I'm Still Human: Understanding Depression With Kindness (Expanded Edition - 2021)

3. Breath as emotional anchor: Mindfulness of breathing involves
repeatedly bringing gentle awareness to our breathing, “Breathing
in, I’m aware than I’m breathing in. Breathing out, I’m aware that
I’m breathing out.” This trains the mind to be less scattered and
more present or calm, which is very useful during emotional storms
Breathing is a useful mindfulness ‘tool’ as it’s with us wherever we
go (we can’t go anywhere without it).
4. Body scan and awareness: It involves repeatedly bringing
gentle awareness to the physical sensations (e.g. heat, tightness,
tiredness, pain) in different parts of the body (e.g. chest, neck, head,
hands, legs, stomach, back), and noting them with kindness,
acceptance, and a sense of curiosity (beginner’s mind). This is
useful in several ways: 1. It helps to disentangle ourselves from our
thoughts; won’t be so easily sucked into the drama of negative
thoughts. 2. It breaks the conditioned link between body sensations
and thinking (e.g. feeling physically tired which triggers negative
memories). 3. It helps us to be more aware of our ‘thinking-feeling’
as body sensations are mirror to our thoughts and emotions – sort
of a natural bio-feedback device.
5. Mindful awareness of thoughts: In recurrent depression, the
problem is usually not so much of the sadness which is brief and
164