Practicing mindfulness can have a powerful effect on your mental and emotional health. It’s a popular tool to utilize in therapy, but not all of your clients will have the same response to the idea. While some people love the idea of mindfulness meditation and are eager to explore the practice, others may feel uncomfortable or skeptical.
The way you introduce the concept of mindfulness to your clients can make a big difference in how willing they are to try it out. As a mental health professional, you should know how to explain mindfulness to your clients as well as the best ways to bring mindfulness into therapy.
The Benefits of Practicing Mindfulness in Therapy
Practicing mindfulness might not be the solution to every problem, but in many cases, it’s worthwhile to try it out. Countless studies support the mental health benefits of mindfulness. It can alleviate stress, reduce negative thought patterns, improve your frustration tolerance, and increase your focus and attention span. Research suggests that practicing mindfulness is an effective treatment for a number of psychological disorders, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and substance use disorders.
Mindfulness can integrate seamlessly into most therapeutic approaches, too. It’s especially popular to use in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy, but you can incorporate mindfulness practice into your sessions regardless of which modality you use. You can tailor the practice based on the needs of each individual client as well.
Practicing mindfulness also has benefits for clinicians. Although you shouldn’t use your therapy sessions to fulfill your own mental health needs, keeping the practice at the forefront of your work can remind you of its value. Mindfulness helps therapists manage work-related stress and avoid emotional reactivity during sessions, which can improve outcomes and reduce professional burnout.
How to Help Your Clients Practice Mindfulness
All of your clients have different needs, so the way you introduce the idea of practicing mindfulness may vary from session to session. However, there are some general strategies you can employ that will be helpful for most of your clients.
Here Are Five Tips for Practicing Mindfulness in Therapy
1. Commit to Your Own Mindfulness Practice
Practicing mindfulness with your clients will be difficult if you don’t feel comfortable practicing mindfulness on your own. Before you incorporate mindfulness into therapy sessions, you should feel like you have a strong grasp on the practice. This will help you speak more genuinely about it with your clients, and it gives you a good idea of what works and what doesn’t.
You could start by practicing mindfulness briefly in between your sessions. If you have a few minutes to spare, use the opportunity to sit quietly and clear your mind. Not only does this help you get comfortable with practicing mindfulness, but it has a number of benefits for your work as a clinician.
2. Talk about the Common Misconceptions
Some of your clients may be hesitant to try practicing mindfulness because they’ve heard doubtful claims about it. Before you and a client attempt mindfulness meditation, you need to have an honest conversation about what mindfulness is and what it isn’t. Validate your client’s concerns about practicing mindfulness, and offer specific and scientific reasons mindfulness could be helpful for them.
One of the most common misconceptions is that practicing mindfulness is supposed to be a cure-all for every mental or emotional struggle. Some clients may expect to see profound results right away, but mindfulness takes a long time to settle into. Another misunderstanding is that mindfulness means thinking nothing at all. It’s virtually impossible not to think, though, so this idea can lead to self-judgment or unrealistic expectations.
Your clients may also think mindfulness meditation is too pseudoscientific. Many people are skeptical about meditation because they associate it with metaphysics or spirituality and aren’t interested in this approach. However, mindfulness is an actionable practice that has documented benefits. If your clients prefer the science-based approach over spiritual discussions, focus on the research that supports practicing mindfulness.
3. Keep It Structured
When clients are new to practicing mindfulness, more structure is generally better. Being told to simply focus on breathing can be frustrating as it feels vague and abstract. Instead, offer your clients specific instructions that provide clearer expectations. For example, you could instruct a client to breathe in for four counts and out for four counts for three minutes.
As a client gets more comfortable with mindfulness, you can gradually reduce the prompts and instructions. Eventually, the goal is for mindfulness to become a habitual practice, but it can take months or even years for someone to master this.
4. Emphasize Non-judgment
The purpose of practicing mindfulness is to observe your thoughts and experiences without judgment. Unfortunately, clients sometimes experience more self-judgment when they begin mindfulness because they criticize themselves for struggling with the meditation. Try to remind your clients regularly that no one masters mindfulness overnight.
It’s also important for therapists to normalize difficult emotions. Mindfulness can be a powerful tool to cope with tough situations, but it doesn’t make your emotions go away. Instead, it helps you acknowledge and validate your feelings without judging yourself for them or reacting intensely to them. Be clear about this idea with your clients so that they have realistic expectations for the practice.
5. Encourage Integration into Daily Life
The therapy session is a safe and structured environment for your clients to explore, process, learn, and grow. The skills acquired within the session must eventually be applied to their daily life, though. Once a client starts to settle into their mindfulness practice during therapy, it’s time for them to establish a mindfulness routine outside of the session.
Being able to practice mindfulness in daily life is necessary for success. While formal seated meditation has plenty of benefits, your clients will encounter moments in life where this isn’t possible. To prepare for this, they should practice mindfulness while continuing to go about their normal routine and tasks.
Structure is very helpful during this step. Practicing mindfulness in daily life feels different from practicing it in therapy, so your clients will likely benefit from specific instructions. You and your clients can work together to find accessible, manageable moments in day-to-day life to incorporate mindfulness.
Mindfulness is an excellent skill for your clients to develop, but their experience is dependent on your approach. Open and honest communication throughout the process is the key to success. You should discuss the science and evidence behind mindfulness, the misconceptions about the practice, and what they should expect during the first few meditation sessions. By being clear and structured in your approach, you can help your clients thrive with mindfulness.
Blue Moon Senior Counseling offers therapy for older adults. Our licensed counselors support seniors facing depression, anxiety, loneliness, grief, and a wide variety of other concerns. If you or an aging loved one is interested in therapy, contact Blue Moon Senior Counseling today.