In this episode, the difference between mindfulness and meditation. Welcome to the Anxiety Road Podcast. This is the involuntary journey binding treatment options and resources for people that have an anxiety condition or disorder. This podcast is treatment agnostic. My name is Gena Haskett. There is an old saying, if you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans. I apologize for the reduction of episodes. I'm juggling three things that should be handled, one at a time.
I have to make room for real life events, the unexpected and the same old thing, and I'm not doing a very good job of it, by the way. Get your routine healthcare testing done on an annual basis? Learn from my mistakes. Well, more than, uh, it's actually more of high reluctance to go into a doctor's office. In any event, I'll do the best I can, but yeah, it's, it's a thing and I'm working through it as best I can.
In this episode, I wanna talk about the difference between mindfulness and meditation. Sometimes the terms I use interchangeably, and I might be guilty of that, but I do want to make sure that we're clear on the concepts, which sometimes can be smooched together. By the way, if you're new here, this is the podcast sharing the medical, behavioral health, meditation, relaxation, and X equals the unknown treatment options for those of us on the anxiety condition or disorder spectrum.
I do have a news item for you, actually. It's kind of more like at that attack. There is a trade paperback of the graphic horror miniseries, a haunted girl. It is the story of Cleo who is struggling with depression, who also has to deal with being the only person who can save everybody. Yes, you can have depression and be a hero. If you're interested in learning more about the book, it's actually a graphic novel. It was originally a four series comic book.
Uh, you could hippity hop over to image comics or maybe contact your local comic bookstore to see if they have a copy in stock. Always buy local when you can, or you can certainly visit your online book vendor. They may have a ebook version that you can download and, um, get your thrill on. So in definition mode, mindfulness is being present and aware of the current moment. It's not doom casting to the past or the future. It's being present tense with every part of your being.
mindful.org defines it as a basic human ability to be present, aware of where we are and what we're doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us. So let's look at an example. You need to wash a sink full of dishes. Some people would think about what they have to do, how much they hate it, what they should be doing, what they wanna be doing. And it's a basic, ongoing thought cannon of every possible thought being generated, going across your, uh, your brain.
Whereas in a meditation mode, excuse me, in a mindfulness mode, you would strictly be concentrating on. Picking up the dish out of the soapy water, cleaning the dish, rinsing the dish, and putting the dish away. You are totally connected to that experience, and you may have a stray thought or two, but you are mindfully washing the dishes now. Meditation is. Technique or skills that you can use to train your mind how to come to be more calm, be more relaxed, be more present it. They are.
Meditation is a tool to use to take care of yourself, to help yourself learn, focus, to be aware, and to be in compassion mode with yourself. There are all kinds of ways to practice meditation. Certainly you can sit and perform a breathing meditation, and there's also walking meditation. There's sitting in the sand and watching the sea of the ocean flow in and out. There's fly fishing. There's faith-based meditation. Going into the pool and doing a couple of laps.
There are certainly, you could wash the dishes in a meditative mode if you're breathing in a certain pattern. Um, that's a twofer, by the way, 'cause you're both being mindful and meditative. Mindfulness is being in the present tense, focusing on yourself in this space and time. Meditation is a specific practice or tools that you use to help you chill out. So let's make with the resources again.
Image Comics has a page on their website about the trade paperback called a Haunted Girl, and you can get a sense of what the graphic novel is. You can view a few of the pages, and if you wanna dip your toes into both horror and depression, this might be the book for you. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention has an interview with the creators of the book and how it relates to the organization from mindful.org, a 25 page guide to mindfulness with suggestions on how to get started.
And this is a pdf file, and I'll have the link on the Anxiety Road podcast, blog, website thingy. In terms of apps, there is the insight timer. It contains a lot of different meditation content from a variety of creators. It also has sleep modules and breathing practice. It is free, although I'm sure you could subscribe to a subscription, and it's available on Android and iOS. The podcast front, Stephen Webb's Inner Peace Meditation Podcast has a series of episodes specific to anxiety relief.
If you're looking for a book, detox Your Thoughts by Andrea Bonior, and I'll spell her last name, B-O-N-I-O-R PhD on how you can handle mind chatter and stay in the present moment. The Anxiety and Depression Association of America has a self-help book on anxiety and depression. It's called Patients Guide to Mood and Anxiety Disorders. You could certainly pick that up on Amazon and various other booksellers. And in terms of video, there are multiple meditation videos on YouTube.
The two that I'm gonna suggest to you are short to the point, and they might get you where you need to be. Dr. Andrew Huberman is talking about physiological side type of breathing, and this was a segment from a video from the Tim Ferris podcast and basically it's very short. Um, he demonstrates how to do the technique, and there is another video from Stanford University. This one is called Cyclic Sighing, and you can do it in 90 seconds and you get to a place where you can find a bit of relief.
The video discusses the reasons how the technique works, and if you wanna jump right to it, I would, uh, maybe skimm a little head to one minute and 21 seconds into the video. But honestly, it's a short video. You should watch the whole thing.
So I guess my call to action this week or for the next couple of weeks, I'm not sure if I can juggle all of this, is to understand that there's a range of treatment options and you have the right to say this does or does not seem like it's a good choice for me at this time. Like anything else, you must evaluate the value or the potential value of a treatment.
Or you might have to find your path to it, not what's being displayed on TV or movies or what friends, family, or a faith-based institution says that you have to do it. For some people when you suggest meditation or mindfulness practices, they kind of reco recoil and say, no, that's, that's not me. That's not how I roll, that's okay. You may not be at the point in your journey where you can see this being something that you can incorporate into your life. That's okay. Do the best you can.
I'm asking only that you be aware of what the practice is and what it could possibly do for you, and should you change your mind. You have another option before you. I will catch you next time on the Anxiety Road. You can visit anxiety road podcast.com for links and other information resources. You can listen, download, or follow the podcast via number of iOS and Android podcasting applications. The show is on. Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Ghana, Pandora, or on the web@listennotes.com.
Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements. Always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare provider with questions you may have regarding a medical. Or mental health disorder. This podcast is intended for information and education purposes only, and nothing in the program is intended to be a substitute for professional, psychological, psychiatric, or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.