughts just won’t quit, my number one tip is to take 10 deep breaths. You can do it from anywhere— you don’t need anything else, and no matter what the task is that you’re doing i that moment, it can likely wait 10 breaths.
Beyond being convenient, the breathing practice is backed up by some impressive science. In a 2018 systematic review published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, titled “How Breath—Control Can Change Your Life” studies repeatedly showed that engaging in slow breathing actively calms the body’s nervous system, providing “increased comfort, relaxation, pleasantness, vigor, and alertness and reduced symptoms of arousal, anxiety, depression, anger and confusion.”
From mindfulness perspective, that’s no surprise. When you are tuning into your breath, you focu on breathing instead of all those racing thoughts. When you’re actively trying not to think about something, like when you’re told not to think about pink elephants, you must give the mind something else to do, or you’ll be able to think of nothing BUT that pink elephant. Breath control helps us stop obsessing by redirecting our minds to the act of inhaling and exhaling. I suggest 10 breaths because it’s a manageable number and yet long enough to crate an energetic shift.
2. Get Outside
If you feel like you can be more mindful while you are moving, head outdoors! Being in nature and moving is a great way to corral your energy into the now. Simply stepping outside and taking a breath of fresh air can quickly calm your swirling mind. By changing your perspective you’ll give your brain a new atmosphere on which to focus, providing a calming reset. Everything that happens in the body is connected to the mind. And by placing your body in nature—an act that according to a 2015 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) study, decreases your obsessive thinking and reduces frontal cortex activity— you’re using mindful practices to physically and spiritually embrace more peaceful energy. What’s more, you don’t have to devote a lot of time. Just a five minute break with Mother Nature can work wonders.
3. Enjoy A Whiff
Sometimes all we need to get our thoughts settled is a sniff of something nice. Keep something near you that has a pleasant smell especially in a work space. It could be a scented candle, a cup of coffee or essential oils. Or you could try something simple like taking a whiff of fruit, flowers, your baby’s skin, really anything that is pleasing to your senses.
Having a real olfactory experience is key. It brings us into the moment, because our senses exist only in the present. In other words, if your racing brain can’t let go of that nagging inner checklist, stopping and mindfully “smelling the roses” can quickly and effectively get you out of that anxious thought cycle.
4. Tune In
Fragrance isn’t the only sensory option. Engaging your sense of sound ha also been shown to be another effective neural tool for lulling you into serenity. Music, the spoken word, white noise or guided meditation can all effectively soothe the savage beast in your head! And thanks to modern technology, finding the perfect soundtrack is super easy. If my mind feels really active, I’ll choose a premade mediation playlist from Spotify. Nature sounds, such as cascading waterfalls, birds singing or whales are a few of my favorites. And in that wind-down period before bed which can be a challenging time of day for our minds, I turn to a sleep-focused playlist.
From a mindfulness standpoint, focusing on the lyrics and melody will keep you in the moment. At the same time, numerous scientific studies have shown that music can lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which when out of balance, contributes to health problems from weight gain to heart disease. In fact, in a 2011 study published in Frontiers in Psychology, researchers reported that patients who listened to instrumental music during surgery had lower cortisol levels and required lower sedative amounts to achieve light sedation.
5. Sweat It Out
Another great way to get of your head and into the moment is to get some exercise. Any form of movement will do just fine. Studies suggest that walking or running are great options, since the act of consciously putting one foot in front of the other is rhythmic and almost meditative. “Thoughts have millions of pathways and we are forever pulled along by them into the world of forgetfulness,” said Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh. If we can transform our walking path into a field for meditation, our feet will take every step full awareness, our breathing will be in harmony with our steps and our mind will naturally be at ease. I also love practicing yoga because it incorporates the calming practice of breathing and gets the body moving as well. Once that happens the body, mind and breath form a marriage and that takes you into another realm of consciousness many times. That’s exactly what we need when our brains are stuck on the repeat cycle of racing mindlessness.
6. Take A Seat
If you’re new to mindfulness or just need a super-simple way to calm your thoughts, this one’s for you! Sometimes to quiet your brain you just have to sit down on the floor. It may sound silly or even uncomfortable, but it’s something that literally grounds our energy by connecting gravity with more of our body. And sitting on the floor is a calming mechanism we’re harwired to practice. Kids do it naturally. Sometimes when they work themselves up, they literally throw themselves on the ground. We see it as a tantrum, but the are actually seeking balance. I think we can all learn from that.
Too stiff or sore to sit on the floor? That’s ok. Try lying down instead. And if hanging out for no reason feels too challenging, just get down on the ground to do some quick stretching. They key in all of this is to feel a calming force that puts you in the moment.
No matter what time it is, if you have pin-ponging thoughts, pulling yourself back into the present can calm your brain. Any one of these 6 tools can help you focus on what is rather than what’s yet to come or what’s already happened. Whether you turn on some music, smell a bouquet of flowers or step outside, try to mindfully focus on that choice and let all the catter fade away.
xoxo, Anne
