Every day at 7 am and 6 pm I walk. My cell phone is left behind. These walks are the time I get to spend with my dog and myself. I have trained myself to use this time to check in with myself and to listen to my heart. These walks have become my daily practice. My brain knows now that this is my time for quiet reflection and gratitude. The evening walk is usually more about unwinding from the stresses of the day, a barrier that keeps me from bringing to much of the concerns of my work home with me.
Taking the time to build this daily practice and be mindful about its creation is in the top 3 best things I did for managing my anxiety and depression. If you are looking for a way to increase your sense of calm in life, reduce stress or begin to manage anxiety then one of the most effective things you can do is create a daily practice.
A daily practice is something that should be personal. I chose walking for 3 reasons. Firstly, doing physical activity helps to bring me out of my head, away from my anxiety and keeps me in touch with my body. Nature has always been a place of happiness for me, no matter what the weather is I love being outdoors. Lastly, because my dog is always absolutely overjoyed at going for a walk and seeing his happiness and excitement has never failed to bring a smile to my face regardless of how bad my depression was. Meditation and yoga are some of the more frequently thought of practices but they are definitely not the only ones.
How to begin building your practice.
The most important things to building a strong practice are consistency, no tech, and being gentle with yourself. Consistency leads because with time you train your brain to enter into a calm centered state just by showing up. For me it happens when I walk through my gate into the road. It doesn’t take any thought or reminding myself to stay focused, my brain does it automatically. Consistency comes in a few different ways; a specific location, a set time, or a certain action. One of these needs to be the same every time. It is what you build the routine around.
No tech may be the hardest one for a lot of us. We rely so much on apps and instant communication that separating from them can feel painful. This is not a hard rule if the technology is being used as part of your practice. A yoga video, meditation app, music etc. are all valuable and useful to building a practice. Just turn off notifications from social media and email and make sure to choose a time when alarms won’t be going off and interrupting. Technology is very distracting and can be a cause of many anxieties, this time is meant to be about you.
Be gentle with yourself while you begin a new practice or routine. Negative self-talk is not a motivator or encouraging. If you miss a day or are late it’s okay; do it later or pick it up the next day. Keep your goals realistic. If you’ve never meditated before then you probably don’t want to start off with an hour a day. 15 or 20 minutes is just as effective if you are being consistent. Time can always be added. I started with the one walk a day but I quickly came to crave that time. I tried making it a longer walk but it was setting up a totally separate additional time that ended up working best.
Listen to yourself and be gentle to your needs while you are starting out and you will have the foundation for building a practice that fits into your schedule and is effective at reducing stress and anxiety.
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Photo by Katy Belcher on Unsplash
