What is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is a quality, state, or practice of attention, awareness, and presence. This can include basic breathing exercises, relaxation techniques, meditation, visualization and affirmations. It can also be as simple as awareness practices in which you track and notice things: outside happenings, bodily sensations, thoughts, and feelings. Mindfulness helps you accept rather than judge your experiences. At Lakewood Family Therapy, we are dedicated to helping clients transform their relationships with themselves and with others, and mindfulness is a powerful tool to achieve this.
How does mindfulness help?
Mindfulness has been shown to help with issues including depression and anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, substance use disorders, eating disorders, relationship conflict, and physical illness/pain. It lowers blood pressure and decreases emotional reactivity and stress. It can be an important practice to improve emotional intelligence, self-control, and psychological flexibility. In relationships, it can help with de-escalation and communication.
How is mindfulness used in therapy?
Mindfulness is incorporated directly into some types of therapy like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). However, it is easily integrated to enhance any type of therapy, including individual therapy and relational therapy. Your therapist might walk you through mindfulness practices in session, and they might provide worksheets, handouts, or reading recommendations as resources to continue learning. We will collaborate with you to find what works best for you.