Mindfulness as Self-Care

(gentle music) Headspace Studio. Greetings, greetings, and welcome back to Radio Headspace. My name is Kessonga and it's a wonderful Monday. I've said this numerous times and I sincerely mean it, but myself and the other teachers love receiving your questions and thoughts about mindfulness, meditation, and just life in general. So on that note, I remember my producer once asked how I feel about receiving so many questions from listeners. Does it ever become overwhelming? So this actually got me to thinking about the idea of being a support system for anyone, a caregiver, a friend, a parent. The list goes on and on, and how to use mindfulness to cultivate some self-care when you're the one that people depend on. So if you find yourself the person that someone or really anyone turns to for any kind of support, this episode is for you. So not long ago, I finished working on a mindfulness research project for caregivers. This was really hella ironic because I recently have taken on the role of caregiver for my mother. Her needs are minimal, as she can dress and bathe and cook for herself, but it's still a bit stressful. The caregivers in the research project were dealing with much more severe and intense cases. They did have to really do most everything for the person they were caregiving for, and I was teaching them mindfulness tools for coping with being a caregiver. Being a caregiver in this capacity is extremely taxing. You're basically giving up yourself on the physical, emotional, and mental levels. But as I stated, this is on one end of the spectrum. You may also be that friend that everyone comes to for moral support. Even though it's less taxing, it can still become overwhelming. That's why one of the things I teach when it comes to caregiving is to consistently check in with yourself. It's so easy for that overwhelm to kind of sneak up on you. And before you know it, you're dealing with stress symptoms like frequent headaches or insomnia. So how can we prevent this with mindfulness? Well, every so often during the day, even if you're feeling perfectly okay, just pause for a minute and just check in with yourself. You can just stop. And if it's comfortable, taking a gentle, deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Then noticing how you're feeling physically, any sensations throughout your body, and then checking in with your emotional self. Noticing what emotions are predominant right now, whether it's anxiety, or exhaustion, or maybe calm and relief that you're taking this time. And then noticing the thoughts that are flowing through your mind without getting attached to any particular thought. Maybe noticing and visualizing the thoughts as gentle clouds floating through the blue sky. And then, if comfortable, taking another deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth, and then going about your next activity. So by doing this...