Funeral homes Willoughby Hills, OH, may be where you lay your loved one to rest, but that’s not where your grief ends. To move forward in life may help to turn to mindfulness.

The history of practicing mindfulness to help cope with anxiety, depression, and stress predates the ancient Greek Empire. It’s has proven to be a powerful tool for grounding yourself and take on the stress and anxiety that accompanies the loss of a loved one.

Find out more about how mindfulness can help you cope with grief.

What is Mindfulness

Mindfulness entails much more than just being aware of your surroundings. It’s a person’s ability to focus on everything that’s happening in the present, including your thoughts, emotions, and sensations.

While experiencing grief, it’s common to feel lost to a condition where everything seems equally urgent or overwhelming. You feel difficulty or even failure in prioritizing the tasks and completing them on time.

Research shows that practicing mindfulness regularly improves your cognitive sense and emotional resilience, helps you sleep better, combats anxiety, and helps you develop an attitude for self-care.

How to Practice Mindfulness

Below are some of the ways to start practicing mindfulness:

Mindful Breathing

Also known as a formal meditation, sitting peacefully and finding your breath is a great way to cultivate a state of peaceful mindfulness.

Sit in a natural, peaceful environment with minimal distractions and breathe in through your nose, hold your breath for a few seconds, and slowly breath out through your mouth. Close your eyes and imagine the lost loved one sitting beside you.

Many people love to synchronize breathing with some natural phenomenon such as music, ocean waves, or their own heartbeat. Ideally, you should sit at the same place for three to five minutes daily to develop a habit. Use a pillow or any soft surface to have support and don’t hesitate to change posture if needed.

Mindful Walking

Mindful walking is even more beneficial than mindful breathing as it involves physical exercise as well. This practice is an ideal option for people who feel isolated, depressed, or stuck while coping with grief.

Before you start walking, close your eyes for a couple of minutes and pay close attention to the natural sound, smell, and feel of the birds, winds, ground, and everything around you. Enjoy and embrace the beauty of everything around you and ponder on the natural cycle of life and death.

When you’re ready, start walking slowly and continue to observe and feel the natural beauty in your surroundings.

Join a Mindfulness Workshop

Many people prefer practicing mindfulness in a social setting to sitting alone. Seeing other people around you doing the same thing motivates you to inculcate discipline, will, and passion to develop a habit.

Look for a meditation center, a yoga center, or a counseling center in your area that offers mindfulness classes. Even in silence, you’ll feel the group energy and with it, the optimism to combat the grief and anxiety in your life.

In short, meditation requires you to acknowledge your feelings and emotions and trains you to develop the physical and emotional will and the capability to fight exhausting anxiety and grief. What’s best is that it only takes a few minutes to get started with mindfulness – and mostly, it’s free. You can find resources for additional grief strategies at funeral homes in Willoughby Hills, OH.